Play With Me Read online

  Ananth

  PLAY WITH ME

  Contents

  About the Author

  Epigraph

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Acknowledgements

  Follow Penguin

  Copyright

  PENGUIN BOOKS

  PLAY WITH ME

  Ananth is a photographer, dog lover and a bibliophile. This is his first novel.

  www.desibooks.weebly.com

  for the pursuit of pleasure and the pleasure of pursuit

  www.desibooks.weebly.com

  1

  Once in a very blue moon, you are confronted by astonishing beauty, a beauty so ethereal it forces open a door and bursts upon you like a ray of sunshine. That moment happened to me as I walked in through the door one Monday morning and a blur of ochre caught my eye. The girl looked very young. She was reading a magazine and her hair had fallen over her face, partially covering it. Looking at her I almost lost count of time until my colleague Aanya leaned over and whispered, ‘Erm . . . Sid, don’t be so obvious.’

  ‘Who’s that?’ I nudged her.

  ‘New intern,’ she replied.

  I knew I would see more of her but curiosity got the better of me. So I dropped the tripod I was carrying, on purpose, letting it fall to the floor with a loud clang. She looked up, surprised, pushing her hair away to reveal her face, and smiled. It was the most beautiful face I had ever seen, with a smile that lit up everything around her. And strangely enough it seemed like a face I knew from elsewhere.

  ‘Cara?’ Aanya called out to her, and something about that name made me want to repeat it, rolling those syllables inside my mouth. She stood up, revealing an hourglass figure. Standing there transfixed, I watched her bend over, put the magazine back on the table, straighten her shirt and pick up her oversized designer handbag.

  ‘Yes,’ she replied, in an accent that reeked of an upper-class foreign education. As Aanya led her on to the office floor through the doors behind the reception, she turned and, catching my eye again, smiled.

  I was a fan of disruptive technologies but this was going to be one disruption I wasn’t quite prepared for. As I stood there watching her walk away I knew she had changed something in me, dipping her beautiful hands into the serene, ripple-free lake that was my life and muddled it. After years of emotional drought, she had given me a reason to obsess.

  Damn you, Cara.

  2

  We were on the sixteenth floor of one of the new concrete behemoths that were springing up, almost one a week, in our neighbourhood. Our building was on Valley View Road and as one of the founders I had got to pick the corner office on one side of a large open-plan floor, right next to the archive rooms, which gave me a fantastic view of the road and the valley, and lots of privacy.

  I had kept my room simple: A long wooden desk on one side perpendicular to the glass wall. A 50-inch television screen on the opposite wall, with shelves on either side filled with books, music and a Bose Lifestyle home theatre. There were comfortable sofas, a bar and a whole wall just for my kit. We were very clear when we moved into this office that we were going to splurge and pamper ourselves since we spent most of our waking hours in this space and sometimes – often, for some people – our nights too. We also had a small kitchen that made very good coffee and was capable of dishing out simple breakfasts.

  Alpha wasn’t one of the big five of the ad world but our strength was photography, video and still, and we often worked with the big five. I led a team of six photographers who shot assignments across the board, around the world – commercial, fashion, product, automobile and a lot of advertising stock.

  Alpha was my dream come true. Once I had mustered up the courage to go solo, I hit on my dad’s best friend, Chittaranjan Das (whom we all called CD). CD was a senior partner with E&Y for more than two decades before he decided to hang up his boots. His years in consulting meant he knew virtually anyone who’s anyone in any industry, or had access to them. He was affluent too, wealth both inherited and created, coupled, fortunately, with a certain flair for trying new things. One Sunday morning he sat me down, heard me out and said, ‘Yes, let’s do this.’ He offered to fund us for the first three years, at the end of which I would return fifty per cent to him, replacing the corpus with either profit or my own money, and we would convert Alpha into a partnership company. We managed the business together but he let me call the shots on almost everything – what we did, where and how we did it, and even, sometimes, who we worked with, and who we definitely wouldn’t. We kept the organization lean, which meant our lifestyle was good – and we liked it that way.

  I had returned from an outdoor shoot that morning. It was going to be a long day sorting out my memory cards, archiving, editing and finalizing the shots for the review group, which was usually a team of four. Turnaround times were limited and quick considering everybody seemed to want things yesterday.

  The review team consisted of the creative director, the account manager, me and, because it was my shoot, Roy. He was the only other photographer whose opinion I valued because he was ruthless. We kept it small but the decision-making was fiercely democratic; no shoot was finalized or canned until all four were happy. Occasionally we would ask for another opinion, especially when we were dealing with an easy client who didn’t ask for much. It was our way of ensuring we weren’t taking the lazy way out and delivering subpar work.

  As I walked towards my room I kept an eye out for Cara; I thought I saw her in Nat’s room. Natasha managed the lifestyle portfolios and a few key accounts but in a short time had become central to our success. She had spent many years with JWT and thought we were a good bunch when we had announced Alpha, and moved in with us, bringing in valuable long-term business. Most important, Nat was fun.

  As I settled into my chair I thought of Cara again. I briefly toyed with the idea of walking over to Nat’s on some pretext and getting an introduction, but remembered I had a deadline looming and settled back to work. There were fourteen memory cards to sort. It had been a long shoot for a life insurance company with three children. The kids had tired quite easily, naturally, but the tiger moms around weren’t about to give up – ‘Sasha has had only six shots,’ one of them reminded me – and so it had continued through the day. I finished downloading the images, made a copy of the raw images and had just begun sorting them by theme and colour when Roy walked in.

  ‘Hey!’

  ‘What’s up?’ I asked.

  ‘I’m off to Goa, the Four Seasons project. How did your shoot go?’

  ‘Good. When are you off?’

  ‘Tomorrow morning.’

  ‘Okay, then do me a favour and take a look at this before you split,’ I said, pointing at my screen. ‘Swing by for a drink this evening, and if you like these I’ll pass them on to the crew.’

  We called the post-process guys the crew. They cleaned up, retouched and resized the images, catalogued them and had them filed away in the right disks to pass on to the agencies.

  ‘Sure, I�
�ll see you at five,’ Roy replied and left the room.

  I turned back to my screen. Moments later a chat box popped up.

  Natasha: there’s a new kid I want you to meet when you have the time.

  Finally – Cara! Yes!

  But I didn’t want to seem too eager.

  Me: OK

  Natasha: she’s smart, you’ll like her.

  And she’s hot! I exulted while I thought about what I wanted to say to Natasha.

  Me: OK

  Natasha: looks like you are busy. I’ll bring her over sometime. Bye!

  Before I could reply, Natasha had logged off. She was always in a bloody hurry. And then the phone rang and Aanya put through a client. Cursing my luck, I picked up the phone for what ended up being a very long conversation. One thing led to another and before I knew it I was in the thick of a busy afternoon.

  Roy swung by at five-thirty.

  ‘Okay, take a look at those,’ I said, nodding at my desk and walking over to the bar. ‘Drink?’

  ‘Yep,’ he replied. He seldom said no to a drink.

  I poured us each a large drink of rum, and as he began to comment on the photos, my mind drifted back to Cara. She was an incredibly beautiful girl (it seems silly that I keep telling you guys this again and again, with an almost limited vocabulary, but she truly was), beautiful in a stunning, drop-dead gorgeous way. But I had seen other gorgeous women before, so why did I find myself wanting her so much. It had been a long time since this had happened.

  ‘What do you think?’ I asked Roy.

  ‘Good stuff, but I think you are better off dropping the girl. She’s cute but that pout on a six-year-old is not going to look good.’

  ‘Okay, that just leaves the two boys. What do you think the client will say?’

  ‘We can handle that, not a problem. There are too many campaigns out there with girls,’ Roy replied.

  Nat walked in at that point. ‘Hey!’

  I waved back.

  ‘That new girl is good, I really want you to meet her,’ she said.

  ‘Too many things to do today, Nat, sorry,’ I lied.

  ‘Later, then. She came in today just to say hello and sign up.’

  WHAT!? I wanted to scream but just kept staring at Nat instead.

  ‘Her name’s Cara,’ Nat said over her shoulder as she walked out. ‘Bye!’

  ‘Shit! Shit! Shit!’ I cursed.

  Roy looked at me quizzically. ‘Nothing, I forgot something,’ I fibbed. Roy frowned and went back to reviewing the pictures. He stayed for another hour, while I sat on the couch reading a magazine, and then left. I waved goodbye, adding, ‘Thanks, man!’

  I felt like a moron. She had been here in the office and I hadn’t met her. Served me right for sitting on my ass hoping it would happen by itself. After Roy left I poured myself another drink and sat down to sift through his choices and then went over the whole lot again just so we could show the client a good portfolio even without the girl. Someone else will have to handle her mom, I thought to myself. Maybe Nat could call them.

  Before I knew it I had spent over two hours in front of the screen. I got up to stretch my legs. Walking over to the glass wall, I looked at the concrete jungle that extended beyond the dark valley and marvelled at how an entire city had sprung up almost overnight. As I downed my drink the long day suddenly hit me and I ambled to the sofa and lay down, thinking I’d shut my eyes for a bit. As I slowly fell asleep thoughts of Cara flitted in and out of my mind.

  C-a-r-a-C-a-r-a, I kept repeating in my head, feeling silly but unable to stop.

  3

  I woke up to the smell of perfume. Cara was running her hands through my hair.

  ‘Tired?’ she asked.

  And before I could reply she leaned over and kissed me.

  I kissed her back. Her full lips were soft and pliant, and as her tongue sought mine I felt a small tingle in the middle of my back. She held my face in her hands as we kissed slowly. The heady mix of her perfume and her lush body, so close to mine, was driving me crazy. I wanted to see her naked. I pushed her away from me slowly, holding out my hand to her. Cara stood up with me and pulled off her t-shirt. She was wearing a nude bra, her full breasts straining against the lacy cups. She walked over to the door, locked it and, standing there with her back towards me, slowly peeled off her jeans, giving me a gorgeous view of her ass covered in matching nude bikini briefs.

  Then she turned around and stood there, illuminated by the soft light in the room, her curly shoulder-length hair falling just over her collarbone, accentuating her long neck. She had an athlete’s flat stomach and her briefs covered her mound like second skin. She reached back, unhooked her bra and slowly dropped it to the floor. Her full, rounded breasts seemed like they had been handcrafted in heaven and her pink nipples ached to be sucked on. Her flat abdomen gave way to perfect long legs with dimpled knees; I wanted to crouch down and lick them. Her body was the most beautiful thing I had ever laid eyes on.

  She walked up to me and, with her arms around my neck and her breasts crushed against my chest, kissed me hungrily. She stepped back, grasped the edges of my shirt and pulled them apart, ripping off the buttons, and made me take it off. Her eyes shining with delight, she slowly licked her way down to my waist where she paused to undo my jeans and pulled them down with my boxers. I shut my eyes and drew in a deep shuddering breath when she cupped my balls in one hand and took my straining cock in her mouth, making it harder. Running her wet tongue around the head, she started sucking me while slowly pumping my shaft with her other hand. ‘You are so fucking hard,’ she said. She grabbed my ass and squeezed, taking all of me in her mouth and pulling back again and again, sucking just as I left her mouth. Finally I couldn’t take it any more and hauled her back to her feet.

  ‘I want you to fuck me,’ she said, slipping her hand into her panties.

  I went down on my knees and yanked her panties off. I started licking her, spending time on her swollen clit; she tasted salty.

  ‘Yes,’ she screamed, holding my head firmly in place and lifting her hips towards me.

  I fondled her breasts as I thrust my tongue into her, feeling every fold of her juicy cunt.

  ‘Make me come,’ she urged breathlessly.

  I pushed her down on the sofa, spread her legs wide, hooking them over my shoulders, and started eating her. She clutched my hair, pulling hard, until she was beginning to hurt me.

  ‘Cara!’

  ‘Don’t stop, Sid,’ she said, pushing my head into her further.

  I wet my thumb and started rubbing her clit, still licking her, drunk on her juices. She began to moan.

  ‘Stop! Fuck me,’ she commanded suddenly.

  I stood up, hitched her legs around my waist and slid my cock into her, pushing all the way in.

  ‘FUCK!’ she yelled.

  I pulled back and thrust into her again, holding her by her hips, one bended knee on the sofa and my other leg firmly planted on the ground.

  ‘HARDER!’ she screamed.

  I pulled out again, and slammed into her, feeling her wet, tight cunt swallow me whole.

  Eyes squeezed shut, she thrashed her head from side to side, and kept repeating, ‘Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,’ as she raised her hips towards me, meeting my every move.

  I was pounding her in a rhythm now, pushing harder into her and withdrawing slowly, feeling her around my cock as I pulled out. Only to thrust all the way back in.

  ‘Come,’ I demanded.

  As if on cue, her whole body stiffened and, as she yanked me into her, saying, ‘Oh fuck,’ she came.

  I held her there, my cock still inside her, hard and aching for more, until her body stopped shuddering. I sucked in a deep breath, taking in the smell of our sex, and lay my head down on her sweaty breasts, while she tightened her grip around my shoulders. We lay there like that until it seemed we were breathing together, our hearts beating as one.

  4

  I woke up with a start, feeling someone prod m
y arm.

  ‘You slept here again?’ asked Aanya.

  ‘Hi. Yes, I was pretty tired, must have dozed off. Sorry,’ I apologized, sitting up.

  ‘Don’t apologize,’ Aanya said, smiling quizzically. ‘Where’s your bag? I’ll find your toothbrush. Go freshen up.’

  I pointed to the bag and went to the bathroom. I splashed water on my face and looked at myself in the mirror as if I were staring at a stranger. That dream was so real – could I really have imagined it? I covered my face with my hands and shut my eyes, trying to hide in the darkness. Aanya knocked and handed me my toothbrush, a towel and a new t-shirt, still in its original packing. Something from a brand shoot, couple of months ago. While I waited for the water to turn hot, I thought about the dream again – I was disturbed by it and didn’t quite like the aftertaste. A quick shower later, I changed and stepped out.

  Back at my desk, images of a naked Cara kept flashing through my head, so vivid and real, they scared me. I shut my eyes and laid my head down on the desk trying to block them out but that only amplified them. Slowly the office around me started to get busy. I could hear voices, phones, the beeping of the intercom and, once, a loud burst of laughter which prompted an involuntary smile. It was time to get back to work. I buzzed Aanya.

  ‘Your coffee is on its way and, be warned, I am coming with a bunch of papers. I need you to sign off on things before you disappear again,’ she said when she answered.

  Pushing away thoughts of Cara, I forced myself to think about the day ahead. I hated administrative work and it was something everyone else avoided, very smartly. ‘You are the one that’s particular,’ they’d retort. As I hung up, Natasha walked in.

  ‘Hi! Heard you slept in last night?’

  ‘Does everyone know?’

  ‘It needn’t be a secret. This is your office, do whatever you want,’ she shrugged.