Authors: Michelle Betham
India
turned away from him, focusing on the fairy lights strewn from the roof above them, each tiny twinkling white light becoming blurred through more tears that were threatening to fall thanks to the re-emergence of a subject she really didn’t want to talk about.
Least of all with Dominic.
‘It’s over, Dominic.
All of that, it’s over.’
‘Your relationship with Michael…’
‘I thought you’d come here to talk about us.’
His eyes met hers again and he stared at her, determined to get through to this woman tonight, even if it took until sunrise to do so.
‘So, there still
is
an ‘us’, then?’
She wanted to look away again but she couldn’t.
She couldn’t turn away, it was almost as if there was something in those blue, blue eyes that hypnotised her into staying right she where was.
A feeling she’d felt so often with his father.
And that’s what scared her.
‘That’s what we’re here to find out,’ she said quietly, making a conscious effort to stop playing with the hem of her dress because she was all too aware it made her look nervous.
And she could handle this.
She’d handled far worse.
He continued to look at her, holding her gaze.
‘I’ve been an idiot.
A total jerk, I can’t deny that.
What I did it was… it was wrong.
It was stupid, thoughtless, but I...
Jesus, I don’t know.
I guess finding out that Michael Walsh is your long lost father kind of messes with your head.’
She couldn’t help but smile slightly at that because, in her eyes, anything to do with Michael Walsh messed with your head.
‘When did you find out?’ she asked, turning her body so she faced him head on, tucking her legs up underneath her.
‘About Michael being your dad?’
‘My mom told me, just before she died... just a few months ago,’ Dominic replied, turning away briefly, staring down at his still-clasped-together hands.
‘I guess she finally felt the time was right.’
India
noted a slight hint of flippancy in his voice, but that was purely understandable, given the fucked-up circumstances they were dealing with.
‘Do you resent her at all?
For keeping it from you for all those years?’
‘Did
you
resent
your
mom for not telling you about Reece?’
India
flinched slightly as the memory of finding out about Reece being her father filled her head.
And, yeah.
Yeah, she did resent her mum for keeping Reece from her for all those years.
But the circumstances were different.
And her mum had only revealed who
India
’s real father was to benefit
her
; nothing to do with feeling guilty about keeping the truth from
India
for a good part of her life.
‘We’re not talking about
me
, Dominic.’
Dominic shook his head, his eyes meeting hers again.
‘No.
No, I don’t resent her,
India
.
How could I?
I had the best life… she was a great mom, and Alan, he was a fantastic father.
He was the best, and
he
was my real dad, y’know?
In every sense of the word.
Because he did all that important stuff.
He gave me a childhood I’ll never forget.
He made sacrifices for me and my mom, he gave us everything he had and I loved him.
So much.
He was a good man, a great father.
And my mom – she was amazing.
She did everything she could for me, I know that now, and if she thought it best I didn’t know about Michael until now, well, I respect her for making that decision.’
He sighed, sitting back and closing his eyes for just the briefest of seconds.
‘I just wish I’d fucking handled it better.’
‘Like a grown-up, you mean?’
India
smiled, and he looked at her, smiling back.
Not quite the movie star smile, but getting there.
‘I don’t blame you for reacting the way you did.’
‘You hurt me, Dominic.
The fact you even considered using me as some kind of pawn in a game…’
He sat up, reaching out to take her hand but she pulled away slightly.
She wasn’t quite ready for that, not yet.
‘I’m sorry,
India
.
Really, baby, I am so, so sorry.’
She sighed, throwing her head back, staring up at those twinkling fairy lights again, lights that gave the small cabana a warm, almost ethereal glow about it.
‘Can we stop saying sorry, okay?’
She looked at him, tired of the talking now.
‘Everyone’s sorry, I get that.
It’s time to move on.’
‘And how do we do that?’ Dominic asked, desperate to touch her, to know that she wanted him as much as he wanted her because this whole situation was killing him.
‘Can I trust you, Dominic?
Because I need to know I can trust you.
Whether you like it or not you’re a Walsh, and that name isn’t one I find myself trusting too much anymore, so I need
you
to be different.
I really need you to be different.’
He looked right into her eyes, staring so deep he swore he felt his heart flip right over in his chest.
A feeling that was still quite alien to Dominic.
‘You can trust me.
I promise you that, baby.
I promise you that with every inch of my heart.
I will
never
let you down again, you have to believe me.
I will
never
do that again.’
This time she smiled a smile that sent a wave of relief coursing through Dominic’s entire body.
‘Then we start over,’ she said.
‘Start over?’
She finally made a move, leaning over towards him, touching his mouth quickly in the briefest of kisses but it was enough to make her skin tingle, a sharp shiver running right up her spine.
It was enough to tell her that there was a chance she could fall in love with this man, a chance that she could do that in a heartbeat, and she couldn’t deny it any longer.
No matter how dangerous or risky that may turn out to be.
She’d already let him in.
It was too late.
She’d tried walking away and it hadn’t worked, so it was too late.
She may not forget what he’d done in a hurry – he’d said she could trust him but he still had to prove that – but she needed to know where this journey was going to take them now, because being without him had made her more miserable than she’d cared to admit.
‘Let’s try again, Dominic MacDonald.
Movie Star.’
And there it was, that smile she’d been longing to see, his face lighting up in an instant, making him ten times more handsome than he already was.
Heartbreakingly handsome.
He tentatively reached out to her and this time she didn’t pull away as he touched her face with his fingertips, moving closer so his mouth rested on hers, closing his eyes as he kissed her long and deep.
A kiss that made him feel as though he’d finally come home, somewhere safe and warm, somewhere he’d ached to be for days now because every second without her had felt like that clichéd eternity he’d heard people talk about so many times before and in his own cynical way had never believed.
Until he’d almost lost this woman here with him now.
Now he knew how long, drawn out and painful those seconds could be.
‘It won’t be easy, you realise that, don’t you?’
India
said, her mouth still close to his as she spoke.
‘This relationship, it’s going to be played out in the spotlight, we can’t avoid that.
Not now.’
‘We can try,’ he smiled, and she couldn’t help smiling back.
‘I admire your optimism, Mr MacDonald.’
He continued to smile that movie star smile and she felt her heart start to race, thumping hard inside her as her breathing quickened, her skin tingling every time he touched her.
It all signalled the start of another crazy ride and she had no idea where this was going to lead, but right now she didn’t care.
Dominic was here, beside her, and that was all that mattered.
Who he was and who he was related to, she had to put that to the back of her mind if this relationship was going to go anywhere.
But, tonight, she wasn’t even going to think about that.
She was just going to enjoy having him here.
‘We’re not in the spotlight now, though.
Are we?’
He moved even closer, and
India
knew exactly where this was heading, there was no other way it could go.
There was something between the two of them that neither of them could fight any longer so it was easier all round just to give in.
‘We’re always in the spotlight, handsome,’
India
smiled, running her fingers gently over the stubble on his chin.
‘Everyone knows everything we do.’
‘Yeah, well, I kinda get a kick out of that – sometimes,’ Dominic smirked, letting his hand slide up under India’s strapless dress, and just being able to feel her skin underneath his fingertips was like receiving a fix of a much-needed drug after way too long without it.
‘Don’t you think we’ve already done enough in public?’
India
asked, her heart now racing at a speed that was making her breathless, the anticipation of what was going to happen next filling her with an excitement akin to that of a kid on Christmas morning.
That movie star smile lit up his face once more.
‘Baby, we’re only just getting started.’
She threw her head back and bit down on her bottom lip as he kissed the base of her throat, sliding her dress up over her thighs, removing her underwear in one swift movement, even though he was shaking, if the truth be told.
Dominic MacDonald really
had
never been in love before, and this was all a very new and very daunting experience for him, despite the fact he was about to make love – once more – to someone he considered to be one of the most beautiful women he’d ever had the pleasure of being this close to.
She was complicated, she was crazy, she had a past that he couldn’t even begin to understand with a man he’d just found out was his father – but he wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anything before in his life.
He’d thought all he’d wanted was some kind of unexplainable revenge on Michael Walsh – for what reason?
He hadn’t known Dominic was his son, so how could he have done anything?
How could he have been there when he hadn’t known there was a reason to be?
But all Dominic wanted now was
India
.
He didn’t want revenge; he didn’t even care that Michael was his dad.
He only cared about this woman here beside him.
Sitting back against the cushions he held onto her hips as she climbed astride him, straddling him, positioning herself over him, sliding a hand round the back of his neck as she looked deep into those incredible eyes of his.
The eyes of his father, but she had to get over that, she had to.
Or this was going nowhere.
‘We’re going to be okay, aren’t we?’ she whispered, her need to feel him back inside her colliding with that still-present wariness of letting Michael Walsh’s son get too close to her.
‘We’ll make sure we’re okay,’ Dominic smiled, gently tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, leaning in to kiss her slowly, and in an instant any still-remaining doubts just disappeared as that bubble they wanted to retreat back into cocooned them, giving them permission to finally move this forward, to go for it.
To take this relationship where it needed to go.
India smiled back, reaching down to touch him, wrapping her fingers around him as his mouth touched hers again, the kiss getting deeper as he grew harder in her hand and it was all he could do not to lose control right there and then.
But he needed to hold on, he needed to be there, inside her, to be a part of her and know that he was back in her life.
Back where he wanted to be.
In a body so beautiful it hurt to even look at it sometimes.
‘Okay, Mr Movie Star.
Are you ready for this?’ she breathed, her mouth resting on his as she spoke.
But she was already guiding him in, putting him where he needed to be and as he pushed deeper, into a place so warm and perfect, he could’ve cried with relief, because he’d honestly thought he’d never feel this again.
He’d honestly thought he’d lost her.