Shades of Grey – 11: Good Morning

Jasmine felt his sweet caress of the morning, feeling his skin next to hers, as he gently ran his fingers on her back and turning her over to face him, nuzzling against her neck and stroking her nipples to arousal, letting his mouth linger over her breasts as she opened her eyes to see him. Shiva moved up to passionately kiss her good morning. Jasmine kissed him back and smiled as they parted. “Good morning” she said holding his face in her hands, gently caressing his eyebrows with her long nail. She looked at her red sari, sprawled on the floor and smiled again at the thought of the night she spent with Shiva. She remembered running out of Shiva’s car in the rain to her apartment only to find herself alone. She cursed herself for leaving him so soon, as she remembered their kiss in the car. And when the phone rang her heart skipped a beat as she saw Shiva’s name on the little screen. Shiva’s car had broken down in the incessant rain and she lost no time in inviting him home.

Shiva was wet when he reached her apartment. She bought a towel. Instead of handing it over to him, she proceeded to dry his hair. He did not protest as she stood close to him. She had not changed and was still in her red sari. She wanted the night to be theirs. As she dried his hair, her breasts thrust close to his face. She felt his hands rest on her shapely waist as she continued to play with his hair. He looked up into her inviting eyes, his thumbs getting closer to her breasts teasing her, their eyes trying to read each other’s next move, cautious and unsure. Shiva felt Jasmine’s heartbeat increasing as he felt her fingers gripping his hair just a little bit tighter. He moved up to kiss her parted lips as she gripped his hair and pulled him closer, their tongues intertwining, playing with each other. Shiva’s hands explored her back over her low cut blouse and moved slowly to caress her shapely body.

Jasmine smiled as she played the night over again in her mind.

With their lips locked, Jasmine guided Shiva to her bedroom. She liked space and time, which they had tonight. Shiva didn’t seem to be in a hurry as she enjoyed their moment of passion. He ran his fingers through her hair and let them trace down on her neck to her shoulders. He took the pallu of her sari and unravelled it off her. She stood there with in her sleeveless blouse and petticoat as Shiva appreciated her curves. Slowly he unbuttoned her blouse and untied her petticoat and let them fall on the floor. Red was the color of the day as he discovered Jasmine’s red lacy innerwear. His hands gently pushed the strap of her bra off her shoulders as his lips traced the curves of her neck and shoulders. She giggled as his lips moved down, his tongue tracing its path over her breasts on to her navel and tenaciously tickled her.

What followed was a night of passionate love making over and over leading to the surreal morning.

 

Shades of Grey – 9: Kusum

It had been a long day and after more than 20 interviews, he was tired and irritated. He hadn’t been able to select even one candidate. He promised this would his final one for the day. He felt he could do with a drink but of course that wasn’t possible in office. As he approached the meeting room, he saw her sitting towards the corner of the table wearing a modest maroon coloured salwar kameez, her mid-length hair braided together falling over her back.

“Hi, you must be Kusum” he said as he approached her. She turned and got up from the chair, clutching to the folder of papers she was carrying. She nodded in response to his question. He came and sat on the opposite side of the table facing her and with a wave of his hand motioned her to take a seat.

“Thank you sir” she said, her voice resonated in a soft sweet tone. Suddenly he felt perhaps the day would not go waste.

As she sat down, he noticed her dusky complexion. Her face was almost flawless, her wide doe eyes with just the right amount of kajal mesmerizing him, holding his attention. He suddenly realized that he was perhaps staring at her, steered his eyes away towards her resume he was holding in his hands. She seemed to have the right experience he was looking for. He started the interview with general questions letting her talk open ended about her experience. He was lost in her soft voice, her eyes dancing and her hands moving around as she spoke. He sat back observing her. She was not conventionally beautiful but she was attractive. Her well rounded lips didn’t need any lipstick and she didn’t wear any. She wore small gold studs in her ears. Her thin mangalsutra inconspicuously traced its way from her neck behind the folds of her duppta and into her neckline. Her salwar kameez was modest and didn’t show any part of her cleavage. She adjusted her dupatta as his eyes traced her breats that stood firm. He looked at her resume to check her age. At 36 her breasts still seemed firm, standing out even through her not so tight kameez. Her arms were smooth without much trace of hair. Her hands seemed soft and well kept. He glanced at her feet pretending to read the paper in his hands nodding knowingly to what she was saying. She wore an ordinary pair of sandals, her toe nails had the most subtle nail polish.

He suddenly realized the she had stopped speaking and was looking at him to ask the next question. He forced himself to focus on the job at hand, which was to find the right candidate for the job. As he asked her more relevant questions, he felt she was indeed the right person for the job. The fact that she was attractive was bonus. But he couldn’t base his decision on her attractiveness alone. He started explaining the expectations of the role to her and she listened intently.

“This is exactly what I was looking for” she said.

“Good. I think your experience also matches what we are looking for” he said. “I hope you don’t have any problems with the travel associated with this role” he said.

She paused a little and said “Where will I need to travel? Is it frequent?”

“Well the distributor network is across the state. You will need to travel about once a month”

Her shoulders drooped and she fell silent.

“What happened?” he asked

“I can’t travel” she said hesitantly

“Why not? Please understand, travelling is a critical requirement of this job”

“I can’t leave my son alone”

“Is there no one at home to take care of him while you are away? What about your in-laws?”

“They stay with us. Yes actually do take care of my son while I go for work. They are very supportive and wouldn’t mind taking care of my son while I am away”

“So?”

“Actually I am afraid of travelling alone. I have never travelled alone.”

He was surprised to hear answer. “But you’ve been working for so many years now.”

“I know. It’s just that I never had a chance to travel alone. Always with someone from the family”

He was disappointed. He thought finally he would be successful in getting the right candidate but he would have to wait.

“Sir I really need this job. It is just what I wanted to do” she almost pleaded.

“See travelling is a must for this role. The best I can do is that the first few times I can travel with you to help you get started. But you have to be able to do it on your own.” he said trying to think of options. He really needed to hire someone quickly before the operations went out of control.

“Can I discuss this with my husband and get back to you?” she continued in her pleading tone.

“Yes sure. And discuss with your in-laws too. I don’t to hear any complaints later. And get back to me quickly as I need to close this position quickly” he said authoritatively.

“Yes sir, just give me till tomorrow sir” she pleaded.

“Ok I will wait till tomorrow morning but no later than that”

“Thank you so much sir. I am really looking toward to working here sir.”

She got up from the seat and walked out. He watched her firm buttocks sway by. He was disappointed. She would have been a great person on the team, right skills and attractive looks to match. He hoped she would accept the offer. Would tomorrow be another long day of interviews, he wondered.

Shades of Grey – 8: The Beginning

He rang the door bell and waited. It was raining heavily and his car had stalled in the water logged area just outside the apartment complex. He was already wet running back from his car to the apartment block. Drops fell from his hair as he hung his head and shook it.

Shiva had dropped off Jasmine after the concert. She had worn an exquisite red chiffon sari. Her shoulders stood shining in her tight sleeveless blouse. Her hair covered her bare back making up for the low back of the blouse. She wrapped the sari elegantly around her, just below the navel. She looked extremely sexy and Shiva had a hard time keeping his eyes off her. He didn’t want to make his glare obvious but she caught him admiring her a few times as his gaze bounced of her breasts. Her small breasts were hidden under the palloo but contoured shapely in the tight blouse.

As they had sat next to each other in the theatre, he was mesmerized by the whiff of her perfume. Her bare soft arms rested on the armrest between them, lightly touching his arms, her shoulders rubbing his shoulders as she leaned over to say something softly in his ears. He tried to focus on the concert giving her pieces of information about the band and the style of music. He wondered if she knew of how gorgeous she looked and how she made him feel.

Dinner followed the concert. She didn’t seem to be in a hurry to get back home even though it was late. On their way back, he drove by the beach. It was a stormy night. The dark beach lit up by the lightning that flashed through the sky as large drops of rain fell on the windshield of his car. Light music played on the stereo while she spoke nonchalantly about her day, the concert, the beach… he lost track of exactly what she was saying as he just focused on her sweet soft voice.

The rain soon turned into a full fledged storm. Shiva drove slowly into her apartment complex, wading through pools of water.

“I had the most wonderful evening today” she said as he stopped the car.

“Me too” he smiled at her. He didn’t want her to go, didn’t want the evening to come to an end.

“We should do this again” she said softly

“We must” he said.

“Good night” she said as he felt her hand rest on top of his hand. She squeezed his hand as she smiled sensuously. He turned his hand over to and intertwined his fingers with hers and held her hand tightly. He leaned towards her staring into her eyes. He could feel her grip tightening on his hand. He leaned forward, his lips hovering close to her. Her lips parted just a little. He placed his lips on hers, gently caressing her lips with his. His tongue met hers as he felt her hand on the back of his neck, pulling him closer to her.

A bright streak of lightning broke their kiss.

“I really should go now” she said, wiping her mouth with her sari. She looked around to see if anyone in the apartment complex was watching. There was little chance of anyone being there in the incessant rain.

“Don’t go” he pleaded with her, still holding on to her hand.

She looked around and kissed him lightly on his lips first, and then gave him another deep kiss. She pulled her hand from his as her lips left his. In one swift motion, she collected her purse, opened the car door and ran through the pouring rain into the apartment building. He watched her through the rain drops on his car window disappear into the building, sitting there soaking in the moment they just had.

As he turned his car out of the apartment complex and into the street, he was met with knee deep water. His car waded through for a bit and then stalled. His attempts to start the car failed.

“Shit” he cursed under his breath wondering what to do. There was nothing much he could do. It was pouring and quite late in the night. There was no way he could find a mechanic now. He picked up his cell phone and dialled Jasmine’s number.

“Hi, my car broke down just outside your apartment and I am stuck in the rain in the middle of the night” he told her on the phone. There was a long pause.

“Hi, you there?” he inquired.

“Yes, yes, of course. Ummm would you like to come up to my apartment?” she said.

“Is that going to be okay? I mean what will your parents think?”

“Actually there’s no one at home. They’ve gone out and won’t be back until tomorrow. I just saw their note.” She said, a little hesitantly.

“Sure it is okay?” he asked trying to sound as though he didn’t want to impose.

“Absolutely. It will be good.” He wondered if he heard her chuckle as she said that.

Shades of Grey – 7: Desire

Jasmine got her files ready for the review. The meeting invite said it was an introductory session with the new boss and each manager was to present their team’s status. Jasmine had seen three bosses come and go in the last 4 years and knew it was a review. The managers all knew the drill: present team status and duck the questions by giving complicated explanations for answers. They had done it to their previous bosses with aplomb ease and she wasn’t expecting anything different this time.

When the meeting started and managers started presenting their status, Shiva appeared cool and calm. His voice was gentle and he smiled each time he asked a question to the manager presenting the status. And soon Jasmine noticed it was very hard for managers to sidestep the questions Shiva was asking. With each answer the managers gave, Shiva would ask a counter question that would make them think. Shiva didn’t appear intimidating or angry, just gently establishing his authority with his knowledge. Jasmine knew they weren’t used to this. She knew it would soon be her turn to present her status. Yet with each question she was drawn closer to Shiva, continuously attracted to his chain of thought and approach. She was secretly admiring Shiva, glancing at him without obviously staring at him.

After the meeting, the managers huddled together. They weren’t happy. It had been nothing like they expected. They criticized Shiva for asking them questions without trying to understand how things are done there. They said he just didn’t appreciate the challenges they faced. Jasmine tried to get her words in edgewise defending Shiva while agreeing with the managers, trying not to appear to be on his side. She was walking a tightrope, not wanting to alienate herself from the rest of the managers and yet not wanting them to dislike Shiva.

Over the next few weeks, Jasmine had a chance to interact with Shiva on various occasions. Even on days when there was no specific meeting with Shiva, she would make it a point to go to his cabin on some pretext or another. She even started coming to office early to be able to see him walk by to his cabin. Jasmine spent time researching about Shiva on the Net. She found his profiles on various sites and tried to gather as much information about him as she could. Her urge to be close to Shiva grew deeper each day. Shiva would normally offer her coffee in his cabin during the meetings. Slowly the coffee meetings became regular. She would feel excited sitting there in front of Shiva, her heart pounding heavily as her eyes focussed on his lips as he spoke. The sound would fade away as she imagined kissing and biting Shiva’s lips. She had to control herself to bring herself back to their conversation. She could feel her wetness when she would come out of his cabin. She wondered if Shiva noticed the way she felt.

On a Thursday evening she met Shiva in the canteen near the coffee machine. He stopped and waited for her while she got coffee from the machine. His subtle gesture and eyes guided her to follow him to the corner of the canteen. They casually sat on the table making small talk.

“So what are plans for the weekend?” he asked casually.

“Oh nothing, just the usual” she replied, nervous and hopeful, wondering where the conversation would go.

“Hey it’s the weekend, you should go out to the movies or something.”

“I don’t really go out much” Jasmine said.

“Really, that’s strange. Such a pretty girl like you not going out?” he smiled as he said that.

Jasmine’s heart skipped a beat. That’s the first time he had said anything about her appearance. So he does notice me, she thought and suddenly became conscious of how she was looking at that moment.

“I have two passes for a Spanish music concert. It’s organized by the Spanish cultural center. If you are free, maybe you could give me company.” Shiva asked softly.

“Yeh sure” Jasmine said without much thought, and realized that perhaps she shouldn’t have said yes so quickly. A thousand thoughts flooded her mind. Was it okay to go out with your boss? What would he think of her, having agreed so quickly? What if someone from office finds out? And yet, when she looked up from her coffee into his eyes, she was mesmerized by them. She knew she wanted to go out with Shiva. She knew in her heart that this is exactly what she had been waiting for. She was completely ecstatic at Shiva’s offer and was having a hard time controlling her excitement.

“Great. Let’s leave tomorrow around seven then.” Shiva said as he got up. He smiled as she nodded and walked back to his cabin, leaving her shaking from the inside……