Chapter Three
One week later, Valentina paused on the front step of Smith's house and took a deep breath that was perfumed with the scent of flowers. Beautiful, and not always easy to grow, lily of the valley was sprinkled all along his wide front drive. They were an unexpectedly soft touch for such a powerfully masculine man.
She'd spent the past ten years attending meetings similar to this one - stars often liked to show off their homes - so there was no reason to feel so off-kilter. Besides, her sister would be here shortly, so it wasn't like Valentina was going to be all alone with Tatiana's co-star for very long.
She'd decided over the past few days of filming that the best way to think of Smith was as Tatiana's co-star. It de-personified him, made him almost a prop.
God forbid she forget herself and let herself think of him as a man, just as she'd caught herself doing a couple of times during the past week. If only she'd remembered two days ago when they'd filmed the scene where he was working out without a shirt on, she would have made certain to steer clear of the set. Her mouth had dropped wide open when she caught sight of his tanned, muscular shoulders, his well defined biceps, triceps, and washboard abs. Boy, had it been difficult to turn away from all that incredible male beauty. So difficult, in fact, that she hadn't actually managed it.
Unfortunately, she was pretty sure Smith had caught her drooling over him, judging by the knowing look in his eyes when he'd moved from the weights to the monitors to watch playback.
Clutching her leather bag tightly, Valentina finally rang the doorbell. She was surprised when a pretty woman with a radiant smile opened the door.
"Hi, come in. I'm Nicola. You must be Valentina. Smith said you would be here any second now." Valentina automatically shook the woman's hand as she said, "The boys are in the kitchen whipping up a batch of celebration margaritas."
It took Valentina a few very confused seconds to realize that Nicola was actually Nico, the pop star whose songs were all over the radio.
Why was Nico here?
Who were the boys?
And what were they celebrating?
Had Smith mixed up his plans and she'd just accidentally walked into some sort of celebrity orgy about to begin?
Only, as she followed Nico - or Nicola, as she'd introduced herself - through Smith's foyer to the kitchen, it sure didn't look like the other woman was dressed for an orgy. Not in skinny jeans and a hip-length sweater.
Smith looked up from behind the blender with a smile that set her heart to pounding even faster.
"Valentina," he said, savoring her name just a little too much for her comfort. "Perfect timing. I can see you've already met Nicola. This is my brother Marcus."
If she hadn't only had eyes for Smith, she would have noticed the man standing next to him. Marcus was also extremely easy on the eyes, if a little bit older than Smith. As Nicola tucked herself under Marcus's arm and leaned into him, he brushed his knuckles down the side of her face as if she never stopped pleasing him.
Valentina's chest squeezed with something she refused to admit was longing. She was trying not to stare, but it was hard to look away from such deep - and pure - affection.
"It's very nice to meet you," she said, feeling awkward and out of place in this small family gathering in the suit she'd been wearing all day on set, while everyone else was casual in jeans and sweaters. Smith had kicked his shoes off and she was disgusted to realize she even found his bare feet sexy. And when he reached up to hold the top of the blender in place and it whirred to life, the sheer sensuality of watching the muscles and tendons flex slightly in his arms held her momentarily spellbound.
It should take more than a dozen inches of skin showing on each of his arms to set her heart to racing and the heat pooling low down in her belly.
Really, though, it was ridiculous for a man's arms to be that sexy.
And she was being even more ridiculous by making a complete twit of herself - as if she'd grown up in some weird puritanical household where she'd never seen a man's bare arms before.
Marcus's smile was warm as he said, "It's nice to meet you, Valentina."
Knowing that her cheeks were still flushing, she was glad for the distraction of Smith handing out the margaritas. She hadn't been planning to have anything to drink tonight, not if she wanted to keep her head perfectly clear, but she didn't want to be the sole party pooper for whatever it was they were celebrating.
Smith remained by her side as he turned his focus back to his brother and Nicola. "I'd like to raise a toast to your engagement. I couldn't be happier for both of you."
Valentina's eyes widened as she realized what she'd just walked into. Not an orgy, but a family celebration. No wonder there was such obvious love between Marcus and Nicola, and that both of them were absolutely glowing with happiness.
"Thank you," Nicola said with a pretty smile. "After all, Smith, you were the one who gave Marcus and me a place to spend our first night together. Even if," she said with a wicked little glance at her new fiance, "your brother wouldn't do anything more than give me one teeny tiny little kiss, no matter how much I begged."
Valentina felt her eyes go even wider despite herself. Nicola had begged Marcus to do more than kiss her their first night together? And he'd resisted?
"Really?" Smith said, drawing the word out with pure curiosity as he leaned forward to coax more dirt from Nicola about his brother. "Tell us more."
But before she could, Marcus covered her mouth with his. When they finally pulled apart he murmured, "Good thing I know how to keep you quiet with my teeny tiny little kisses."
He certainly did, Valentina thought, because Marcus's kiss had quite clearly made Nicola lose the train of her earlier thoughts. The sparks between them were practically singeing her from across the kitchen island. She could tell just how much in love the two of them were.
She hoped they knew just how lucky they were to have found each other.
"Congratulations," she said. "I'm so happy for you both."
Nicola's eyes were a little glassy as the four of them lifted their glasses and clinked them together. Valentina was amazed by how right it felt in that moment to be there with them. And how surprisingly normal it all was, considering two of the people in the room were bona fide celebrities.
So normal, in fact, that as they all took a sip and Nicola's hand flashed with brightly colored jewels, Valentina couldn't resist saying, "Your ring is beautiful."
Nicola all but leapt around the kitchen island to show off her engagement ring. It wasn't a standard diamond solitaire, but a stunning grouping of multicolored stones in a unique hammered-gold setting.
Clearly, Valentina thought as she admired the ring, Sullivan men did nothing by halves.
What, she suddenly found herself wondering, would it be like to belong to one of them? And to know that a strong, beautiful Sullivan would always be there for you?
It was far harder than it should have been to shake the silly questions out of her head as she and Nicola finally rejoined the brothers. Surely, she thought as she reached for her glass again, a couple more sips wouldn't make her lose her head.
Only, when she realized Smith's dark eyes were on her as she took a sip, she suddenly knew that if anything was going to make her lose her head, it wouldn't be the drink.
It would be him.
She was about to put her glass down and excuse herself from the impromptu family celebration out of sheer self-preservation when Nicola asked, "How are you liking San Francisco?"
It was a perfectly easy question, one that should have been simple to answer. Only, with Smith standing mere inches away, his eyes holding a tight focus on her as he waited for her response, simple became nearly impossible.
Valentina could feel her heartbeat fluttering against her pulse points, along the inside of her wrist and on the side of her neck, and knew her skin had started to flush with the heat she always felt when Smith was close.
She hadn't wanted to sense his interest, had told herself she didn't want it directed at her, but after their conversation in his trailer the week before, and the way she'd caught him looking at her on set with a dark, hungry gaze more than once, she could no longer deny it. Nor could she deny that it felt like he was trying to see behind her conservative clothes and tied-back hair, that he wanted to look deeper into her than she wanted him to see.
"I love San Francisco. Although it's been warmer than I expected." The sun had just set, but she suddenly felt so overheated in Smith's kitchen that she had to unbutton her suit jacket and slip it off her shoulders.
"You and your sister must have brought the sun with you, because last month we were all wearing our ski gear to go get the mail in the thick fog," Nicola said with a laugh that lit up her already stunningly pretty face.
No wonder Smith's brother was smitten. Not only was Nicola talented, but she was clearly a very nice person as well.
"I'm all for fog," Marcus said as he pressed a kiss to his new fiancee's cheek, "especially if it means it's up to me to keep you warm."
Valentina didn't know much about the music business, but she guessed that at Nicola's level of pop stardom, it wasn't too different from being a movie star. And yet, somehow she'd managed to find love with a man who clearly didn't want her for anything other than herself.
Why, Valentina wondered, hadn't her mother been that lucky with any of the actors she'd dated? If only one of them had had a heart of gold, everything would have been different. Better.
Unfortunately, the only gold had been in the rings on their wandering hands when they thought her mother wasn't looking. Valentina had learned a few simple, but effective, defensive moves in her early twenties. At the very least, she'd learned how to take care of herself and her sister.
"What parts of the city have you had a chance to see so far?" Marcus asked.
Valentina shook off her thoughts as she smiled and said, "Just the best movie set in the world."
"Smith knows this city better than all of us," Marcus told her. "He'd be a great tour guide."
"Tell me, Valentina," Smith said so smoothly she almost wondered if the three of them had scripted the setup before she walked in, "what San Francisco landmark would you like to see most?"
During the past few minutes, Valentina had realized that the problem with seeing Smith be so easy, so comfortable with his family, was that she almost forgot to keep her walls up around him. It reminded her of the way she was with her sister.
Good thing she'd locked her heart up tight against actors a long, long time ago. And it was with maximum-security prisons in mind that she gave him her one-word answer.
"Alcatraz."
Only, instead of getting the very clear message in her response and backing off, Smith's eyes were full of laughter. Neither Nicola nor Marcus did a great job of hiding their own laughter behind a couple of choked coughs, either.
In the end, even Valentina found herself unable to hold back her own smile.
Which was when she knew she needed to leave immediately. Because she was getting too comfortable with Smith and his family, feeling too warm and cozy and right with them.
"Thank you so much for including me in your celebration," she said with a warm smile for Marcus and Nicola, "but I should probably be going. I'll let Tatiana know that we're rescheduling our meeting, Smith."
Only, before she could lift her bag back onto her shoulder, Marcus was saying, "Actually, we were just dropping in for a few minutes to share the good news with Smith. My mother is expecting us for dinner tonight."
The next thing Valentina knew, she was shaking the happy couple's hands, they were both hugging Smith goodnight, and she was standing all alone in his kitchen as he walked them out. The sound of the front door closing caused her heartbeat to quicken once again behind her breastbone.
There was no reason to panic just because they were alone. And if the fact that he was clearly so close to his family and so happy for his brother had softened her a bit, well, she could handle that softness.
Couldn't she?