back. ‘Yeah. Only if I let him.’
‘Is everything okay?’
India looked up to see Dominic standing there, his hands in the pockets of his worn-out, faded jeans, his dark brown hair all messed up and unruly, his ice-blue eyes concerned as he noticed India’s tear-stained face.
‘Everything’s fine,’ India said, smiling at Martha as she squeezed India’s hand before leaving them to it. Dominic took her place on the trailer step. ‘It’s the divorce. JJ and I… it’s official now. Another marriage – over.’
Dominic looked down at the ground for a second before finally meeting her eyes. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t be. I mean, I’ve got no right to be upset really, have I? Not when it was me who instigated the whole thing. Me who decided the marriage was over.’
Dominic looked straight ahead of him, resting his elbows on his slightly open knees, clasping his hands together. ‘I can make it better.’ He turned to look at her. ‘If you’ll let me.’
She couldn’t help smiling at him. They hadn’t slept together the night before, they’d gone their separate ways after filming had finished. India had spent the evening with Kenny at one of their favourite bars inside The Mirage, and as far as she was aware Dominic had stayed in The Amber Palace, a guest of Vince’s at the casino. But she’d missed him. Despite what she was feeling now – that ridiculous, empty feeling at the thought of not having JJ around in that way anymore – she’d missed Dominic. Missed sleeping with him beside her, missed waking up with him there. She’d missed morning sex and a shower together. She’d missed all of that.
‘You sure you want that job?’ she asked, her stomach doing a million tiny somersaults as he turned to look at her, that movie star smile coming into full effect.
‘Well, it’s a tough call, but somebody’s gotta do it.’
‘You think you’re up to it then?’ India went on, the heat of the Las Vegas desert sun matched by the heat of his body as it closed in on hers. ‘Because, the hours can be tough. And the work can be pretty gruelling. I’m one hell of a task master.’
He smiled again, and India had to bite down on her lip to stop herself from gasping out loud, so active were those butterflies in her stomach.
‘Well, y’know, that’s kinda what I like,’ Dominic whispered, his mouth almost touching hers now, those piercing blue eyes boring right into her. ‘A tough task master.’
She smiled too, reaching out to touch his face as his mouth finally met hers, kissing her so slowly and so gently it made her skin tingle and her heart race.
‘Then you got the job, mister.’
He ran his hand lightly up her thigh, up under the leg of her cut-off denim shorts and she didn’t stop him. She didn’t want to. All last night she’d missed being touched by him so she was going to grab what she could while she had him here.
‘So, when do I start?’ he smiled.
She burst out laughing, throwing her head back. ‘Jesus, I really missed you last night.’
‘Come here,’ he whispered, pulling her astride him, his fingers sliding up under the tight white T-shirt she was wearing. ‘I missed you too, beautiful. All I could think about was you, naked and sexy-as-hell…’ He kissed her again, a little harder this time, a little longer, her fingers buried in his hair, his hands stroking her skin, sliding down the back of her shorts. ‘So, we on for tonight then?’
‘Yeah. Why not?’ she smiled, suddenly feeling a whole lot better than she had done a few minutes ago. Was this man finally going to be the one to really make everything better? Who could tell? Maybe it was just time to kick back and see what happened.
He smiled too, feeling ridiculously happy that he’d managed to make her smile, because he didn’t like to see her sad, didn’t want her to be unhappy. And all of a sudden he realised that this incredible lady wasn’t just someone he wanted to be around because she was amazing to look at or because he needed her for the out-of-this-world sex they had. He just needed her. End of story. Dominic MacDonald finally needed somebody.
***
Charley took a deep breath and pushed open the heavy black door of the slightly run-down Bail Bond office in downtown Las Vegas. Situated between a bar advertising 24 hour strippers via a huge flashing neon sign, and a pawn shop, this was