All That Glitters (14 page)

‘Morning, beautiful,’ Johnny said in a low voice, and Ella turned to him. God, she thought. She had done it. She’d slept with Johnny Cooper. Flashbacks of the night before – of Johnny licking the beads of sweat from her neck as he moved gently inside her, of how she’d arched her back in that exquisite near-pain of orgasm – raced through her mind, and she groaned softly. Ending up in bed with Johnny was obviously a mistake. But wow. What a mistake. She’d never felt like that. Ever.

‘I’ve got to go home,’ Ella began, but Johnny cut her off.

‘There’s no need,’ he said with a smile. ‘I phoned Nash earlier and he’s going to square it with Danny. You’ve got the day off.’

Ella sat bolt upright. ‘You
told
him? You told Nash we slept together?’

Johnny laughed. ‘Of course not. I explained that you’d had a bit too much to drink last night, so I got you a room here. And then I said that after you woke up I was planning on taking you for a slap-up breakfast, and that we were going to spend the rest of the day together working out the next show.’

Ella blinked. ‘And Nash believed you?’

Johnny curled his lips into a smile, and he slowly moved his warm hand up her thigh. ‘Ella Riding, I can be
very
persuasive when I want to be. Haven’t you noticed?’

Ella blushed as Johnny’s hand rested at the top of her thigh, and she felt her body heating up again.

‘But why would we talk about the next
Wonderland
when it’s our day off? It doesn’t make sense.’

Johnny shrugged, and for the first time Ella noticed just how fit he was. His naked torso was ripped – his pecs and abs were clearly defined, and dark blonde hair trailed from the top of his chest all the way down. He pulled the starched white sheet away from his body, and Ella’s eyes feasted on the rest of him: his strong thighs, and his rock-hard cock.

‘Who cares about sense when we have each other to play with,’ he whispered, and he pulled Ella towards him.

For the first time in a long while Ella didn’t give a damn about doing the right thing. She luxuriated in Johnny’s body, and gave in to him.

How could she not when he felt so fucking good?

‘So what are we doing for the rest of the day?’ Ella asked Johnny coyly as they sat in the back of a cab with their sunglasses on. Ella was still in the antique violet and gold Marc Jacobs dress she’d worn during the previous night’s show, and despite having a long, hot shower, she was convinced she still reeked of sex and alcohol.

‘Well, since you’re not really dressed for anything apart from presenting the best new show on the box,’ Johnny said in a low voice, ‘I thought we could go back to my place and hang out. I’ve organised a picnic lunch in the garden, and then I thought we could continue where we left off this morning.’ His arm, which had been draped casually around the back of Ella’s shoulders, dropped down slightly, and his hand began stroking the top of her breast. It turned her on instantly.

‘Sounds good to me,’ Ella said in a tiny voice, and she realised just how much she’d missed sex. Missed this. Hugs from Danny were one thing, but there was nothing like being wanted so badly by a man. Nothing like hot, melting desire.

God, she’d needed this.

‘Then let’s get you home, Miss Aldridge,’ Johnny whispered, and he kissed her cheek gently.

Ella shut her eyes with pleasure.

Johnny’s house was beautiful – it was one of those places where you relaxed and felt instantly at home. The heavy sage green front door of the Victorian townhouse opened into a long hall, and the stripped wooden floor was dotted with richly coloured rugs, expensive antique side-tables, and carefully chosen oil paintings.

Every room Ella walked into surprised her again and again. The living room – which she knew as it had been replicated on
Cooper’s Kingdom
– was incredible, and the set on the TV show hadn’t done it justice. The brown leather sofas and Jackson Pollock print were exactly the same as the ones on set, but what the programme failed to emulate was the vibe of the room, the atmosphere. The soul.

‘I love it in here,’ Ella said to Johnny with a smile, as she walked around the room looking at photos of Johnny’s family and friends, sniffing the scented candles, and taking in the open fireplace, the sunlight streaming through the windows, and the gentle sound of a clock ticking.

‘I do too,’ Johnny replied, as he stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. ‘It’s my favourite room in the house, apart from my bedroom. Want to check it out?’

Johnny led Ella up the stairs, and pulled her into his bedroom. There was a huge bed swathed in deep burgundy silk and purple corduroy cushions, a gold candelabra with black candles on the bronze mantelpiece, and unlike the rest of the house, the room was gloomy. Ella turned to Johnny in surprise.

‘Black-out blinds,’ he said, as if he’d anticipated Ella’s question. She guessed he’d answered it many times before. ‘Because of this . . .’

Johnny took a tiny remote from the bedside table, and suddenly the room lit up. There were tiny fairy-lights embedded into the floor and ceiling, and soft reds and oranges beamed down the walls from hidden places in the cornicing. The colours slowly started to change to turquoises and brilliant blues, and Ella gasped. It was like being in a designer hotel.

Johnny pressed another button on his remote, and suddenly a huge glass screen slowly fell from the ceiling. Ella stared at it for a moment as she tried to work out what it was, and quickly realised it was a wall of water, with cascading droplets sliding through the thin glass.

‘It’s for when I can’t sleep,’ Johnny admitted with a shrug. ‘It helps me to relax. And when I want to watch TV, well . . .’ he pressed another button, and instantly the water stopped, and the glass turned into an HD TV. It started playing
A Week in Wonderland
.

Ella’s mouth fell open.

‘I’ve never seen anything like that!’ she exclaimed, and Johnny pressed pause. The screen showed Ella and Johnny smiling at each other as they discussed Gable Blackwood running to be governor of Florida, and Ella took her eyes away from the screen and focused on the man in front of her. He was so different from how she thought he’d be. His house was a proper home – there was nothing laddish about it – and even though he had enough gadgets in his place to rival the technology in Castle House, he wasn’t bragging when he showed them to her. He just enjoyed them, and he wanted Ella to, too. He was becoming more and more likeable, and Ella could feel her addiction to him worsening with every minute that passed.

‘Are you hungry?’ Johnny asked her softly, and Ella shook her head. Her body was overflowing with luscious adrenaline, and she didn’t feel like she could ever eat again.

‘That’s a shame,’ he continued. ‘Because I’m starving. You’re going to have to work up an appetite.’ Johnny pushed Ella onto the bed, held her arms above her head, and slowly unzipped her dress with his teeth so he could gaze at her naked body as he fucked her.

Ella thought she was in paradise.

‘So tell me more about your childhood,’ Ella asked, as she smeared a piece of Brie onto an oat biscuit and popped it into her mouth. After Johnny had ravished her – and as corny as that sounded, there really were no other words for what he’d been doing to her for the last couple of hours – he’d scooped her up, washed her gently in a luxurious bubble bath, and then dressed her in one of his shirts and some boxer shorts. They’d then gone into the garden, and sat on a soft blanket that had been laid with plates of cheese, fruit, and cold meats by Johnny’s housekeeper.

Ella suddenly found she was starving.

‘Oh, you know, it’s the usual stuff. My parents are great – they live around the corner – and I grew up in Hampstead. I went to a boarding school, and I’ve never really lived anywhere else. Why would you when you live in the best city in the world?’

‘But what about university?’ Ella asked. He fascinated her. On screen Johnny Cooper came across as cocky and in love with himself, but in private, he was turning out to be more complex than she expected. She’d fallen for the confident and sexy man, but the person she was talking to now was quite different. He was sweet and lovely and seemed a much nicer person than she could ever have imagined. He was the best bits of Fin, and the funny bits of Danny, all rolled into one gorgeous package. Ella didn’t know how she’d failed to realise this before.

‘I didn’t go,’ Johnny said. ‘All my mates did, and my parents wanted me to, but it wasn’t for me. My mother’s worked in theatre all her life, and I thought I wanted to be an actor for years. It was only when I narrated a school play that I realised I didn’t want to be known for being lots of different characters. I wanted to be on a stage, and I wanted to be
me
.’

‘So that’s how you got into TV presenting?’

‘That’s how I got into it. I started at MTV doing work experience, and then I got to be an assistant, and then, when they did open auditions I got to be a newsreader. I only presented for sixty seconds every hour, but as soon as I started out I realised I’d found my calling. From there it was a step up to children’s TV, and then bits and pieces until I got to present that morning TV show, and then onto
Cooper’s Kingdom
. Which, as you know, has moved from day-time to prime-time.’

‘And now you present
Wonderland
with me.’

‘And now I present
Wonderland
with you,’ Johnny said, his eyes shining. ‘But tell me about you. How did you end up with such an amazing life?’

Ella filled Johnny in on what she’d done from the age of five until the week before, skimming over how much Fin had hurt her – why think about him right now when she was so blissfully happy? – and cutting out most of her relationship with Danny. Normally she’d tell the ‘truth’, in that they’d met on a beach, had an instant connection, and had fallen in love. But she didn’t want to talk about Danny, and she didn’t want to lie to Johnny. There was no need for him to know he was gay, or for her to reveal the truth about their marriage. It was none of his business.

‘So you’re as ambitious as me,’ Johnny concluded, after Ella had finished filling him in.

Ella looked at him. ‘I suppose when I started up Sweet Dreams you could have called me ambitious, but I’m not any more. When the business went under I lost my drive,’ she said.

‘Oh, I don’t mean ambitious in the conventional sense,’ Johnny remarked. ‘What I mean is, you’ve been given this platform in the public eye, and rather than waste it, you’re using it. You’re working as a stylist on that magazine . . .’

‘
Cerise
.’

‘And now you’re a TV presenter. It’s like your marriage has given you the confidence to really push yourself to be a brand. And you’re getting great results.’

‘Well yes, I suppose,’ Ella concluded, after she’d considered it for a moment.

‘And that’s what I like about you,’ Johnny said with a smile. ‘You don’t know just how amazing you are.’

Ella grinned and lay back on the blanket. The clouds were racing through the blue sky, and she felt relaxed and content. If she could forget about the fact that she was married, and that she should be at home, she really could believe that life was perfect.

‘I wish I could stay,’ she said sadly, as she pulled out her mobile to see if she had any messages. There were several, all from Danny, asking where she was. ‘I wish I didn’t have to go home.’

‘You don’t have to go home, you know,’ Johnny said in a matter-of-fact voice. ‘You could stay.’

Ella shook her head and tried not to get upset. She’d spent the last twenty-four hours in the company of this man, and had never known anything like it. She’d started off not really liking him and now she’d practically fallen in love with him. She’d had great sex before, but she’d never experienced anything like the pleasures Johnny had shown her. The thought of going back to Castle House, and not being able to just
be
with Johnny was almost too much to bear.

‘You could stay here for ever, you know. We could get dressed, find you some beautiful clothes to wear, go out for dinner, get some drinks, go dancing, and stumble home in the early morning.’

Ella smiled. ‘I’d love to do that, but my husband is wondering where I am. I need to go home.’

Johnny ignored her. ‘And then I’d take you to my bed, have my wicked way with your delicious body, and we’d talk late into the night. The next morning we’d be exhausted, but I’d make love to you, and then we’d go off to our amazing jobs on
Wonderland
. We could help each other with our lines, screw in our dressing rooms before the programme goes out, and we’d never have to leave each other’s sides again. We’d be best friends and lovers. We’d be soul mates.’

Soul mates. Best friends. Since she’d met Danny, she’d thought of him as her best friend. Okay, so he had a lover, and you never knew, he might not mind her taking one too, but having sex behind Danny’s back was one thing. And talking about being best friends and soul mates was another.

It was like she’d suddenly come out of a magic spell.

‘I have to go back,’ Ella said crisply. ‘I’m married, and I shouldn’t be here. Danny must be starting to worry.’

‘So reply to his texts, or give him a ring,’ Johnny said casually, as he sliced up a white peach. ‘Say you’re with friends, and you’re not going to be home for a couple of days. What will he care, anyway? Isn’t he in training for that big match coming up next weekend?’

‘I can’t. Danny and I are always honest with each other. I shouldn’t be doing this to him—’

‘But you already
are
,’ Johnny stressed. ‘You’ve already done it. You’re
doing
it. You’re sitting in my garden glowing from what we’ve been doing all day.’

‘And I shouldn’t be here.’ Ella lowered her eyes and felt a tug of pain from inside her body. She’d always said she’d never have an affair, but right now she was in the middle of one. Her perfect world had been turned upside down and for the first time in ages, she felt like she wasn’t in control. That she was at risk of losing her happy ever after.

‘Ella, I want you to stay. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. I can’t let you go.’