Scandalous Games (Arranged Games Book 1)

After the two most tortuous and slowest-moving hours in history, my beautiful obsession has finally become my wife. Mine. The vivid possessiveness that flares inside my chest is both a welcoming and scary feeling.

Bianca Dash Stern.

The three words I never imagined to hear as the registrar declared it in front of our best friends. I ended up doing the single thing I vowed never to do. Marriage. The bane of my family’s existence. Yet the feeling is nothing short of spectacular and long awaited. My kitten doesn’t realize the floodgates she’s opened, letting me in and sealing her fate, signing papers that make us belong together.

Because to her, the vows are nothing but meaningless words. A necessary ritual.

While they are everything to me.

I meant each word down to my soul as I said them looking into her chocolaty brown eyes. A man who never believed in marriage, thought of it as nothing but a curse. Yet today, I’m desperate and tempted to believe they’re a blessing in disguise.

It’s becoming a lot harder to pretend the need to get her out of my system has twisted and molded into something deeper. Darker.

I wonder if I’ll ever be able to let her go when the time comes.

My fingers tap incessantly on the steering wheel as Bianca and I drive to her parents’ house in the evening. The day has been a hectic one and I had to postpone two of my afternoon meetings because I didn’t want to leave her alone while she wallowed in the guilt eclipsing her heart.

Despite her parents being selfish and dictatorial, she’s still tearing herself up over lying to them. It’s unfathomable to me to understand because I could never pledge my loyalty to my father after the shitty way he treated me right till the moment of his last dying breath.

He broke and turned the empathic side of my heart cold and callous.

Her mom and dad are not in the same spectrum as mine yet it’s harder for me to see them as anything but. I’m staying over for dinner for as long as it’s considered polite before stealing Bianca away and making her forget all the worries of today.

I stroke my thumb over her racing pulse as I keep our hands locked while driving with the other. Touching her has become a necessity for survival, like breathing and eating. I might’ve had qualms about intimacy in the past but they’ve all but eviscerated in the aftermath of Paris.

“They make you uncomfortable at any point, I’m taking you back to our place,” I declare over the low music playing in the interior of my car. The smell of rich leather mixing with her addictive perfume.

Glittering lights of the high-rise buildings shine on her stunning face as she twists in her seat to face me. Her tongue swipes along her lower lip whenever she’s deep in thought as my words register in her overthinking brain.

“They’re not as bad as you think, Dash,” she counters with a frown. “We can’t have another scene like last time.”

My expression tightens at the cavalier way she speaks, like it’s a common occurrence. “Standing up for you isn’t making a scene. I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

It’s her who soothes my rising anger by caressing my hand until I relax marginally. “Just try to get along with them. Please, for me?”

“As long as they don’t upset you, I will.”

Knowing it’s as much control as I’ll budge, she acquiesces and turns to gaze out the passenger window. We stop at a red light and I can’t resist sneaking another glance at her curled hair framing her face and the delicate slope of her neck to the sight of her cleavage taunting me with the swell of her full and luscious tits.

Wearing a demure floral dress, she still looks like a sinful angel I crave to corrupt with my devious desires. It had taken all my restraint not to fuck her as soon as we were announced husband and wife, and then later when she strolled out of the closet.

“Is your sister’s boyfriend coming tonight?” I ask, speeding when the light turns green.

“Arya said Aryan will be there.”

“How much have you told Arya about us?”

“Not much more than what my parents know.” A cute scowl mars her features as she reveals in a not-so-nonchalant tone, “Although, she knows more about you than I do and she didn’t even have to google your name.”

My lips tug to the side as I detect the underlying note of jealousy and I hide it by rubbing my jaw. “Impossible, kitten.”

“Umm, yes. She does.” She scoffs. “Even religiously follow every article written about you.”

Another red light and I turn to her, capturing her chin in my hand as I put an end to all her useless doubts. Hell, she knows more about me from the last month than Justin does after knowing me since we were teenagers.

“She doesn’t know that you make me weak in the knees just by merely existing. She doesn’t know I feel more alive with you in a single breath than I have my entire life.” Staring into her hooded eyes, I rasp, “She doesn’t know my favorite flavor is the taste of your lips and my favorite pastime is making you blush. Or that even though I only had you once, you’re the best I ever had. You, kitten, are the only one to witness the weakest part of me. So, yeah, you couldn’t be more wrong if you thought there’s another person on this planet who could know me better than you do.”

Leaving her stunned and speechless for the first time, I drive into the traffic once more. A brief glance shows me the pink color darkening her cheeks and trailing down to her chest, making me wonder just where it ends.

Another half hour later, we reach her childhood residence that is nothing less than a lavish mansion in a big, gated community. There’s a big circular driveway we round as soon as the guard at the entrance lets us in. It’s another glaring reminder of our polar opposite upbringing. Ironic how we still bear the same emotional scars.

Bianca wrings her hands in her lap, betraying her nerves as she gazes ahead.

Unlocking the car, I slide out and round the hood to the passenger seat before opening her door. Her head tilts as soft eyes meet mine and I offer her a reassuring hand, more than happy to be her strength. I can see the thoughts running rampant in her pretty little head as she prepares to reveal our surprise wedding.

If I were a better man, I would feel guilty for not waiting until tomorrow and for putting her in this position. However, the thought of going another day without completely making her mine left a sour taste in my mouth.

I also wouldn’t lie that I needed the control that I felt slipping when I revealed another memory to her last night back into my life. It brought back old, vulnerable feelings I prefer to keep buried.

Her small hand wraps in mine and I hold it tight as I lead us to the front door. Before we can knock, it opens with a flourish by none other than her mother, who has a fake smile perched on her lips. I take it for the red flag it is and put my guard up while Bianca is none the wiser. She’s as impeccably dressed as though she’s hosting a party, not a simple dinner.

“Hi, Mom.” The love in Bianca’s voice is unmistakable, filled with longing.

“Here I was waiting for you to cancel yet again.”

My shoulders tense at the taunt delivered in a sickly sweet tone but she’s not fooling anybody. She purposefully ignores my presence, like that could offend me. So I don’t greet her either. She would need to have my respect first before anything she does bothers me. Bianca squeezes my hand, sensing my darkening mood without even looking.

“I told you we weren’t in the city,” replies Bianca.

Her mom purses her lips. “Where were you?”

“Are you going to let us in first?”

As soon as we enter, I hear footsteps before a girl with a bright and excited smile rounds the corner and immediately, I recognize her as Bianca’s little sister, Arya. Her boyfriend, Aryan, trails closely behind with undying devotion lightening his eyes that he has locked on his bubbly girlfriend.

“Bee!” she screams in a singsong voice while running toward Bianca with open arms, as though they are meeting after ages.

Instantly, my wife’s entire face lights up like the Fourth of July as she braces for the impact of her hug. I have to steady her hips so they don’t tumble to the floor. My eyes lock with Aryan over their shoulders and he has the same amusement dancing in his gaze at our girls.

“I missed you so much, Ari.”

“I can’t believe you went to Paris without me.” Arya pouts.

“In her defense, she didn’t know either,” I answer for Bianca, whose cheeks tinge with wicked memories I’m remembering as well. I focus my attention on Arya and introduce myself politely, “I’m Dash. Bianca’s told me lots of things about you.”

“I’m Arya. So nice to finally meet you, jiju,” she says, wiggling her eyes mischievously at Bianca, who blushes even harder than I thought possible at the last word. She’s going to turn into a tomato at this rate. “Although, I’m upset she kept you hidden from me.”

“Again, not her fault,” I tease and circle Bianca’s waist from behind. “In her words, I’m clingy so I steal all her time.”

Arya’s features soften in awe as I play the doting husband. I have to stifle a laugh when Bianca stomps on my foot in a warning. But I’m having too much fun to resist riling her up. Sadly, she has no choice but to play along.

“You two are the cutest.”

“We’re not,” protests Bianca. I mouth over her head “we are” which makes Arya laugh. Bianca glances at me suspiciously. “Did you deny it?”

“I wouldn’t dare, wifey.” I tap her scrunched nose.

The energy in the room shifts in a hot flash as soon as her mother reappears again and speaks, “Come on, girls, your father is waiting. Both of you can gossip later.”

Arya and her boyfriend are none the wiser of the tension between Mrs. Chopra and me. This is going to be one long, agonizing dinner if her husband doesn’t have a better mood. I tell myself I’m doing this for Bianca and strangely for the other couple, who couldn’t look more in love as their eyes keep meeting every few seconds.

The girls walk hand in hand ahead of us while Aryan matches his steps with mine. He’s nothing like I predicted with his nerdy glasses, an untucked button-down shirt, and denim jeans. I’m shocked he’s even allowed in the vicinity of Arya by her strict father. The man wouldn’t let just anybody near his daughter.

Aryan’s handshake is firm as he introduces himself. His tone jovial as he smiles, “Welcome to the family.”

If only the matriarch of the family felt the same.

Or the truth about Bianca’s sacrifice for his future.

Veer Chopra is still as intimidating as ever with the rigid set of his jaw and a few more frown lines than the last time I saw him. He pockets his phone he was reading from before smiling affectionately at his two daughters. A far better greeting than the one Bianca received by her passive-aggressive mother.

I hide my shock and steel my spine when he approaches me next and offers his hand that I take in a firm handshake. I’ll bet all my net worth he did his due diligence on me, deciding I’m worthy of his elder daughter.

“Dash.” His voice is smooth.

“Mr. Chopra. Thanks for inviting us,” I reply, putting aside my pride to make a genuine effort. After all, everything rides on him and I would never jeopardize anything for Bianca, if I can help it. “I would like to start fresh.”

“Let’s have a chat before dinner,” he declares. “I want to know all about the man my daughter has fallen in love with.”

My gut says he knows plenty and it impressed him enough to change his tune. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to step inside his home. I’m just waiting to hear what his view is regarding the nasty rumors surrounding me.

He turns to Aryan next, which gives me an excuse to walk to Bianca’s side, who has her inquisitive gaze pinned on us instead of listening to what Arya is saying to her.

“What did he say?” she questions the moment I’m in front of her.

I cup the back of her neck and place a soft kiss on her forehead comfortingly. Instantly, she relaxes and sways into my body. “Nothing for you to worry about.”