Page 115 of The Ex Factor

“I know it’s you on the cover. I have managed to get the rest of the pictures.”

The rest of the pictures.Meaning there were more, probably with my face, revealing my identity. I was right all along to be distrustful of this vile man.

“What do you want with me, then?”

“I care about you, Aarti,” he said in a gentle tone. “I want to personally meet and give them to you before they fall into the wrong hands.”

They were in the wrong hands already, but I didn’t bother spelling it out. I was interested in knowing how far he was willing to carry this charade. Just how far would he stoop to hurt Sujit?

“When do you want to meet?” I asked with a quiet sigh.

His voice brightened. He erroneously assumed I had bought his words at their face value. That he had lured me into his honey-laced—well, hornet-laced—trap. “The sooner, the better. Trust me. How about tomorrow?”

“Sure, text me where you want to meet.”

That is when he really shook me out of my skin. “How about Marco’s? You like their food, don’t you?”

Either he had been keeping tabs on us, or he knew it was Sujit’s favorite bistro and that he would have taken me there at least once.

“See you at seven,” I said and hung up before he could get in another word.

Tired and exhausted, I retreated to the bathroom. I had planned on taking a quick shower and getting into a warm bed ASAP. But after the conversation with that slimy man, I needed more.

Turning on the faucet in my bathtub, I dropped in bath salts. Then I walked over to my rather sparse bar and poured myself a small flute of wine. On my way to the bathroom, I made a quick halt at the bookrack and picked up the poems of Maya Angelou. It had been a long time since I had sought solace in the comfortof poetry. Sujit had gifted me this soothing feeling from my past, and I was never letting it slip again.

Samuel Barber’sAdagio for Stringsplayed on the Bluetooth speaker connected to my phone. I pulled the bathtub tray and placed the wine and the book on it. I lowered myself into the tub and soaked in the fragrant water, now covered in kaleidoscopic bubbles. The cool wine warmed my insides as I turned page after page, getting increasingly absorbed in the beauty of those lush words.

When the water had gone from warm to tepid, I closed the book and put it away. I took the last sip of the wine and considered calling Sujit. But calling him while I was naked was a decidedly bad idea. I was tired, needy, and furious at Manoj. If I called Sujit, there was a good chance I’d plead with him to come over and devour me.

My left hand slipped beneath the bubbles. My right deposited the wine glass to the side and greedily grabbed at a breast. My nipple was already taut and wrinkled at the thought of Sujit. The hand inside the water then moved along my thigh right to my core as my knees parted and made way for it. I moaned as I imagined Sujit’s warm, naked body against mine.

Since I had seen him shirtless at his family home, I’d been dreaming of touching that silky, broad chest.The abs, firm but not muscular, the biceps, toned and strong.As my finger found the perfect spot, I grabbed onto it for life and rubbed tighter.His plush lips on my mouth, then slowly moving down my body while my skin sizzled and my senses lit up like fireworks. My finger ached sweet and bitter as I pushed past my sensations to focus on his image.

Standing at the edge of the bed, he thrust into me hard, his lustful eyes roving over my desperate, naked body. As he bent over to grab my breasts in both his hands…a loud moanerupted from deep in my stomach, and I scrambled over the threshold.

I sighed, feeling tender and unfinished. Then I did it all over again before washing myself off and heading to bed satisfied, for the moment, but unfulfilled.

AARTI

Sujit’s text greeted me the next morning. He had sent the text late into the night after I’d finished fantasizing about him and was snug in my bed.

Sujit

Welcome back, sweet girl. Sorry I’m just seeing your message. Guess you must be asleep by now. Talk to you tomorrow.

And then, a few minutes later,

Glad you’re back.

I was glad to be back, too. Although the idea of meeting Manoj that evening was the first thing on my mind, seeing this text from Sujit had raised my spirits. I wasn’t one to be flustered easily, but Manoj had the knack of getting on my nerves in all the wrong ways.

After I learned about him from Tara, I harbored even more animosity toward him. He had messed with the wrong person this time. Sujit might be kind, but I was not. I believed in justdeserts, not blanket kindness. By the end of the day, Manoj would be out of our lives for good.

By the end of the day, I’d also know if Sujit would beinmy life for good.

I called him the first thing after coffee.

“Good morning,” he said in his sexy, husky voice, and I melted right away.

---