Silver Screen Dream (4 page)

Though I had seen something funny flickering through his eyes as he’d stared at her—I’d had a brilliant view from beneath their faces in my amulet—and I didn’t know what, exactly, the emotion was as I’d not seen it in his eyes before. It was clear she fancied him. I mean, I knew that the minute we walked into the cinema. It wouldn’t have been any clearer if doves had flown around her head scattering rose petals and singing a love song.

It was very clear to me I had some hard work ahead of me. I couldn’t let Rahul and that girl kiss any more. I’m not against free love and a strings-free fuck now and again, but my Djinn senses were tingling. That girl was trouble. I mean she was, well, British for a start. She wouldn’t understand Rahul or his world.

And please, a human in my care is not going to lower himself to that level. He appears on the big screen, he does not date people who work in the vicinity of them. I would make sure of it.

Now, I’ll let you into a little secret. People seem to think that Djinns and genies—gods of mercy, I hate that word—are shackled by the demands of our masters. Well, that’s just something humans make up to make themselves feel safer. It is true that as Rahul’s Djinn I can’t do anything that will harm him, which deals with all the big things like my turning into a giant and rampaging across town or making the oceans expand until the whole earth is flooded…all that would be very bad for my Master.

But I can make things happen. I can affect anything as long as my motivation is to protect my Master. So I can make sure they’re sold out of his favourite flavour of kulfi at the corner street
wallah
to make sure he doesn’t ruin his diet and other such subtle things.

I had this girl, this Laura, in my sights. Rahul would marry the woman his father had chosen for him to marry. That was something else I had some control over. I could not make Rahul go home to India, but I could send a tip-off to the bride-to-be about his whereabouts.

Yes, it’s sneaky, but a Djinn’s job isn’t all abracadabra and
boom
, you know. I most often feel like a conjuror—the majority of my role is just smoke, mirrors and manipulation.

I left my ponderings for a moment and looked out to see what Rahul was up to.

“Look, Panya, it’s not you, it’s me. I’m not ready to settle down yet, and I want to stay here in England to explore for a bit. I don’t want your beauty going to waste pining for me and my return, so I’m breaking this up now to free you of your obligation to me.”

“That is the biggest pile of crap, but whatever. I can do better than you, anyway.” Panya flounced off.

A plan started to form in my mind.

Chapter Four

Laura

I saw the stars back to their seats and made sure they were comfortable and had all they needed. Each one walked in with a drink in hand. They laughed and joked and were generally at least two or three beverages jollier than when they’d first come in.

Except Panya. She was meaner.

“Can you move me?” she asked as she walked in. “I want a seat closer to the screen.”

“Erm, I don’t know, I think most seats are filled—”

“Well, move someone then, swap our seats. Go on, go on, step to it.” She growled like a rabid dog.

Actually, I would have preferred to take my chances with a dangerous, diseased animal than go up against the airhead of doom. Luckily, there was one seat on the very end of the front row in the VIP section that was free. I moved her there.

“I suppose it will have to do,” she snapped. “What’s your name?”

“Laura,” I replied.

“Well, Laura, you have been completely useless. No wonder you work here.”

I bit my lip. I knew many expletives and horrid labels to call her in English, Urdu and Hindi, but I resisted. My mum always said not to waste my breath on mean people. They were cursed enough already. So I took a calming breath and smiled.

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” I forced out through my snarling teeth. “I hope you enjoy the rest of the film.”

I stalked away and muttered nasty things about her deep inside my head. I didn’t understand why people could be so mean for no reason. I had bent over backwards to satisfy that woman and to make her comfortable. I shook my head and walked out of the cinema screen. Some people are just corrupted so much inside it flows out of their mouths when they open them.

I tried to forget Panya as I took up my station just outside the screen doors again. She was so rude and horrid, but on the other end of the scale sat Rahul. I couldn’t understand why they were together. I knew she was not the heroine of
Benazir
, but maybe she played the film’s arranged marriage. That would make sense. She seemed the kind of woman who would need to have a husband coerced into marrying her.

“How’s it going?” Tony asked as he strode purposefully past me.

“It’s all going well,” I smiled. “They seem happy, mostly.”

“Good, good. I leave it in your care. There’s been an incident in screen nine, and it’s all hands on deck over there. Will you be okay with this?”

“Sure, no problem. The party people will take over after the film. I think they’re all going in limos to that club up the road, so there’s not much left to do, anyway.”

“You’re a star, Laura, cheers.” He threw a smile and a wink over his shoulder.

Well, management thought I was good. Who cared what one bitchy woman thought?

“Laura.”

I turned around at the low rumble of my name as it fell from the lips of my crush.

“Rahul, can I help?”

“Yes, I think you can,” he said. “I think only you can.”

He pulled me into his arms and kissed me. I wish I’d had more time to appreciate it before my mind was swallowed with heat and desire. I wanted to have that slow-mo moment as the lovers run towards one another as the lust builds and the anticipation grows in the stomach of all those watching.

I just had his lips on mine, his arms around me and the explosion of passion that made me feel weak. I don’t think I had anything to complain about, really. He was rough and demanding. He ran his fingers into my hair and pulled out the sensible clip that held my rambunctious riot of curls up and out of the way. He grabbed my curly locks, pulled me tighter to his lips and I responded with equal intensity.

I was dreaming, or at least I had magically had my deepest wish granted. He roamed his hands from my head to my waist then down over my buttocks. His groan echoed through my body as he squeezed, and I opened my mouth wider in shocked arousal. He took advantage and slipped his tongue inside to dance with mine. I didn’t know what to do with my hands. I just clung on to his shoulders like a woman who was about to swoon.

It wasn’t until he slid his fingers up under my uniform top and started to pull at the fastening of my best bra that I remembered where we were.

“Not here,” I gasped as I dragged my lips from his. “Anyone could see, my boss could see.”

“Where can we go?” he asked and brushed his lips against my cheek. “Somewhere private.”

“I know.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him towards a locked door.

“We have to be careful,” I said as I slipped a key into the lock and twisted. “We could get into a lot of trouble in here.”

I closed the door after we’d entered the room. The low whirring of the drives hummed around us, and the bright light of the projector gave away our location.

“Stay away from anything expensive and don’t get in front of the projector as it’ll disrupt the film.”

“Yes, boss,” he chuckled and grappled me into his embrace. “Now, where were we?”

“About here, I think.” I stroked my fingers along the side of his face. His skin was so incredibly smooth and warm, and I longed to feel more of him. He slipped his hands back up inside my blouse.

If I’d spent any time thinking about what I was doing, I would have been a nervous wreck. The man in my arms was the man of my dreams, a Bollywood legend who had kissed some of the most beautiful girls in all India. The kissing didn’t worry me, I kiss well. What did niggle at the very back of my mind was would he like my body?

Beneath all the sheer and silky saris, the Bollywood women were perfect. Flat stomached, manicured and their skin glowed with good health and beauty care. My skin is soft and my body warm, but my stomach, well, it isn’t flat and neither are other parts of me. As long as he kept touching me, I determined I would keep such thoughts at bay.

Once I pressed my mouth to his again, all such thoughts just melted away. I came alive. My skin buzzed with excitement and joy flowed through my veins. I felt every rock and slide of his lips as they caressed my own, and each undulation had me craving more of him. He fumbled with my shirt buttons, and when he reached the collar and tie, he hesitated.

“Let me,” I whispered huskily. I didn’t mean to, but it was as if his kiss had taken my voice away with its intensity. I looked into his stark, shining eyes as I fumbled with the knot of my tie. I’d unfastened it a million times, but it was as if I were an alien trying to escape from unknown bonds. Finally I coaxed the loop up and around so the tie could be pulled free.

He took the scratchy, red material from my hand and tucked it in the pocket of his very expensive suit.

“Better,” he nodded and reached out to the single button at my collar that still held the material together. With a deft flick he popped it undone. “And better still.”

My cheeks burned as he turned his gaze to my revealed body. Gently he laid a hand on my shoulders and purposefully he pushed until I shuffled around so my back was towards him. He pulled my work shirt down from the centre of the collar. His knuckles brushed the back of my neck, and it sent an involuntary shiver down my spine.

The material caressed my skin as it fell off my shoulders, and as he pushed my blouse off my body, the brush of his breath on the revealed flesh made me shake. He moved his hands up to my shoulders then swept them down my arms as he traced a pattern with his lips from my ear to the top of my spine. If he hadn’t been so close behind me, his body pressed into my back, I think I would have collapsed from the erotic tension that twanged in my mind and my heart.

This was the part of the Bollywood story I would add in. On the screen I would see the dancing, the kissing and the caresses, but at night I would imagine the seduction, the removal of clothes and the pressure of naked flesh against flesh and the ecstasy of making love. I felt like I was acting out one of those dreams.

He gently ran his fingers up the sides of my body from my waist to the juncture of my bra. I was so glad I had put on my most daring and sexy underwear in honour of Rahul’s visit. I hadn’t contemplated him actually seeing the scarlet lace and satin let alone imagined him removing it in anything but my own erotic fantasies, yet here he was, gently tugging on the fastening and releasing my breasts from their confines.

The breath caught in my throat as he teased the bra straps down my arm until the whole garment dropped onto the floor. I would have sworn that not only Rahul but the cinema goers on the other side of the soundproofed wall could have heard the thud of my heart as I waited to see what he would do next.

Anticipation sat heavy in my stomach and turned to anxiety as for what seemed an eternity he did not move. What if he didn’t like my breasts? What if their natural sag turned him off, or the bright, deep pink of my puckered nipples didn’t compare to the dark, exotic rings of the Indian girls he had dated and no doubt bedded before?

He disrupted my thoughts by pressing his hand against my shoulder. Rahul wanted me to turn around. I took a deep breath and did so. I hoped and prayed this dream come true would continue, but in the dark corners of my mind I feared he might run away screaming.

He stepped back, and the breath caught in my throat.

“
Taaron ki rani,”
he gasped. “Your eyes are like the stars, your skin like moonshine, you are amazing.”

I would have giggled at his ebullience if it weren’t for the awe and the genuine admiration I saw in his gaze. It took my breath away. This handsome man, this glorious star of the silver screen, looked at me as if I were the celebrity to be admired and adored.

Tears pricked at my eyes, I was so overwhelmed by his affection. I stepped forwards, my body fizzing with excitement and needing his touch. I reached out and pressed on the thick jacket material hanging over his shoulders. I tipped it back until its own weight carried it down his arms, and it crumpled to the floor.

I brushed over the V of exposed skin at the neck of his fashionably unfastened shirt and caught the edge of a chain that dangled there, the cold metal chilling my fingertips as a contrast to the intense heat of his satin-soft chest. I trailed my fingers lower and undid each button as I encountered it. My gaze devoured the mellow brown skin I uncovered as the V became longer and wider until I had his entire chest on display before me.

“That’s better,” I whispered as the crisp material fell away from his body with an explosion of deep, spicy scent. “I’ve evened up the odds now.” I kissed down the teasing trail of his collar bone. The warmth of his flesh burned erotically on my lips, making them tingle and plump up with desire.

I tickled the skin around the cold chain attached to a beautiful, green jewel shaped like a spinning top. I would ask him about it later, I decided, but at that point I was not interested in conversation. I wanted to taste more of him.

Rahul simply ran his fingers through my hair as I kissed the tempting contours of his torso. I felt the rapid bump of his heart as I travelled over it and elicited a gasp of delight from him as I twisted my tongue around the turgid treat of his nipple. I travelled lower, dropped to my knees, and I knew exactly what I was going to do next. I looked up as I pulled the belt from its securing loop and met his gaze. He didn’t have to say a word, it was etched across his face, he was happy to see me there on my knees before him, and he wanted me to suck his cock.

It bulged enticingly below his zip and eagerly pushed forward as I carefully pulled down to part the metal teeth. I caressed it below the soft, white cotton of his underpants just to let the anticipation grow further. I did not want to rush the experience. I’d forgotten where we were and how Steve would probably walk in at the end of the film to get the reels set up for the next day. I just wanted to make my Bollywood fantasy turned reality last as long as possible.