“She works from home, periamma.” Vivek wondered if she should feel sorry for Ranjini. How was she going to manage living in the same house as Maragadham periamma? He knew she was spunky and could hold her own. But periamma could be vicious when she chose and he could see that the old lady was quite cut up with her nephew’s sudden wedding to a complete stranger, without informing anyone. Vivek sighed, giving a mental shrug. If anyone could deal with Maragadham, it was Chandrakanth.
8
Chandrakanth woke Ranjini up with a kiss on her cheek. “Wake up, lazybones, it’s almost ten.” There was laughter in his voice as he brushed a rough hand over his wife’s head.
“What?!” Ranjini woke up with a start, a dazed look in her eyes. “Are you sure? I still feel so groggy.” She turned on her side, placed her head on his thigh and shut her eyes, hugging his leg. “This is so comfy.”
“I’m sure. Would you like some coffee? I’m craving to have some. I can get cosy along with you after that,” he tempted.
“Do you want me to get the coffee?” Ranjini opened her eyes in a half-slit, not at all keen to get up as she stretched her limbs luxuriously like a cat. She wasn’t too keen on the idea of playing a domesticated wife. But well, if circumstances called for it, she would probably have to rise to it.
“No, you goose. I already brought the coffee with me.” Chandrakanth salivated as he watched his wife’s bare shoulders peeping out from under the comforter. Their lovemaking had been nothing short of explosive the previous night. They had made love twice, but he was already ready for an encore.
“You don’t say!” Ranjini sat up with a jerk, throwing her arms around Chandrakanth’s neck, kissing him on his lips. “You’re my saviour.” She moved back an inch, totally unconscious of her nudity as she asked him cheekily, “Are you trying to win my heart, maybe?” She batted her eyelashes at him.
Chandrakanth gave her an arrogant look, the heat in his gaze appearing quite contradictory. “Are you saying that it doesn’t already belong to me? Not even after last night?” A dark eyebrow rose up to touch the lock of hair that fell on his forehead as he lazily explored her curves with his eyes, satisfied to see her breast tips going hard as pebbles. How he wanted to take them into his mouth! But he decided to wait, curious to know what surprises Ranjini had in store for him. Oh, she was innovative and completely unfettered in bed.
“Hmm...” Ranjini eyed him, a finger on her pouting lips. “Maybe I need a reminder.” She fell on him, pressing her lips to his, catching his lower lip between her teeth and sucking on it.
He crushed her in his arms, his hand cupping her bottom as he lifted her into his lap, thoroughly relishing the way she explored the shape of his lips with her tongue and teeth.
“I like the way you woke me up,” she said approvingly, her black eyes dancing with mischief. “I’ve never come awake so fast, not without coffee.”
“Talking of coffee, shall we have some before we carry on? I could do with a boost in energy.” His hands traced her silky back in a lazy caress, her breasts crushed against his iron hard chest.
“Don’t tell me you went jogging?” Ranjini looked at him in surprise, her eyes wide. He must have barely slept.
“Guilty.” Chandrakanth winked at her. “I am wide awake at five in the morning, whatever time I go to sleep.”
“Hmm...” A wary look entered Ranjini’s gaze as she looked into his face. “Will you expect me to be up at that time too?” She hoped their marriage wouldn’t fall apart before it began. She liked her husband, a lot, especially his lovemaking. He was thorough and was sensitive to her needs. But she just wasn’t meant for early mornings.
“What?” Chandrakanth frowned. “Where did that come from? I want you for my wife, as my partner. I don’t need a doormat,” he said firmly.
“Hey!” Ranjini pressed her lips to his cheek, before shifting her attention to his ear as she traced the shape with her tongue. “I think I am going to fall in love with you.”
“You’d better,” he growled, groaning when he felt her nip his earlobe. “Let go, woman. I need my morning cuppa.”
“More than you need me?” She tilted her head sideways to give him a saucy look.
“At this moment, yes.” He gave her a hard kiss before lifting his head. “Unless you will be satisfied with a half-baked performance?”
Ranjini laughed, turning around to sit on his lap, her back against his chest. “I can’t imagine you ever giving one, on screen or in bed.”
It was blissful as she sipped the coffee that Chandrakanth had brought along with him in a flask, sitting in the cocoon of his arms. He confessed to have already had breakfast too.
Ranjini placed her coffee cup on the side table and turned to her husband. “Now that you have had a chance to boost your energy, will you love me?”
“Nope.” He shook his head as he slid down the bed and lay against a pillow, his hands under his head. “I want you to make love to me.” His voice was a soft growl.
Ranjini chortled with glee. “You mean it?” When he nodded his head, she sat on his stomach, lifting his hands to place them on her breasts. “I’d love that.”
She was like a kid in a candy store, revelling in the freedom of touching all that bare skin—oh, she had insisted on undressing him, driving him crazy as she tortured him by setting a tortoise pace, kissing and biting every inch of his skin as it revealed in front of her eyes. But Chandrakanth had never enjoyed making love as much as he did with his wife that morning.
“So?” She lay in his arms, completely satiated, as she traced a finger over his hair-roughened chest. “Did I pass muster?”
“Hmm...” He opened his eyes a slit to look down at her, “let me see. We probably need to repeat that a few million times before I can be sure.”
Ranjini hit him with a small fist before burying her face in his chest. While his words had been teasing, it was the expression on his face that told her how much he had enjoyed being made love to by his new wife. Oh yes, she was falling for her husband for sure.
It was a few minutes before Chandrakanth placed a finger against her chin to lift her face up to his. “Ranju, we won’t have time for a honeymoon since I’ve already used up the few days of leave that I had. We’ll definitely have one as soon as I can manage to take a few more days off. But I can’t really promise when.” He pressed his lips to her forehead. “I’d love to take off into the blue with you, but I have too many commitments just now.” His voice was a throaty whisper but completely unapologetic.
“You know something? I’m glad to hear that. I have back-to-back client meetings and assignments. I was actually worrying how I was going to refuse if you had a trip planned for us.” Ranjini gave him a grin. “I’m so glad that we aren’t going anywhere just now. I hope you’ll give me a couple of days’ notice before we take off anytime?” She looked deeply into his eyes.
“I can try.” He winked at her, earning another punch from that small fist. Turning serious once again, he said, “We’ll leave for Chennai early morning tomorrow. We can...”
“Early? How early will that be?” Ranjini grimaced.
CK brushed her hair back from her forehead. “I promise not to let you lose sleep. I suppose you’re like a growly bear if you don’t get your eight hours...”
“Growly bear!” Ranjini pouted at him. “I’ll show you growly bear. I...” She took bites off him, wherever she could reach. “This bear bites.”
Chandrakanth roared with laughter, not bothering to fend her off, revelling in her aggression.
They went to Vrindavan that evening to have dinner with Ranjini’s parents and sister. Parvathi dragged her eldest born into the kitchen in the pretext of helping her prepare dinner. Cupping Ranjini’s cheek, she asked, “Are you happy Ranju? Is Chandrakanth treating you well? It really hit your father and me only after we returned home after your wedding. Everything happened so fast. We were so much in awe of the man that we agreed to the marriage immediately. We never thought how it migh
t affect you. Are you...?”
“Mom.” Ranjini pressed a hand to her mother’s mouth to stop the anxious flow of words. “I’m very happy. Chandru treats me like a queen. And remember, you and dad didn’t push me into this marriage. I agreed to marry him and only after that did he speak to you guys. Don’t worry, mom. I’m going to have a wonderful life with Chandru.”
Parvathi gave her daughter a relieved smile. “I know it was really foolish of me to worry after the event. But still...”
“But then, Chandru swept not just me, but all of us off our feet, didn’t he?” Ranjini laughed. It was so true actually.
“Did I hear my name being bandied about?” Chandrakanth walked into the kitchen, already missing his wife in the few minutes she had spent with her mother in private. He placed an arm around Ranjini’s waist and asked, “What’s up?”
“Mom was worried that she and dad had got me wedded to the only man who had dared to ask for my hand.” She ignored her mother who was trying hard to shush her, continuing with her tongue firmly in cheek, “I told her clearly that you fell for me the moment you set eyes on me. And...”
“I did?”
Colour gushed up Parvathi’s cheeks at the expression on her son-in-law’s face as she switched the gas stove off in a hurry before fleeing out of the kitchen.
Neither of them really noticed Ranjini’s mother leaving as they were too absorbed in their own cocoon. “You did fall for me the moment you saw me,” declared Ranjini, looking into his hot brown gaze. “Why would you propose marriage otherwise the very first moment you got me alone? You went on your knee too, remember?” She winked at him before reaching out to kiss him on his chin.
Without giving her a reply, Chandrakanth turned his attention to her lips and crushed them under his own. When they finally came up for air, “How the hell am I supposed to manage without a honeymoon?” he grumbled.
Ranjini buried her blushing face in his chest, hugging him close. It was some time before she realised that they were in the kitchen, keeping Parvathi from getting dinner ready. She raised her head to ask him, “Do you want a ride on my scooty? I’ll be in the driver’s seat, of course.” She was firm about that.
“You ride a scooty?” he asked, holding her hand as she pulled him out of the kitchen.
“Yep. I bought it four years ago with my first salary.” There was obvious pride in Ranjini’s voice.
“Let’s go then.”
“Mom, I’m taking Chandru for a spin on my scooty. We’ll see you soon.” Ranjini called out to her mother before they walked out of the cottage.
She unlocked the scooty with the keys that she had tucked in her jeans pocket and gunned the engine, settling in the front. She threw him a helmet before wearing hers.
“You’ll be careful nah? I’m just twenty-nine and haven’t seen much of life. And there are so many movies that I still have to make and that many awards to win. I...” His eyes danced while the expression on his face was dead serious.
“Oh really?! So much for your spirit of adventure.” She pouted at him. “Don’t tell me you’re scared!” Her midnight eyes challenged his molten chocolate gaze.
With an exaggerated sigh, Chandrakanth sat pillion, throwing his arms around her waist and hugging her close to his chest. “Go on then. Let’s get this out of the way.” He earned a punch on his arm for those words as Ranjini took off.
Chandrakanth was impressed despite himself as Ranjini drove down the hilly roads confidently, manoeuvring the hairpin bends with ease. It was not that he was worried about the ride because she was a woman. Just that Chandrakanth wasn’t a fan of two-wheelers.
It was almost an hour later when they re-entered the gates of Vrindavan and Ranjini parked the scooty, removing her helmet to look at Chandrakanth, her right eyebrow up in query. “What’s the verdict?”
He hugged her, pressing his lips to a silky cheek. “I’m glad you’re mine.”
Ranjini had been noticing a pattern here. Chandrakanth never paid her straightforward compliments, not in the week she had known him. But she still felt cherished. That must be some feat. Oh yeah! That was the Scorpio in him. She gave him a mysterious smile before walking ahead of him into the house.
Chandrakanth was curious about the smile. He’d get to the bottom of it before long, he told himself, unaware of how secretive a nature his Pisces wife possessed.
9
It was past ten the next morning when Ranjini opened her eyes. She sat up with a jerk when she realised that she was lying on a sofa and not in her bed, clutching her comforter close. She moved it away and noticed to her relief that she was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Phew! Where was she? She slowly became aware of the noise of an engine. And where was Chandrakanth?
“Chandru?”
“Hey!”
She turned to look behind her, in the direction of his voice. He was sitting on a comfortable single sofa, a laptop in front of him.
“Where are we? And what’s that noise? Are we travelling?” But they couldn’t be. She was sitting on a long, wide sofa that could comfortably seat three giants. She couldn’t think of any car that could accommodate that.
Chandrakanth grinned. “Yeah, we’re in my plane, on our way to Chennai.”
“What?” Ranjini jumped to her feet, before going on her knees on the sofa, pressing her nose to a window, giving the fluffy white clouds against an azure blue sky a startled look. “But how?”
“Come here.”
“Huh?!” Ranjini forcefully dragged her eyes from the window to look at her husband who was stretching his arms above his head.
“I want a good morning kiss.”
“But Chandru...” She looked around the cabin to see that they were alone. Phew again!
“Ranju.”
“Okay.” She got off her sofa and walked to him, only to be pulled into his lap as he kissed her deeply.
Chandrakanth lifted his head to look down at the confusion on her face. “Now ask me your questions. Unless you want some coffee first?” He gave her a mischievous smile.
“Please.”
He raised his hand to press a button overhead.
“Are you calling a steward or whatever?” Ranjini tried to get off his lap. “Let me go. What if...?”
“What if what?” His brown gaze roved over her tousled hair.
“Chandru, please.”
With a soft smile, he said, “The washroom’s through that door.”
Ranjini ran in the direction of his pointing finger just as someone knocked on the cabin door, Chandrakanth’s laughter following her. She shut herself into a huge bathroom fit for a king, her mouth wide open as she stared at her reflection thrown up by a wall-to-wall mirror. Didn’t planes come with minuscule toilets?
She walked out of the bathroom in a few minutes to see that coffee had been served. She had hers swiftly, before asking, “Is there a way to get to my luggage?”
A raised eyebrow was the only answer from her silent husband.
“I’d like to change into something better than what I’m wearing. I’m sure we’re going to meet your fans at the airport.” Though Ranjini had never experienced it first hand, she was quite familiar with how it worked. It was a wonder that not many people had chased Chandrakanth in Kotagiri. But then, he had always moved around in the early mornings or travelled by his Scorpio to high-end hotels, escaping being mobbed.
“You have a point there.” He got up to remove one of her suitcases from the overhead cabinet and place it on a table. “Here you go. Or do you want the other one too?”
“No, this is perfect.” Ranjini smiled at him. “How long before landing?”
Chandru looked at his watch and said, “Forty-five minutes.”
“Perfect. I’ll see you soon.”
He blocked her way and asked, “Will I do?”
Ranjini stared at him. Was he joking? He was always turned out perfectly and she couldn’t but help admire him for it. “Are you by any chance fishing for compliments?” Ra
njini tilted her head to look up at him, wiggling her eyebrows.
“Maybe.”
Placing her hands on her hips, Ranjini stepped back to run her eyes over him from the top of his sleek head to his feet encased in dark brown leather shoes. He was wearing well-pressed cotton trousers in fawn, teamed with a collarless, button down, full-sleeved, white, superfine cotton shirt. A matching fawn-coloured, linen jacket was lying on the back of the sofa next to where he had been sitting. His hair was neatly brushed back. She knew by now that he didn’t wear make-up unless he had to go in front of a camera.
A mischievous grin on her face, Ranjini reached out to tousle his hair by running her hand from front to back, saying “Now you look perfect,” earning a hard pat on her bottom for her effort, before he kissed her deeply.
Scorpio Superstar (Written in the Stars Book 1) Page 6