Ben waited for her to say more, and she wished she could shout Ian’s name from the rooftops and claim him as hers, but she couldn’t. Not until he changed his mind about being with her.
The fact that he hadn’t been able to resist her last night had to be good, didn’t it? And the blue sky she’d awakened to this morning must also be an omen that things were going to change for the better, right?
All the overthinking she’d been doing since she’d left Ian at the fundraiser last night had a sigh escaping before she could hold it in. Thankfully, though Ben clearly noticed both her sigh and the fact that she was purposely not telling him who the guy was, he was kind enough to let it be.
He handed her a fitted blue suit and when she put it on, he frowned again. “Don’t you dare lose any more weight. Tell that secret loverboy of yours he should be feeding you chocolate-covered strawberries round the clock.”
She laughed, then, utterly unable to imagine Ian ever doing something like that. He’d told her last night that wooing and romantic gestures were what she deserved, but didn’t he realize that she wouldn’t want him to be like other men who went straight to ticking through the list of standard romance tropes?
A couple of hours later, she’d tried on nearly two dozen outfits so that Ben could perfect the fit and take pictures of her in each of them for the director. Instead of taking a cab home, she decided to walk back along the waterfront. Fortunately, everyone was too busy flying kites and playing tag with their kids and smooching on blankets laid out across the grass to pay any attention to the familiar-looking woman with the dark hat and glasses.
But even though it was really nice to be outside enjoying the sunshine for once, her stomach was clenched tight. Her role was still bothering her, especially now that production had been shifted up by a handful of days to Thursday of the coming week. But mostly, she was worried about Ian’s reaction to what she’d said to him last night. Particularly since she hadn’t been able to let the subject of his ex-wife go, and it wasn’t exactly his favorite subject.
Just then, her phone buzzed in the pocket of her jeans. Hoping it wasn’t Ben texting to ask her to come back to the set because he’d just found another rack of clothes she needed to try on, she nearly dropped it when she saw Ian’s name on the screen.
Had he thought about everything she’d said last night and realized he wanted to be with her, after all?
Her heart was leaping in her chest as she stopped in the middle of the busy sidewalk to punch in her security code so that she could see his full message. Strangers bumped into her from all sides, but as she read his text once, twice, then a third time, she simply couldn’t figure out how to make her legs move.
LAST MINUTE BUSINESS TRIP TO ALASKA MONDAY. WILL SEND YOU LIST OF OTHER CEOS TO SHADOW.
Her throat felt tight and her chest ached right beneath the breastbone. Less than forty-eight hours ago, he’d made her feel so wanted, so needed, so precious to him with every kiss and caress. And last night, she’d thought there was a chance that she might actually be getting through to him.
But now he’d made it perfectly clear that he didn’t want her around at all anymore.
She was tempted to give in to the urge to throw her phone down on the pavement, purely for the satisfaction of hearing it hit and watching it shatter. But before she could do something so impulsive, her phone jumped in her hand, ringing with her sister’s special ring tone.
Yesterday she’d felt too confused to talk, but though her thoughts about Ian were only more jumbled up now, Tatiana needed her sister more than ever. Finally moving off the sidewalk, she headed across the grass of the waterfront park to find a more private spot.
“Hey, Val.” Tatiana’s voice sounded really weird to her own ears, but she couldn’t quite figure out how to modulate it back to normal. Not when she was still spinning from Ian’s terse farewell text. “How’s Ireland?”
“Amazing. Although Smith has been overrun with media requests since the nominations came in for Gravity, just like you must be. And when we dropped by a local pub to see if they’d have any interest in letting us film a few key scenes there, I swear the whole town must have turned up to dance and sing and celebrate with us. That’s why I wasn’t able to get ahold of you yesterday to congratulate you on your amazing achievement.”
Sitting down on an empty bench and listening to her sister talk had, thankfully, helped Tatiana get a little bit of a grip by the time she had to speak again. “Honestly, it all feels kind of surreal.”
“Promise me you’ll let me know if you need anything, T. Anything at all.” After Tatiana made a sound of assent, Valentina said, “I’ve been dying to know, how did your week with Ian go? Has it helped you with your new role? I kept hoping to catch you earlier in the week to ask, but the time difference as we’ve jumped through Ireland and Scotland always meant it was two in the morning whenever I got a chance to call you.”
Oh, she wanted so badly to confide in her sister. But what would she say? “Ian and I slept together. It was amazing. Magical. Because I love him. But even though he obviously wants me and can’t keep his hands off me, he won’t let himself love me back. And now I don’t know what to do.”
Just hearing the words play out in her own head, Tatiana knew with perfect certainty that there were a good dozen ways Valentina would freak out from across the Atlantic if she actually said them aloud.
“Shadowing him has been great. And exhausting. I’ve never seen anyone work as hard as he does.”