A Taste of Spice

Two dark bodies moved on the bed in sensuous rhythm; hot skin over hot blood. Their silhouettes flickered and stretched along the red, streak painted walls, cast there by a couple lamps and rows of candles. Arms and legs clenched and slid up and down around one another but hardly ever apart, skin always in contact. The man rolled his hips, following the muted beat of heavy dance music emanating through the walls from the downstairs club. The woman, curled up, her legs wrapped around his waist and digging the heels of her feet into the small of his back, loosed soft, breathy gasps with each of his steady, gliding thrusts. His hands were constantly feeling their way around her dark olive-brown skin.

Their eyes never left one another's, linked by some invisible string, interrupted only with a dreamy blink or upward roll of the pupil. When they kissed, their lips barely dragged against one another, preferring to dart their tongues out to touch and to taste.

The woman arched her head back over the pillow, her long dark reddish-brunette hair splayed out like the rays of the sun, and groaned. She licked her lips and cooed his name, "Rev..."

Revish looked at her and smiled, never ceasing his motions. He never said her name though. He was looking past her beautiful emerald eyes, the sharp angled features of her face, her flowing locks of silken hair.

Revish was seeing another face even as he brought the expression on the one under him to the brink of ecstasy. He saw the face of someone very distinctly different of the woman he was making love to, distinctly different of all the women he had ever brought to his bed.

For the last two weeks he couldn't shake the image from his mind. Starting just as barely a passing thought, it had grown and breathed life into his increasingly jaded soul. He saw her face even when he was making love to another woman. Maybe even more so.

"Ahh! Rev," the woman he moved inside of now moaned.

He still couldn't think of her name as he kissed her.

**********

"So when is your man going to make his grand entrance tonight?" Nara asked her friend as the two women entered the club, arms linked together.

Rekha spun her small purse in her hand whimsically. "Oh he'll be here! He's always here," she said, then clutching at Nara's arm she added, "God I hope he's here!"

Nara laughed. She chided her friend, "You're so pathetic! When are you going to make a move on him already so I don't have to keep coming to this place with you?"

The two had been coming to Earthly Delights Nightclub almost every evening for the past two weeks since they had arrived in Kolkata. They had come to the city for a month on holiday from Canada keeping a promise to do so during the year after they had finished their undergraduate studies. They were staying at Rekha's uncle's one bedroom apartment while he was away on business until the day before they had to leave.

On the first day of their arrival, instead of trying to fight off jet lag, they sought out a nearby club, just a harrowing ten minute cab ride away through the winding, crowded streets. On that very first night, Rekha spotted "him" and from then on, she pleaded her case to her friend to go to the club each night and basically ogle him from across the bar or dance floor.

Nara only ever protested in jest. Truth was she really liked the place. It wasn't a large or a well known club, not found in the guide books and definitely for the locals. Yet, there was a sort of frenetic atmosphere that reminded her of the Bollywood movies her friend forced her to watch. She enjoyed the looping, heavy electro-beat, Hindi dance music, the smell of spice or floral scent in the air and some really grinding, body-bending moves happening on the dance floor. The club goers were not only attractive men and women but they had energy to spare and flaunt. She also never felt as self-conscious in the dark environment and that type of social gathering.

Out on the streets during the day, the young Korean-Canadian woman stood out. Her pale skin was all the more noticeable when she was surrounded on the street by the myriad of brown hues of the locals. The whites of their eyes were bright while hers were less evident through the narrower slender shape of her smooth eyelids. Even after her skin had tanned to a honey maple colour after two weeks and Rekha had introduced her to the people in the neighbourhood, she was still openly referred to as "the pale girl". However that was infinitely better than the "yellow girl".

Nara and Rekha settled into a lounge booth together and ordered a couple of drinks. Nara watched her friend with a knowing smile as Rekha anxiously scanned the club. Unable to locate her man, she pouted her lower lip. Nara rolled her eyes and grabbed her by the wrist.

"Come on, you," she said loudly over the noise of the club, "We're gonna go burn off some of that nervous energy!"

She pulled her friend off of the chair and led her to the dance floor. Soon the pair of them was caught up in the rave, waving their hands and swaying their bodies in tempo and rhythm with the masses.

*********

Revish pushed through the drapes covering the door that opened into the club's office. He held them aside as a striking woman followed him through primping her hair and wearing a subtly lurid smile on her face. She waved to him as she passed by and he offered a slight nod in return. Vishnu opened up the door on the other side of the office to the stairway that led down to the club. Both men watched as the woman proceeded out the door with a dainty tug at the bottom of her miniskirt.

Revish did up the bottom two buttons of his shirt, leaving his chest exposed between the folds. A quick run of his fingers through his neck length, slicked-back hair and he looked like he had just stepped outside to begin the day.

His friend Vishnu, shook his head and chuckled, "Too cool."

"That's the way to be, my friend," Revish replied, snapping his fingers and pointing at his friend. He strolled around behind the desk and sat down. He looked at a few ledgers, tapped something into the computer and then said, "How are we doing tonight?"

"Good," Vishnu nodded, sitting down in front of him, "Good crowd. Doing good business. Good women. Ha! But you know that first hand already."

Revish leaned back in his chair, rubbing his finger under his lip as he stared at the computer monitor. He tapped a few more keys and instantly the club's security camera windows appeared on the screen.

"Already on the prowl again," Vishnu commented. He always was in awe of his friend's voraciousness. Lately, he seemed even more intent than usual.

Revish winked at his compatriot then refocused his attention on the monitor. He rolled through the cameras, scanning the people in the club, his eyelids narrowing over grey-green pupils. After a moment, he paused and leaned forward spotting something, someone, in the picture. He tapped the screen then quickly stood up.

Vishnu looked at the screen. He couldn't see what or who had caught the man's attention. He just shook his head and then stood up, walked to the door and opened it.

As Revish walked past him and descended the stairs towards the beckoning crowd, music, and heat.

Vishnu grinned and remarked, "And the Prince descends from his heaven for the evening."

**********

"Okay it's been 20 minutes. Go already," Nara insisted.

She and Rekha were back in their booth. She had poured two glasses of "courage" into her increasingly nervous friend since they saw the manager of the nightclub make his customary appearance for the night. Now he was seated in a booth almost directly across from them.

"He's looking right at you!" Nara said.

"No he isn't!" Rekha said with a giddy smile. She blushed as she looked away.

"There're no women around him. Now's your chance," Nara said.

All Rekha could do was offer Nara an over-anxious smile, like a puppy unsure if she should go for the ball or not.

Nara rolled her eyes. This was not her friend, not the one she had known all through university. Rekha was a beautiful girl, tall and curvaceous, with hair that flowed like water to her butt, and a lovely face highlighted by sparkling chestnut eyes. Like Nara, she had confidence and sass -- usually. She always had the honour of using a cool gaze to turn down at least a couple of guys whenever they were at the clubs back home.

Now however, Nara could practically smell Rekha soaking her panties whenever she laid eyes on this guy.

Admittedly, this guy, Revish, was a hot commodity. At least it confirmed to Nara that it took a prime stud to knock her friend off her game. "Tall, dark and handsome" was a cliché that he settled quite nicely into with his high sturdy frame, wavy dark hair, and swarthy mocha-brown skin. A fusion of pretty-boy and rugged-man, the manager of the club seemed to have it all in the looks department. He obviously had been peeled off the cover of GQ magazine and damn if he wasn't completely aware of that. For Nara, the obvious cockiness he exuded in his swagger and his too cool smile was a bit off-putting. The way women fawned around him and the way he so enjoyed it was also another mark against him as far as she was concerned.

And the women couldn't keep his reputation to themselves. He was a notorious player but that just seemed to excite the women. She saw it first hand in Rekha. But then again, maybe it was his supposed "skills" that kept them coming. The descriptions were vague and she only wondered once or twice what a guy had to do to earn such a reputation yet still remain desired by the women.

Whatever. Nara had never for a moment before going on the trip entertained the thought that she was looking to get laid in India. Witnessing Mr.Hotpants over there hadn't shaken that resolve either. Although, in the back of her head, she always sort of admired her stunning friend's sometimes reckless abandon. There were those who sneered at Rekha saying she "slept around". It was obvious to Nara, however, that Rekha chose carefully and she always got the man that she wanted.

After a few more minutes, with the atmosphere of the club swelling by the moment, she realized Rekha was not going to peel her butt from her chair. Nara tossed another shot into her own mouth, swallowed hard on the liquid fire and stood up.

"Get up," she said, wincing from the alcohol burning her throat.

"What?" Rekha looked up at her, lost.

"I said get your ass up out of that chair," she snapped. She had enough of the sad-girl Rekha. She wanted her fiery friend back. The liquor moving quickly through her blood now, she grabbed Rekha by the forearm and yanked her to her feet.

"Wait! Wait Nara! Stop!" The taller woman slapped at her hand and tried to squat back down.

Nara was already trudging over to the other booth, her protesting friend in tow. Rekha's spiked heels slid along the floor.

"Time to say hello to Mr.Hotpants," Nara growled, grinning.

**********

"So what'll it be? What'll it be for the evening?" Vishnu asked aloud, patting his hands together and scanning the club. He wasn't referring to his own possibilities.

Leaning back into the cushions of his booth, Revish took a long sip from his glass. From the moment he came down guys came over to shake his hand and pat him on the back. When he sat down in his seat the parade of women began strutting before him like models on his own private catwalk. They were looking for him to level the gaze of his cool green eyes on them and toss them a tight-lipped smile, his silent request to join him by his side.

But tonight he offered none of them his attention. It was squarely on one particular person who never walked by his table, who never offered more than a polite hello when he sidled up to her around the club. It wouldn't be his style, but after two weeks and 8 visits to his club now, he was through with waiting.

He was just about to stand up when two women in pretty little dresses stepped in front of the lounge table holding hands, or it looked more like gripping their hands together. They both were flushed red in the face.

"Hi! How's it going tonight?" the first woman chimed. She had neck-length, black, bobbed hair and wore a burgundy satin party dress which smoothed nicely over her very slender body. She was Far-East Asian, maybe Chinese?

Revish simply looked up at her.

"Um, this is my friend, Rekha," the woman continued, presenting another woman with a wave of her free hand. Her friend, who even through her beaming smile couldn't hide her anxiousness, was a fine example of Indian beauty. The forest green silky dress she wore looked lovely on her impeccably smooth brown skin and tall, curvy frame.

"Oh, I'm Nara by the way. But like I said, this is my best friend Rekha." The woman kept on going,

"And she's really great and beautiful. Don't you think she's beautiful?"

Revish's eyes shifted from Rekha then back to Nara.

"Like the setting sun itself," he said.

Nara gave her friend a subtle nudge. Rekha immediately began to relax a bit, though the blush on her face was still there.

"Like the sun! What a coincidence! That's great because she thinks you're pretty hot too, like some...uh...rock star!" Nara was talking faster than she was thinking. Without missing a beat and before Rekha could club her over her head she added, "So how about we sit down here and you two celestial bodies get better acquainted?"

There was a long pause. Revish remained unmoving, save a barely noticeable crooked grin, in his seat as he stared at them. Nara could feel Rekha begin to squeeze her hand more tightly as each half-second passed. She squeezed back.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

The man turned his twinkling eyes onto Rekha. He stood up and took her soft hand gently in his. "By all means," he said and led her around the table.

He shook hands with Nara and said, "My name is Revish."

Nara nodded, grinning. "Erm, yeah. Way ahead of you."

He introduced them to his friend Vishnu then all of them settled into the booth. Revish draped his arm casually around Rekha. He smiled at her and said, "Your friend is quite the sales woman. And we know good sales people in India."

They all laughed. Revish never took his gaze off of Rekha. She was locked onto him as well.

"But it always helps when the sales person has such enchanting wares to sell and understands the needs of the customer," he spoke with a sweet tone.

Rekha dropped her eyes down, smiled and blushed.

They nestled in closer to one another.

Wow. That had gone easier than Nara had thought it would. Her friend had quickly settled back into her comfort zone. Watching them, she again took a moment to assess Revish. His lines were just on the safe side of cheese-ball, probably because he said them so smoothly. The gold necklace and rings were a bit excessive for her tastes, but somehow it all worked together for this guy. He certainly had Rekha under his spell. Somehow knowing his attentions were focused on her friend, Nara felt comfortable to take her time and thoroughly check this guy out up close.

Alright, he was a stud. Maybe under different circumstances...Nara caught herself, shaking unnecessary, and unexpected, thought from her head.

Still looking at them, she leaned over to Vishnu who was also observing the show. "I think I could use a drink," she said.

Vishnu nodded.

*********

The night went really well for all concerned. Rekha and Revish couldn't keep their eyes off of one another and that contact soon included their hands. The fact that she had made the move so successfully for her friend gave Nara enough satisfaction to accept that she had become a third wheel. Vishnu certainly was accepting of that role.

Actually, Revish surprisingly took the time to include Nara in the conversations and offer her drinks. The trio even made it to the dance floor a couple of times. Even though she was sharing her dance with her friend, it was obvious that Rekha enjoyed being in the spotlight with the prince of the club. And Nara made sure that she stayed clear of any one-on-one moments with Revish. Not that he actually tried any on her. No, he was obviously focused on Rekha.

After a while Revish excused himself from the dance floor saying that he'd wait for them at the booth. Nara and Rekha continued to dance. The heat of the club and the quick-beat music kept their hearts pounding.

Nara leaned up to Rekha's ear and said, "So what do you think?"

Rekha smiled and answered, "I want him. Oh my god, I want him so bad!" She continued to lock a seductive gaze towards the man seated in the booth.

Nara leaned back. Her brows were arched up and her small mouth pursed. She blinked then said,

"Wow. Really?"

"I've never wanted to fuck a guy so much in my life, Nara," Rekha replied. She was smiling but there was a hard-edge in her eyes.

Nara stopped dancing. Of course, she always knew Rekha was wet for the guy but she had never seen such sexual hunger in her friend before. Definitely not this quickly and definitely not for what would likely amount to a one night stand. Rekha seemed always in control of her sexual impulses when it came to choosing her men.

Before she could say anything though, Rekha was already walking back towards the booth.

Another hour passed and there were no signs of let up between Revish and Rekha and in the rest of the club for that matter. With the bolts of electricity practically shooting off from the two of them, Nara finally did feel like the kid on the outside of the club house.

Rekha only half-heartedly asked if Nara wanted her to go back to the apartment with her. Revish seemed more sincere when he asked her to stay. Nara excused herself anyway and insisted Rekha stay.

"Call her a taxi, Vishnu," Revish said to his friend. He stood up and took both of Nara's hands in his. She smiled when he gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

"It was lovely meeting you and I look forward to seeing you again," he said. Then he added, "I am certain I would enjoy getting to know you more before you leave our country."

For a moment as she looked up at him, she thought she glimpsed a twinkle in his eyes as they ever so slightly narrowed upon her.

Rekha came around the table and walked with Nara to the exit.

"So will you be okay on your own tonight?" she asked her.

"Um, I think I'm supposed to ask you that!" Nara replied.

Rekha laughed and hugged her friend. She turned and strode back to Revish as a princess would towards her prince.

"Have fun tonight," Nara said for no particular reason then went out to the taxi.

*********

Nara woke up in bed feeling the heat begin to lick a thin film of perspiration on her body. She raised her head from the pillow and frowned in the dark then she groaned and flopped back down onto the mattress. As it had done so a couple of times before since they arrived, the power in the building was out. She knew this because the air-conditioner had gone silent and it didn't take long for the heat of the city to creep its way into the apartment. She threw off the blankets and kicked off her pajama leggings. Yet even in just a halter top and panties the warm uncomfortable air seeped into her pores.

Adding to the problem, with the hum of the air conditioner gone, the sounds of the sleepless streets outside filled her tired brain even though she was 10 stories above them.

Nara sighed, draping her forearm over her face. She'd just have to wait it out in the dark.

Suddenly, in the darkness and silence, she heard a soft, barely audible voice. She lifted her arm from her eyes and said, "Rekha?"

There were more unintelligible noises. Nara looked over to the fold out cot beside the bed. Empty. Rekha hadn't come home from the club yet.