He frowned at her. "You hate that? Why?"
Her fingers reached out to brush his cheek and her smile grew sad. "Because you deserve the same and I...I'm not able to...love you like that," she finished on a whisper, shaking her head at him. "I'm sorry."
He stared at her for a while, masking whatever he was feeling with a blank expression. Instead of responding to her words, he got to his feet and announced that he was going to make an important phone call.
Jasmine knew it was a lie. He simply did not want to have this conversation with her because it hurt him too much.
~~~~
Four months into marriage.
"Here, taste this." Armaan held out a spoonful of meat and vegetables towards Jasmine, unable to wait any longer for her to finish working.
She was sitting on the bed reading a book for research and opened her mouth promptly. Once he finished feeding her the bite, Jasmine let out a small moan.
"What is that?" she asked and he smiled at her.
"Lamb tagliata. It's one of my specials. Come downstairs, we'll eat together."
She shook her head at him. "Baby, can you bring it up later? I really need to get some reading done for tonight."
He opened his mouth to say something but then decided against it and let out a sigh. He loved that she was so passionate about her work but she'd been working way too hard lately and they hardly got to spend time together. He kind of missed her. It was a huge place and just the two of them there. She didn't mind when he entertained guests but Armaan simply preferred her company over others most of the time.
"We should think about having kids, you know," he murmured absently, placing the spoon in a bowl on the nightstand and then falling backwards on the bed, his t-shirt riding up on his stomach. "At least two. I'm not saying right away but...I'm kind of looking forward to that someday. To bring tiny humans into our world and give them everything Allah has blessed us with."
Jasmine did not answer him and when he glanced at her, he saw that she had stopped reading and was looking at his body in that naughty way of hers. Like she couldn't wait to do bad things to him. His response was immediate as he began to feel aroused and Jasmine didn't waste any time either as she put the book aside and mounted him, pushing his t-shirt up and over his head.
"Oh, so you're too busy to have dinner with me but not too busy to fuck?" he teased her lightly. He didn't mind the fucking part but this was becoming a pattern lately and he wondered if she even realised she was doing it.
"Shut up," his wife told him, bending forward to kiss his mouth eagerly. "Slave boys don't speak unless spoken to, okay? Now you're going to be good to me tonight and let me use your body the way I want. Got it?"
He loved it when she acted this way. When she made him feel like he was completely at her mercy. It was so hot.
"Yes, princess," he murmured. "Use me as much as you want. I exist to please you."
Jasmine gave him a satisfied smirk then and whipped off her top, her eyes promising him a world of pleasure in return for his submission.
****
And So It Begins
21
Almost six months into marriage.
Jasmine
I was in the library, deep in the middle of a story as words poured out of me, looking for a home within pages. This was what I lived for. This was my escape, my only comfort so it was natural that I felt irritated when the door opened without warning and my husband walked in unannounced.
"Hey. I hope you haven’t forgotten that I'm having some friends over for dinner," he spoke loudly and I frowned at the laptop screen.
"So? You’re always having friends over for dinner," was my careless reply, my mind caught between giving attention to the story and him. I didn't like the intrusion.
Armaan let out a sigh. "It'd be nice if you could join me tonight, honey."
I gave him a long-suffering look, liking that idea even less. "Do I have to? They're your friends."
Armaan looked at me quietly for a moment, his blue eyes not sparkling as usual. "Please...for once can you at least pretend to be happy about the fact that you're married to me?" he hissed and I blinked at him in surprise.
Where had that come from? Armaan never spoke to me that way. I hadn't realised my refusal to join him would upset him so much so I got up to walk over to him and kiss him out of his sulky mood.
"Baby, don't say that. I'm sorry. The story just got so interesting and...” I trailed off when he didn't smile at me. "Of course, I'll join you. Don't be upset."
I draped my arms around his neck, feeling bad for him because I hated seeing him unhappy, especially when I was the reason. The things he needed from me were things I didn't feel ready to give him even after all these months.
"You look hot, by the way," I told him, eyeing his jersey and how handsome he appeared, all dressed up for dinner. He smelled amazing too. "I am so going to ravish you tonight. Over and over and over-"
His lips twitched as I continued my flirting and he finally bestowed one of his beautiful smiles on me and
