No Matter What (22 page)

She was wearing a short, strapless, skin-tight cobalt blue dress that went perfectly with her tanned skin and showed off every curve of her perfect body.
 
Her hair was loose in her trademark, tousled rock-chick style, her make-up light, and the whole thing was finished off with knee-high stiletto-heeled boots.
 
Sexy didn’t even begin to describe it.

“Wow!
 
You ... you look stunning!”
 

She smiled at him, that beautiful smile.
 
“You don’t look too bad yourself, Mikey.”

“
India
...”

She looked up from fastening her bracelet.
 
“Yeah?”
  

He couldn’t take his eyes off her, and he couldn’t wait any longer.
 
His mind was made up.
 
He was going to tell her how he felt, tonight, now.
 
He was going to tell her.

She was still looking at him, waiting for him to say something.

“Can we … can we have a drink first?
 
Before we go join the party, can we just go and have a drink in the bar or ... or something?”

“Sure ... is everything ok?”

“Yeah.
 
Yeah, Of course it is,” he smiled, pushing a hand through his hair.
 
“I just want ... I just want to say something to you, that’s all.”

He was looking at her, trying to read her expression, trying to work out what she was thinking.
 
Did she have any inkling?
 
Any feeling at all about what was going on inside his head?
 
The look in her eyes had changed, he was sure of it.
 
The expression on her face was different, serious all of a sudden.
 

He stood completely still as she walked over to him, standing in front of him, so close he could smell her perfume and she took his hand, holding it tightly in hers.
 
That feeling of her fingers wrapping themselves around his, knowing she was holding onto him, it never ceased to make his heart miss a beat.
 
Every small touch, every tiny smile, it all made him want her more and more.

“You mean the world to me, do you know that?” she whispered, putting a hand to the side of his face and stroking his cheek gently with her thumb, looking so deep into his eyes he didn’t think he’d ever be able to look away.
 
“The way you’ve helped me, been there for me these past couple of years ... I don’t know what I would have done without you.
 
You’ve been a good friend and, do you know what I
really
want to hear you say, Michael?”

What was the point in holding back any longer?
 
She was going to go with her heart and see where it took her.
 
Something inside her was telling her this was right, and that’s all she needed to know.

His heart was pounding so loud and heavy he thought it might burst, his head starting to spin as she moved her mouth closer to his.
 
Was this finally happening?
 
Was it all finally starting to happen?

“I don’t want to hear you say anything,” she said quietly, her other hand letting go of his, moving to the back of his neck, stroking it so gently it made his skin tingle.
 
“But I do want you to
do
something.”

His mouth was so dry he didn’t know if he could speak.
 
“And what’s that?”
 
He wondered if he was reading this right and he paused for just a second before slipping one arm around her waist, resting it in the small of her back, pulling her in gently against him.

“I want you to kiss me, Michael.
 
I just want you to kiss me.”

This was it
, he thought.
 
Every dream was starting to come true, every wish, every dream, it really
was
all starting to happen, but it had still caught him a little off guard.
 

“I can do that,” he whispered, gently pushing a strand of hair away from her eyes as he lowered his mouth down onto hers, her lips soft and slightly open as he kissed her, and she pushed her body closer against his, kissing him back a little harder, her tongue gently running along the roof of his mouth.
 
He didn’t ever want to let go, he didn’t ever want this to stop incase it was just some crazy dream and he’d wake up to find out she was still nothing but a faraway fantasy.
 
And although he’d done this before - he’d kissed her for the cameras - it had been nothing like this, it hadn’t felt like this because that hadn’t been real and this was very, very real and it was happening now.
 
Michael Walsh hardly dared believe that he finally had his girl but she was here in his arms and in no rush to let go and he knew now that all that waiting had been worth it, every single agonising second of waiting.
 
She was his walking fantasy, his beautiful dream girl, an angel.
 
And now that he had her nobody, but nobody was going to take her away from him.
 
Not now.
 
Not ever.
 
Not without one hell of a fight.

***

Reece checked his watch.
 
Everyone was here except
India
and Michael but nobody else seemed to even realise they were missing.
 

Thanks to his lawyer, Reece had had a trouble free time over the past couple of years.
 
Listening to Max and letting him sort out the “problem” he’d been having had been the right decision.
 
He’d heard nothing for the past three years - no letters, no ‘phone calls.
 
He was finally letting himself relax, finally letting himself think that this whole mess might actually be behind him now and he could, at last, start thinking about what he was going to tell
India
.
 
Because she needed to know the truth.
 
And she needed to know it soon.

Thankfully Terry had backed off a bit, he appeared to have become less suspicious.
 
Since he’d moved to
L.A.
and started work he’d obviously had other things to think about and Reece had been grateful for that because if Terry found out the truth, he’d be bound to tell
India
.
 
He was her brother, of course he would tell her.
 
But that wasn’t the way this was going to work.
 
Reece knew it had to come from him and nobody else.

He’d watched
India
grow from this fresh new talent, this new shining star in the
Hollywood
galaxy, into this beautiful and incredibly accomplished actress and he was so proud of her.
 
But where it became hard was when she was hurting, when people got in the way of her happiness, like Kenny Ross had done in the past.
 
Reece could only let her know he was there for her as a friend when every inch of him ached to tell her the truth.
 
But the time wasn’t right.
 
Not yet.
 
But when it was he’d make sure he made up for everything.
 
In the meantime though, he had to continue watching from the sidelines as she got on with her life, and just try and make sure he was always in it.
 
As close as he could be.

“Hey, Reece, you seen
India
?” Terry asked, bounding over from the bar, a huge smile on his face.
 
Reece couldn’t help but smile back.
 

“No.
 
She’s probably just finishing getting ready; you know what women are like.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Terry smiled.
 
“And thanks for this party by the way.
 
It’s bloody amazing here, never had a party like it!
 
I can’t wait to tell the guys back home.”

Reece laughed.
 
“You’re welcome, Terry.
 
You just enjoy it, ok?”

“No problems there, mate.”
 
He turned round, suddenly catching sight of
India
walking into the room, hand in hand with Michael, and he squinted to get a better look.
 
“Are they holding hands?”
 
Terry asked, not taking his eyes off them as they moved farther into the room.
 
“Jesus!
 
They are you know.”
 
He looked at Reece, who felt his heart sink a little.
 
“Are they ..?”

Reece shrugged.
 
“I have no idea.”

He’d known they were close friends but he’d had no idea the relationship had moved onto anything more than that.
 
But the way she was looking up at Michael, the way her arm was now clinging onto his waist, there was no doubt about it.
 
When the hell had
that
happened?

“There’s about sixteen years between them, isn’t there?” Terry asked, watching as Michael leaned over to gently kiss
India
’s mouth.

“Something like that, yeah,” Reece said quietly.

She hadn’t really been involved with anyone since divorcing Kenny but he’d had no idea she had any feelings for Michael Walsh.
 
Not in that way.

Terry’s voice cut into his thoughts again.
 
“What do you reckon about that then?”

“Hmm?
 
Sorry?”

“
India
and Michael Walsh.
 
What do you reckon to that?”

“I don’t know to be honest.
 
It’s come as a bit of a shock, I have to say, but she’s a grown woman.
 
I’m sure she knows what she’s doing.”

Terry picked up a glass of champagne from a passing waitress and knocked back a large mouthful.
 
“She didn’t where Kenny Ross was concerned, did she?”

“That was a long time ago, Terry.
 
I think she’s learned a lot of lessons from that.”

“
He
isn’t going to be too happy about it though, is he?”

“Who?”

“Kenny.
 
It’ll be interesting to see his reaction to this one.”

And as Kenny joined the party, surrounded by two pretty young dark haired girls, both clinging onto him like star-struck limpets, they wouldn’t have too long to wait to find out.

***

India
had surprised even herself but she suddenly felt happier than she had done in a long time.
 
She’d avoided relationships so carefully, deliberately walking away from any kind of commitment for years and yet now she’d just crash landed into something without even realising it had happened.
 
But when she thought about it, this had obviously been on the cards for a while now.
 
Michael had always been there for her, always around when she’d needed him and she’d just realised that he was more than a friend, that’s all.
 
He was much more to her than that.
 
He made her feel safe and warm and happy, and that was worth a lot.
 
She’d looked at him, there in her room, looked at his face, looked into his eyes and she’d seen something that had overwhelmed her - somewhere along the line she’d fallen in love with this man, and she didn’t know when it had happened, she couldn’t work out the exact time her feelings had changed; she just knew that they had.
 
She loved how he made her feel.
 
She loved being with him.
 
The next move had been obvious.

“You ok?” Michael asked, squeezing her waist.

“I’m fine.
 
Not sure about everyone else though,” she smiled, catching sight of a couple of very surprised faces; her brother’s being the funniest.
 

“I guess they never really saw it coming,” Michael smiled back.

“Well, neither did I so I guess that makes us all surprised.”

He turned her round so she was facing him, gently pushing the hair from her eyes.
 
“Are you ok with it?
 
With us, I mean.”

“I won’t deny it’s a bit of a shock, but it feels right.
 
It’s the right time for me - the right time and the right person.”

He pulled her in for a small, quick kiss.
 
“You’ve no idea how long I’ve waited for this,
India
.
 
No idea.”

“Well, mister, you’ve got me now.”
 
She kissed him again, and the feeling it gave her was incredible.
 
She felt like an excited teenager out on a first date and all she wanted to do was hide away in a corner and kiss him for hours.
 
It was new and exciting and it had been a long time since she’d felt this way.
 
Or even
wanted
to feel this way.

“It’s such a pity it’s my brother’s party, otherwise I’d just skip it and go do something much more interesting,” she smiled, playing with the collar of his shirt.