‘Did you tell him anything?’ India asked, turning away from Kenny. She’d done it now, hadn’t she? She was going to see Dominic tonight, whether she really wanted to or not. She’d left herself with no choice.
‘Of course not, Princess!’ He looked at her, biting down on his bottom lip. ‘Should I have done?’
She curled her legs up underneath her, shaking her head. ‘No. I think he already knows I’m here anyway, otherwise why send me that text?’
Bobby threw a questioning look in Kenny’s direction. ‘He’s still trying to talk to her,’ Kenny said, draining the last of his beer from the bottle, immediately picking up the fresh one Bobby had brought him. He suddenly needed a bigger kick of alcohol.
Bobby turned his attention to India, his eyes meeting hers and the look he gave her made tears well up out of nowhere, because Bobby could read her so well. He knew, just by looking at her, that she was going to give in to the man that was Michael’s son. She was going to give in because she needed to do that for the sake of her own sanity. Pretending she didn’t care was just too exhausting. Another bad decision on her part? Maybe. But she was going to make it anyway.
‘I’ll go get him,’ Bobby sighed, pulling himself up from the floor and kissing her forehead, squeezing her hand. ‘Honestly, Angel, are you ever going to start doing anything that doesn’t involve a whole heap of complications?’
Kenny looked at her, forcing a smile that he didn’t feel much like giving, but maybe they’d always been heading in this direction, despite everything that had gone on before. Even now, albeit more indirectly than Kenny could have predicted, Michael Walsh still had a hold over India. Just not in a way that even he could have envisaged.
‘You gonna be okay?’ Kenny asked, getting up and grabbing his guitar, slinging it over his shoulder.
India smiled back, hugging her knees to her chest. ‘Yeah. I’m gonna be just fine.’
He sat back down, putting a hand to her face, gently stroking her cheek with his thumb, kissing her quickly on the mouth. ‘Give me a call, okay? If you need me.’ He stood back up before India could say anything. ‘Hey, Bobby! Wait up! I’ll save you from the clutches of Carlos…’
India sat back against the cushions, grabbing one from behind her head and hugging it tight, a feeling of excitement mixed with nerves – still tinged with a touch of anger – causing her stomach to somersault continuously now she knew Dominic was on his way. This would be the first time she’d really been alone with him since it had all happened – that surreal night when she’d found out he was Michael’s son. The first time she’d really talked to him – properly talked to him – outside of the movie set. And what it was she actually said to him she had yet to work out, because she still didn’t know what it was she was really feeling.
‘Hey, beautiful.’
She opened her eyes and looked up. There he stood, leaning back against the wooden post of the cabana frame, his arms folded, his face serious. And she kind of missed the movie star smile he usually greeted her with, but maybe he was gauging her reaction before he started with all of that again. She couldn’t blame him.
‘Hey,’ she said, sitting up and crossing her legs up underneath her.
He sat down beside her, leaning forward, his hands clasped between his open knees as he stared straight ahead of him. ‘Alone at last, huh?’ He looked at her, a glimmer of that movie star smile beginning to appear but she didn’t smile back, not yet. She didn’t want him to think she was giving in that easy, because she wasn’t going to.
‘Maybe we do need to talk,’ she said, fiddling with the leather cuff bracelet she was wearing, her eyes finally meeting his and staying there. Those incredible, beautiful eyes of his. Eyes just like his father. Her ex-husband. The man she could never forget.
‘I don’t want to beat about the bush, India. I don’t want to waste time with conversations that are only going to take us round in circles; I just want you to know that I love you, okay? And I know that may be hard for you to believe, coming from me, but I do. I love you. Maybe it