Bollywood Superstar

“You think I’m such a pushover. You must be very arrogant.”

“I am. Very arrogant,” he whispered. “And I know you want me as much as I want you. So let’s go.”

At least he was honest. She made no effort to resist him when he took her hand and left the building with her, ushering her smoothly into the back seat of a cream limousine.

The chauffeur pulled out into the fast-moving evening traffic, heading for the city centre.

“Do you do this often?” Jas asked, struggling to find suitable subjects for small talk. “Pick up girls at auditions?”

“No,” said Ajay with a laugh. “Only when they knock me dead. Which has only happened once.”

“Oh, come on!” Jas tried to keep her Midlands white-girl accent neutral, which was hard at times of emotion or surprise. “All the gorgeous women that you must see every day as part of your career. Surely they must catch your eye.”

“I’ve had girlfriends, of course,” he said. “But I’m not usually…stunned at first sight. Like I was today. Hey, why are you so suspicious? You must know you’re a very attractive person. Obviously men are going to fall at your feet.”

Jas shook her head, feeling she had somehow beco

me entangled in somebody else’s movie.

“Yeah, can’t you see that the ground in front of me is covered in adoring men?” she said.

He leaned in close to her, putting a hand on her thigh.

“If it isn’t, it should be,” he said. “You’re going to be a star, Jasmeena. And I want to be part of your ascent.”

“Do you really believe that?”

He nodded gravely then touched his forehead to hers.

“I really believe that.”

His hand cupped her cheek and she glided into the kiss, encountering no resistance at all. It was as if their lips were two magnets, bound to come together by forces beyond their control.

They continued to kiss, gently at first but with gathering force, all the way to the swankiest hotel in town, breaking apart only when the chauffeur put the gears into neutral and switched off the engine.

“Okay,” murmured Ajay. Still running his hands all over her, he drew her out of the limo into the underground car park. “I’m having you all to myself tonight.”

His room was the penthouse suite, which didn’t surprise Jas, but she struggled out of his arms for a moment in order to gasp and make exclamations at its opulence.

“Wow, a Jacuzzi.”

“Strip off and jump in.” He tried to catch her, but she darted beyond his reach.

“And a fridge full of champagne!”

“Take out a bottle. We’ll share it in the Jacuzzi.”

Again, he swiped, almost catching her arm before she twisted away.

“You can see the whole city.” She stared out at the million lights spread before her, stretching away to the Meadows and beyond, though not quite as far as Leicester—a place about which she didn’t particularly want to think right now.

She felt his presence behind her, a disturbance of air, a whiff of testosterone and spice, and glided sideways, pirouetting over to the bed, which was huge.

“You could fit ten people in here.”

“I suppose it’s been tried.”

“By you?”