all goes wrong… what if Jimmy’s after some kind of sick revenge?’
‘Hey, come on.’ He tilted up her chin so she was looking right at him, her tired and frightened eyes meeting his. ‘You can’t think like that, honey. You can’t…’
And he hadn’t intended for what happened next to happen, neither of them had, but it was like something was pushing them together, some invisible force they had no control over. And as his mouth gently touched hers she responded as though it was the most natural thing in the world, an action that had almost always been on the cards from the second she’d told him about Jimmy’s reappearance.
It was a slow, gentle kiss, a kiss that had now transcended that barrier between friendship and whatever else was there on the other side, because neither Kenny nor Charley were entirely sure what that was. All they knew was that they needed each other – for different reasons, maybe, but they needed each other. And whether those reasons were right or wrong, neither of them really cared. Charley needed the safety that Kenny could give her, and Kenny needed the distraction that Charley could provide. And together, that could only spell out one hell of a lot of trouble.
CHAPTER 20
India lay on top of Dominic, the heat of the Las Vegas evening hitting their naked bodies through the open window as they kissed like a couple of teenagers in the aftermath of first-time sex.
For the past couple of days they’d been more than aware of the ever-increasing gossip surrounding their “did they or didn’t they?” sex scene, as everyone was calling it, and that same question had now hit the headlines with newspapers, magazines and entertainment shows going all out to keep it a much-talked-about subject. All India knew for sure was that the studio itself was in raptures over the publicity it was giving a movie that had yet to finish shooting.
They wanted to make sure this one ran and ran, and both she and Dominic had been told to keep the mystery, let nothing out of the bag, don’t let anyone know the exact truth – even the studio bosses didn’t want to know what had really gone on. And it wasn’t what India had wanted to happen, but it had, and they should have known from the second they’d done what they had that this was the way things would turn out. They’d lost control, and now they were headline news.
‘I don’t even think Michael had any real intention of actually putting that scene in the finished movie,’ India said, resting her chin on her hands as she lay on Dominic’s chest.
‘How do you mean?’
‘He set it up. The whole thing. Me and you. He’s done this kind of thing before; I know the way his mind works.’
‘But, why?’ Dominic asked, gently stroking India’s back, running his fingers lightly up and down her spine.
‘Who can tell? He’s a very complex man is Michael Walsh.’
Dominic knew that only too well. ‘Does he get some kind of a kick, watching you with other men?’
‘No. Completely the opposite I would have thought.’
Dominic wondered if Michael had any idea that he’d watched his own son being so intimate with his ex-wife. Because he couldn’t wait to lay that one out in front of him.
‘He’s gonna have to put it in the movie now though, isn’t he?’ India sighed.
‘Does that bother you?’
‘Jesus, Dominic, come on! I’d be lying if I said it didn’t. We know what we did out there, we know what happened, and I can’t say I’m excited by the prospect of Christ knows how many millions of people watching us.’
‘I am,’ he smiled, moving his hand down into the small of her back, his fingers still stroking her skin with small, circular motions. ‘That’s one hell of a freakin’ turn on in my eyes.’
‘Dominic!’ she laughed, gently punching his arm.
‘I think we should go ask to watch the rushes. Just you and me, alone, in that screening room... watching you and me, up there on the big screen…’
‘You’re a bastard.’ But she smiled as she said it; she couldn’t help it. Part of her was just as turned on as he was at that thought because that’s what this man did to her. He turned her on. Too much. And now look at the consequences.
‘And while we’re watching you and me…’ he whispered, his mouth so close to hers, ‘… we could re-live it, all over again.’