"I am giving you my pinky promise", she said and extended her Pinky finger in his direction.

He stood there all bemused because of her childish innocence. Her face looked all angelic and divine to him. And that smile of hers and that dimple that played on her cheeks, he could wage wars for them.

"What I am gonna do with you Akira?", he mumbled and came closer.

With every step of his as he was closing into her periphery, he had a behemothian task surmounted on his head. He had to channel out all his energy to focus on anything else possible in that room apart from her.

"Ok, then tell me exactly where else you were hurt when you took a fall?", he asked.

"A bit on my shoulder and a bit on my ankle", Akira said sheepishly.

Then without a warning, his hands straddled her waist and he hoisted her up on the kitchen counter. He came so alarmingly close that Akira was about to scream.

"Oiiii, what are you doing?", she asked.

"What do you think am I doing?", he said giving her an annoyed look and kneeled down to check her ankle.

"It's just a bruise and it has healed very fast. See", she said and before he could inspect any further she removed her heels and turned her foot to the side so that he could see her almost healed bruise easily.

He held her foot very delicately in his palms and ran his fingers with a touch that made her shiver.

"Stop it!!! It tickles", she said all embarrassed.

He smiled in his head knowing that her feet were erogenous. He buckled her shoe back on her foot and then he slowly got up, his hands tracing her leg upwards till they reached hemline of her skirt. Eager to trace further, his hands itched, his veins throbbed and his heart exploded, but he commanded them to rest. He realized at that moment, he will never have enough of her.

She was rendered speechless by his reckless behavior. But how could she tell him to stop touching her like that when all that she wanted was his touch. She was rendered all breathless and it was all fascinating and new for her. The rising and falling waves of the warmth of his hand blurred all her abilities. She felt all helpless as his proximity increased. Her eyes struggled to keep themselves open like she had been drugged.

"Is this why they say love is like a drug", she wondered.

He rested his hands near her knee and leaned a bit further and said,

"So coming back to the deal, I need to know how truly you will stand by your words"

"You tell me how you want me to prove it?", she said struggling to gather her words and syllables.

"Fine"

"You are looking super pretty today", Raymond said unabashedly and started deep into her eyes.

"Huh... oh... ok", she started stammering.

He was amused to see her struggle with her words. After giving her a few seconds to recover he said in a complaining tone,

"See our friendship isn't working. I gave you a compliment, but what did I get back? Nothing. How is this working as per your so-called hypothesis?"

"Well ....Well, you always look dashing and I guess you get that a lot from others. So I didn't want to state the obvious", Akira said and made a quick escape.

He had clearly underestimated her. No wonder she was a smart one.

He looked at her for a while. His hands were inching closer and closer. A moment before they were resting on the sides of her knees and now they were slightly touching her. His thumb playing with her skin dangerously every now and then. He knew that he was voyaging into unknown territories, but that was totally not under his control.

"I am allergic to sandalwood smell, but I like lavender", he said and moved his nose close to the nape of her neck to take a waft of the faint lavender note. His senses got all muddled up with the soft smell of hers. His heart ached to touch her lips.

He immediately distanced himself from her and stood upright and said,

"There I gave you my secret, give me yours"

She straightened her head to be able to think straight and said,

"I hate it when people lie to me and I am a sucker for Lindt chocolates", she said and giggled a bit.

The moment she finished her statement, all sorts of naughty and raunchy thoughts started running in his head. He locked his eyes on hers again and said,

"Wait for me".

He brushed her nose gently with his index finger and went to his bedroom.

Akira's mind was boggling thinking about what just happened. She didn't know how and why she had started flirting back with him.

"Is any of this even real? What the hell is going on?", she thought in her head and pinched herself.

"I have something that I want to 'give' you", Raymond said focussing on the word 'give'.

He came close and took her palm in his and placed a Lindt on her hand. She saw the small ball of happiness in her hand and her eyes gleamed with happiness.

"This guy is so thoughtful", she thought and started unwrapping it quickly.

Just when she had put half of it in her mouth, she saw him move extremely close to her. His body completely leaning over hers and his face just inches away.

"I thought we were sharing", he said with a smirk on his face.

She couldn't understand and neither could she speak as her mouth was half filled. She just raised her eyebrows all surprised with his statement. But before she could act out, one of his arms had cupped her face and with another around her waist, she was pulled forward. The space between them had evaporated and all that was left was intimacy. His face was right there, his lips ready to steal away half of the treat.