“No. Not good enough. On the lips, my prema.”
I leaned over and pecked him on the lips. “There. Can we go now?”
I marched up the first two steps, and he slipped his hand under my elbow and spun me around, twisting me so that I fell forward into his arms. He caught me tightly around the waist. His smirk suddenly turned into a sober expression.
“A kiss. A real one. One that I’ll remember.”
I was about to say something brilliantly sarcastic, probably about him not having permission, when he captured my mouth with his. I was determined to remain stiff and unaffected, but he was extremely patient. He nibbled on the corners of my mouth and pressed soft, slow kisses against my unyielding lips. It was so hard not to respond to him.
I made a valiant struggle, but sometimes the body betrays the mind. He slowly, methodically swept aside my resistance. And, feeling he was winning, he pressed ahead and began seducing me even more skillfully. He held me tightly against his body and ran a hand up to my neck where he began to massage it gently, teasing my flesh with his fingertips.
I felt the little love plant inside me stretch, swell, and unfurl its leaves, like he was pouring Love Potion # 9 over the thing. I gave up at that point and decided what the heck. I could always use a rototiller on it. And I rationalized that when he breaks my heart, at least I will have been thoroughly kissed.
If nothing else, I’ll have a really good memory to look back on in my multi-cat spinsterhood. Or multi-dog. I think I will have had my fill of cats. I groaned softly. Yep. Dogs for sure.
I opened myself up to the kiss and kissed him back with enthusiasm. Putting all my secret emotions and tender feelings into the embrace, I wound my arms around his neck and slid my hands into his hair. Pulling his body that much closer to mine, I embraced him with all the warmth and affection that I wouldn’t allow myself to express verbally.
He paused, shocked for brief instant, and then quickly adjusted his approach, escalating into a passionate frenzy. I shocked myself by matching his energy. I ran my hands up his powerful arms and shoulders and then down his chest. My senses were in turmoil. I felt wild. Eager. I clutched at his shirt. I couldn’t get close enough to him. He even smelled delicious.
You’d think that several days of being chased by strange creatures and hiking through a mysterious kingdom would make him smell bad. In fact, I wanted him to smell bad. I’m sure I did. I mean, how can you expect a girl to be fresh as a daisy while traipsing through the jungle and getting chased by monkeys. It’s just not possible.
I desperately wanted him to have some fault. Some weakness. Some . . . imperfection. But Ren smelled amazing—like waterfalls, a warm summer day, and sandalwood trees all wrapped up in a sizzling, hot guy.
How could a girl defend herself from a perfect onslaught delivered by a perfect person? I gave up and let Mr. Wonderful take control of my senses. My blood burned, my heart thundered, my need for him quickened, and I lost all track of time in his arms. All I was aware of was Ren. His lips. His body. His soul. I wanted all of him.
Eventually, he put his hands on my shoulders and gently separated us. I was surprised that he had the strength of will to stop because I was nowhere near being able to. I blinked my eyes open in a daze. We were both breathing hard.
“That was . . . enlightening,” he breathed. “Thank you, Kelsey.”
I blinked. The passion that had dulled my mind dissipated in an instant, and my mind sharply focused on a new feeling. Irritation.
“Thank you? Thank you! Of all the—” I slammed up the steps angrily and then spun around to look down at him. “No! Thank you, Ren!” My hands slashed at the air. “Now you got what you wanted, so leave me alone!” I ran up the stairs quickly to put some distance between us.
Enlightening? What was that about? Was he testing me? Giving me a one-to-ten score on my kissing ability? Of all the nerve!
I was glad that I was mad. I could shove all the other emotions into the back of my mind and just focus on the anger, the indignation.
He leapt up the stairs two at a time. “That’s not all I want, Kelsey. That’s for sure.”
“Well, I no longer care about what you want!”
He shot me a knowing look and raised an eyebrow. Then, he lifted his foot out of the opening, placed it on the dirt, and instantly changed back into a tiger.
I laughed mockingly. “Ha!” I tripped over a stone but quickly found my footing. “Serves you right!” I shouted angrily and stumbled blindly along the dim path.
After figuring out where to go, I marched off in a huff. “Come on, Fanindra. Let’s go find Mr. Kadam.”
23
six hours
it was early dawn. The sun was just peeking over the horizon. I stormed off through the buildings of Hampi and allowed the momentum of my anger to carry me halfway back to Mr. Kadam’s camp.
Ren followed along behind me somewhere quietly. I couldn’t hear him, but I knew he was there. I was acutely aware of his presence. I had an intangible connection with him, the man. It was almost as if he were walking next to me. Almost as if he were touching me.
I must have started walking down the wrong path because he trotted ahead, pointedly moving in a different direction. I muttered, “Show-off. I’ll walk the wrong way if I want to.” But, I still followed after him.
After a while, I made out the Jeep parked on the hill and saw Mr. Kadam waving at us.
I walked up to his camp, and he grabbed me in a brief hug. “Miss Kelsey! You’re back. Tell me what happened.”
I sighed, set down my backpack, and sat on the back bumper of the Jeep. “Well, I have to tell you, these past few days have been some of the worst of my life. There were monkeys, and Kappa, and rotted kissing corpses, and snakebites, and trees covered with needles, and—”
He held up a hand. “What do you mean a few days? You just left last night.”
Confused, I said, “No. We’ve been gone at least,” I counted on my fingers, “at least four or five days.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Kelsey, but you and Ren left me last night. In fact, I was going to say you should get some rest and then try again tomorrow night. You were really gone almost a week?”
“Well, I was asleep for two of the days. At least that’s what tiger boy over there told me.” I glared at Ren who stared back at me with an innocuous tiger expression while listening to our conversation.
Ren appeared to be sweet and attentive, as harmless as a little kitten. He was about as harmless as a Kappa. I, on the other hand, was like a porcupine. I was bristling. All of my quills were standing on end so I could defend my soft belly from being devoured by the predator who had taken an interest.
“Two days? My, my. Why don’t we return to the hotel and rest? We can try to get the fruit again tomorrow night.”
“But, Mr. Kadam,” I said and unzipped the backpack, “we don’t have to come back. We got Durga’s first gift, the Golden Fruit.” I pulled out my quilt and unfolded it, revealing the Golden Fruit nestled within.
He gently picked it up out of its cocoon. “Amazing!” he exclaimed.
“It’s a mango.” With a smirk, I added, “It only makes sense. After all, mangoes are very important to Indian culture and trade.”
Ren huffed at me and rolled onto his side in the grass.
“Indeed, it does make sense, Miss Kelsey.” He admired the fruit for another moment, and then carefully rewrapped it in my quilt. Mr. Kadam clapped his hands together. “This is very exciting! Let’s break camp then and head home. Or perhaps it would be better to go to a hotel so you can rest, Miss Kelsey.”
“Oh, it’s okay. I don’t mind getting back on the road. We can stay in a hotel tonight. How many days will it take for us to get home?”
“We will need to stay over two more nights in a hotel on our trip home.”
Momentarily alarmed, I glanced at Ren. “Okay. Umm, I was thinking that maybe this time if you don’t mind, we could check out one of those bigger hotels. You know, something that has
more people around. With elevators and rooms that lock. Or even better, a nice high-rise hotel in a big city. Far, far, far away from the jungle?”
Mr. Kadam chuckled. “I’ll see what I can do.”
I graced Mr. Kadam with a beatific smile. “Good! Could we please go now? I can’t wait to take a shower.” I opened the door to the passenger side then turned and hissed in a whisper aimed at Ren, “In my nice, upper-floor, inaccessible-to-tigers hotel room.”
He just looked at me with his innocent, blue-eyed tiger face again. I smiled wickedly at him and hopped in the Jeep, slamming the door behind me. My tiger just calmly trotted over to the back where Mr. Kadam was loading the last of his supplies and leapt up into the back seat. He leaned in the front, and before I could push him away, he gave me a big, wet, slobbery tiger kiss right on my face.
I sputtered, “Ren! That is so disgusting!”
I used my T-shirt to swipe the tiger saliva from my nose and cheek and turned to yell at him some more. He was already lying down in the back seat with his mouth hanging open, as if he were laughing. Before I could really lay into him, Mr. Kadam, who was the happiest I’d ever seen him, got into the Jeep, and we started the bumpy journey back to a civilized road.
Mr. Kadam wanted to ask me questions. I knew he was itching for information, but I was still fuming at Ren, so I lied. I asked him if he could hold off for a while so I could sleep. I yawned big for dramatic effect, and he immediately agreed to let me have some peace, which made me feel guilty. I really liked Mr. Kadam, and I hated lying to people. I excused my actions by mentally blaming Ren for this uncharacteristic behavior. Convincing myself that it was his fault was easy. I turned to the side and closed my eyes.
I slept for a while, and when I woke up, Mr. Kadam handed me a soda, a sandwich, and a banana. I raised my eyebrow at the banana and thought of several good monkey jokes I could annoy Ren with, but I kept quiet for Mr. Kadam’s sake. Instead, I immediately dug into my sandwich and drained my soda in one long drink.
Mr. Kadam laughed and handed me another one. “Are you ready to tell me about what happened, Miss Kelsey?”
“Sure, I guess so.”
It took the better part of two hours to tell him about the tunnel, the needle forest, the cave, the Kappa, and Kishkindha. I spent a long time talking about the golden tree and the monkeys coming to life. I ended with the Kappa attack and Fanindra biting me.
I never mentioned that Ren was a man the whole time. In fact, I downplayed his presence in Kishkindha altogether. Whenever Mr. Kadam asked me how this or that was accomplished, I answered vaguely, or said lucky we had Fanindra, or lucky we had the gada. That seemed to satisfy most of his questions.
When he asked for more details about the Kappa attack, I just shrugged my shoulders and repeated my mantra, “Lucky I had Fanindra.” I didn’t want to answer any weird questions about Ren. I knew he’d probably tell his side of the story when he became a man again, but I didn’t care. I kept my version of the trip factual, unemotional, and, more importantly, Renless.
Mr. Kadam said we’d be stopping at a hotel soon, but he wanted to find a good place to leave Ren first. I demurred, “Of course,” and smiled a sickly sweet smile back at the attentive tiger.
Mr. Kadam worried, “I hope our hotel won’t be too far away for him.”
I patted Mr. Kadam’s arm and reassured him, “Oh, don’t worry about him. He’s very good at getting what he wants. I mean . . . taking care of his needs. I’m sure he’ll find his long night alone in the jungle extremely enlightening.” Mr. Kadam shot me a puzzled glance, but he eventually nodded and pulled over near a forested area.
Ren got out of the Jeep, came around to my side of the car, and stared at me with icy blue eyes. I just turned my body away so I wouldn’t have to look at him. When Mr. Kadam got back in the Jeep, I peeked out my window again, but Ren was gone. I reminded myself that he deserved it and sat back against the seat with my arms folded over my chest and an intense expression on my face.
Mr. Kadam spoke softly, “Kelsey, are you alright? You seem very . . . tense, since I last saw you.”
I muttered under my breath, “You have no idea.”
“What was that?”
I sighed and smiled at him weakly. “Nothing. I’m fine, just drained from the trip is all.”
“There’s something else I’ve been meaning to ask you. Did you have any strange dreams while in Kishkindha?”
“What kind of dreams?”
He glanced at me, worried. “Perhaps a dream about your amulet?”
“Oh! I totally forgot to tell you! When I plucked the fruit, I fainted and had a vision. It was of you, me, and some evil guy.”
Mr. Kadam grew visibly worried. He cleared his throat. “Then the vision was real—for all of us. I was afraid of that. The man you saw was Lokesh. He’s the same dark wizard who put the curse on Ren and Kishan.”
My mouth gaped open in shock. “He’s still alive?”
“It seems he is. It also appears that he has at least one part of the amulet. I suspect, however, that he has all of the other pieces.”
“How many pieces are there?”
“There are rumored to be five altogether, but no one really knows for sure. Ren’s father had one piece, and his mother brought another piece into the family because she was the only offspring of a powerful warlord who also had one. That’s how Ren and Kishan both ended up with a segment.”
“But what does it have to do with me?”
“That’s just it, Kelsey. You are helping Ren break the curse. The amulet connects the three of us, and I’m worried that Lokesh knows about us. About you, in particular. I was hoping that something had happened to him, that he wasn’t alive anymore after all these years. I’ve been searching for him for centuries. Now that he’s seen us, I’m worried that he will come after you and the amulet.”
“You really think he’s that ruthless?”
“I know he is.” Mr. Kadam paused, and then suggested softly, “Perhaps it is time for you to return home.”
“What?” I panicked.
Return home? Home to what? Home to whom? I had no life at home. I hadn’t even thought about what would happen after we broke the curse. I guess I’d just assumed that there was so much to do that I’d be stuck here for a couple of years.
Dismayed, I inquired, “You really want me to go home now?”
He saw my face and patted my hand. “Not at all! I didn’t mean to imply that I wanted you to leave us. Don’t worry. We’ll figure something out. I’m just speculating for now. I have no immediate plans to send you home. And, of course, if and when you do go, you may always return whenever you wish. Our home is yours. We just need to proceed with extreme caution now that Lokesh is back in the picture.”
I felt my panic subside, but only halfway. Maybe Mr. Kadam is right. Maybe I should go home. It would be much easier to forget Mr. Superhero if I were on the other side of the planet, right? Heck, he’s the only young male I’ve been around for weeks, not counting Kishan. It would be healthier for me to get out and meet other guys anyway. Maybe if I did that, I’d realize this whole emotional connection I feel with him isn’t really that strong.
Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me. I’ve just been isolated, that’s all. When all you have is Tarzan and some monkeys, Tarzan looks pretty good, right?
I’ll just get over him. I’ll just go home and date a nice, normal computer geek who’d never leave me. I’ll forget all about old what’s-his-name.
I continued this line of thought, listing my reasons for staying away from Ren, and stubbornly rededicated myself to avoiding him. The only problem was my rebellious, weak mind kept drifting back to how safe I felt when he held me. And what he’d said when he thought I was dying. And the warm tingle that lingered on my lips after he kissed me. Even if I ignored his beautiful face, which was next to a Herculean task, there were many other dazzling qualities for my mind to dwell on, and those thoughts kept me occupied for the rest of the tri
p.
Mr. Kadam pulled into the smooth driveway of a fabulous five-star hotel. I felt frumpy in my week-old, ripped, torn, and bloody clothes. Mr. Kadam seemed nonchalant and was happy as a clam when he handed over the keys to a valet and accompanied me into the hotel. I kept my backpack close, but our other two bags were taken up to our rooms by hotel staff.
Mr. Kadam filled out the necessary forms and spoke quietly with the lady at the front desk in Hindi. Then he gestured for me to follow.
As we passed, I leaned over and asked, “Just out of curiosity, you don’t allow pets. Am I right?”
She seemed confused and looked at Mr. Kadam, but shook her head no.
“Great. Just checking.” I smiled back at her. Mr. Kadam tilted his head in puzzlement but said nothing.
He must think I’m off my rocker. I grinned and followed him to the elevator. The bellhop inserted a card key into the slot at the top of the elevator button pad, which automatically closed the door, and selected our floor. We got out and stepped directly into our room, the penthouse suite.
The staff person left us, and the elevator doors shut. Mr. Kadam told me that he’d be staying in the bedroom to the left and that I would have the suite on the right. He left me to myself with the admonishment that I rest and eat in whatever order I chose and that food would be delivered soon.
I walked into my beautiful suite with a king-sized bed and laughed giddily. A huge hot tub was set in the middle of my private bathroom. I quickly kicked off my dirty tennis shoes and decided to shower first and then soak in the hot tub. Stepping into the hot shower, I soaped my hair four times and then applied conditioner and let the silky liquid soak in while I scrubbed my skin raw. I dug my fingernails into a bar of soap and wiggled them back and forth to get the dirt out and paid special attention to my feet. My poor, knobby, blistered, sore feet. Oh well, maybe Mr. Kadam will spring for a pedicure later.
After I felt thoroughly clean, I wrapped a towel around my hair, and slipped into a robe. Filling the hot tub with hot water, I poured in bubble bath that was conveniently provided, and started the jets. The scent of juicy pears and just-picked berries rose into the air. Its smell reminded me of Oregon.