Come A Little Bit Closer (The Sullivans #7)(28)

And refused to let it go.

As they shot the hospital scene several more times from different angles, all Valentina could do was stare at Smith’s and Tatiana’s hands linked together. But it was her mother’s and father’s hands that she was seeing, both of them young, and so hopeful for their future with the family they had made together.

Her throat felt tight as Tatiana and Smith finally broke out of character many hours later and the lights dimmed. Her sister shook out her limbs and laughed as she released the tension, while Smith immediately walked off the set and toward wardrobe. After a while, Valentina finally rose from her seat and took in a deep breath of air to try to clear the tension from her body, too.

When she opened her eyes again, Smith was standing in front of her, already back in his street clothes.

“Ready to head to the Rock?”

Chapter Ten

Smith looked as fresh as if he hadn’t been giving his all to the camera for the past eight hours, while Valentina felt like a limp noodle simply from the vicarious experience of watching all that emotion. She’d forgotten all about Alcatraz during filming, but with a rush the nerves—and reservations about being alone with Smith for so many hours—came back.

“I should check in with Tatiana first.”

But when she turned to look for her sister, she was laughing with one of the crew, Jayden from effects. Clearly, she was just fine, and she already knew Valentina and Smith were heading to Alcatraz. As Tatiana was off to Los Angeles for an event later that evening, Valentina simply gave her sister a quick kiss on the cheek and said she’d see her in the morning after she got back from the airport.

Which meant there weren’t any good reasons left to draw out their departure.

“Need anything from your office?”

“Just my jacket.” She’d worn long pants and a sweater to the set today knowing they were going to be out on a boat and an island in the middle of the Bay tonight.

They walked in silence to pick up her coat, and fortunately everyone was so used to seeing the two of them meeting for one reason or another, that no one thought it the least bit strange that they were heading off together in Smith’s car. He didn’t put his hand on her back as they walked, didn’t stand too close, and she appreciated his discretion.

After all, this wasn’t a date. He was simply acting as a friendly tour guide in his native San Francisco for a few hours. The fact that he was a ginormous movie star and could easily have hired a whole staff of people to show her around town was irrelevant. Of course, she could only imagine how happy the tour operators had been to hear from Smith Sullivan. They probably couldn’t give him the two tickets fast enough.

It wasn’t until she slid into the passenger seat of his Jaguar that she realized they’d never been in such a small space together before. The roar of the engine had her heart racing. Or, maybe it was the way he turned and gave her a sexy grin right before he drove out of the lot and onto the busy San Francisco streets.

With every mile he covered, the memory of the kiss they’d shared loomed bigger and bigger, to the point where her lips actually started tingling as if it had been a minute rather than a day since she’d pressed her mouth to his.

“Valentina.” Her name on his lips had heat rushing through her as she slowly turned her gaze to him. “Look at that moon.”

She’d been staring down at her clenched hands so hard that she was surprised when she looked out the window and realized a full moon was rising over the water, the blue bay turning a deep purple.

“It’s beautiful.”

So beautiful that it suddenly didn’t make any sense to be nervous. She’d never forgive herself if she forgot to soak up the wonder of the experience just because she was so worried about what Smith wanted from her.

He’d promised he wouldn’t kiss her until she asked, hadn’t he? And she wouldn’t ask him, so that meant they could just be friends.

At least she hoped they could as she turned back to him and said, “You were great today.”

He kept his eyes on the road as he smiled at her compliment. “Thanks, it felt good. Of course, your sister makes it easy.”

“You should have seen her when she was ten. She’d be doing a commercial with a bunch of pros, and by the end, pretty much everyone knew she was the reason they’d shone so brightly.”

He pulled into a gated parking lot by the water and when she stepped out of the car, the wind blew hard enough that she needed to put on her coat.

“Let me,” he said as he slipped it over her shoulders.

Warmth moved through her, and not just because of the wool. He hadn’t copped a feel, hadn’t touched anything but her coat, but even from where he’d been standing behind her, heat had radiated from him.

What, she found herself wondering, would happen if she let herself lean into his warmth, his strength, just for a few moments?

It was harder to shake the crazy question out of her head than it should have been. Grateful for the cold rush of air that blew past—on the hopes that it could blow the forbidden desire away, too—she reached into her pockets for her gloves, but they were empty.

Smith finished putting on his jacket just as she shivered. He was frowning as he said, “Are you warm enough?”

“It’s just my hands. I forgot my gloves.”

He slid his fingers through hers. “Does this help?”