by KASI, MV
She felt pretty hot and bothered, with adrenaline coursing through her body in a wild rush. She wanted to grab him right then, and take him to secluded place, so she could do a lot of unspeakable things to him.
But unfortunately, she had to wait while he completed the scene.
He slid of the horse and held the reins while he slowly walked towards an actress who was watching him with a similar dazed look as others.
"Cut!" shouted the director.
"Ma'am, you need to look angry and hurt, not watch him with that...however you are watching him right now," he told the actress.
They had to retake the scene. Five times. Until the actress finally had the right kind of look on her face. And then, they had to retake the next scene because the actress forgot her lines and she was reciting them in a breathless way rather than with angst.
Srishti couldn't blame the poor girl.
She also didn't realize how long it took to actually shoot a single scene, or how patient the actors needed to be. Rana was sweating in the heat and he had to repeat the scene until the actress got the right look on her face along with the right dialogues.
Between the takes, he was smiling at the actress in a reassuring manner, trying to make her comfortable around him. Finally when the movie director was satisfied with the take, they decided to wrap up for the day.
The crowd went crazy when Rana passed by them.
"I love you Rana!" a woman shouted.
He smiled. "I love you too, sweetheart," he told her.
The crowd went hysterical, followed by more high-pitched I love yous.
He blew them kisses, but when he turned away from them and continued heading towards where rest of the crew were present, Srishti could see the slightly embarrassed look on his face by all the adoration.
When his eyes fell on her, he looked surprised.
"Hey, you were able to make it," he greeted her with a smile.
"Sorry, I was late. A call," she explained.
"No problem. I'm just glad you were able to make it. Come, let me introduce you to the crew," he said.
For the next few minutes, he introduced her to everyone as a 'good friend' whom he knew since childhood.
She responded to their curious stares with a cool nod and a polite smile.
Soon, he began to take her towards his RV to shower and change.
"So babe, are we still on for the dinner plans?" he asked.
"I want you for dinner," she said, trying to sound sexy, but it sounded odd to her ears.
But as usual, he seemed to think it was sexy, because his eyes grew hot and he dragged her quickly towards his RV that she had to break into a run to keep up.
But unfortunately they were interrupted by a fan.
"Hi Rana," the woman smiled.
The woman in front of her was dressed to the nines in a short evening dress, high heels and perfectly made up face. She looked like she was about to attend a high-society party.
Rana's face closed up and he had a slightly hardened look on his face. "Miss Reddy," he acknowledged.
The woman laughed huskily. "Call me Sweety, Rana. Everyone already knows we are such close and intimate...friends," she said.
Crap. Sweety Reddy. The woman who had been spreading rumors that she and Rana were an item, and that he dumped her after promising her marriage.
The same woman whose father had been threatening Rana with bodily harm. Until it was proven to him that his daughter was no sweet virgin who was tricked by a callous man.
Rana's cousin had told Srishti about how the investigators were able to prove that the Sweety Reddy had two ex-boyfriends with whom she had been similarly obsessed with. One of them luckily had a restraining order on her. That document was enough for the woman's father to lay off Rana.
But unfortunately, the woman didn't seem to be fazed by it.
"Who is this?" the woman asked, looking at Srishti from top to bottom, taking in her jeans and a t-shirt and giving her a dismissive look.
"I'm Srishti." Moving deliberately much closer to Rana, "His fiancée," she added.
At that, the woman's eyes snapped back to Srishti's face with a shocked look.
"Fiancée?" The woman shook her head in denial. "No way can that be possible!"
"Oh? And why not?" Rana asked.
"Because you are mine! And we are soul mates. According to my astrologer, we will get married in three months and we will have three children within three years."
Srishti burst out laughing. She couldn't help it.
"What's so funny?" Sweety Reddy demanded.
"My fiancée is laughing because for the nonsense you spouted to happen, I should first agree to marry you or even touch you voluntarily," he said.
Sweety had a hurt look on her face. Then glancing briefly at Srishti, she looked at Rana with an imploring look. "I know what I did was wrong, but I did it out of love. Ours is the pure kind of love that started as the joining of two souls, even if our bodies haven't joint together yet."
"How touching," Srishti interrupted. "Don't want to sound too crass, but you'll have to excuse us. I need to join my body with my fiancé's right now. He's made me quite hot with the scene he just shot," she said, holding Rana's hand and walked away from the deranged woman.
Rana chuckled as he opened the RV door and let Srishti inside.
"So you are quite hot for me, are you?" he teased.
And when he saw the intent look on her face, his own smile disappeared.
"We could have a great time right here in my RV. Naked," he said huskily.
"Is that right?" she asked, letting out a slow exhale as he ran his hands over her clothed body.
"Mmm...hmm. One of the fantasies I had of you. You naked on the narrow RV bed, forced to share the confined space with me while I lay on top of you," he said, kissing the corner of her lips and moving his lips over her jaw and then her ear.
She shivered. "That sounds...nice," she said with a small moan.
"Nice?" He let out a choked laugh. "Believe me, the way my fantasy went, it was a hell lot better than nice."
She clutched his shoulders. "Want to know a secret fantasy of mine?" she whispered.
"If it involves you getting naked. Then yes."
She smiled wickedly at him. "I've always wanted you to not touch me while I have my way with you. In a shower."
His eyes heated up.
"But if you rather go towards the narrow bed there—"
"No! Let's get to your fantasy first." Taking her hand, he dragged her towards the shower in the RV which was surprisingly big enough for both of them to fit comfortably.
Excitement and possessiveness filled her as he slowly removed his jeans and then shirt.
Next, he quickly removed her clothes and drew them inside the shower cubicle and turned on the taps.
After washing each other with soap and water, she turned towards him.
"Remember the rules. No touching me," she said.
He nodded and held his hands to his sides as warm water fell on his broad shoulders.
"I love your body," she whispered, admitting it out loud. "Especially your abs."
She began raking her nails gently on his muscled pecs and abs while he hissed out a breath.
"Do you like being touched this way?" she asked.
"God. Yes!"
She laughed softly. And then, moving closer to him, she flicked her tongue over his nipple, making him thunk his head back against the shower tiles.
Watching him, she slowly sank to her knees.
The part of him that was already hard, jerked in anticipation.
"There is something I wanted to do to you for a while. Especially today, while watching you shirtless and handling that horse, I was desperate to do it right there."
"I'm yours baby. Do anything you want," he said hoarsely.
He groaned as she continued kissing.
Then he yelped in surprise when she sank her teeth into his sexy butt from the side.
S
he grabbed his hips and continued taking small bites around his tight muscled butt.
When she moved in front of him, he groaned out a laugh. "I hope you got that biting thing out of your system for now.
She smiled wickedly. "No more biting tonight. I promise," she said and held him, stroking him.
Over the next few minutes, she made him call out to the deity, quite a lot of times.
"Wait!" he grated, and then breaking the rule, he held her shoulders and pulled her up.
"Time for my fantasy now," he said, dragging them out, not bothering to dry them.
He dropped her on the bed.
"Hurry!" she ordered him, feeling restless.
"Shit! I don't have a condom," he said.
"In my handbag. Inside the zip," she instructed, pointing to her bag outside.
He stared at her for a couple of seconds.
"I came prepared," she said, eying him hungrily.
He grinned wickedly. "I love a well prepared woman," he said.
"Hurry!"
He was back in under a minute.
"Now!" she shouted, trying to grab him.
"Slow down, Srishti," he groaned and laughed. "Or it will be over before I can satisfy you."
"You are already satisfying me. I just want to feel you inside me right now."
At her words, he joined them together, making them both groan loudly, and then he started moving.
"More," she gasped and panted. "Give me more."
"Slow down woman!"
"More!"
"Ah hell," he groaned and then he snapped. He clutched her hips and pounded into her, racing towards the finish line.
When she closed her eyes to get lost in the feeling, he called her name.
"Srishti, open your eyes," he gritted. And when she did, the eye contact added more to the intimacy like always.
It hit her like a punch.
His gaze was possessive and tender at the same time.
Her throat tightened. "Rana—God. I'm going to—"
"I know, baby—" His voice was tight and strained. "Me too—"
That was all they managed to communicate verbally, until they both exploded in a series of shudders.
Vaguely, she heard him roar out her name before the roaring of her own blood in her ears overtook everything.
When it was over, he slumped against her and turned them, so she was lying on top of him, both of them breathing like they ran a race. Which they sort of did.
After a while, she slowly stirred and then lifted her head from his shoulder.
Her hair fell messily all over them, until her lifted a hand to tuck it behind her ears.
"That was very...nice," she told him with a naughty smile.
In answer, he smacked her on her bare ass, making her laugh and hug him tight.
"What did I tell you about me not liking men who smack women's asses?" she taunted him, reminding him of the first night of their holiday.
He grinned. "Oh I remember that. And I also remember telling you that if the right man smacks your ass in the right way, it will be a lot of...fun."
She raised her nose in a deliberately haughty manner. "Prove it."
"Not here. Let's get out of here and back to my place, so I can start all over and prove a lot of other things."
And so they wore back their clothes hurriedly, wanting to rush back home.
When they stepped out of the RV, most of the crowd had dispersed, and they could walk out calmly without being intercepted by his fans.
And after they reached his house, they forgot all about dinner plans...
Much later that night while he showered again, she rifled through his fridge, looking for something easy to fix, and decided on cucumber sandwiches again. It was practically all she knew to cook.
"Is the fire extinguisher handy?" Rana joked, joining her in the kitchen.
She flipped the sandwich with the spatula and then pointed her middle finger up at him.
"What a sweet, loving gesture my dear fiancée. You are the most domesticated woman I know," he teased.
Turning off the stove, she brought a heap of sandwiches towards him and they sat in his elegant kitchen with a huge granite breakfast counter.
He began devouring them. "Next time, show me how to make them," he said with a mouthful.
She nodded and then smiled at his obvious enjoyment.
"When did you learn to cook?" she asked him curiously. He came from a well-to-do family with maids and cooks on demand, so it was hard picturing him taking the time to learn cooking.
"When I didn't have the money to eat out frequently," he answered when he finally devoured three more sandwiches.
"You didn't have enough money?" she asked in surprise even as he stole one from her hands.
"Yeah. After I told my father I wasn't going to pursue the career of a doctor, I left home. My mother and relatives offered to help, but I wanted to make it on my own. Which meant working part-time jobs, taking whatever roles I had been offered initially. I didn't make enough money to afford both rent and restaurant meals. One of my friends who had offered me a room to stay in was an upcoming chef. He offered to teach me and I took up his offer."
He also proceeded to tell her about his life when he was a struggling actor and how he camped outside his favorite actor's house to meet him.
She laughed at some of his outrageous stories and was quite proud of how much he had achieved after all those struggles.
"So what about you? Who was your idol in the entertainment industry?" he asked.
"I don't quite watch movies or T.V. But growing up, I had five idols," she grinned at him and named the singers of a boy band.
His jaw dropped. "Oh no. Someone please tell me, the great Miss Shah was not into boy bands!"
She grinned. "I was so into them that my parents would beg me or bribe me, just to change the playlist or turn down the volume in my room. And when I was fourteen, my uncle's wife had taken me to their concert in London, and I almost got us both arrested when I tried to rush up on the stage declaring my love to all of them."
Listening to that, he threw his head back and roared out laughing.
She smiled. "I know," she said. "I was so obsessed with them that I wanted to marry all five of them. And I would even try to reason with my parents that Draupadi was allowed to have five husbands, so why couldn't I?"
"I seriously can't picture you being like that," he chuckled.
"Why not?"
"Because you are so serious and driven all the time. When I picture you in your teens, I imagine you reading textbooks for fun. When we were in school together, you always topped the class."
She smiled wryly. "Yeah, I did read the text books for fun, but I also made sure I had time for my boy bands and music. The loud music was background during my studying."
"When did it all change?" he asked her, watching her face very keenly.
She shrugged. "It wasn't because of a dramatic life changing event or anything. It was a gradual change. I guess there is a price one has to pay when growing up in luxury. I always felt I didn't deserve anything because everything was handed out to me so easily. So I always felt the need to work much harder to deserve the respect and place I wanted. I wanted to show my family that I could make them proud by following their entrepreneurial footsteps. I still feel the same way, but now I also want it for myself," she admitted.
"I like the driven and ambitious part of you," he said.
And just like that, instead of that statement soothing her fears, some of her doubts rushed back.
She almost wanted to tell him, 'you like it for now. Wait until you get sick of me missing dates or simply blanking out during a date.'
Rana and she had been going out only for a few months. Even though they were pretending to their families that it would eventually lead to an engagement, she sometimes wondered whether they could really have a future together.
She loved being with him. It was easy being with him, easier than it had been
when she was with Gaurav. Rana had an extremely busy life too and he understood when they couldn't sometimes see each other for days at a stretch.
But was it only a matter of time he'd get sick of her and dump her?
"You are thinking," he said, leaving their empty plate on the counter and pulling her into his arms.
"I'm not allowed to think?" she whispered, clinging to him.
"Not when I'm seeing you after a long drought and finally have you with me," he said. "And you need to assure me that you have gotten over your fetish of wanting five husbands. I won't be able to explain it to my parents."
She snorted out a laugh.
God, he was amazing. He was funny, understanding and so damn sexy.
She wanted to kiss and tell him that she was falling hard for him and wanted more.
But all she did was twine her fingers through his and let him guide her back to his bedroom.
CHAPTER 25
Srishti was perched on the granite countertop of her bathroom, watching Rana shave. There was something very sexy about watching him shave his perfect jaw while he wore nothing but a snowy white towel around his hips.
"Stop watching me like you want to lick me like a lollipop," he teased.
"Why?" she asked, running a finger on his now smooth jaw.
"Because we have to be at the award function in an hour and that look will definitely make us very late, if not miss it entirely."
She smiled. "You are such a tease. Why display the goods when they are not available?" she teased.
"They are definitely available. But later tonight. Now off you go. Get ready!" He pulled her off the countertop and swatted her bottom.
She laughed and went into her closet to take out a dress he had gifted her for the awards ceremony. It was a simple ankle length, deep red, lacy dress with wide neck that bared her shoulders and neck.
He had one of his costume designer friends pick it in the last minute because until that morning, she didn't know for sure whether or not she could make it to the awards ceremony.
Slipping into the dress, that fit her well, she began to apply make-up. She could see him in the mirror of his dresser while he wore a deep blue ethnic suit that made him look majestic.