No Matter What (66 page)

The door opened and she turned round as Michael walked in.
 
He looked tired, and sad, and she didn’t want him to be sad.

“I’m sorry, baby,” he whispered.
 
“I’m really sorry.”

“Where’ve you been?” she asked, walking over to him and slipping her arms around his neck, her stomach doing a tiny flip as he pulled her close.
 
“I’ve been worried about you.”

He smiled, stroking her face gently, just wanting to look at her.

“I came back here to do a bit of work, then I just went out to get some air, have a bit of a think about what a selfish bastard I can be sometimes.
 
I really didn’t want to do this
India
; I didn’t want to upset you like that so, no more, ok?
 
No more baby talk.
 
I promise.”

“I love you, Michael, so much, and you need to know that because sometimes I think you forget.
 
I love you and I want to be with you and I want that to be enough. For both of us.
 
Because if it isn’t, if having me and only me isn’t enough for you then ...”

“It’s enough,
India
.
 
It’s more than enough.”

“Is it?
 
Is it really?
 
Because you need to mean that, Michael, you really need to mean that.”

He took her hand in his, squeezing it tight, and she could see the tears in his eyes.

“I mean it,” he whispered.
 
“More than anything, I mean it.”

“Oh, baby, don’t cry.
 
Please, don’t cry.”
 
She gently wiped his tears away and kissed him slowly, leaning into him as his arms held her tight against him.

This is what it should be like, this is what it should always be like because this is how she liked her life.
 
She liked to be able to do this; to kiss him whenever she wanted, to make love to him whenever she wanted, to be together, just the two of them.
 
They had so precious little time together as it was and she just didn’t want to share him.
 
She never wanted to share him.
 
Not ever.

“Are we ok then?” he asked, still holding tightly onto her hand.

She smiled.
 
“Yeah.
 
We’re ok.
 
Jesus, Michael, I don’t want you to go tomorrow.”

“If I could stay, baby, I would.
 
You have no idea how much I want to stay here with you ... no idea.”

“Well then ...” she smiled, walking backwards towards the bed, pulling him along by his hand as she pulled away the towel she was wearing, throwing it onto the floor.
 
“... we’d better make sure we don’t waste any more time.”

Make-up sex was always good, and this was no exception.
 
She hated arguing with him, she hated the fights, but the sex that inevitably followed always made up for everything that had gone before.

“I don’t feel like going out tonight now,” she groaned, turning over onto her stomach and raising herself up onto her elbows slightly, her whole body still tingling from what they’d just done.

“It’s your dad’s engagement party, honey.
 
It’d look pretty strange if we didn’t show our faces.”

“I know,” she sighed.
 
“But tomorrow you’ve got to leave me and then it’ll probably be weeks before we have sex again and I can’t stand that thought.”
 
She leaned over to kiss his mouth, smiling at him.
 
God, she loved that mouth.
 
“Ok.
 
I know what I’m going to do.
 
I’m going to call you, every day when you’re in
L.A.
, just to tell you what I’m doing.”

He smiled back, reaching out to gently stroke her shoulder.
 
“And what exactly
are
you going to be doing?”

“I’m going to be doing
your
job.”

“And what’s
my
job?”

“
Your
job is keeping me happy.
 
So, every day, I’m going to touch myself and pretend it’s you, and I’m going to tell you exactly what I’m doing and how that’s making me feel, how you’re making me happy even though you’re miles away, and listening to your voice is only going to make that feel so much better.”

Michael ran his fingers lightly over her breasts as he spoke, his mouth almost touching hers.
 
“And, when you’re telling me all of this are you, y’know, gonna be naked?”
 

“Sometimes,” she smiled.
 
“Other times, I’ll be as naked as I need to be.”

Jesus, she was incredible!
 
She was a wet dream come true and he was so ready to go again, but he wanted something else first.
 
“Talking dirty, huh?”

She leaned closer to him, touching his mouth with her fingertips.
 
“As dirty as you want me to be.”

“Oh, I want you to be very, very dirty.
 
I want you to tell me everything.”

He took her hand and moved it where he needed it right now, kissing her hard, knowing that leaving her tomorrow was going to kill him.
 
He’d never lost that obsession with her, he’d never lost that burning need to be with her constantly, that need to know where she was and what she was doing, to watch everything she did, and to leave all of that was something he just couldn’t deal with.
 
He couldn’t explain it, he couldn’t tell people why she took over everything he did and why leaving her here in Vegas with Kenny Ross was going to mean he’d spend every day feeling like he’d lost his mind, he couldn’t explain that.
 
He just knew it was true.
 
She still was and always would be his obsession and right now he just wanted to be with her, to love her, to spend these last precious few hours inside her before he had to let her go.

“Show me, baby,” he whispered, losing himself in her wide and beautiful eyes.
 
“Show me exactly what you’re gonna do.
 
Show me so I can see it in my head.”

She smiled, sitting up as she knelt astride him, leaning back slightly.
 
“You want to watch?”

“I want to watch.
 
You gonna do that for me?”

“For you, Michael, I’d do absolutely anything.”

And those were the only words Michael Walsh needed to hear.

***

“Those two can never make it to a party on time,” Kenny said, as he stood by the bar with Vince.
 

Vince was on his third or fourth bourbon of the evening already.
 
He was feeling a little on edge, a little concerned that somebody was going to find out that Charley now worked here in the hotel and nobody could predict how that news would be taken.
 
The rational part of him knew that it really was only a matter of time before somebody did find out though, and then everything would have to be explained, including the news of their relationship.
 
He wasn’t ashamed of her, he didn’t feel guilty but he was nervous about people’s reactions, especially
India
’s, and the irrational part of his mind wondered if he could manage to keep her out of sight for the duration of filming.
 
It wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility, surely?

“I mean, it’s her dad’s party so you’d think she’d have been here wouldn’t you?” Kenny went on.

Vince looked at him.
 
“Sorry ... what are we talking about here?
 
I was miles away.”

“
India
and Michael’s non-appearance.
 
Jesus, you haven’t got women on the brain too, have you?”

“No.
 
What makes you say that?”

Kenny looked up as he heard Michael’s voice congratulating
Reece
,
India
holding onto his waist as they talked, leaning right in against him, looking like some lovesick kid.
 
Kenny almost wanted to look away but he couldn’t because she looked amazing, dressed in a black baby doll dress and high strappy sandals, her hair piled up messily on top of her head.
 
It was quite obvious what they’d been doing, and also quite obvious that any trouble from this morning had been put well and truly behind them.
 
And he didn’t like the way that made him feel.

“Looks like trouble in paradise has been averted then?” Bobby said, sidling up to Kenny at the bar and ordering himself a gin and tonic.

Kenny just looked at him, not really wanting to talk about it.
 
The way she was looking up at the great Michael Walsh made him feel physically sick.
 
He really wasn’t handling this well at all.
 
He’d thought he was over it all and finally moving on, but it seemed his emotions had other ideas.

“Do you think they’ll ever fall out of love?” Bobby asked, in no hurry to leave Kenny alone.

“Who?” he asked, even though it was very much a rhetorical question.

“Romeo and Juliet over there.
 
The rather gorgeous Mr and Mrs Walsh.”
 
Bobby sighed, leaning back against the bar and looking over at them as they laughed and talked with Martha and Reece.
 
“I think they look perfect together, don’t you?”

Kenny knocked back his drink and ordered another one.
 
“Do you not think he’s a bit old for her?”
 
He knew the minute he’d said it that he should have kept his mouth shut because both Vince and Bobby looked at him.

“I do believe you still have feelings for your ex-wife, Kenny Ross,” Bobby teased.
 
“I sense a teensy bit of jealousy there if I’m not mistaken.”

“Fuck off, Bobby!
 
I’m not jealous.”

“Yes, well, I think you protest just a tad too much.”
 
Bobby turned his attention back to scanning the room for people he knew.
 
“Right, I’m off to mingle.”

Vince looked at Kenny again, his body language screaming that Bobby had hit an extremely raw nerve.
 
He was jealous of Michael, and it was obvious he still had feelings for
India
, he’d made that quite plain in those few seconds just there.
 
Maybe Michael was right after all.
 
Maybe Kenny
was
someone to be worried about.
 
But
India
wouldn’t go there again.
 
So much had changed since the affair Michael claimed they’d had.
 
India
seemed more in love with Michael than ever so surely there wasn’t a problem.

Kenny looked at Vince, aware that he was studying him.
 
“I don’t have feelings for her, Vince.
 
I don’t.”

Vince just raised an eyebrow and left him to it.
 

Kenny kicked the bar and knocked back his drink, angry with himself for a moment of weakness.
 
Of course he still had feelings for
India
, he’d never lost them.
 
He’d just learnt to live with them, learnt to cope with watching her with Michael, a man he’d never really understood, and understood less what it was that India saw in him.

“Hey, you not speaking to me or what?”

He turned round as someone tapped his shoulder.
 
India
stood there, smiling at him, her face giving away every tell-tale sign of someone who’d just had great sex.
 
Because that’s what her and Michael had, wasn’t it?
 
Great sex.
 
She’d told him that herself.

“What’s up with
your
face?” she asked, picking up a glass of champagne from the bar.
 
“You look fed up.”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you?
 
Now
you’re
looking like the one who got out of bed the wrong side.”

“I’m surprised you managed to get out of yours at all.”

She looked at him.
 
“What’s
that
supposed to mean?”

He pushed a hand through his hair and sighed.
 
“I’m sorry.”

“You know, I’m a bit sick of people saying that to me today.
 
I’ve had
him
in a mood ...” She indicated towards Michael, who was now talking to Vince. “... and now
you’ve
got a face on you.
 
What’s
your
problem anyway?”

“I haven’t got one.”

“You sure about that?”

He looked at her.
 
“Positive.”

“Whatever.”
 
She stood up on tip-toes and kissed his cheek.
 
“I’ll see you later.”

He watched her run back over to Michael, almost throwing herself against him as he caught her with one arm, leaning over to kiss her slowly, a kiss that was something they should probably have kept behind closed doors but Kenny couldn’t stop watching - watching the way Michael held her, watching the way he buried his fingers in her hair, his thumb stroking her cheek as he kissed her; he watched the way her body went almost limp in his arms.
 
What was it with him?
 
What was it he had that made her feel that way?
 
What was he doing to her?