Secrets of a Bollywood Marriage(3)
She heard a group of people clapping and chanting loudly in the direction of the billiards room. Tina pivoted and marched to the back of the house, certain that her husband would be there. With his stunning looks, raw masculinity and star power, Dev was always the center of attention.
Tina rolled her eyes when she recognized the song the men were chanting. It had been from Dev’s first hit movie. She had seen it countless times but she knew her husband was privately critical of his performance in it. He wouldn’t play the song unless it was a special request for someone important.
She suddenly remembered the scene also included an actress. Would he be dancing with a partner? A certain ingenue? Bile burned in her stomach at the thought, but Tina kept moving. She needed to see this herself and not rely on other sources. She needed to know.
Tina entered the billiards room unnoticed. She was invisible in this brand-name crowd. Her crumpled tunic and baggy jeans didn’t cause one head to turn. The only time the Hindi film elite noticed her was when she was on the arm of her husband.
Everyone was facing the center of the room, jumping up and down with their arms outstretched as they sang. She stumbled to a halt when she heard Dev’s bold laughter. The sound pierced her heart.
He sounded...carefree. Happy. Tina staggered back as the realization hit her like a fierce blow. How could he be like this after everything that had happened? Didn’t he feel anything? Or was it just a relief to him?
Tina hunched her shoulders. Perhaps it was a bad idea to return for one final confrontation. She had always suspected that she had been a burden to Dev. She’d thought they had been desperately in love, but now she realized he had felt obligated to marry her. It hadn’t helped that his parents had disapproved of the match. Of her.
Who could blame them? She was not worthy of him. His parents were Bollywood legends and she was from the slums. Dev had given up his parents’ grand plans and eventually he’d given up on her.
Everyone had known it was bound to happen, believing she’d tricked him into marriage. They confused her with the bad-girl roles she had in those low-budget masala films. Perhaps Dev did, too. It had soon become obvious that she wasn’t the brazen and sexy woman of his dreams. Dev had been ready to return to his playboy ways and he wasn’t going to let a wife stop him.
And she wasn’t going to let him have any more power over her. Determined to get this over with, Tina took a shaky breath and plunged into the crowd. She stopped, her heart lurching when she saw Dev standing alone in the center of the circle. He held the guests captive as he performed the intricate dance step with effortless grace.
Tina’s chest squeezed tight. Dev Arjun. Her first love. Her biggest mistake.
She stared breathlessly at her husband, unable to look away. Dev was lean and muscular thanks to years of training for his popular action-adventure movies. Tina shivered as she remembered how his strong and athletic build felt under her fingertips. His golden skin had been warm and rough and she had enjoyed watching his rock-hard abdomen clench as she’d teased him.
She flushed, her skin tingling, as she watched Dev finish the iconic dance, encouraging the others to follow along. Yet no one could match his confident swagger or his bold and precise moves.
As he raised his hands up like a conquering hero, Dev appeared taller than she remembered. Larger than life. Tina noticed how his dark shirt couldn’t hide his broad chest and how his jeans encased his powerful thighs.
She wished she wasn’t aware of how good he looked, but this was a man in the prime of his life. His strength and vitality came off him in waves. In the past she had yearned to have those powerful arms encircle her. Now she knew to keep her distance.