Angel Uncovered (26 page)

'The big deal is that you know I don't just have friendly
feelings for you, Angel.' Now he leaned closer and his
playful, flirtatious manner was replaced by something
altogether more serious.

'I want you so badly,' he said huskily. 'I haven't been
able to get you out of my head since we met. Yes, I've
gone out with other women, beautiful women, but none
of them has come close to you. I can't stop thinking about
you, Angel.'

She couldn't help feeling flattered by his words and
stared back at him. She took another sip of champagne to
give her confidence as a thought started to take shape in
hermind. Maybe this was what she needed to do, to make
herself forget about Cal's betrayal. She couldn't yet say
'forgive', and maybe she never would. But she would go
back to Ethan's beach house and she'd make love with
him . . . no, have sex with him. It would be a one night
stand, nothing more. Then she and Cal would be even
and she could let go of the hurt and anger that had been
poisoning her.

To test her resolve she leaned forward and kissed him,
expecting to feel nothing, but Ethan returned it, a hard,
sexy kiss that felt so good.

Angel pulled away. It felt as if the rest of the room was
out of focus. Then she murmured, 'So what will it take to
make you feel better?'

'More than a kiss, sweet as that was,' he replied, gazing
at her with undisguised desire. By now Angel was feeling
butterflies of excitement, nervousness and, she had to
admit it – lust. She hesitated for a moment longer before
whispering, 'Okay, let's go.'

As Ethan settled the bill, turning down Angel's request
that she pay half, she drained her glass of champagne
and tried not to think about what she was going to do.
They walked swiftly out of the restaurant and darted into
the waiting limo, both anxious to avoid any lurking
paparazzi. Angel was imagining that they would play it
cool until they arrived at his house but Ethan had other
ideas. After speaking briefly to his driver, who discreetly
closed the tinted-glass panel separating the front and
back seats, he pulled Angel on to his lap and began
kissing her.

It was a kiss that was gentle at first and then became
deeper and more passionate, becoming the kind of kiss
that led only one way . . . At first she lost herself in the
kiss, was turned on by his hands caressing her body,
wanting him to touch her breasts, wanting him to slide
his hands along her thighs and go further still . . . She
could feel his hard cock against her.
Go on
, her body
seemed to be telling her,
this is easy, you can fuck him andthen walk away
.

She caressed Ethan's body, slipped her hands under
his shirt, felt his firm muscular chest, unbuttoned his
shirt, kissed his neck . . . slipped her hands under the
waistband of his boxers. He groaned with pleasure and
kissed her more hungrily, caressing her through her silk
briefs, turning her on. He had all the right moves. She
closed her eyes as his caresses bought waves of pleasure
pulsing through her, bit his lip, slipped down the straps
of her dress so he could touch her breasts . . .

Go on
, she thought again.
This will make everything better,everything right again.

But then she opened her eyes and everything felt
wrong. Suddenly she was pulling away, moving to the
opposite side of the seat, fumbling with her straps,
rearranging her dress. She couldn't do this. She didn't
want to betray Cal and she knew that if she had sex with
Ethan now she would have destroyed something. Things
wouldn't be the same again, this wouldn't make anything
right. She belonged to Cal and he belonged to her – that's
what made sense of her world, wasn't it? It was Cal she
wanted to be making love to her, not this beautiful
stranger.

'Hey, what's the matter?' Ethan asked her.

Angel felt so ashamed she could hardly look at him.
Hedidn't deserve this. What had she been thinking of? How couldshe ever have imagined that she could have a one night stand?She'd never had one in her life.

'I'm sorry, I can't do this, Ethan,' she said breathlessly.
'Please just let me out of the car.'

He looked taken aback – he was obviously not used to
rejection. For a minute Angel panicked that he might try
and force her, the way Jackson Black, a Hollywood actor,
had tried with her a few years earlier.

'Come back to the house, Angel, we can talk,' Ethan
replied, quick to regain his composure. 'Don't go.
There's a connection between us, you can't deny it. I
know you want me too.'

Angel shook her head. 'I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have
led you on. I'm married and I love my husband, in spite
of how it must look to you.'

There was a pause while Ethan looked at her. The
desire in his eyes had been replaced by a look of hurt and
wounded pride.

'Is that really what you want?' he asked quietly.

'Yes,' Angel whispered. 'It really is.'

He pressed the intercom button and murmured to the
driver who pulled over. Ethan opened the door.

'I'm getting out here. The driver will take you to your
hotel. Goodbye, Angel.'

She was about to repeat that she was sorry, but he had
already slammed the door shut and was walking away
into the night.

Back in her hotel room Angel pulled off her dress and
stepped into the shower, standing under it for ages,
letting the hot water pour over her body as if she could
wash away the memory of tonight, wash away the
memory of Ethan's hands and lips on her skin. Then and
only then was she ready to make the call to her husband.

'It's me,' she said. 'I'm flying over to Italy tomorrow. I
want to see you.' She paused then added, 'I want us to be
together.'

As soon as Cal saw his wife at Milan airport the following
evening he ran towards her, took her in his arms and said
in a voice full of emotion, 'I swear, I will never let you
down again, Angel.'

'Shush.' She put her finger against his lips. 'No more
apologies.' And then she kissed him.

Back at the villa Angel took Cal's hand and led him up
to the bedroom. They held each other tight for a few
minutes as if they couldn't bear to let each other go again,
then they were kissing and tearing off each other's
clothes, falling on to the bed in a tangle of limbs, and all
Angel could think was that she wanted Cal, wanted him
more than anything else, wanted to feel him inside her,
to feel close to him again. Their lovemaking was intense,
violent almost – as if they were both erasing the past.
With every thrust of Cal's body driving into hers, she
arched her back and tilted her hips towards him. 'Fuck
me harder,' she urged him. Then she was on top of him,
straddling him. 'You're mine,' she told him, leaning
forward so that her breasts were tantalisingly close to his
lips.

'Yes, I'm yours,' he replied, kissing her nipples,
caressing her with his hand, so that they came together in
a fever of desire, possession and love.

*

They spent the next day rediscovering each other's
bodies, their passion made all the more intense because
they had so nearly lost each other. But close as they were
again, there were moments during their lovemaking
when Angel thought of Cal with Alessia; thought of his
hands on her body and hers on his; thought of him
fucking her . . . and she felt pain then, white hot pain that
shot through her, making her want to hurt Cal. She dug
her nails into his back, raked them across his skin, leaving
angry red marks on him. It was as though she was
marking her territory, saying, You belong to me. Finally
they lay entwined in each other's arms, exhausted from
their spent passion.

'I've spoken to my agent about a transfer back to an
English club,' Cal told her, gently smoothing back her
hair. 'And he's working on it. Hopefully in a few months
I'll be back in England.'

Angel hated the prospect of Cal remaining in Italy,
even for a short time, hated him being anywhere near
that woman.
She gave a heartfelt sigh. 'I really wish you
didn't have to be here. Do you promise you won't see
her?' She still couldn't bring herself to say Alessia's name.

'I think her husband is on the transfer list. There's talk
of a bid for him from Real Madrid. And, no, I won't see
her, I swear.'

'And you promise no one else knows?'

'Alessia promised me that she'd told no one,' he
replied, and Angel winced to hear him say that name.

'But someone knows, don't they?' Angel said. 'The
person who sent that picture.' And she shivered in spite
of his arms around her. Someone out there wanted to
hurt her and Cal. The question was, who?

'It seems exactly the kind of thing that Simone would
do,' she said thoughtfully.

Cal shook his head. 'She hasn't contacted me since she
agreed not to, and I've not seen her in Italy. Anyway, why
would she do something like this? She's got a new
boyfriend.'

'Because she's still in love with you!' Angel exclaimed.
'And she's just using her boyfriend for his money and
lifestyle, isn't that obvious?'

'Oh, come on, even she's not that much of a bitch.' One
of Cal's most lovely and at the same time most annoying
traits was that he always looked for the good in people,
even in Simone who had behaved so appallingly after
they broke up. 'I know she went all mentalist on us but
she did apologise.'

'And that makes it okay, does it?' Angel replied,
thinking,
God, men are naïve.

'Let's not talk about Simone,' he answered, and seeing
that Angel was going to say something else, kissed her to
silence anymore questions. But that didn't stop her
wondering who had taken that picture and what they had
hoped to achieve by it. Nothing good, that was for sure.

In the weeks that followed Angel did her best to put the
past behind her; she knew she had to learn to have faith
in Cal again, but there were dark times when she was
wracked by doubts, tormented to think that he might be
seeing Alessia again. Deep down she knew she would
never be able to trust him one hundred per cent again
and that hurt so much because she always had before.
The belief that he would always be faithful to her had
been one of the cornerstones of their marriage. So now
that had been taken away, everything seemed less
certain, more fragile somehow. But everyone she was
close to told her that she had definitely made the right
decision in giving Cal a second chance . . . she just hoped
they were right.

As for Ethan, Angel was mortified about the way she
had treated him. She sent him a text apologising again
for her behaviour, but he didn't reply. She didn't blame
him. She just wanted to forget what had happened, but
couldn't help hoping that he didn't think too badly of
her . . .

Cal brought up the subject of them renewing their
vows again but Angel wasn't ready. 'Maybe in a year or
two,' she told him. The pain he had inflicted on her with
his infidelity was still too raw. When Cal saw that there
was no persuading her he dropped the subject. As if he
had something to prove he had a pair of angel wings
tattooed on his shoulders. 'See, you are always with me,'
he told her when he showed them to her.

'I thought I was here,' she replied, reaching out and
touching his chest, so that she could feel his heart
beating.

'You are,' he replied. 'Always.'

Just not for one night last summer
, she wanted to say.
But she didn't. She wanted to move on as much as Cal
did.

'Do I look okay?' Angel asked, giving her make up a
quick check in the mirror.

'Beautiful, of course,' Cal replied.
The pair of them were on their way to co-present an
award at the National TV Awards. When Angel had
asked her husband if he wanted to take part she was
certain he would refuse because it was so hard for him to
get time off from training. Instead he had surprised her
by agreeing. 'We should do more things together,' he'd
told her. 'We spend too much time apart as it is.'

When they emerged from their car the couple
attracted a huge amount of attention on the red carpet –
the paps all frantically taking pictures of them, vying with
each other to interview the gorgeous couple. Cal smiled
away for the camera – another first as he usually looked
moody – even kissing Angel when one of the paps asked
him to.
We must look like the perfect celebrity match
, Angel
thought, and couldn't help a pang of sadness.
If only theyknew . . .

The guests were treated to champagne cocktails before
the awards began and Cal and Angel were quickly swept
up by people who wanted to talk to them – or rather to
Cal. After his winning goal in a crucial World Cup match,
he'd become something of a hero to many people,
including some very A-list actors and actresses. Angel
found herself left on the sidelines and smiled as she
watched her handsome husband chat politely, every now
and then looking over and catching her eye as if to say,
What is all this?

Angel was so proud of him. She had never been the
kind of person who expected to be the centre of attention,
and she enjoyed watching him shine. But suddenly
she caught a glimpse of an all-too-familiar and unwelcome
figure making its way through the crowd towards
Cal. It was Simone. A feeling of dread crept over Angel.
God, that woman made her skin crawl.

Dressed in an extremely revealing black silk dress,
Simone stood a few feet away and gazed longingly at Cal.
Shit!
Angel thought. She should have realised that Simone
would be here, even though she hadn't worked for at least
six months after her contract had been terminated on
Hollyoaks
. She watched as Simone began inching towards
Cal but before she got the chance to greet him, Cal ended
his conversation and rejoined Angel.
'Get me out of here!' he whispered in her ear, draping
his arm possessively round her. 'I don't want to make
small talk with anyone else for a while!'
Over his shoulder Angel saw Simone freeze as she took
in the fact that Cal was with his wife. She appeared
completely shell-shocked to see them together; then the
shock turned to a look of pure hatred.

'Don't look now,' Angel warned, 'but Simone is behind
you.'

'God, that's all we need,' he groaned. 'Come on, let's
move away.'

They wove their way through the crowd and then
thankfully it was time to take their place backstage. Jez
and Gemma were waiting in the dressing room to do last-minute
touches to Cal and Angel's appearance. It was a
relief to see their friendly faces. For some reason Angel
felt shaken after seeing Simone. She was used to the other
woman directing looks of pure loathing at her, but there
had been something about the expression on her face this
time that had unsettled Angel. Simone had looked almost
mad with hatred . . . or maybe Angel was imagining
things and Simone had just overdone it on the Botox.

'Guess who we've just seen?' she said grimly, sitting
down and letting Gemma check over her make up –
putting on a little powder to take away any shine,
reapplying her lipstick.

Jez immediately reeled off a list of stars. 'I
wish,'
Angel
replied. 'But it was Simone, one of the Wicked Witches of
the WAGs.'

Both Gemma and Jez grimaced in sympathy. 'Oh well,'
Jez said breezily, 'at least you haven't got to present her
with an award. That really would be disturbing. Now,
Cal, can I just have a look at your hair?'

Cal scowled at Jez. He hated anyone fiddling with his
jet black hair which was cut very close to his head. 'A little
bit of gel to give it some depth?' Jez suggested, advancing
on him.

'Step away from the hair!' Cal warned. 'It looks fine
like it is.' And he glanced in the mirror and simply ran his
fingers through it. 'There, see, perfect.'

Jez tossed back his head theatrically and stamped his
foot in annoyance. He was always trying to get his hands
on Cal's hair. 'Thank God your wife's not as difficult as
you!' he exclaimed, turning his attention instead to Angel
and ensuring her long honey-blonde hair looked sleek.
Meanwhile she was checking her script – she had hardly
anything to say but was paranoid about getting the words
wrong. Public speaking was not one of her skills. 'Can't I
just stand next to you and smile?' she said to Cal. 'I'm
really nervous!'

'You'll be fine,' he reassured her, not in the least
bothered himself about the prospect of standing up in
front of such a large audience and being filmed.

Angel's nervousness increased as the awards ceremony
began and the four of them watched the show on the TV
monitor in the dressing room. Jez entertained them all
with his outrageous bitching about what everyone was
wearing and how they all looked, who'd lost weight,
who'd put it on, who was shagging who.

'Oh.My.God!' he exclaimed, pointing out a soap-star
actress in a silver mini-dress with a plunging neckline.
'She looks as if she's wrapped in Bacofoil!'

'Are you sure you aren't related to Perez Hilton?'
Angel demanded, making everyone laugh. Then she and
Cal got their five-minute call and had to make their way
to the stage.

Cal held her hand tightly as they walked along the
corridor and all the time while they waited to go on. As
the music struck up to signal the couple's entrance
onstage Angel felt butterflies fluttering madly inside her
and was terrified that she was going to trip as they
walked down the stairs. Why were there always stairs at
awards ceremonies? Was it just in the hope that some
celeb would fall over and make a tit of themselves so
everyone could laugh?
Please let it not be me
, she thought
as she tried to walk as elegantly as possible down the
steps.

The host, Robbie Johnson, was waiting at the bottomto
embrace the couple. The audience were cheering and
whistling but for a second Angel imagined Simone in the
crowd, sitting there like a vengeful spider, full of poison,
willing Angel to fuck up.

'So, Cal,' Robbie said cheekily, 'you've got something
that we've all been dying to see. Any chance you could
give us a preview?' For a second Cal's hand went to his
belt as if he was going to unbuckle it – to wolf whistles
from the crowd.
What was he doing?
Angel wondered in
amazement. They hadn't planned this. Then Cal swiftly
shrugged off his jacket and shirt, showing off his new tats,
posing away while the crowd showed their appreciation
by whistling and cheering at the sight of his gorgeous,
olive-skinned, muscular body. Angel stood by laughing,
her nerves forgotten.
This was so unlike Cal!

'Whatever happened to Mr Too Cool for School?'
Robbie demanded.

Cal shrugged as he straightened his clothes. 'He's
realised that life's too short and how much he loves his
wife.' If anyone else had come out with a line like that no
doubt the audience would have been pulling faces and
reaching for their sick bags, but because Cal was such a
hero and considered to be so cool, the general feeling
was,
How sweet.
Then he kissed Angel which had the
crowd cheering again. 'Watch the make up!' she joked,
but she was deeply touched that he was being so open
about his feelings.

The pair of them then read out the nominations.
Angel, word perfect, announced the most popular actor
to be David Tennant, did the obligatory kiss, kiss, and
then walked offstage to more cheers and whoops of
delight.

'You're full of surprises at the moment,' she said to Cal
later that night, after the awards had finished and they
were at the after-show party.