Lindsey Kelk 5-Book 'I Heart...' Collection (123 page)

And with the same determination that had seen me carried out of Sing Sing when I refused to give the microphone back halfway through the entire score of Les Mis, I grabbed hold of the pole, reminded myself I would never see any of these people ever again as long as I lived, and danced. Danced like my life, the life of my child, ailing parent or whatever other plot device my movie needed depended on it. And it was sort of fun. Until Jenny started taking photos. But it was too late to back out now.

Soon enough, we had half the club watching us spin and twirl around. It was like the world’s dirtiest maypole dance. At the front of the crowd, Jenny was screaming her encouragement, encouragement I did not need. What I lacked in Sadie’s acrobatic skill, I made up for in enthusiasm. A delayed champagne buzz kicked in and I decided I was a natural. I was born to dance. I felt the power of all those who had gone before me coursing through my veins. This one was for Britney. And then, from the corner of my eye, I saw a group of guys, all in black suits, white shirts and black ties cheering me on. All except one of them. Tall, black hair falling over one eye, tie half undone, collar open. That one just stood there smiling, shaking his head.

‘Alex!’ I yelled, leaping from my pole into the crowd, pushing through the disappointed boos until I reached my man. My arms grabbed for him as soon as I was close enough not to fall over and coiled tightly around his neck.

‘Tell me you didn’t see? Did you see? Say you didn’t see.’

‘Oh, I saw,’ he nodded. ‘Nice work, Nomi.’

Leaving my new vocation behind without a second thought, I kissed him, not letting go until I was breathless. ‘I missed you.’

‘I missed you.’ He pressed his lips against mine so hard that I could feel his heartbeat in the kiss. ‘Come here.’

We stumbled backwards into one of the secluded booths at the side of the dance floor, Alex pulling a deep red curtain closed behind us and shaking off his suit jacket. I fell backwards on a blue velvet sofa. If it’s called a sofa when it’s seven feet square and doesn’t have arms or a back. More picky people might call it a bed. Regardless, I felt like I hadn’t seen him in months. And I felt like he hadn’t touched me in even longer.

‘You look amazing,’ he whispered, a hand sliding up my leather-clad leg until it found warm skin. ‘Vegas suits you.’

‘Don’t look so bad yourself,’ I replied, my breath catching as his hand didn’t stop. ‘But I think that might be the end of my career as a professional dancer.’

My back against the cushions, my legs curled up at his waist, I grabbed hold of Alex’s tie.

‘I don’t know, you looked kind of into it.’ I felt his smile pressed against my lips. ‘It’s a noble profession. Or something.’

‘Probably going to give writing one last shot.’ I was struggling to maintain my train of thought. Hands. Hands were everywhere. ‘Are you having a good time?’

‘I am now,’ he said, pressing his face into the curve where my neck and shoulder met and waiting for me to shiver exactly as he knew I would. His lips worked their way up my throat until they found my earlobe, while one hand ran restlessly through my hair and the other busied itself working my dress upwards. Not that there was far for it to go. I closed my eyes, letting my hands wander around a little themselves. Suddenly everything was hot and close and damp and good. Feet away from the dance floor but a world away from reality, I worked my way down to his belt buckle and unfastened quickly while I still had the ability to use my hands. He paused, swallowed, nodded and bruised my lips with his. I was having a hard time keeping control of myself, and the quicker Alex’s kisses and the warmer his body became next to mine, the closer I came to giving in completely.

‘Angela,’ I felt him more than heard.

‘Alex.’

‘I love you.’

‘I love you too.’

I had to whisper because I didn’t trust my voice not to break. His face was too close to see clearly, but the bright green of his eyes, the white of his skin and the jet-black glossiness of his hair blurred into something magical, and it was the last thing I saw before I closed my eyes and I felt myself slip over the edge.

‘We should leave.’ Alex broke the sweaty silence moments, minutes or hours later. ‘We should go.’

‘We should go,’ I agreed, tugging at the gossamer fabric of my dress. Not displaying my knickers in public was one rule I did try to live by. Tried and failed sometimes, but still, I tried. ‘I should find Jenny, tell her I’m leaving.’

Alex nodded, combing my hair to one side. Thank God bedhead was the look I’d been going for. It was definitely the look I had now. Also known as ‘scare-crow’ or ‘homeless lady’.

‘I’ll get a cab – meet me outside.’ He kissed me briefly on the cheek before pushing the curtain aside to leave.

I sat on the edge of the bed, swinging my legs like a little girl and waiting for the flush to leave my cheeks. Alex had vanished back onto the dance floor with slightly dishevelled hair, loosened collar and a George Clooney swagger. I was left with a fright wig, red-raw chin and matching cheeks. Hardly fair. I repaired as much of the damage as I could with my powder compact and replaced my lip gloss. There, totally presentable. I hopped up and opened the curtain to find Sadie clapping her hands in front of me.

‘Oh my God, were you fucking?’ She pressed her hands against her face with glee.

‘No, I was not,’ I said with a prim sniff, nose in the air. Not for the want of trying, but she didn’t need to know that. ‘Have you seen Jenny? I think I’m going to call it a night.’

‘Oh my God, you were!’ She flashed me a million perfect teeth. ‘I saw your dude headed outside. Nice.’

If only I’d known the way to Sadie’s heart was through public acts of indecency.

‘So you’ll tell Jenny I left?’ I covered my chin as a reflex action. Stubble rash would hardly support my defence, and I didn’t feel like getting into an argument. ‘And you’ll be OK?’

‘I will be fine,’ she said loudly, swigging directly from the vodka bottle I hadn’t noticed in her left hand. ‘I have, like, a million friends here. Thousands.’

My forehead creased with the effort of following her logic. ‘But a thousand is fewer than – you know what, never mind.’ I was drunk, but not that drunk. ‘Please just tell Jenny I left?’

‘She left an hour ago.’ Second swig. ‘With the Mr Blond.’

Oh bugger. She left with Ben?

‘Left with to share a taxi or left with – you know?’

‘She left with him the same way you’re leaving with Alex. To bang his brains out.’ Sadie held out the vodka bottle. ‘Take a shot.’

‘Very generous, but I’ll pass,’ I said, rubbing a ring finger under my eyes and trying to blink away the dry ice. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow. Get home safe.’

‘Sure.’ She planted a far too familiar kiss directly on my lips, drowning my subtle pinkish gloss in slashes of Russian Red. ‘You be safe too.’

I was fairly certain we weren’t talking about the same thing.

‘There are condoms in my room.’

It was good of her to clarify.

The ride back to the hotel was frustratingly short, but I was sure it would be a toss-up as to who was more upset when we pulled up in front of the De Lujo – me, Alex or the cab driver. The uber-swank lobby of our hotel didn’t even register with Alex as he pulled me straight into the lift and let me press the button. It was only when we tumbled straight through the open door to our suite and onto the floor that I remembered I needed to remember something.

‘Jenny!’ I grabbed a stray stiletto sitting on the floor beside my head.

‘If you’re thinking about Jenny right now, I’m doing something really wrong.’ Alex sat up and settled his hand on my stomach.

‘No, she left! Ben!’ I waved the shoe in his face as though it would somehow make everything make sense.

‘Ben?’

‘Ben!’ I nodded feverishly. ‘She’s here! I have to get her.’

‘You know I think Jenny’s hot, but I was really thinking this might just be me and you. Come here.’

Even though I got that speeding sensation in my stomach when he spoke, I was full of drunken determination.

‘Two minutes.’ Prying his fingers from my beautiful dress, I attempted a straight line into Jenny’s room. Give or take a couple of stumbles, I made it in under a minute. ‘Jenny?’ I stage-whispered, knocking lightly on the door. ‘Jenny, are you in there?’

In my mind, I was doing a good thing. I was stopping a friend from making a big drunken mistake that she would regret in the morning. The fact that I was probably trading a night with Alex for an evening of hair-holding and silent sobbing was just part and parcel of best-friend martyrdom.

‘Jenny,’ I called a little louder. ‘I know you’re in there.’

I was her friend. And as her friend, there was no way I was going to let her throw her relationship with Sigge under a bus for the sake of a one-night-stand with an old one-night-stand. Yes, Ben was hot, but so was Sigge and he loved her. And she loved him. Jenny was impulsive and hot-headed, but she’d hate herself in the morning. She’d ‘accidentally’ cheated on someone she loved before and never forgiven herself. I wasn’t about to let her make the same mistake again.

‘Jenny,’ I bellowed, banging on the door with my fist. ‘Open this bloody door. Right. Now.’

After all the trouble she’d caused herself with Jeff, Sigge was a breeze. He was sweet, he was attentive and he knew how to make cookies. What else could a girl want? She would never throw all that away for a quick fumble on Ben if we weren’t in Vegas. Probably. I heard the door click open slowly, quietly, as though not to wake a sleeping occupant, and waited impatiently. I was ready with my lecture. Ben was trouble, just like Jeff had been trouble.

But it wasn’t Jenny behind the door. I looked up at the tall, completely naked blond man staring at me. Like I said, he was trouble.

‘Jeff?’

‘Angela.’

We stared at each other for a moment, Jeff quickly covering his manhood with his hands, me looking away, face bright red. For some reason, he was still wearing his tie and socks. It was not a sexy look.

‘I, uh, Jenny?’

‘She’s asleep.’ His face flamed scarlet, hopefully directing some blood back up to his brain. ‘We’re sleeping.’

Of course. Nothing going on here but a perfectly innocent, naked sleepover.

‘Right then.’ I tried to move but for some reason was completely glued to the spot. ‘I’ll let you go back to … sleep?’

‘Yes. Sleep.’ He shuffled back into Jenny’s room. Through the open door I could see her, face down, passed out, completely starkers on the bed. Perfectly innocent. ‘Thank you so much.’

‘Of course.’ I waved him away, over-politeness kicking in. You could take the girl out of England … ‘Absolutely. Good night.’

Eventually, the humiliation fairies decided I’d done my time and released my feet, allowing me to sprint back to the lounge. Alex had done away with his jacket and tie (thank God) and was working on the third button of his shirt.

‘This place is amazing.’ He gestured towards the view. I couldn’t even look – the flashing lights were making me feel nauseous. At least, I wanted to blame the lights.

‘It’s not Ben.’ Whispering was entirely unnecessary, but it felt appropriate. I paced around the room, trying to work out what to do.

‘Angela, I don’t know who Ben is.’ Alex grabbed hold of my hand and held me still. But I didn’t want to be still. I felt sick. ‘Where’s Jenny?’

‘In bed!’

‘With Ben?’

I looked to the sky for strength.

‘With Jeff.’

‘Oh. Shit.’

He sat down and sank into the couch with an air of defeat.

‘Just come here.’ This time, it was a completely different command. I curled up on the couch beside him, resting my head on his shoulder while he ran his fingers through my hair, or tried to. Elnett was a bastard to brush out sometimes. ‘There’s nothing you can do about this right now, so stop worrying about it.’

‘I could go in there, slap her with a shoe and demand to know what she’s thinking?’

‘You could,’ Alex acknowledged. ‘But I think it’s safe to say she isn’t thinking right now. Just let it go.’

I lay against his chest for a quiet moment, trying to calm the swirling mess in my mind. Jenny, Jeff, Sigge, visa. Mew. Tired, drunk and emotional never went well with stressed, upset and exhausted. But instead of passing out, the combination left me restless and uncomfortable. Too tired to talk but too alert to sleep, I twisted and turned until I found my head in his lap and stretched my legs out over the arm of the sofa.

‘Sleep?’

I shook my head and stared out of the window, letting everything blur together, waiting to feel better. Instead, as soon as I was settled, the room started to spin on my behalf. Blee.

‘Talk?’

I sighed and shook my head again, weaving my soft pale fingers through Alex’s long, calloused hands and squeezing until everything settled. It took far too long. He brushed my hair away from my face while we lay in silence, rhythmically sweeping away my worries, one by one. Slowly, I began to relax. Either Alex had magic hands or I just didn’t have the energy to be so tense any more. Possibly both. Either way, I was happier.

‘Bed?’ Alex spoke in a soft, quiet voice. I could only just hear him over the hum of the air conditioner.

‘I’m not tired,’ I replied with equal fragility.

‘Good.’ He leaned down with the gentlest, softest kiss. Right away, my mind let go of everything else and focused solely on the tingling in my lips. The insistence of the last time lingered but was tempered by the dawn that was starting to glow on the horizon. I returned his kisses lazily and shuffled along the sofa to make room for his long legs on top of mine.

‘I can’t believe it’s only two days since I saw you,’ he said with half-closed eyes. ‘Feels like longer.’

‘You were fine for more than a month not that long ago,’ I reminded him. ‘Can’t have been that difficult.’

‘Who says I was fine?’ His hand trailed slowly down my spine. ‘I managed. That’s pretty much the best I can do when you’re not around.’

‘Liar.’

Alex pushed up off the sofa and held his hand out to me. His shirt was creased, hair all mussed up at the back. He looked adorable. ‘I never lie. Not to you.’