Illusions of Love (16 page)

‘You alright?’
India
asked, taking a sip of tea as she fixed Dominic with a questioning look.

He shook himself back to the here and now and flashed her that movie star smile again.
 
‘Just thinking.’

‘Oh yeah?
 
About anything I might be interested in?’

He sat back, keeping his eyes on her all the time, the smile never leaving his face.
 
‘Well, that’d be telling.’

She couldn’t help laughing.
 
‘Jesus, Dominic MacDonald Movie Star really doesn’t know how to lie down and take a break, does he?’

Dominic threw his head back and laughed too, feeling like every second he spent in this woman’s company was a second nearer to achieving his goal.
 
Although, he was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable about thinking of her as a “goal”.
 
But that’s what she was; or what she represented, anyway.

‘So, why the sudden trip back to L.A.?’ he asked, still looking at her as she rummaged round in her bag for her phone, immediately rejecting the call coming through.

She looked up at him, taking another sip of tea.
 
‘I’m shooting a music video, with Kenny Ross.’

He raised an eyebrow.
 
‘A
music
video?’

‘Do you know the rock band Black Rock Diamond?’

He nodded.
 
‘Yeah.
 
I’m a bit of a fan.
 
You’re shooting a video for
them
?’

‘Kenny and I are friends of theirs.
 
We’ve known Mark Cassidy, their front man, for a while.
 
And we’ve been promising the band we’d be in one of their videos for a long time.
 
Call it a favour I’m happy to do.’

‘I can’t wait to see it,’ Dominic smiled, and
India
suddenly felt shy, looking down at her hands, her fingers fiddling with a napkin.
 
‘You always carry that rock chick look so well.
 
It’s very, very sexy.’

She started pulling away at the corner of the napkin, ripping pieces off until she realised what she was doing and stopped, looking back up at him.
 
‘I’ve got to go catch a plane in a few minutes.’

‘I know.’

All of a sudden she had no idea what to say to him.
 
It was almost as if someone had cast some kind of spell over her, striking her mute so no words would come out.

‘
India
…’

She stood up and he followed her, walking round the table until he was beside her, gently taking her hand in his.

‘Can we… can we do this again?’

She looked into his eyes, and she couldn’t help smiling.
 
‘Breakfast?’

He smiled too, but not the movie star smile.
 
It was most definitely a smile from Dominic.
 
The man.
 
‘If you like.’

A reply loaded with meaning, and India got that, part of her almost glad to be getting away from Vegas for a couple of days because, the way she was feeling, she couldn’t promise she wouldn’t act on something out-of-the-blue and spontaneous with this insanely handsome man.
 
A man who was slowly doing things to her she hadn’t really been prepared for.
 
Even though another relationship was the last thing on her mind.

She was still smiling.
 
‘Okay, then.
 
Maybe.’

He raised an eyebrow.
 
‘Maybe?’

‘Yeah, maybe.’

Should he take this chance now?
 
Should he finally get this show on the road and make his move?
 
‘Okay.
 
I’ll take maybe,’ he smiled, gripping her hand a little tighter as he slowly moved his mouth closer to hers.
 
‘I’ll take that.’

‘Good.
 
Because that’s all you’re getting,’ she whispered, closing her eyes as his mouth lowered down onto hers, touching it ever-so-gently at first in a soft, light kiss and she had to cling onto his hand to steady herself.

She couldn’t say she hadn’t expected this to happen, they’d kind of been building up to it since last night.
 
She was still slightly surprised, though – by what she was feeling more than anything – but she didn’t pull away.
 
In fact, she did quite the opposite as she moved closer to him, her body touching his, and still touching his even when the kiss finally stopped.

‘You know what we’ve gone and done now, don’t you?’ she smiled, realising that they’d just kissed in full view of anyone who happened to be having breakfast there in the restaurant.
 
‘We’ve just given the press one whole load of gossip to play with.’

‘Let them play,’ he said quietly, gently stroking the small of her back, his mouth close to her ear, so close she could feel his breath on her cheek.
 
‘And when you get back from
L.A.
, maybe
we
can play too, huh?’

She laughed, suddenly feeling as though a cloud had lifted from over her and the sun had just come out.
 
‘Yeah, maybe.
 
Definitely maybe.’

***

Michael Walsh folded his paper and put it down on the table in front of him, draining his coffee cup and taking out his phone, his eyes never leaving the sight of his beautiful ex-wife and her handsome co-star as they kissed for all the world to see.
 
And it was a feeling Michael never felt comfortable with, a familiar feeling of anxiety and frustration and pain, a jealousy he couldn’t control no matter how much he wanted to.
 
A feeling he was tired of experiencing but knew he was never going to be able to live without.

The number he’d punched into his phone picked up after a few rings and Michael sat back in his chair, watching
India
as she smiled up at Dominic MacDonald.
 
Leading man, Hollywood movie star; major stumbling block.

‘Yeah, it’s Michael.’
 
He moved back slightly, shielding himself behind the pillar of the huge canopy that covered the Terrace Restaurant, not wanting to take any chance that
India
might see him.
 
He couldn’t afford for that to happen.
 
‘Get me everything you know on Dominic MacDonald.
 
Everything you fucking know.
 
And quick.’

Ending the call he sat forward,
India
now having left the restaurant, leaving Dominic alone but smiling, and who wouldn’t be, after what he’d just done?
 
But his days with
India
were numbered, Michael would make sure of that.
 
They were coming to an end, before anything had a chance to begin.

CHAPTER 13

Charley had just put Lily in her room for a nap in the huge Penthouse apartment she and Vince shared within The Amber Palace when Vince walked in, a smile immediately spreading across his face when he saw his wife.

Throwing his jacket over the back of a nearby chair, he held his arms open as Charley ran into them and he picked her up, swinging her round.

‘Hey, baby!
 
It’s great to see you.
 
I’ve missed you so much!’ he said, putting her down and tilting her chin up, kissing her mouth.
 
‘So fucking much.’

She couldn’t help but smile back.
 
Just a few seconds with Vince and she already felt better, but it was a false sense of security, an uncertain feeling of calm, and she knew that.
 
Deep down she knew that.
 
And she also knew that, at some point, she’d have to tell Vince about Jimmy because he wouldn’t go away.
 
Jimmy Cash never started anything without seeing it through to the end, but right now she just wanted to enjoy being with her husband, enjoy being a family again.
 
Enjoy catching up with
India
before she had to face up to the nightmare that had now been forced upon her.

‘I’ve missed you too,’ she smiled, looking into his eyes.
 
She loved him so much, she really did.
 
He’d saved her had Vince Maine.
 
He’d come into her life at a time when she’d really needed someone like him.
 
And he’d given her a life she could only have dreamed of before so it scared the hell out of her to think that Jimmy Cash could destroy all of that, in ways she didn’t even dare think about.

‘Is everything okay?’ Vince asked, stroking the hair from her eyes and she tried to look happy, tried to look as though nothing was on her mind because she couldn’t face that conversation just yet.
 
Not yet.
 
‘You look a little pre-occupied.
 
Is the show still on your mind?’

She almost breathed a sigh of relief.
 
She hadn’t even thought of hiding behind the fashion show for a few days, pretending she was recovering from the stress of all that.
 
It was the perfect smoke screen.
 
But a flimsy and weak one, and something she wouldn’t be able to hide behind forever.

She smiled again, standing up on tip-toes to kiss him, loving the feel of his arms around her, the safety that could give her.
 
But she wasn’t sure they could keep her safe from what was happening now, from a threat she couldn’t even begin to contemplate.

‘I’m just tired, sweetheart.
 
It’s been a busy week, and I guess I really needed this break.
 
I really needed to see
you.
’

‘Well, you got me now, kiddo.
 
And I’ll make sure you have the best time, I promise.
 
Now, where’s that gorgeous daughter of mine.
 
I’ve got presents for her.’

‘She’s in her room.
 
And she’s dying to see you.’

Charley stood back and folded her arms, watching as Vince grabbed a handful of wrapped boxes and headed off to Lily’s room.
 
She waited until he was safely inside before she leant back against the wall, closing her eyes, breathing a heavy sigh.

Her little family was perfect.
 
But how long was it going to stay that way?

***

‘You and Layla Boyd?
 
Again?’
India
gasped, staring at Kenny as they shared a beer outside in the grounds of the stunning Bel Air home where the video shoot for Black Rock Diamond’s new track
Dangerous Day
was taking place.

‘Yeah.
 
Who’d have thought, huh?’

India
looked down into her drink, a sudden feeling of confusion washing over her.
 
Was Layla with Kenny purely because she thought Michael didn’t want her?
 
Because she thought that her and Michael were back together?

It was almost as though Kenny could read her mind and as she looked back up at him, her head wasn’t exactly feeling any clearer about anything as he asked her a question she knew he’d wanted to ask the second she’d arrived there that morning.

‘Are you going back to him?’

She didn’t have to ask who he meant.
 
It was obvious he meant Michael.
 
‘No.
 
I’m not.’

‘So, why split from JJ?’

‘Joe and I aren’t divorcing because I’m seeing someone else, Kenny.
 
Michael is totally irrelevant to that whole situation…’

‘You sure about that?
 
So, you’re telling me that being there in Vegas with him… You’re telling me that nothing’s happened?
 
He hasn’t tried to go near you?’

‘He’s my director.’

‘You know what I mean,
India
.’

She wasn’t really in the mood for this kind of inquisition from anyone, least of all her best friend, who was starting to sound suspiciously like her father now.

‘I can’t deal with this, Kenny, okay?
 
Not from you.
 
I came to
L.A.
to get away from what’s going on in Vegas so I don’t appreciate the interrogation.’

‘I care about you,
India
.’

‘I know you do,’ she sighed, reaching out to take his hand.
 
‘I know you do, and quite honestly, Kenny, I can’t believe you still put up with me after all these years because I really don’t deserve a friend like you.
 
I really don’t.
 
But, you don’t need to worry about me and Michael, okay?
 
There’s nothing going on… nothing.
 
Not with Michael, anyway…’

She stopped talking, realising she was now voicing thoughts she’d never meant to say out loud as the memory of Dominic’s kiss filled her head; how he’d felt when he’d held her against him – how he’d tasted.