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