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“That’s...that’s the role of a lifetime. And I have no doubt you’ll be absolutely fantastic at it, Mr. Raawal. With Virat in the director’s chair, the industry will see what you’re really made of.”
“Thank you for the vote of confidence, Ms. Menon. I wish my brother had the same confidence in me as you do.”
His husky whisper in her ear made Naina realize, that in all her excitement, she had got really close to him on the bed. The arc of heat between them was instantaneous. All-consuming. All the excitement about the project seemed to have found new sources inside both him and her.
There was a stillness to him that felt like it was tearing at the edges. As if it were a deceptive front and one word from her would fracture his façade. This close, she could see the slight curl to his hair, helped along by the moisture of the recent downpour. She wanted to reach out and push it back, and keep her fingers there.
Her gaze drifted to his mouth, as if it were her true north. As if she could still feel the soft, hot weight of his lips on hers. She could vividly remember the corded strength in his thighs, the rough dig of his fingers into her hips.
The sounds he’d made when he’d climaxed inside her... The memories all beat through her with a tempting force that shook her. In that minute, all she wanted was to climb fully onto the bed, push him back against the covers and beg him to kiss her again. To make love to her again. To make her feel as if she was the most desperately needed woman in the entire universe.
But she couldn’t.
Because he was her boss and she didn’t want to mess up this job. She was only just discovering how much she wanted to work in the film industry. And while she believed that he’d never harm her reputation or prospects in any way, a relationship between them had nowhere to go, except to crash and burn. He wasn’t a man who wanted marriage and babies and all the things she wanted.
There was no future for her with him.
Yes, Vikram Raawal was not the egotistic, privileged, arrogant ass she’d thought him at their first meeting. But he was still the superstar who had the reputation of breaking women’s hearts. The confirmed bachelor. The control freak. The man who absolutely didn’t believe in love or marriage.
But of course, she was tempted. She was more than tempted. With him, she’d been bold, beautiful, brazen even. She’d been a different Naina. She’d been a Naina she was proud of. But that Naina existed only in darkness and disguises. He was absolutely right about that.
Slowly, feeling as if she couldn’t trust her own limbs to follow her commands, she got up from the bed and walked toward the front cabin. “I can’t tell you how much this opportunity means to me, Mr. Raawal. I wouldn’t do anything that would jeopardize this. Not for anything.”
She didn’t wait to see if he understood. This thing between them...would just have to fizzle out. It had to stay a fantasy.
CHAPTER SEVEN
EVENAFTERTENdays,Naina still wasn’t used to the magical splendor of the island. She had never seen a blue like that of the ocean before. The small island was tiny with one main resort building in the middle and cozy two-bedroom villas interspersed around. Crystal-blue water floated as tiny wood walkways connected the villas and the main resort as if they were glinting sapphires on a beautiful necklace.
Though working sixteen to seventeen hours a day keeping up with the supercharged life of Vikram Raawal meant she’d barely had the chance to do anything more than take a quick glance at the stunning beauty around her.
Fifteen minutes during every morning’s catered breakfast—which was a veritable feast of North Indian, Continental and South Indian delicacies—sitting atop the veranda with a view of blue lagoons was still more than enough to fill her with a quiet sense of well-being she hadn’t had in a long time.
Lunch, an informal buffet served at the main villa, was usually a working affair. During dinner, the team often dispersed and she’d gotten into the habit of bringing something to her room to eat while she finished up the day’s communication.
She was sharing a villa with Vikram and the first morning, her main concern had been about stepping into the kitchen area and running into Vikram and his sexy masculinity before she’d even had the chance to have a cup of coffee. But by the time she’d showered and ventured out, he’d already left for the main villa. However late Naina stayed up during the evening, typing up notes, scheduling meetings and video calls for the next day, he worked later than her.
The team worked at the main villa with two bedrooms designated as workspaces for Vikram and Virat, who was still not here in person, although he had video-called several times. Vikram read the script nightly after Naina sent it to him and discussed revisions with the team first thing in the morning.
Despite the rift between them, the brothers were clearly committed to the project. She loved watching the arguments and discussions amongst the team about the main plot, dialogue and the two main characters, while Vikram played the referee.
Outside of the script, there were casting sheets to go through, video conferences with potential investors, sketches he oversaw with Ajay, and they were also combing through an incredible amount of research each evening.
They’d had Chaudaryji and Mrs. Ahmed on two conference calls—informal, sprawling discussions about that time period. Naina loved those calls—even Vikram seemed to light up from within at the long, leisurely walk down memory lane.
Naina followed Vikram into the open lounge area after one such call, pulled toward him despite every rational voice that warned her differently. They’d finished early today, and twilight bathed the open lounge area with a grayish-blue tinge. With the soft swish of the water and a balmy breeze, the quiet had an otherworldly feel to it.
Fingers laced through each other behind his back, he was standing at the balcony looking out into the deep blue expanse of the ocean. The white linen shirt fluttered up in the breeze, baring the hard slab of his lower back muscles. Her fingers itched to touch him, her body suddenly flush with that cocktail of thrill and need whenever she was near him.
Naina couldn’t help wondering at how greedy she became when it was him. True to their unspoken truce, they had both been nothing but professional in both their words and looks. And yet, the silence between them possessed a strange quality—as if it was hungry for words, tinged with anticipation.
Waiting and wanting.
This attraction to him, it hungrily ate up any rational excuses she threw at it.
She knew she should retire for the evening. If she hurried, she could join the rest of the team on their hunt for a nightclub. And yet she stood rooted to the spot. No luxury experience, no celeb spotting, nothing, she was beginning to understand, would hold more appeal than a simple, quiet conversation with this complex man.
Telling herself she’d already had her once-in-a-lifetime fantasy night with him, warning herself that this job was too important to jeopardize...nothing was helping. All her life, she’d carefully lived within the confines of others’ expectations and now...now it was as if everything within her was rebelling against taking a sensible course of action. Everything in her, selfishly, wanted him. More of him.
