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“I knew this day would test every ounce of my control,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to her shoulder as he carried her through the softly lit hallway. “In fact, my patience wore out the moment I saw you today, dressed as my bride.”

She smiled, resting her forehead against his. “Then don’t waste any more time.”

With words like that, how could he not hurry towards the stairs?

As they entered the bedroom, Nandini let out a soft gasp. A huge king size bed, draped in rich maroon linens, greeted her, and the entire room was bathed in the glimmer of decorative fairy lights, giving it a magical feel.

But she had a whole life to admire her bedroom. Tonight, she wanted to focus only on him.

Shaurya set her down gently at the foot of the bed, but didn’t step away. Instead, he reached for her face, cradling it with both hands, taking in her ever-changing expression.

“I still can’t believe you’re mine,” he whispered.

“My heart already belongs to you. Now make me yours completely, soul and body,” she murmured, almost like a desperate but earnest plea.

In a beat, the space between them vanished. His lips claimed hers once more, while his fingers trailed down her spine, finding the ties of her blouse. One by one, the knots loosened under his touch, falling away without resistance.

Nandini’s hands slipped lower, tugging urgently at the waistband of his sherwani churidar.

“Are you sure?” he asked, just one last time.

She met his gaze teasingly. “Shaurya, not even that many mangoes and leaves have fallen from the tree into your pool as many times as you’ve asked for my consent tonight. How many more times should I tell you? I want you. All of you. Right now.”

Shaurya’s lips curved into a wicked grin as he leaned in, his forehead resting against hers.

“Stop bringing the mango tree into our intimate moments, at least,” he murmured, his breath hot against her skin.

“And as for tonight… I plan to make you forget every fruit, every leaf, and every word… except my name.”

“Then stop talking and get on to it,” she teased back.

With that as her consent and all that pent-up heat between them, they began undressing each other. The room was dimly lit and the curtains drawn, wrapping them in a cocoon of privacy. He could barely see her, and yet somehow, every curve of her felt achingly familiar. He could still tell exactly what her skin looked like without the barriers of her clothes.

Guiding her gently to the edge of the bed, he leaned in and whispered in her ears.

“I’ve thought about this more times than I can count… having you like this. Just us. Skin to skin. Breath to breath. With no space left between us.”

Nandini’s lips parted, but no words came. Her only response was the soft rise and fall of her chest. His knuckles traced a slow path along her arm, then across her side, before finally brushing over the curve of her waist and pausing at her navel. Sheshivered, every part of her being responding to the tenderness in his touch.

“I don’t want to just remember how you look tonight,” he murmured, his voice raspy as he leaned to press a kiss to her shoulder. “I want to remember how your heartbeat sounds when I’m this close. How your skin feels when you breathe beneath me. How your name tastes when I whisper it buried between the very essence of what we’re about to become.”

She swallowed hard, her hands slowly tangling into his hair as she pulled him closer.

“No more walls,” she said softly. “No more waiting.”

They sank into the mattress together, his body covering hers like a second skin as he hovered over her. His lips found the dip between her collarbones, planting a flurry of kisses that left trails of fire in their wake. She closed her eyes, letting the softness of his lips and the heat of his breath wash over her.

His hands moved down to gently cup her breasts. “So soft,” he murmured, before his mouth descended to press hungry, open-mouthed kisses that burned into her skin. Nandini surrendered to it all, completely lost in the sensations that his mouth and fingers stirred within her.

Soon, his hands drifted lower. Shaurya had touched her down there before, but tonight, something had changed. The yearning ran deeper than ever. Before Nandini could register the shift, he was already going down on her. A gasp escaped her lips as he kissed her exactly where she ached for him, and soon, his tongue took over, skilfully unravelling her bit by bit, worshipping her very being.

Nandini’s eyes fluttered shut as waves of sensation rolled through her. Each swipe of his tongue pulled her further, building with a slow, aching intensity until it consumed her completely, overwhelming her senses and leaving her breathless.

“Shaurya…” she breathed, his name escaping her lips again and again—sometimes whole, sometimes in broken, trembling fragments.

Her nails raked down his back, searching for something to hold onto, for some support as heat pooled in her lower body, begging for a release. And then, it hit. Within seconds, Nandini was writhing beneath him, her body arching into his, lost to the flood of pleasure that surged through her.

Shaurya moved up, kissing her again until her body eased down and her breathing gradually settled into a steady rhythm.