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Zara took a sip of her water, just to give herself a couple more minutes before she had to face him. She put the cap back on and raised her eyebrows suggestively. “Why aren’t you chasing your wife?”
“She ran after my angry bear of a brother, trying to learn more about the interest in her script. And abandoned me.”
“Yeah, right,” Zara said, laughing, despite herself.
Vikram tangled his arm through Zara’s, steering her toward the cool marble lounge. “I thought we could catch up. I haven’t talked to you in a while.”
“Yeah?” Zara said, knowing that in trying to sound extra cheerful, she sounded awful.
“Should I say congratulations now and welcome you to the family?”
Zara hesitated for a fraction of a second before realizing he was fishing. “Of course you should.”
“Welcome to the family, then, Zara.” He said and embraced her so tightly that Zara felt tears prickle behind her eyes. She felt him press a kiss to her temple. Then he slowly put her away from him and examined her face with a thoroughness that reminded her of Virat. “Is everything okay with you two?”
“Have you talked to your brother about us?” she quipped back, knowing that the last thing she could do was to confide in Vikram. While the industry and sometimes even Virat called Vikram a sellout for making his commercial blockbusters, her best friend had always been a man of integrity. The last thing he needed to know was that his brother had thought Zara had dumped him for Vikram.
It would only make him come to her defense and fight with Virat.
“He’ll have my head if he thinks I’m interfering between you two.” He raised his hands, palms out.
“So don’t,” Zara said automatically and then regretted her words.
Vikram smiled, taking no offense. “Clearly there was something between you two all these years. Now I feel like a fool for—”
Zara cut his words off. “You don’t know how much your friendship has meant to me. What Virat and I have is something altogether different.”
Vikram snorted. “That’s clear to anyone that’s seen you together for more than five minutes. I thought I’d be surprised to see you with him but...”
“But what?” Zara asked, now curious.
“It’s him I’m more shocked by. He’s...different with you. I mean, he’s always been intense and passionate about everything in life but I’ve never seen him like that with a woman. Jealous of every look you give your costar on set.”
Zara tried to not let those words mean anything more than the fact that while he preferred being behind the camera, Virat was clearly just as talented at acting as the rest of his family. “Remember that first movie you and I worked on together all those years ago?”
The memory made Vikram groan. “God, yes. According to my memory, the best part of that entire thing was getting to know you.”
“Did you hire me for that because your mother recommended me for the role?”
Vikram’s gaze turned thoughtful. “No. I gave you a chance to do the screen test because she mentioned your name. After I looked at your audition tape, which was smashing. I was looking for a fresh face. You earned the role because of your talent, whoever brought you to my attention.”
She nodded, another small part of the puzzle falling into piece.
“Zara, why are you asking me about that now?” Vikram probed.
She made some nonanswer and hurried back to the hotel. Virat’s resentment that she’d left him for Vikram might have been unfounded, but it hadn’t been borne in a vacuum. And Zara loathed the very idea of him thinking the worst of her.
She showed up outside Virat’s suite that night, knuckles at the ready to rap. Laughter from inside the suite—female laughter at that—sent her scurrying away from his door like a scared little mouse.
Once she’d reached her own suite, she called herself a hundred names.
What was the matter with her?
Why was she forgetting that she had no real claim on Virat, for all the drama they were putting on for the world? Why did she keep thinking that one evening of incredible pleasure with her meant he would come knocking for more? Why was she acting like a hyped-up, hormonal teenager because Vikram had said that Virat might be jealous of all the time she’d spent with Richard on set?
While the actual fact was that he hadn’t even greeted her properly since arriving. If not for the crew avidly watching them every chance they got, she was sure he wouldn’t have even acknowledged her existence.
This panicky, scrambled behavior was not her. This creeping through the corridors at night—even if the man was her fiancé in the eyes of the world—was not her.
