Vanity (41 page)

And very slowly he leant over and kissed her again. Soon they were kissing and kissing, rolling around in the expensive sheets, their hands roaming over one another's bodies until they'd both reached fever pitch. Natalia was so wet that when Ben slid his fingers inside her he stopped for a second.

Raising himself up on his arms to look her straight in the eye, he said, ‘Do you want me as much as I think you do, Nat? Do you want me as much as I taste you do?' He raised his right hand, keeping himself propped up on his left arm, and licked his fingers with relish.

Natalia looked him straight back in the eye with her clear grey-blue gaze.

‘Oh, yes.'

‘Do you want to taste how much you want me?'

‘Oh, yes.'

So Ben put his slippery fingers into her mouth, and she sucked and sucked and sucked. Her cunt was throbbing, desperate for release.

‘My God, you're beautiful,' said Ben. Her features were more feline than ever, eyes half closed, high cheekbones emphasized by the fact that she was sucking his fingers with such abandon.

Gently, he removed his fingers from her mouth and walked over to the roll-top bathing machine.

‘I think it's about time this was put to good use,' he said, turning on the taps and pouring in some of the wonderful smelly stuff that the Portobello Hotel had so thoughtfully provided. Soon the room was steamy and hot with jasmine, ylang ylang and honeysuckle.

Natalia, lying dishevelled on the round bed, looked at Ben's perfectly put-together body and laughed. He could have been sculpted by Michelangelo.

‘What's so funny? This was meant to be romantic.' Ben was half joking. ‘Have I done something wrong?'

‘Oh, no no no, my darling. Everything is right. I am laughing because I cannot believe how happy I am.'

He walked back to the bed and picked her up. Her long, slender limbs were dangling over his and she laughed again.

‘Oh, Mr Movie Star, you treat me like princess.'

‘That's because you are my princess,' said Ben as he lowered her into the steamy, scented water. He kissed her again for added emphasis.

‘Please, you must get in with me.'

‘No, I thought I'd just stand here and look at you,' said Ben, climbing in to join her.

Natalia laughed again. She couldn't believe how much laughter there was in her life, now. After Ben had saved her from drowning on Bottle Beach, they had returned to London, and reported Georgiou for his blackmail. He had been arrested, and a super-injunction imposed by the courts.

Now, Ben poured some more of the expensive gel into his palm and lathered it up against her shoulders, until they were covered in smooth, silky bubbles. He was looking at her face all the while.

‘You are everything I've ever wanted,' he said.

Tears came into Natalia's eyes. ‘You are more than I ever could have dreamed possible,' she replied.

They kissed for a long time in the steamy, scented water, until Natalia pulled away. She had a mischievous look about her.

‘So what shall we do with these?' She picked up one of the intriguing-looking hosing devices.

By the time they had finished, half the water in the bath was on the floor and they were both flushed, panting and utterly spent. The words ‘post-coital bliss' would have done their state of being an injustice.

Ben got out of the bath and held out a large, fluffy towel for Natalia to wrap herself up in.

‘Hmmm, you look after me so well,' she said, kissing him again as he gently rubbed her down. ‘But what is the time? I do not want to be late for your friends.'

‘They're your friends as much as mine,' said Ben, kissing her again. ‘Probably more so now, considering.'

They had arranged to meet Poppy, Damian, Bella and Andy at the Cow, a lovely, cosy pub just around the corner from their hotel, for pre-Christmas drinks and lunch before they all went back home to their respective families. Ben was taking Natalia to meet the folks in Wales, and was looking forward enormously to showing off his Hitchcock blonde. Besotted as he was, it hadn't occurred to him that his mother might not take too kindly to this older woman with a definitely suspect past getting her claws into her beautiful, beloved boy; but thereby hangs another tale.

Within half an hour, Natalia had got herself ready. After her brief flirtation with hippy-chic on Bottle Beach, she had reverted to the look with which she was most comfortable: über glamour. Not many women, Ben thought, could carry off white suede cigarette pants. She had teamed them with sky-high Louboutin ankle boots, an ice-blue cashmere polo-necked sweater and a chignon that wouldn't have looked out of place on Grace Kelly.

Ben himself was successfully rocking the clean-cut preppy look in immaculately faded jeans under a navy-blue knee-length cashmere coat with a cashmere scarf draped around his neck.

‘Oh, my God!' said Natalia as she turned around from perfecting her
maquillage
. ‘You look just like Robert Redford in that movie –' She drew from her vast internal movie Rolodex – ‘
Barefoot in the Park.
'

‘Not such a hideous comparison.' Ben smiled. ‘I'm happy with old Bob Redford. How do you feel about Grace Kelly?'

‘Grace Kelly?' Natalia smiled at him in the mirror. ‘Yes, I think I am happy with that too.'

Bella and Andy were walking hand-in-hand down Portobello Road, both smiling from frozen ear to frozen ear. Bella was wearing a short white coat over a short caramel-coloured skirt over chocolate brown woolly tights underneath darker brown suede boots. Her long dark hair was flecked with snowflakes and her cheeks were flushed pink, glowing in the cold. The appealing coffee-and-cream effect was not lost on the Santa-
hat-we
aring stall-holders, who shouted out to her: ‘Happy Christmas, beautiful!' and, ‘You're a lucky man, sir,' to Andy.

‘You don't know just how lucky!' he shouted back, tightening his arm around Bella's waist and kissing her freshly washed brown hair.

They walked past Christmas trees of vastly differing shapes and sizes, standing for sale on the street, snow quickly settling on their outstretched branches. Other stalls were selling mulled wine, mistletoe, holly, ivy and festive wreaths, and the snow seemed to have affected everybody with seasonal bonhomie.

‘Merry Christmas!'

‘Happy Christmas, darlin', have a good one!'

Everywhere they looked, people were being nice to each other (which made a wonderful change from all the stuff they were reading in the papers or seeing on the news on a daily basis).

A lone woman with a steel drum had started to sing about chestnuts roasting, and her voice was so exceptionally beautiful that she'd already drawn quite a crowd.

‘Oh, isn't this just lovely?' Bella looked up at Andy, her face aglow.

‘I can't think of anything lovelier,' said Andy, kissing her again. Then he stopped, right in the middle of Portobello Road, took off his glasses and really, properly, kissed her.

‘I love you so much. Thank you for making my life complete.'

The only thing Bella could do was kiss him back.

The snow was falling more heavily as they turned onto Westbourne Park Road, chatting excitedly about things. As they got a bit nearer to the Cow, Andy said, pointing at a couple about to enter the pub,

‘Isn't that Natalia? And … Ben?'

He wondered how Bella was going to feel about seeing the man who had broken her heart by shagging her best friend. He also slightly wondered how
he
would feel about seeing the bastard again, though he did have more respect for him now. The fact that he had saved Natalia's life was pretty impressive, even by his standards.

Bella laughed. So many more important things had happened since she had been with Ben, and she was hugely intrigued to see how he and Natalia interacted with one another, after everything Poppy had told her.

‘Yeah, definitely looks like them. What a glamorous couple they make.' Though it was hard to tell from this distance, it looked as though Natalia was wearing a floor-length silver fur coat (fox? mink?) over cripplingly high heels on which she manoeuvred her way through the snow with absolute confidence.

A cab pulled up beside them, and one of its passengers jumped out.

‘Belles!' cried Poppy, flinging her arms around her. ‘Happy Christmas!' Clad in a bright red duffle coat over skinny jeans, with a matching scarlet woolly pompom hat pulled down low over her silky blonde hair, she looked about 12. ‘We've got some wonderful news!'

Damian, getting out of the cab behind her, laughed and said, ‘Hi, Bella, hi, Andy. She does get overexcited, doesn't she?'

‘It's actually quite endearing,' said Andy, smiling. He felt he might smile forever.

‘I know. Lucky for her she's so pretty,' said Damian, and Andy laughed, feeling none of the usual resentment from his erstwhile professional rival.

‘Shhh, you boys, I want to hear Poppy's wonderful news,' said Bella, looking at Andy out of the corner of her eye.

‘Actually, it's not my news, it's Damian's,' said Poppy. ‘Jack Meadows wants to use his screenplay and turn it into a MAJOR MOTION PICTURE!'

‘
What
?
' Whatever Bella had been expecting, it wasn't this. ‘Oh, my God, you're going to be so rich!' A couple passing them on the street looked at her oddly, and it crossed her mind that her comment didn't quite chime with the spirit of Christmas. It was what they were all thinking, though. ‘Oh, Damian, well done, I'm so pleased for you.' There were more hugs all round. ‘So will you be moving to LA?'

‘Well, yeah, I've got to go there anyway for
Poppy Takes LA
,' interrupted Poppy, chattering away like a magpie, while the two men raised eyebrows at one another, laughing. ‘It's all worked out brilliantly.'

And they all carried on towards the pub, the two girls in front talking nineteen to the dozen.

‘You must be over the moon,' said Andy, shaking Damian's hand. ‘Well done.'

‘Thanks, mate. Yes, I am,' said Damian, shaking back. ‘Only just heard this morning and it hasn't quite sunk in yet.'

‘I can imagine.'

‘And congratulations to
you
on breaking that story about the people traffickers. That has to have been the scoop of the century!' Now that Damian was on the verge of proper success, he could allow himself to be gracious about other writers' triumphs.

‘Thank you.' Andy smiled. ‘I'm just really glad that we managed to stop him before he could ruin any more lives.'

They had reached the pub now, its tiny old-fashioned exterior festooned with Christmas garlands and foliage, its warm, welcoming interior glowing through the windows.

Poppy pushed open the door, and they all followed her in.

Ben and Natalia had managed to bag the table closest to the door, the large, square one that was big enough to seat them all comfortably. Ben and Natalia's very presence made the cool little pub look like a movie set.

They jumped up and there ensued another flurry of hugs, greetings and Christmas wishes.

When Bella moved round to greet Ben they both paused slightly, as neither of them knew quite how to react to the other. Then Bella opened her arms and, smiling, said,

‘Happy Christmas, you treacherous bastard.'

Ben laughed and gave her a hug.

‘Happy Christmas to you too. Does this mean bygones can be bygones?'

Bella nodded. ‘Thank you,' he whispered in her ear. ‘And sorry for everything. I have to say you're looking
great
!'

Bella smiled. Some things never changed.

‘OK, so who wants champagne?' asked Poppy. ‘We're celebrating!'

‘Why?' asked Ben and Natalia in unison.

‘Your buddy Jack wants to make a movie out of my screenplay!' Damian grinned at Ben.

‘Oh, mate, that's brilliant!' Ben's delight was genuine and he enveloped his former best friend in a huge man hug. Poppy and Bella smiled soppily at each other. ‘Hmmm, I wonder if he needs a supporting actor?'

‘Oy, don't push your luck,' said Damian, and everybody laughed.

Once they were all sitting down with their drinks, Poppy noticed that Bella was drinking mineral water.

‘
What
?
' She looked from Bella to Andy, her eyes sparkling. ‘Belles, I don't think I've known you order a non-alcoholic drink in a pub since … well, since we started going to pubs! Does this mean what I think it might mean?'

Bella laughed, ignoring the feeling of pure joy bubbling up inside her.

‘What? That I've joined AA and about time too?' Everybody laughed at this, a bit more than Bella found necessary, as it happened.

‘Come on, you know what I mean …' Poppy's head was tilted to one side as she gazed up at her friend expectantly.

‘God, you do jump to conclusions, Pops. I'm on antibiotics. Pain in the arse just before Christmas, but I want to get rid of this bloody cold before going home. I need to be feeling better than I do now to cope with my family over “the holiday season”, as they insist on calling it in the States. Mum and Bernie, Dad and his latest (whoever she may be), Max and Dave, mad Auntie Charlotte and her motorbike …'

‘Yes, last year's was unlike any Christmas I've ever known.' Andy laughed. ‘You need crazy stamina to keep up.'

‘And Mum and Dad are bound to end up bickering about
something
,' added Bella, downing her mineral water and wishing it was champagne. ‘You'd think they could manage to stay civil in each other's company at least
once
a year …'

‘Oh, bugger, silly me with my wishful thinking.' Poppy laughed. ‘Poor you, not being able to drink today though.' She looked at Bella beadily and Bella looked away from her. ‘Oh, well. Let's just toast all of us again, and the fact that we're all together again.' She raised her glass and looked around at the happy, smiling faces.