He reached out and slipped a hand round the back of her neck, yanking her towards him. ‘I have every right, Charley.’ He spat the words out, his face right up against hers. ‘Because I’m making the rules this time around, sugar.’
With a force that sent her crashing against the wall he pushed her backwards, sneering at her as she ran a hand over her neck, the shock almost overwhelming her. She was out of her depth here, Kenny had been right.
‘You really want to destroy me that much?’ she asked, keeping her back against the wall, partly because she needed to steady herself, and partly because she didn’t want to get any closer to him. She wanted him to stay as far away as possible. ‘You really want to hurt me that badly?’
He walked back over to his desk, opening the draw, taking out a packet of cigarettes and slipping one out, lighting it up, taking a long, deep draw on it, blowing smoke up into the air before he looked at her, that sick smile still on his face.
‘Hurt you? Yeah, now, there’s an idea.’
She watched him as he took another drag, leaning back against the desk.
‘Don’t you think it’s time to stop this, Jimmy?’ Charley was almost pleading now, but it was all she had left. She was lost, she was scared, and she had no idea what else she could do, except get out of there. ‘Haven’t you made your point? Haven’t you achieved what you set out to do?’
‘Have I?’ he asked, raising an eyebrow, flicking ash onto the already filthy floor around him. ‘You really think I’ve achieved everything I wanted to?’
Charley felt any strength she had left slowly fading away as exhaustion flooded her body. She’d never wanted to get out of a place faster than she wanted to get out of there. ‘How can you possibly hurt me any more than you already have?’ she whispered, trying to keep her voice steady as she spoke.
‘I thought you’d know the answer to that one by now, honey.’ He fixed her with one more cold and determined stare, his eyes never leaving hers as he spoke. ‘By hurting others, Charley. By hurting all the others.’
CHAPTER 30
Reece couldn’t help feeling slightly relieved that, for him at least, filming on this movie had drawn to a close. He’d found the whole process exhausting, but that had had nothing to do with the workload. It was everything else; the constant media attention that he’d thought he’d be used to after all these years – but then, when your famous daughter’s new boyfriend turns out to be the long-lost son of her ex-husband the only outcome that could ever have had was to step things up a notch or two – the worry of India getting herself into something else that could only end up in yet more heartache, and the feeling that, once again, something was going on that he didn’t know about.
‘How about a vacation, now you’re done here?’ Martha asked, coming out of the en-suite bathroom, towel-drying her damp blond hair. ‘Maybe a couple of weeks in Aruba?’
‘Aruba?’ Reece asked, not looking up as he sat down on the edge of the bed, tying his shoe laces.
‘Yes, Aruba. Palm Beach, I thought. Remember when we went there a couple of years ago? Those beautiful sunsets, the walks along the shoreline and, oh, those cocktails…’
‘What’s going on, Martha?’
Martha stopped what she was doing and looked at him. ‘What do you mean, what’s going on? I’m planning a vacation.’
Reece stood up, stuffing his hands in his pockets. ‘Forget the vacation.’
‘You need a break, honey…’
‘No, what I need is the truth.’
Martha threw the towel she’d been using to dry her hair down onto a nearby chair, looking at Reece with an expression she hoped relayed nothing but confusion. ‘I don’t understand…’
‘Something’s going on, Martha.’
She felt her stomach take a dip, but she didn’t miss a beat. ‘Nothing’s going on, what are you talking about?’
He stood completely still, fixing her with a determined stare. He could tell by her body language that he’d hit a nerve. He was on the right track; he just had to push a little harder.
‘You’d never planned to come and join me here in Vegas.’
‘Are you saying you’d rather I wasn’t here?’ She knew that wasn’t what he was saying at all but she really needed to distract him from taking this conversation any further.
‘No, of course I’m not. And you know that. I love having you around, I miss you when you’re not here. All I’m saying is that you had never originally intended to come here to Vegas. I know you had work lined up, interviews, promotion… and you don’t normally re-arrange anything like that without a very good reason.’
‘I… I just wanted to be with you, that’s all. We haven’t been together for a while, what with me being away filming…’
‘Cut the crap, Martha! I know you too well. You’re a professional, you don’t cause hassle without a bloody good reason, and we both know that. You don’t like letting people down. Do you?’
She looked at him, taking a deep breath, exhaling louder than she intended, what felt like the weight of a thousand secrets weighing heavy on her shoulders.
‘Nothing’s going on, Reece. I just wanted to put my husband first for a change, that’s all. What’s so wrong with that?’
‘Nothing’s wrong with that. It’s just a little coincidental, in my opinion.’
She narrowed her eyes, pulling the towel that was covering her body tighter around herself. ‘Coincidental?’
He said nothing, just continued to look at her, almost as if staring would somehow coax something out of her.
‘Why haven’t you said anything before? You seemed fine with me being here, so…’
‘Well, I was thinking about things, that’s all,’ Reece continued, walking over to the mirror, picking up his jacket that was slung over the back of the sofa on the way, slipping it on before running his hands through his hair. ‘You’ve been a little pre-occupied, ever since I made that flying visit to L.A.’ He turned around to look at her again, putting his hands back in his pockets. ‘Ever since India came to see you, in Malibu.’
‘I… I don’t understand. I’ve been fine, I haven’t been preoccupied, Reece. I haven’t…’
‘Well, I think you have.’ He moved forward a couple of steps, keeping his eyes on her all the time. ‘She talked to you, didn’t she?’
‘You know she came over for a chat. She needed to talk, there’s nothing unusual in that.’
‘No, there isn’t. It’s just that, this time, I think she told you something that she’s never told me. Am I right?’
Martha didn’t know what to do. She’d promised India she wouldn’t tell her father any of what she’d disclosed, but it was more than obvious that Reece had his suspicions, and Martha wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep it from him.
‘She needed to get a lot of things off her chest, sweetheart. She was very emotional…’
‘I’m well aware of the state she was in at the time, Martha. I’m also well aware that there was a lot going on in her head, but what concerns me is that you now know something that I’m still being kept ignorant of. And that worries me.’
Martha looked up at the ceiling for a second, closing her eyes and swallowing hard. ‘I promised her, Reece.’
‘Promised her what? Martha, what did you promise her?’
Reece felt as though he was experiencing that same old déjà vu again, that cold feeling he always experienced when another secret was about to be uncovered that he wasn’t going to like and he could feel his head pounding with the pressure already. Because, whatever it was, he knew he wasn’t going to like it.
Martha looked at him, still unsure of what to do, still unsure as to whether breaking India’s trust was the right way to go. ‘I promised her I wouldn’t say anything. I promised her that everything she told me was spoken in confidence…’
‘I’m her father, Martha.’
‘And that’s why she doesn’t want you to know.’
‘It’s to do with Michael,
isn’t it? What he did to her? You know, don’t you?’
Martha nodded, unable to lie about that, at least. Although, exactly what she was going to tell him she was still unsure of.
‘What did he do?’ Reece asked, his voice shaking because he was so close to finally finding out just what that man had done to his daughter that had caused her to shut him out of her life for almost seven years. Nobody did that without a damn good reason, especially when a child was involved. Nobody did that. Least of all India.
‘I can’t tell you,’ Martha whispered, gripping onto the sideboard, her fingers clinging on with a strength she hadn’t known she’d had.
‘Oh, you can,’ Reece said, not willing to be left in the dark any longer, not now he was this close. ‘You can tell me. It’s easy. Just say the words, Martha. Just say them. What did he do to her?’
Martha shook her head, tears starting to well up in her eyes, her nails digging into the sideboard as she gripped it tighter. ‘Baby, I can’t. She promised me…’
‘Fuck promises!’ Reece shouted, frustration getting the better of him. ‘I don’t care what you promised her, Martha. I won’t be kept in the fucking dark any longer, do you hear me? Now, whatever she told you, you tell me, okay? You tell me.’
‘I can’t.’
‘Jesus fucking Christ!’ Reece pushed a hand through his hair again, pacing the floor. ‘Okay, well, if you won’t tell me then maybe I need to speak to India myself…’
‘No, Reece, please…’ Martha reached out to grab his arm, stopping him from storming out of the bedroom. Letting him leave when he was in this frame of mind could only spell trouble, and nobody needed any more of that. ‘Wait! Okay? Just, wait.’
Reece swung back round, leaning against the wall, sighing heavily as he looked at his wife. ‘No secrets, Martha. I thought that’s what we’d agreed. We’d have no secrets.’
‘This is different, and you know it is. She talked to me in confidence, and I’m not entirely sure that she’d actually intended to tell me as much as she did, I think it all just came tumbling out…’
‘What did he do to her?’ Reece spoke slowly, not taking his eyes off his wife. ‘That’s all I want to know. What did he do to her that caused her all that pain? Because, whatever it was, it’s affected the rest of her life. So, what did he do to her, Martha?’
Martha looked right into his eyes, still not knowing if what she was doing was the right thing for India, but for the sake of her marriage she knew she had to tell Reece the truth. He deserved to know. She couldn’t hide it from him any longer. Even if the consequences of giving him the information he’d wanted to know for over seven years were something she didn’t want to think about.
‘Martha… what did he do?’ Reece asked one more time, his voice quiet, pleading almost.
She took a deep breath, looking down at the floor to gather her composure before she unleashed the all-too-obvious storm that was almost definitely going to come, finally looking up to meet her husband’s eyes. ‘He raped her, Reece. Michael, he – he raped her.’
***
Dominic stood in the doorway, standing back slightly as he watched her sit down on the edge of the bed, pulling her hair back into a loose ponytail. He watched as she stood up, walking over to the mirror, dressed only in the sexiest of powder-pink underwear and for a second he had to look away, rubbing the back of his neck, his stomach somersaulting 360 degrees because just looking at her was enough to make him crazy.
When he looked back up she was brushing mascara over her eyelashes, dusting blusher over her cheeks, applying make-up that her naturally beautiful face just didn’t need. The urge to touch her was almost overwhelming. So, moving from his position in the doorway, he walked into the bedroom of India’s Las Vegas villa.
‘Don’t turn around,’ he said, standing behind her, his hands resting on her hips. ‘I want to look at you, just like this.’
She smiled, meeting his eyes in the reflection in the mirror, leaning back against him as he gently kissed her neck.
‘I just want to take a second to look at you,’ he whispered, running his hands lightly up over her hips, the curve of her waist, taking in the smell of her perfume, the way she felt as he touched her, listening to the tiny sighs she gave off as his fingers stroked her skin. ‘Because you are so fucking beautiful.’
She reached up and slipped a hand round the back of his neck, still looking at their reflections, their eyes locked together, the chemistry so obvious it was practically sending sparks ricocheting off the glass.
‘I’ve never felt this way about anyone before, you know that, don’t you?’ Dominic whispered, his hands circling her waist, pulling her back against him.
She closed her eyes as he continued to kiss her neck, each touch of his lips on her skin sending a million tiny electric shocks right through her. ‘Maybe you’ve just never let yourself feel this way.’
He gently turned her around so she faced him, touching her slightly open mouth with his, kissing her like she was the most precious thing in the world to him. Yeah, things sure were changing in Dominic MacDonald’s world, and even though he was still getting used to these new, unfamiliar feelings, he knew exactly where he wanted to be – right here, with this incredibly complicated and beautiful woman.
He smiled, stroking her cheek with his thumb as he looked into her still slightly questioning eyes. ‘Believe me, honey, I really haven’t felt this way before… You don’t believe me, do you?’
She smiled too, taking his hand and squeezing it tight. ‘Yeah. I believe you. I just don’t want to rush into anything, that’s all. And if this is all new to you…’
‘I’m thirty-six-years-old, India. I think it’s about time I started experiencing some grown-up feelings, don’t you?’
She started playing with his belt, unfastening it, sliding it out of his jeans and throwing it onto the floor. ‘Grown-up feelings are overrated,’ she said, a half-smile playing around the corners of her mouth as she stared up into those incredible ice-blue eyes of his.
He raised an eyebrow, sliding a hand down the side of her pink panties, pushing them down slightly. ‘Overrated, huh?’
‘Yeah,’ she whispered, standing on tip-toes, her mouth resting on his. ‘Overrated.’
‘That’s a pity, because, I quite like the idea of doing something really grown-up with you, right here, right now.’
She slid a hand up under his shirt, touching his rock-hard chest, letting her fingers stroke it gently as she continued to stare into his eyes. ‘Well, I’m not gonna stop you,’ she smiled, finally closing her eyes as he kissed her a little bit harder and a little bit deeper, pulling apart only for the briefest of seconds so he could rid himself of his T-shirt, exposing that perfect body he was so famous for. A perfect body that was about to meet another perfect body, both of them falling onto the bed, still locked in a long, deep kiss, their need for each other taking over anything else.
India pulled away first, lying back and throwing her arms above her head, smiling at this man who’d come out of nowhere and turned her life upside down with his shocking link to her past. A link she was still getting used to, but for now she was putting it to the back of her mind.
‘Come on then,’ she said, arching her back slightly, her whole body aching to have him. He was naked now; naked and beautiful, and hers. If she wanted him. Which, right now, she did. ‘I’m waiting.’
He smiled too, leaning over to kiss the base of her throat, slowly pulling her panties down, letting his fingers stroke her inner thigh as his mouth moved down to her breasts, covering them in tiny, light kisses that made her gasp out loud. Noises that turned him on like nothing else, and he was ready to go, he was so ready, but he hadn’t finished yet. Dominic MacDonald had never been the kind of guy who just fucked and ran, he liked to play first. He always had, and playing with India Walsh was an experience no guy in their right mind would want to rush.
So he was taking his time, taking in every inch of her, touching her i
n all those special places until she screamed with frustration, begged him to come inside. He wanted to take her to the edge then bring her right back; he wanted to make her as crazy as she made him. He wanted to enjoy her. Because he’d almost lost her.
What he could do to her with just the lightest of kisses or the touch of his fingers on her naked skin, India could never describe that to anyone else, because she wasn’t sure anyone else would ever understand. Sure, she’d had some great sex in her time but Dominic took her to a level even she wasn’t sure she’d ever reached before. He could turn her on with a kiss, make her crazy with a smile, confuse the hell out of her just by being who he was, but she needed him. She needed to feel him right where he was now, so close to her, about to take her over once again in the most beautiful of ways.
She threw her head back and closed her eyes, her fingers gripping the pillow as he pushed his way into her with a force that rocked her hips back into the mattress, his hands holding them down, keeping her steady as he thrust deeper, and she pulled her legs up, allowing him to go as far as he wanted.
‘Dominic…’
He shook his head, looking into her eyes, his fingers entwining with hers above her head as her legs wrapped around him, their bodies rocking in perfect rhythm. ‘No talking, okay? We don’t need to talk.’
She inhaled deep as she felt him push into her again, breathing out in a loud moan that turned him on to the point of no return but he wanted to hold out for just a little longer, just a little bit longer. He wanted to keep looking at her face as he made love to her; he wanted to see her perfect breasts rise and fall as she breathed heavy, the sweat slowly forming between them, running slowly down her flat stomach. He wanted to live this fantasy for as long as he could. But that couldn’t be forever, and as she pushed her hips up against his he gave one final, hard thrust, shouting out as he did so, clinging onto her hands, keeping her close as her body jolted up against his.
Illusions of Love Page 31
