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Vikram glared at him. “She won’t leave me. Or Zara,” he added as an afterthought. After all, it was Naina’s position as Zara’s personal assistant that enabled her to stay on set day after day. “And she’s contractually bound to Zara for two more months.”
Virat’s expression said he was going for the kill. Zara’s mouth twitched. There were very few in the industry that could naysay Vikram Raawal and survive for long.
Except his younger brother.
Zara had always found it fascinating that for all their creative differences, both brothers were conscientious about not exploiting the power and privilege that rested in their hands.
“Naina will fly away in a moment if I tell her someone I know is interested in her latest film script. And Zara won’t stand in the way of something that would launch Naina’s career. Will you?” Virat said, turning that fiery gaze toward her.
Zara sat up in her seat and looked at both brothers, feeling as if there was no way she’d win here. But her answer, as the rogue had guessed, was clear. “Of course, I wouldn’t stop Naina pursuing her dreams.”
“Of course you’re taking your fiancé’s side in this,” Vikram complained and Zara laughed at his disgruntled expression. “Even though he treats you no better than the rest of us on set. Even though he’s been nothing but a disgruntled bastard from the moment he laid eyes on you and—”
“That’s enough, Bhai,” Virat roared, cutting him off. She didn’t miss the flush scoring his cheekbones, however.
Instead of looking chastened, Vikram’s grin widened. “And to think I doubted my lovely wife for a second,” he said cryptically.
Zara looked at Virat and found his gaze unnervingly intense on her. “Well, his integrity’s one of the reasons I adore him, Vikram,” she said, trying to lighten the mood. “That and his ability to keep me supplied in...” Her words trailed off as Virat pinned her with his eyes.
“Keep you supplied in what,shahzadi?”
“Chocolates, I meant chocolates,” Zara said, feeling her cheeks heat up.
Vikram howled with laughter and watched them with a curious fascination that made Zara extra aware of the tension between her and Virat.
“I have it on good authority,” Virat continued, “that Zara’s the one who twisted this producer’s arm to get him to take a look at Naina’s script.”
Zara wanted to look away from the curiosity in Virat’s gaze, but damn it, she was far too interested in what he was saying. A few feet away, palpable excitement had Naina rocking on her feet. “So you’re going to take it on?” Zara asked him.
Virat shook his head. “I recommended a female director I know. She’s young and full of fire but she’ll do it justice,” he said by way of placating her. “I love that it centers on the female gaze completely. It’s not my place to tell that story.”
“Is it one of your numerous ex-girlfriends?” Zara asked before she could curb the reply.
“No,” Virat said, arching an eyebrow.
Zara remembered all the pairs of eyes watching them and swallowed. “Thanks for the recommendation.”
Virat shrugged. “Naina’s script speaks for itself. You knew that.” Then he turned to his brother, who’d been watching them with avid curiosity. Zara had no doubt that Vikram didn’t completely buy their engagement. But thanks to whatever Naina had told him, he’d left the subject alone.
Plus the man was head over heels in love with his wife and it showed in how much he didn’t give a damn about anything else.
“So unless you behave,” Virat said to his brother, “I’ll have that guy set up an immediate sit-down with Naina to discuss it, and unless you were totally heartless, you wouldn’t demand your wife stay and make eyes at you when she could be advancing her own career.”
Vikram stared at his wife as though suddenly wondering if she’d choose him or her script. Naina let a slow smile curve her mouth and his own mouth curved wide in response. The unspoken communication in that quiet moment between the couple was full of such raw emotion that Zara felt like a covetous voyeur and looked away. Her belly was full of a raw longing she couldn’t misunderstand.
This is what you’re missing, a voice whispered in her ear.This is what you’ve been hiding from all these years.
The realization felt like a fist hitting her chest, and Zara’s gaze immediately searched for Virat. As if seeking...what? Why did it have to be this man who unlocked things she’d been happy to forgo for ten long years? What was it about him that twisted her into knots so easily?
When she turned, she found Virat’s gaze on her, something flitting in and out of his eyes before she could properly understand it. But she’d no doubt that he’d witnessed the pure longing in her face, the dismay that she’d become so good at hiding her own desires from herself and the unadulterated panic of a second that she’d lost her chance at that kind of love. That she’d let her own fears, which she’d fought for so long, defeat her before she’d even tried.
“Fine,” Vikram said, glaring at Virat. “I’ll stick my head into that scene and see why I’m messing it up. And then I will accompany Naina to that meeting. She’s not going to meet some unknown producer by herself,” he added with a dangerous resolve coating his soft words.
Virat simply nodded. As if realizing he’d pushed his brother far enough. And then his attention turned to Zara.
Zara stayed glued to her chair as his gaze took her in with a thoroughly possessive heat. Tension sparked into life around them, stretching like an arc, as if one of the spot boys had set up a live wire to crackle between them.
Present meshed with past, sensations poured through into her limbs—him grinding his hips into her in a wicked rhythm that her body craved, the hard weight of his body holding down hers however he liked it, the bristle of his beard against the ultrasensitive skin of her breasts, and the thoroughly male noises he’d made when he’d climaxed inside her.
