by Bella Andre
Page 15
Author: Bella Andre
“Besides, it’s not Tatiana’s fault that she spilled the beans. I was grilling her for anything she would tell me about you. ”
“What else did she spill?”
“How you were a total Bon Jovi fanatic as a teenager. ”
Valentina had to laugh at herself. “Their songs are really quite intelligent and poetic if you listen to the lyrics. ”
“I agree,” he said with a grin. “I’ll make sure to tell Jon about his beautiful fan. ”
“You know him?” she asked before muttering, “Of course you know him. Just so you know, I may have to smother my sister with a pillow tomorrow night. Sorry you’re going to have to find a new co-star this late into filming. ”
Smith was the one laughing this time, but then his expression shifted into a more serious one. “She also told me how you dropped out of college to manage her career. ”
Valentina couldn’t stand Smith’s thinking she’d been living a life of sacrifice for the past ten years. “I’ve loved every minute of it. ”
“I know you have. It’s what makes the two of you such a great team. You both love what you do, Tatiana in front of the camera, you behind your laptop. ”
She picked up her fork, determined to enjoy the rest of the incredible meal. “Now that you know some truly embarrassing things about me, it’s your turn to share your worst. ” She pointed her fork at him. “And don’t cheat by telling me something I could find in an interview. ”
He gave her a look filled with pure innocence. “I would,” he said as he also picked up his fork, “if there was anything embarrassing to share. ”
“So you’re perfect, huh?”
He raised his eyebrows as though he was hurt. “You don’t think I am?”
She couldn’t hold back her laughter. “No. ” She shook her head as she took a bite of scalloped potatoes, then washed it down with a sip of the very smooth cab. “I definitely don’t. ”
When he didn’t laugh with her, she thought for a moment she’d insulted him. But then she realized he didn’t look upset.
He looked pleased.
“You never see me as a movie star, do you?”
She could sense just how serious his question was. And how much her answer meant to him. Maybe a day, a week ago, she could have brushed it off with an answer to placate him. But she’d come to respect—and like—him too much to do that.
“You surprised me the first time we met. ” She twirled the stem of her wine glass in her hand and tried to find the right words to explain. “I’ve met so many actors over the years, between the ones my sister has worked with and. . . the ones my mother has dated. ” She pushed away the twinge thinking about her mother always brought to keep her focus on the man sitting across from her. “I thought I knew exactly what to expect from you. After all, you’re more famous, more successful, than any of them. ”
She shook her head, remembering sitting in his San Francisco production office that first day they’d met. Just looking at him had made her warm all over, especially when he held her gaze with his dark eyes and she’d felt the crackling attraction between them even with George and Tatiana in the room.
“Your phone rang and when you saw who was calling, you got the biggest smile before you excused yourself to answer it. I wanted to think you were one of those people who thought he was so important he could take calls in the middle of a meeting. ” She looked up and met his warm gaze. “But you were talking to one of your sisters, asking her how she was feeling, if the doctor had told her anything else about the size of her babies. ” And Valentina had started falling for him right then and there.
Still, she needed to make one last gasp at saving herself, didn’t she?
Fortunately, she knew exactly how to do it: with a pointed reminder of what he did for a living.
“You’re right that I haven’t seen you as a movie star since that very first day we met, but this—” She gestured at the table, the yacht moored off the pier. “—isn’t the kind of magic an ordinary man can pull off. Thank you for a fairytale evening,” she said softly. “It’s not one I’ll ever forget. ”
“Me either,” he said, and as his eyes dropped to her mouth for a split second, she thought for a moment that he’d forget his promise not to kiss her. But then, instead of kissing her, he said, “How about dessert?”
Her desperate brain turned the word dessert into a kiss and she nodded with enthusiasm. “Yes, please. ”
He reached down for a pink box and Valentina’s hands shook, not with nerves, but with nearly unbridled lust, as she reached for the box top and uncovered dessert.
Desire tangled with joy as she looked down at the two oversized cupcakes on the plate. One of the cupcakes had a frosting picture of Smith behind prison bars, gripping them tight with a cute, but pleading look on his face.
The other had a cartoon version of Valentina made out of frosting, dangling the key to his cell with one finger, a wicked look sparkling in her eyes.
Valentina didn’t ask for a kiss, couldn’t have possibly wasted another second with words, as she reached out, slid her hand around the back of his neck. . . and kissed him.
Chapter Twelve
Valentina’s kiss made Smith forget to move slowly. He couldn’t think beyond his need for more of her mouth against his, and for the chance to discover the secret sweetness of her curves, always so well hidden beneath her tailored suits. Only knowing Sam and Billy were waiting for them kept him from throwing his coat down on the rocks and making love to her right then and there.
“I want you in my bed,” he told her. “Tonight. ”
And when she said, “I want it, too,” Smith knew every good deed he’d ever done had just been rewarded.
Taking her hand firmly in his, he pulled her up from the table so that they could get on his boat and back to his house as soon as was humanly possible, but she tugged back.
“Wait. ” She picked up the box with the cupcakes in it. “You promised me dessert. ”
Sweet Lord, the sensual look in her eyes when she said dessert made him a greedy bastard as he took her mouth with his again while the cold air whipped up on the Bay and blew over them. He felt her shiver in his arms and forced himself to pull back. Their guide waited for them as they made their way across the rocks and cement to the pier.
“Thank you for the wonderful tour, Mr. Maines,” Valentina said, her smile wide and genuine. “I’ll never forget my visit to Alcatraz. ”
“It was my pleasure. ” Clearly, Sam was utterly charmed, his ruddy complexion coming not only from the wind but also from the pleasure of being complimented by a beautiful woman.
They shook hands and then Smith helped Valentina climb back onto his yacht. This time, instead of taking her out to the deck, he brought her inside the warm living room. His boat had a master bedroom suite, and Lord, it was tempting to take her there. If he had been the one piloting the boat for the evening, he would have anchored out on the dark water and done just that.
But even though Billy was utterly discreet, Smith didn’t want another man within a half-mile of Valentina when they finally made love. He wanted to possess her wholly, completely, wanted to know he was the only man who would hear the sweet sounds she made when he kissed every inch of her skin from top to bottom, back to front, and then started all over again with her beautiful mouth.
They settled in on the plush leather couch as the engine turned over and the boat started back across the water. Knowing he’d be lost if he started kissing her again, Smith forced himself to have the patience to simply gather Valentina into his arms and hold her.
Of course, she didn’t make it easy for him to keep his hands off her as she nuzzled closer to him, her breath warm on his neck, her lips soft as they roamed lightly over his skin. His fingertips stroked over her face, down her neck, then just into the seam of her shirt so that he could brush against her collarbone. Agai
nst his skin, he could feel her gasp of pleasure at his gentle touch.
He’d known from the first time they’d kissed just how responsive she was, but he found himself stunned all over again by the way she reacted to his touch, as if he were the first man who had ever stroked his hands across her beautiful skin.
But even touching her shoulder was making it too hard for him to remember that Billy was only a dozen feet away upstairs at the helm. Smith forced himself to slide his hand from Valentina’s skin and into hers instead.
Only, if he’d thought that would cool the fire raging inside him, he was as wrong as he’d ever been about anything. Because just holding her hand, turning her palm upward so that he could stroke his thumb across her skin, was the hottest foreplay of his life.
She lifted her eyes to meet his and the unmasked desire he saw on her face nearly undid all of his good intentions to wait until they got home. He couldn’t trust himself to kiss her, but he had to brush his other thumb over her lower lip.
Her eyes closed on a soft moan of pleasure, similar to the way she’d appreciated the dinner he’d had brought in, only this time she wasn’t working to hold him at bay anymore.
No, this time she was pure, sensual woman against him.
And when the tip of her tongue slipped out to lick the pad of his thumb, he was the one groaning and pulling her even closer, until she was all but sitting on his lap.
Beneath the blanket he’d draped over both of them, his hands moved lower to cup her hips, and just as he’d known she’d be, Valentina was a perfect fit in his palms. He loved having one of her hands held in his, the other splayed across his chest, over the heart that beat hard and fast for her.
“We’ll be docking soon,” he said to try to remind himself that he could make it. He’d never wanted a boat ride to end so quickly. He felt like he was holding his breath waiting for the moment when they approached the dock.
“Good,” she said in an equally breathless voice. “Until then maybe we should talk. ”
He nodded. “Talking’s good. ” But his mind was empty of everything but her.
“Tell me about the rest of your family,” she suggested. “I know about Marcus and Nicola. And you’ve told me a little about Sophie and her pregnancy. But I don’t know much about the others yet. ”
His siblings’ names and faces all mixed up in his head for several seconds. Finally, he pulled a name out of thin air. “Chase. ” Smith forced himself to concentrate. “He’s a photographer. He’s married to Chloe. They have a baby. Emma. ”
He knew his words were coming out staccato, that he wasn’t putting any color whatsoever into his description, but damn it, it was all he could do just to keep from pushing Valentina down onto the couch and ripping off her clothes.
“How old is their baby?”
“Three months. ”
Valentina’s eyes lit up and went soft all the same time. “She must be so beautiful. ”
God, if he hadn’t already fallen for her, right then and there he would have known just how beautiful her soul was, just by the way she reacted to the thought of a three-month-old baby.
“She is. None of us can get enough of her. ”
Valentina’s eyes moved to his mouth, then back up to meet his gaze, and he could almost taste her lips before she quickly said, “Tell me about everyone else. ”
Damn it, she was right. They needed to keep talking, to keep doing anything but making out again. Because this time if they started, neither one of them was going to be able to stop.
“Sophie’s a librarian and has been invaluable not only with this film, but with helping me research my roles for the past ten years. ”
“I’m sure she loves to help,” she murmured.
“Zach is into cars. He just got engaged to Heather. She trains dogs. ”
