on her mind big time right now. And Vince would do everything in his power to find out just what that something was.
CHAPTER 21
‘Happy birthday my darling,’ Reece smiled, kissing India on both cheeks then standing back to take a look at his beautiful daughter. Dressed in the simplest of outfits – skinny jeans, strapless black top and spike-heeled ankle boots, her blond hair piled messily on top of her head – she looked incredible.
‘You’re not gonna start with the nagging then?’ India asked, wary of facing her father for the first time since the rumours about her and Dominic’s “did they or didn’t they?” sex scene had started. He’d been in L.A. for a couple of days visiting Martha on the set of her new movie, so it was the first time she’d seen him since the news had hit the front pages of the tabloids and gossip magazines.
Reece looked at her, all too aware of what she was getting at. And there was plenty he wanted to say on the subject of her and Dominic and what was being said about them, but maybe tonight wasn’t the right time. He’d witnessed just a few seconds of that scene being filmed, and even those images had been way too graphic for him to grasp, so to think that things may have gone further was just too much for him to comprehend right now. And it was something he would never put himself through, he’d never see that scene, he’d never watch it, he’d make sure of that.
‘Did you do it?’ He hadn’t meant to say that out loud but he’d been unable to stop himself from asking the question.
‘Not tonight, Dad. Please.’
‘Everything okay here?’ Dominic asked, arriving by India’s side, handsome and sexy-as-hell in a black shirt and pants, his hair in that messed-up, just-got-out-of-bed style that he was known for – and that India loved – the movie star smile firmly in place as he circled her waist with his arm, pulling her into him.
‘Everything’s fine,’ Reece replied. He held Dominic’s stare for a few seconds before turning his attention back to India. ‘I take it, by this display of protective behaviour, that you two are officially an item then.’
It wasn’t really a question, and India felt about fifteen again. She guessed she always would, because she’d given her father no other option but to be suspicious of every relationship she got into now. Her past had seen to that.
She looked up at Dominic, removing his arm from around her waist and slipping her hand into his. He just smiled that smile, kissed her quickly, then left her alone with her dad.
‘It’s a bit early for him to be playing the gallant hero, isn’t it?’ Reece said, immediately wishing he hadn’t said anything at all because the look on India’s face wasn’t one he felt comfortable with. He could do without alienating her, especially at a time like this. He held his hands up. ‘Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’ll back off, I’ll quit with the over-protective father routine. Just…’
‘Be careful. Yeah, yeah, I get it.’
‘You’re gonna be in the public eye all over again, you know that, don’t you? Now you’re in some kind of relationship with your co-star.’
‘It’s not like I’ve never had to handle that before, Dad.’
He wanted to say so much more to her but tonight was her night, her birthday, a night for her to cut loose and enjoy herself. Anything else could wait. ‘Go on,’ he smiled. ‘Go have a good time.’
She threw herself into his arms and hugged him tight, and he held onto her like he never wanted to let her go. And he didn’t. Because every time he let her go something happened that he couldn’t control; she got hurt, and he’d have to pick up the pieces all over again. He could only hope that, this time, things would be different.
***
‘I’m almost certain Vince suspects something’s up, Kenny,’ Charley said, suddenly feeling more than a little self-conscious talking to him. But that was only because of what had happened between them, and nobody else knew about that, did they?
‘Then you’ve got to try and be less edgy around him, Charley.’ Kenny couldn’t really concentrate tonight. He was too busy watching India and Dominic kissing like a couple of kids by the bar, laughing and play-fighting. It shouldn’t bother him, he’d thought he was over all that, but it did. It bothered him.