The Holiday Affair: A Match Made In Hell Novel Read online

  Srishti saw her mother approaching them. And looking at Sapna's and Priya's excited faces, her mother smiled.

  "Ah, I see you girls told her a little about Rana."

  "You didn't tell me he was an actor, Ma," Srishti frowned.

  Her mother shrugged. "He's quite good at what he does, Srishti. Do you have anything against acting or actors?" she asked.

  "Well, no. But I didn't know he'd come with an attached crowd surrounding him. I thought this was a low key meeting."

  "It is. I did ask you to treat it like a casual meet between old friends. No one outside our family or Rana's family knows that anything could come out of this meeting."

  "Aunty, let her meet him first. Hurry up, Srishti." Sapna began pulling Srishti closer to the crowd. "Abhinav is going to kill me for abandoning him with the guests at our son's birthday party. But I have got to see your first meeting with Rana after so many years. Oh god, my stomach is fluttering like it did when I first met Abhinav."

  Srishti shook her head, emitting a small laugh. "Calm down, Sapna, There's not going to be any fluttering involved."

  They halted once again when they came across a familiar looking woman who was smiling at them. "Hi Srishti, how are you?"

  "I'm good, Aunty. How are you?" Srishti greeted the woman, finally recognizing her as Rana's mother. Srishti recalled seeing her several times during her childhood. And she also recalled how she thought Rana was on the petite side because he had inherited his mother's genes.

  "I'm doing great, Srishti. I've heard really good things about you from Ananya. Hopefully, we can catch up sometime during the evening."

  "Yes, of course," Srishti smiled politely, feeling a little guilty about her plan to scare the away the nice woman's son.

  "But first, come meet Rana. He's very eager to meet you," said Mrs. Bugati, placing an arm on her.

  As soon as they approached the crowd, it parted magically like it was the red sea. And at the end, Srishti saw a man, kneeling down with his back facing her. He was signing autographs and giving high-fives to the children.

  Srishti frowned at the sight of his broad shoulders.

  Crap. He must have had one hell of a growth spurt.

  "Rana," his mother called out to him.

  He twisted around to face his mother, and then, Srishti's eyes clashed with his.

  Holy—

  Srishti's stomach not only fluttered like crazy, but she also emitted a breathless gasp.

  Oh. My. God!

  "Wow. I wish I had recorded your reaction just now. But I've got to leave now. I'm going to make you tell me everything after the party," Sapna whispered from somewhere close. But Srishti's focus was entirely on the man in front of her.

  Soon, there was an announcement on the microphone, asking all the children and their parents to return to their seating to begin the party games. Even while the children and their parents cleared out around him, Srishti and Rana maintained the eye contact.

  Holding onto her gaze, he slowly stood up, and then came closer, until he stood only a couple of feet in front of her.

  And since he was at least half a foot taller than her, she had to crane her neck to look at him.

  She was so overwhelmed with her reaction to him that, he had her stuttering.

  Literally.

  "Ra...Ra...Ra—" she couldn't get the name out.

  And of course Mr. Movie Star didn't miss any of it. He smirked, and then extended his large hand.

  "It's R-a-n-a, Rana," he told her slowly, like she was slow in her mind.

  That snapped her out of her shock. And she narrowed her eyes at him, and watched his smirk turn into a grin.

  CHAPTER 5

  Holy shit! Srishti Shah sure had changed a lot in the last fifteen years.

  Rana was both stunned and amused.

  "Srishti, do you remember Rana? You both went to the same school until you were thirteen," his mother gently reminded her.

  Based on the history between them, Rana was quite sure; Srishti would never forget their school days together.

  "Oh yes, I remember him quite clearly," Srishti said, continuing to watch him with narrowed eyes, probably recalling the incidents where he had bullied her in a misguided attempt to get her attention.

  Her eyes held an obvious challenge in them and he returned it with amusement in his.

  Rahul cleared his throat noisily, probably trying to diffuse what appeared to be a staring contest. "Hello Srishti. We haven't met before. I'm Rahul, Rana's cousin."

  Srishti involuntarily gasped and snapped her eyes towards Rahul to stare at him for a couple of seconds.

  "Nice to meet you Rahul," she said. And then looking back at Rana, her nostrils flared and she slowly stretched her lips into a fake smile. "Hello Rana," she said coolly.

  Rana smirked at her. "Good to see you again, Sapna. Oops. Sorry, I meant, Srishti," he said, deliberately calling her with the wrong name.

  Her eyes narrowed even more. If she kept at it, soon, she wouldn't be able to see anything.

  "Uh..Srishti, Rana, the birthday celebration has begun, and we have to join them. But I'm sure, you both must have a lot of catching up to do," Srishti's mother told them. "Srishti, why don't you take Rana inside the house? You can catch up there."

  "Oh yes," Rana's mother agreed. "I would have joined you too, but I don't want to miss the party. You two go ahead. There's absolutely no hurry. You can join us later since we'll be here for a while."

  "I think, I'm going to skip the party for a while too, and join Rana and Srishti," said Rahul.

  "No!" both Srishti's and Rana's mothers shouted at him in unison.

  "We meant...uh...that you wouldn't want to miss this part of the celebration, Rahul. It's quite...uh...interesting. There's even going to be fireworks, later on," Mrs. Shah explained.

  Rana's mother quickly chimed in as well. "Oh, I totally forgot. Ashok was looking for you, Rahul. He wanted to discuss an important matter with you. Something about...politics. You should ...uh... go find him now."

  Rana's mother was quite bad at lying. And Rahul didn't buy it for a minute.

  Rana shook his head and then came to his mother's rescue, shocking Rahul.

  "Rahul, I do have a lot of catching up to do with my dear old friend. I'll join you later," he said, not removing his eyes off of Srishti's face.

  Srishti was watching him with a death glare. "Oh yes. Definitely a lot of catching up to do," she replied, in a tone that made his body heat up.

  Shit!

  "Srishti..." her mother said in an odd tone."Please do remember that Rana is our guest. Be polite and attentive to him."

  "I will Ma. I will take really good care of him," Srishti answered, heating his blood even more.

  "See you guys later," he said, holding Srishti's arm to more or less drag her away from the curious eyes.

  Srishti stumbled a couple of times to keep up with him. "Do you mind?" she snapped. "What's the damn hurry? And this is my family home, so I will have to lead you," she said, walking in front of him and tossing her hair to one side.

  He nodded absently; too busy drooling at the nearly naked back. It was almost completely bare with only a few strings holding the top together, looking as though one single blow of air would pull them apart.

  And he was strongly tempted to blow.

  Controlling his urge to blow, he dropped his gaze lower, slowly taking in the elegant indentation of her spine, and then to her long skirt that showcased her butt in a spectacular way.

  By the time they arrived inside her family home, he was semi-hard, which embarrassed him. Getting a hard-on just by looking at a girl's ass hadn't happened to him since...since...

  Shit!

  Since he was thirteen and his teen hormones went crazy while watching Srishti's ass in her short school skirt.

  He forced his eyes upward in time when she stopped abruptly. One of her cousins, Abhijeet was standing by the steps of the second floor, frowning into his phone. He looked up when he hea
rd the loud footsteps approach him.

  "Well, well, well. Look whom I saw slipping away from the party," Abhijeet remarked with a grin.

  "I'm just showing Rahul, I mean Rana around the house," Srishti told her cousin.

  Abhijeet shook his head and grinned good-naturedly. "The last time I saw you both together, she was on top of you, pounding the daylights off you, bro," he reminded Rana.

  Rana smiled slowly, keeping his eyes on Srishti's face. "Oh yeah. I do remember the...pounding, quite well. That pounding while she was on top of me will be forever etched into my memory," he said.

  Luckily, only Srishti seemed to have caught on his innuendo and her cheeks and ears turned a little red, while she gave him another death glare.

  Abhijeet, totally oblivious to the tension, laughed. "Hopefully you have forgiven her, Rana. Anyway, you two lovebirds continue with the house tour. I'll see you both later at the party," he said before leaving them alone.

  As soon as the front door closed, Srishti made a disgusted sound. "You are such an ass!"

  "I was joking. Why do you have to be so serious about a little joke? You still haven't learnt to take a joke after all these years."

  "Of course I can take a joke," she snapped defensively. "But only when it's not made by an immature ass who thinks they are a god's gift to the mankind."

  "I'm not immature. And I don't know about the entire mankind, but god's gift to women..."

  "Ughh. Can you do everyone a favor and please keep your mouth zipped for rest of the evening," Srishti hissed, hurrying up through a landing.

  "Didn't your mother order you to be attentive and polite with me," he reminded her with a smirk, following behind her.

  She snorted inelegantly.

  "Nice house. But where exactly are you taking me to catch up, deal old pal?" he asked.

  He knew he was being immature. But since both of them were behaving like a pair of toddlers, he felt it was okay.

  She didn't reply to his taunt. Raising her long skirt a few inches higher, she hurried until she finally opened a door. Since he was right behind her, he went inside the room before she invited him in.

  "Lights!" she shouted, illuminating a large bedroom room in soft lighting.

  But unfortunately, the lighting and her stance didn't quite suit each other. She stood with both her hands on her waist, tapping her feet impatiently, while glaring at him.

  "We can catch up here, Rana," she declared, spitting out his name like a curse.

  "Hmm your princess bedroom. Interesting," he replied.

  "My childhood bedroom."

  He already knew that. Because no sane twenty eight year old would still have a princess themed bedroom with a canopy and all.

  "Soo...Rana," she taunted, until his gaze moved back to her face. "How have you been these last fifteen years? Heard you are a big shot movie star now. What, with screaming fans and everything. Do you sometimes go incognito to lead a regular guy's life?" she asked in a vicious tone, like she wanted to rip his face off.

  That look got him revved up even more. He wanted to grab her and kiss her until she clung to him and begged him for more. He wanted to spank her too at the same time. He was never into BDSM kind of play with a woman, but he was beginning to see the appeal now.

  "Yeah, I am, Srishti," he drawled. "I heard you are a big shot owner of a gaming company. Your family still thinks the sun rises because of you. Must be nice having your family sing praises about you. And I wonder if you also try to get away from your enchanted life once in a while to be someone else."

  "God! You haven't changed at all. You are still the same obnoxious kid who used to bully me fifteen years ago," she gritted.

  "And you, you are still the same hypersensitive girl who got riled up for every little thing," he said.

  "This is NOT a little thing! How dare you call this a little thing!" she shouted.

  "Whoa, whoa, easy there. We don't want people outside to think we are not getting along, do we," he said with a mock concern.

  "Arrghh! You've always driven me crazy when we were in school," she said, kicking her shoes away and pacing about. She went to the other end of the room and stood before a huge walk-in closet. "I can't believe my parents thought we were well-suited." She continued her ranting while adjusting the ties behind her, loosening the top she wore, giving him a mouth-watering view.

  "Come here. Let me help you with that top," he offered, huskily.

  Hearing the tone of his voice, and then seeing the look on his face, she got outraged. "How can you think or even look at me like that right now!" Then seeing him conspicuously adjust his obvious arousal, "You are aroused!" she accused.

  "After all this foreplay. Of course I am!"

  "Foreplay? In your dreams!"

  He looked at her chest and then slowly dragged his gaze to her face. "Oh yeah the sweetest and hottest of dreams," he said.

  "You are such a...such a..." she trailed off, with her eyes locked on his.

  "Such a, what?" he asked her softly.

  The atmosphere in the room had changed completely in that instant.

  From bickering and scoring, it now felt heavy with tension.

  Sexual tension.

  She kept staring at him and then took a small tentative step towards him.

  He didn't move, and kept his eyes on her.

  She took another small step towards him. And soon, her steps quickened, and she was running towards him.

  He opened his arms and caught her when she nearly leaped over him.

  The next instant, his lips were on hers, and then he backed her up against a wall, while pulling her long skirt up, all the while kissing the hell out of her.

  He opened her top completely until her magnificent boobs were exposed, and then tore open her panties, before freeing himself, and then slid deep into her.

  He groaned while she gasped out loud into his mouth.

  She wrapped her legs tightly around his waist while his large hands were on her bottom, supporting her as he drove into her. He felt like he had been starving and she was the only one who could satiate him. Meantime, she clawed his back as she tried to pull him even closer, rising to meet his every thrust with a need of her own.

  Soon, their moans and groans got even louder, and he placed a hand over her mouth, and she placed hers on his. He kept pounding into her until they drove each other to completion.

  She came with a loud muffled scream, and then clung to him, until she collapsed against him with her face buried on the crook of his sweaty neck. He shuddered as he leaned his head against the wall, trying to catch his breath as well.

  Slowly, she pulled him closer to her with her arms and legs.

  "God, I missed you," she said, panting softly into his ear.

  He lowered his head and looked at her, and kissed her on her forehead. "I missed you too," he admitted.

  They stared at each other, lost in their own thoughts and memories, until they heard sounds of faint cheering from outside her closed window.

  "We need to get back. We can't stay like this," she said softly.

  He kissed her lips softly and smiled at her. "Why not? We have permission from both our parents."

  She laughed softly and shook her head. "Very funny."

  "No, I mean it. Why don't we try taking this to that bed right there, and once again—"

  Before he could complete that suggestion, she unwrapped her legs from his waist.

  "This can't happen again. What we just did is already a huge mistake," she said, trying to squirm out from his arms.

  "What? Why?" he asked, moving his hands away from her reluctantly, to let her go.

  "What do you mean, why? We can't just screw around, not expecting to face the consequences."

  He was quiet.

  "I'm willing to face whatever those consequences are."

  "What!"

  "You heard it right. I want more of what we had. I never even wanted to end it—"

  "We can't," she said, shaking h
er head as though she wanted to get rid of what she just heard from him. "You already know why our parents wanted us to meet tonight. I can't risk encouraging them, only to disappoint them."

  He was quiet again. "We don't have to disappoint them, necessarily," he said and saw the shocked look on her face.

  "Srishti, I should have told this to you before—"

  "No. Don't say it!"

  "—I think we should give it a try."

  "Are you crazy? We can't have anything between us!" she whispered, her voice catching.

  "Why?"

  "Because I've already told you that I have plans for my life that can't include you," she said, straightening her dress.

  "I'm not saying I want to interfere in your life, Srishti. We are quite good together—"

  She kept shaking her head. "No Rana. We are not."

  "How do you know we are not? We might be, if we were given a proper chance," he insisted.

  She looked at him desperately. "No Rana. Please stop. We are not good together. The girl you got along and liked was Sapna. Not me. You don't know anything about my life."

  He held her chin gently. "But you are my Sapna."

  CHAPTER 6

  TWO MONTHS AGO

  Rana was engaged to be married to yet another woman, for the tenth time.

  Or at least that's what the gossip columns had been writing about him over the past three years. They didn't seem to care that he had never been with most of those women, longer than a single date or two. But apparently, being a popular actor, one didn't need to be in a relationship to get married. All it took to be associated or 'linked' to someone was to smile at them, and then, Bam! Engaged.

  Was it really a sin if he liked to date a lot?

  It wasn't like he was a bad guy or anything, even though the roles he played were those of broody villains. He never lied to a woman about what he wanted from them. He never wooed them with flowery words, or spoke about a future together.

  He never even seduced a woman. He didn't have to. He just smiled at them, and let them know quite clearly that he could only offer them a good time. And so far, most of the women had been more than accommodating.