No Matter What (132 page)

He looked at the magazine cover again.
 
They were undoubtedly a stunning looking couple.
 
JJ was as handsome as she was beautiful.
 
She even managed to hold a gun in a way that could only be deemed as sexy and Kenny had to smile.
 
She’d come such a long way from that first day he’d seen her, walking into that screen testing room, so young and innocent and totally unaware of all the shit that would be thrown at her over the years.
 
But at the same time, she’d become such a huge success and a talent that nobody could deny was just extraordinary.
 
He’d been there for her throughout it all and how could he even have thought about stepping back and walking away from her when they’d been through so much together?
 
He’d been crazy to even try it and he was just grateful that she loved him enough to accept he’d been an idiot over the past couple of years.
 
Kenny Ross was finally growing up. Whether he liked it or not.

***

Ray Foster watched the TV screen intently.
 
He watched the episode of ‘Covert One’ as his younger brother kissed his real-life – albeit, for now, secret - wife.
 
He watched as the chemistry between them almost steamed up the TV screen. Somehow it was worse watching them like this, worse than actually seeing them in person carrying on the way they did, like a couple of kids, all the kissing and hand holding and the looks that passed between them.
 
But it worked for their TV show.
 
The two of them together was helping gain viewers with each season, so that kind of voyeurism obviously worked, people wondering if what they did on screen was mirrored in their real-life relationship.

But now it was his turn.
 
It was time for another of the Foster brothers to take their turn with the beautiful
India
.
 
It was time for Ray to show that he too could recreate that same chemistry that his brother so effortlessly could.
 
Ray might not get to sleep with her, or even kiss her outside of a movie set, but he was going to get to do it all whilst he was on one.
 
Playing
India
’s husband in this movie meant a couple of small but significant love scenes and Ray would have been lying if he’d said he wasn’t looking forward to the days when they were being filmed.
 
Even if his baby brother
was
going to be watching every move he made.
 
Some people may find that uncomfortable but if it was the only chance Ray got to get close to her then he’d take it.
 
He’d take anything.

Five years ago he and his new sister-in-law had had a night together that could only be described as a six hour hard-core porn movie lived out for real and ever since that night he’d relived every little detail of every sordid, incredible act they’d undertaken at least once.
 
He’d never forgotten it.
 
Any of it.
 
Especially the consequences that had followed, and he knew she hadn’t forgotten either.
 
He’d seen it in her face.

He’d tried to avoid seeing her at all since it had happened.
 
Once everything had ended they’d both decided it was for the best if they never saw each other again, unless they absolutely had to.
 
But then she’d met JJ, so she must have known that, at some point, their paths were going to cross again.

When JJ had introduced them, when Ray had flown over to
L.A.
after Ellie’s birth, it had been hard to pretend that they’d never met each other before, especially considering what had happened between them.
 
But now they were being thrown together again and in Ray’s eyes that had to be for a reason.
 
Maybe it was time to finally get everything off his chest, to let her know how that night had affected him.
 
He was all too aware that, for her, the consequences had been far harder, but she’d pushed him away.
 
He hadn’t wanted to go.
 
And now it needed sorting out.
 
Things still needed to be said, and he was going to say them because he couldn’t let this go now.
 
He couldn’t put it to the back of his mind when she was going to be with him day after day, not anymore, he couldn’t do that.
 
So the goal posts had shifted.
 
The rules had just been changed, and Ray was finally going to be able to say everything to her that he’d been denied the chance to say all those years ago.
 
It was a secret too big for him to carry around any longer and she needed to know how he felt.
 
Even if that did have more far reaching consequences than he dared to even think about.

***

“Have you got the rings, Joe?”
India
asked, as they made their way to the TV studios for the interview.

It had been one hell of a long day but in just a matter of hours they’d be telling the watching
U.K.
public just how much in love they really were.
 
Their secret wouldn’t be a secret anymore and, if she was honest, it’d be a relief to finally have it out in the open.

“Yes, I’ve got the rings,” he smiled, slipping his hand into hers and squeezing it.

“Good.
 
Because as soon as this is common knowledge I want them back on my finger.”
 
She looked at her left hand.
 
“I feel naked without them.”

JJ squeezed her hand again, leaning in closer to her.
 
“I wish you were.”

She looked at him.
 
“Wish I was what?”

“Naked.”
 
He started kissing her neck, just below her ear, a place he knew she liked to be kissed.
 
“That last photo shoot we did has really, really turned me on.
 
I love it when they make you take your clothes off.”

“Nobody
makes
me do anything, Joe.”

“You have got the most incredible tits.”

“All thanks to an amazing surgeon.
 
I’ve had two kids; you don’t think they’d stay up here without any help do you?”

Not long after Ellie had been born she’d gone under the knife for a breast lift, and it wasn’t something she’d made a secret of.
 
She was over forty, a mum of two, and nothing stayed the same forever.
 
She was realistic about that.
 
She’d wanted it done, Joe had supported her and he’d made the most of them ever since.

He was still nuzzling her neck and, although she loved it, she knew this was neither the time nor the place.

“I don’t care, beautiful.
 
I loved them before and they’re still incredible now.”

He rested his mouth on hers; slipping his hand up her top and for a few seconds she gave in, loving the taste of him, the feel of his lips on hers, his fingers on her skin.

“You’re going to have to calm yourself down, mister,” she smiled, stroking the stubble on his face, following the trail of her fingers with her eyes.
 
“Because this is going to be a long night.”

He rested his forehead against hers, still holding onto her hand.
 
“Are you nervous?”

She nodded.
 
“So much has happened, Joe, and this is the first time I’ll have talked about any of it, the first time I’ll have spoken out loud about everything.
 
The questions they could throw at me ...” She stroked his face again, looking into his beautiful eyes.
 
“You
will
understand, won’t you, Joe?
 
Some of the things you’ll hear ... I just want you to understand.”

He kissed her gently and she closed her eyes and let him, she let him kiss her; let him hold her, let his fingers hold onto hers so tight.

“You know I’ll always be there,” he whispered, holding her close, speaking with his mouth almost touching hers.
 
“I’ll always be there.
 
No matter what.”

She smiled.
 
“I love you, Joe.”

“Right back at ya, baby.”

She laughed, which is what he’d wanted her to do.
 
He wanted her to feel comfortable and safe and happy when she walked out into that studio for this interview.
 

The car pulled up outside the TV studios, where a group of screaming girls - who’d obviously got wind of JJ’s imminent arrival - had gathered, and
India
couldn’t help laughing again.

“Your fan club’s waiting, Joseph.”

He looked out of the window then sat back again.

“Are you telling me you’re surprised at this?” she asked, gathering her things together and pulling her jacket on, checking her face in the mirror.

“Yeah.
 
A bit.”

“Get out of here!” she laughed.
 
“You know full well you’re a teenage girl’s dream guy.
 
Women of any age’s dream guy, actually.”
 
She leaned over and kissed him slowly.
 
“I mean, I’m forty-one and I find you sexy as hell.
 
You’ve taken ten years off me, handsome, no word of a lie.”

“I know what I
want
to take off you,” he grinned, trying to slide his hand back up under her top but she slapped it away.

“Later, ok?”

“I’m on a promise then?”

She smiled again, giving him one last kiss.
 
“Maybe.”

“Ok.
 
That’s good enough for me.”
 
He took her hand as the car door was opened and even
India
was taken aback at the wall of screams that hit them.
 

JJ stepped outside first, still holding onto her hand as she followed behind him.
 
She’d just married a pin-up guy, a heart-throb to millions and she felt all those little butterflies fly loose around her stomach again as she watched him.
 
He was in his element, smiling at the waiting girls – because the majority of them
were
just teenagers – taking their hands quickly, giving a couple of them a small kiss on the cheek, but he never let go of her, not once.
 
His hand held tight onto hers all the time as they were finally ushered into the studios, welcomed by dozens of people, and for a second
India
found it all totally overwhelming.
 
This wasn’t just an interview to promote a new movie or publicity for a TV show.
 
She’d agreed to open up and talk about her life live on national TV, back in the country she’d grown up in, and that was all of a sudden quite a scary thought.
 
Because her life had been complicated, all over the place and messy, and those were the bits they’d no doubt focus on, those were the bits that people were interested in.
 
Those were the bits she was going to find the hardest to talk about.

“Are you ok?” JJ asked as they were led into a huge and comfortable looking green room filled with large cream sofas, a huge flat-screen TV showing what was going on out on the studio floor dominating almost one entire wall.
 
They’d been asked if they’d wanted a private room of their own but
India
had said no.
 
She’d never gone in for all that special treatment, she preferred to feel as normal as she possibly could.
 
Whatever normal was anymore.

She turned and smiled at JJ.
 
“I’m fine.
 
Really.
 
I’m ok.”

He stuck his hand inside his leather jacket and pulled out a small photograph, handing it to her.
 
“Here.
 
Take this.
 
Keep it on you; look at it if you feel nervous and, just know that I’ll be right here, baby.
 
Right here.
 
All the time.”

She took the photograph and looked at it, smiling again.
 
It was a photograph of her and JJ on their wedding day, and she knew it had been taken just after they’d said ‘I do’ because she remembered that kiss.
 
She could still feel that kiss, still taste it.

“You carry this around with you?” she smiled, looking up at him and he nodded.

“Amongst other ones.
 
I’ve been carrying a photo from your ‘Viper’ shoot around with me since 1996.”

She stood up on tip-toes and kissed him slowly, slipping the photograph into the back pocket of her jeans as he slid his arm around her waist and suddenly everything seemed alright again.
 
The butterflies were calm and her head was thinking straight.
 
She could do this, of course she could.
 
She could do this.
 
There was nothing to be afraid of.

The door opened and she turned around, letting out a little squeal of delight as she saw Kenny walk in.
 
She ran over to him, throwing herself into his arms and