Dare Trilogy | Book 3 Editing | ✓

3.8 | Road to Home

Posted: July 2017 | Edited: January 6th, 2019

| . . . C H A P T E R . . . . 3 . 8 - R O A D - T O - H O M E . . . |

I blinked a few times to register his words in my head. "Swim? Somewhat." Ask me about trekking and I'd be the first on the list. It's what I've done growing up in a mountainous region. It's a different matter that now, my body couldn't handle the strain. But, swimming? In 4-5 ft., I could manage to not drown, probably because I knew it would be impossible to drown when I could quickly get back on my feet, but I couldn't swim laps like him from one edge to the other.

He nodded his head, asking me to get in. "Come on."

"Uh, no. Let's... no." I answered, hesitating.

"I'm not going to let you drown, Khushi."

I wasn't scared of failing at swimming. It had been a while but I knew I could still manage that. I was more concerned with what it would lead to if I stepped into the waters with a half-naked Arnav. "Yeah, that's not what I am worried about."

Ugh. This transparency thing is so working against me. I had decided to not hide things from him, and my brain took that as permission to tell him everything that was going on in my head.

I almost thought he wasn't going to comment on it when he didn't say anything. Only, his hands moved from the tile and came to my sides. "Arnav," I tried to stop him, but he lifted me and stepped back. With his hands on my sides, he had me in the water. I stood against the edge, the water reaching my thighs as we're in the shallow end of the pool.

My hands rested on his wrist and he still held on to me. I started to feel the warmth of his hands on my sides. "You know, I just showered. I'll have to..." I started using that as an excuse for not wanting to have to shower again after being in the pool.

He didn't listen.

He started to step back, pulling me to trace his steps. Water started to rise till my waist, dampening the hem of my shirt. "Relax," he probably noticed how stiff I was, but it only made me clench my muscles further. "Breathe."

My hands went up to his shoulders before I could even think of my actions. He stopped walking back when I started to feel my feet not touching the tiles of the pool. I moved closer to him unconsciously, holding on to him tighter. His shoulders under my tiny hands were firm. Obviously, his physique itself screamed that he worked out, and I've had my hands on his shoulders before, but this was a different kind of intense, having my hands on his bare shoulder.

The warmth of his skin on my fingertips.

My eyes travelled to where my hand was on his right shoulder, and then I looked into his eyes. As always, it made me feel that he was glancing not just at me, but into my soul. Reading all my insecurities and fears. His hand moved from my side to my back, gently tugging my legs closer to him. I leaned my upper body back when my feet touched his. I couldn't tell what was going on in his head.

No... that's a lie.

That was a complete lie.

Even before he had lifted me in the pool, a part of me knew where this was heading.

His face leaned in to cover the distance. His eyes travelled back and forth from my eyes to my lips and each passing second increasing my heart beat, raising the speed of my breaths. The black in his eyes grew as they dilated. Just as I wrapped my head around the fact that this was happening, I heard a throat being cleared in the distance.

He blinked and so did I. I even took a few short but rapid steps away from him. Suddenly, I missed the warmth of his arms around me. I glanced sideways at Anjali who was trying to look everywhere else but us.