Reunion

Chapter eight

They found seats on a flight to Berlin without any problem. Money was good for some things, Ranveer joked, and Deepika agreed. Their trip to the German capital and a hotel close to the venue was uneventful. Their names didn't mean much to the Spanish and German officials checking their passports, though even they stared at Deepika.

Ranveer had travelled with her before this so he was used to it. She couldn't help being astonishingly lovely, and most people didn't even see him when he was with her. She tried to minimize it, putting on sunglasses, scrunching her hair into a bun, but she radiated life and light and elegance whether she tried to or not. He just enjoyed watching people's dumbstruck reactions. From time to time he teased her about them, but mostly he tried to ignore them as she did. 

They called Alia after they'd checked in at around six in the evening. She and a few others were already at the hotel and were hanging out in her suite before the concert which would begin at around eight. She laughed and invited them to join. "We'll just change and come," Deepika told her. Ranveer nodded as he organised their bags. 

Deepika pulled her outfit from her bag and shooed Ranveer out of the bedroom while she changed. "That's not fair," he whined. 

She laughed. "Lady's privilege." She wanted to knock his socks off, to see his expression when he saw what she was going to wear. Allowing him to see her dressing just wouldn't make the same impression. She dressed quickly, not that she was wearing too many clothes, she thought to herself. She mussed her hair, flipping it and using hairspray to give it volume, and lined her eyes with dark kohl that she smudged to make them look smoky. She wasn't great at makeup but this much even she could do. She put large hoops in her ears. Last of all, she selected a long chain from her jewellery and strung her engagement ring on it.

Ranveer was standing near the window in the living room talking to his sister on the phone when Deepika opened the door. He half-turned at the noise and stopped talking mid-sentence. He could vaguely hear his sister's voice in his ear through the rushing of blood. His feet began walking with no conscious thought, drawn to the woman who'd just entered the room. "I'll, umm, I have to go now, I'll talk to you tomorrow," he managed to stutter and heard his sister's laugh in response before she cut the call. He dropped his phone on the table.

"Fuck," he breathed, unable to get any other words out. She was wearing a strapless burgundy leather and lace something over shorts that looked painted on and boots that went up to her knees and left an expanse of bare silky thigh that was making his eyes cross. The top had bits that seemed like he could see her skin through them and clung lovingly to each line and curve of her body. 

He looked up at her face and felt sucker punched again. Her eyes were dark and her lips were smirking and her hair looked like it did after a couple of hours rolling around in bed. Everything about her screamed sex, including the way she was leaning against the door frame, arms extended above her head, ankles crossed and back arched as she let him look his fill.

He could feel the blood leaving his head and rushing to other parts of his body. The jeans he'd chosen to wear suddenly seemed uncomfortably tight. His muscles tensed as she looked him up and down with a leisurely flick of her eyes. She stopped him with a hand on his chest when he was close enough to crowd her against the door. The touch sizzled through his body like lightning, igniting all his nerves and hardening everything into a tight knot of anticipation.

Her fingers curled in the soft cotton and she used the grip on his shirt to straighten up and lean into his ear. The boots she was wearing made her just a little taller than him. She curled her free hand around the nape of his neck and he shuddered when she stroked her fingers down it. His body and mind shut down. He could do nothing but stand there breathing her in, completely at her mercy as she sucked his earlobe into her mouth. "You like what you see," she whispered and it was not a question.