Page 37 of Claiming His Bollywood Cinderella

“I don’t know,” she whispered softly, her pulse zigzagging through her entire body.

Forever...was that where he saw this thing between them going? Or was it just a slip of the tongue? Or his definition of forever could be completely different from hers. It could mean a week, a month. It could mean just tonight, could mean just long enough for them to reach climax.

And yet it didn’t deter her one bit. Whatever he gave, for however long, she wanted it. She wanted him. And for the first time in her life, she was going to do precisely what she wanted. Take what she wanted.

She took a step forward and leaned her forehead onto his back, loving the solid feel of him so close. For long seconds, they stood like that, with just that small contact, their breaths tuning into the same rhythm. “Can I ask you something?” she whispered, before taking the final plunge.

His hands fisted by his sides and she felt his exhale as if it were her own.

“Ask away, Dream Girl.”

Her smile felt like it came from her stomach, spread upward, filling her with indescribable joy. She was such a fool. Why had it taken her so long to reach out and ask for this familiarity? This intimacy? “You...you didn’t invite Zara here because you’re kick-starting your relationship with her?” She felt small, naïve, exactly the woman he called her asking that question, but she had to know.

“No. You know there’s an awards show on the island coming up. She wasn’t initially going to attend but I persuaded her to change her mind and come a few days early so we could do the photoshoot at the same time. Zara and I have no relationship to kick-start because we have never been involved like that.”

“I’m sorry for assuming that you simply switched from me back to her.”

He shook his head. “You’re the only woman I’ve slept with for months, regardless of what I said to you on the flight here. But I’m not going to apologize for thinking you were with Ajay. It only says another man can also see what I see.”

“Ahh...there’s my old friend. Your mighty arrogance. Just when I think I couldn’t like you any more, it shows up. Saving me from toppling headlong at your feet.”

He turned his head, offering her his profile. “Let’s hope you always think that.”

Always and forever...she knew he didn’t throw out words like that with everyone. He wasn’t even that voluble with the general public. But neither was she going to build castles in the air. He clearly wanted her. For now. And that was enough for her, for however long it lasted.

The tight knot in her stomach was already melting, the sun-kissed scent of him coiling around her with a familiarity that comforted her, with a thrill that unraveled the twisted knot of her own emotions. She covered the last few inches of space between them and wound her arms around him. Solid and big and hard, he took her breath away. He made her excited and alive and she wanted to rub herself up against him.

She opened her mouth against his back, the thin linen shirt no barrier to the heat from his skin. She dug her teeth into the hard muscle. His grunt and filthy curse made her smile. “I’m distracted too. All I can think of is that I want a repeat of that night. A hundred repeats. Here. Now.”

She didn’t know when he turned. Or when he pulled her to him. Or how it was that he maneuvered them into the wide window nook and then she was atop him, her legs splayed across his lap with her arms around his neck.

All she knew was the jolting sensation of his mouth against hers.Finally.Of the heat and hardness of him enveloping her. Of the sweet, sharp taste of him reaching out into all her limbs like tendrils of magic.

Her rib cage expanded as if it couldn’t hold her thumping heart, her blood sang. She moaned when he thrust his tongue into her mouth, and chased hers. When his big hands enveloped her waist and tugged her against him. When he groaned into her mouth when she licked him.

This kiss was nothing like the ones at the party. Those had been sweeter, exploratory, a benediction. She realized, panting now, how gentle he’d been with her that night. How much control he’d exerted, how much he’d let her set the pace. How much he had made it all about her. It had been an introduction to the pleasure he could weave using her own body. It had been soft and inviting and full of promises.

This kiss...was the exact opposite. This kiss simply took. With nips and bold strokes, this kiss claimed her.Heclaimed her. There was no leash on his hunger. No soft invitation to feast on him. No playing nice for the wide-eyed virgin. This time, he gave her his rough need, his desperate bites, his urgent, panting groans.

He licked and nipped and soothed, leaving no doubt as to how much he wanted her. How easily he could steal her breath and give her his own back.

He wasn’t gentle with her—not his lips on hers, not his fingers on her hips, not his body when he flipped her over and lay her down on the bed against the fluffy cushions. And Naina loved it all. Loved that she’d brought him to this desperation with just her words.

He knelt over her, between her legs, his gaze drinking her in. “Can I touch you?”

He asked in such a quiet yet fierce voice that Naina shamelessly blurted out, “Yes, please.” She licked her lips. “Sometimes I wonder if that evening was a dream.”

“I do too. And I want to know so badly that it wasn’t.”

“Yes, please,” she said again and he laughed.

“These shorts have been driving me crazy,” he said, before yanking them down.

And then he made love to her with his fingers.

All Naina knew from the moment his fingers disappeared under the seam of her panties was pure pleasure. First soft and slow, like the wings of a butterfly, to deep and visceral, until she was chasing his hand in pursuit of the peak.

And through it all, he learned about her. Watching every expression on her face, listening to every gasp, asking her what felt better, what she wanted more of, what would push her over the edge.

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