Come A Little Bit Closer (The Sullivans #7)(62)

Valentina felt her mouth opening, then closing on words she didn’t know how to say. All she could do was shake her head and try to deny the emotions that had grown deeper with every passing second she spent with Smith.

“I can’t—” She tried again. “He shouldn’t—”

But when Tatiana squeezed her hands and smiled so gently at her, she knew there was no point in even trying. Less so when her sister softly said, “I know how you feel about him.” When Valentina’s eyes widened in surprise, Tatiana said, “You haven’t told me, but I’m your sister and I know you better than anyone else. You’ve never looked at a man the way you look at him.”

Even knowing how useless the knee-jerk reaction was, weeks of telling herself lies had Valentina saying, “Everyone looks at him like that.”

“No. They all look at him with stars in their eyes. They all want him for the fantasy, for the star, for everything but the man he really is. You’ve never seen anything but the man, Val.”

Oh God, it was true. And even worse than having to face it was the fact that she hadn’t managed to hide even the smallest of her feelings from her sister. Who else had seen it? More to the point, who could possibly have missed it?

Suddenly, all of her excuses were gone. All she had left was a single admission. “I tried not to. I’m still trying.”

“But Val,” her sister said in an urgent voice, “can’t you see that he looks at you the same way? Half the time when we’re supposed to be working on figuring out a scene, if you’re in the room he’s busy mooning over you.”

“Don’t be crazy. This movie means everything to him.”

“It means a great deal to him,” her sister agreed, “but not even close to everything.”

One of the tears Valentina had been working so hard to hold back all day finally slid down her cheek and as she wiped it away, she said, “All these years I’ve warned you against falling for one of your co-stars and here I’m the one who did it. I’m sorry for completely falling apart like this.”

Tatiana made a sound that was part frustration, part resolve. “I’m not ten years old anymore. You have always been there for me, but don’t you see, I want to be there for you, too?”

For the second time in one day, Valentina was struck by their role reversal. All these years she’d spent taking care of her sister, had she ever let Tatiana take care of her? She could suddenly see herself in Smith’s trailer that first day on set. “Your sister is incredibly lucky to have you to protect her. But who’s protecting you?”

She’d told herself she’d accepted the fact that her sister had grown up, that she was old enough to drink, that she could film a sex scene. And yet, had she really wanted to treat Tatiana like an adult? Had she ever thought she could burden her sister with her own fears, her own pain?

And if not, why had she been so afraid to let Tatiana be one half of their support team?

Knowing she had so much ground to make up, Valentina struggled to admit, “I don’t know what I’m doing. I should stay away from him, but I can’t.”

Tatiana’s frown deepened. “Why do you need to stay away from him?”

It was so painfully obvious to Valentina, she couldn’t believe she had to actually say the words aloud. “He’s one of the biggest movie stars in the world. I’m me. A relationship with him could never go anywhere.”

“Are you kidding? You two are beautiful together.”

Panic knocked through her. “You’ve seen us?”

“No one else has,” her sister quickly assured her, “but I’ve spent more time with the two of you than everyone else. He’s always touching you when he thinks I’m not looking.” Tatiana’s eyes lit up with mischief. “And then there was that time I walked in on you guys kissing.”

Heat flamed on Valentina’s cheeks. “When?”

Tatiana grinned. “That night you were in the screening room, I realized I’d left my marked-up script. The door was open so I walked in without knocking.” She fanned herself. “All I can say is, wow. I was seriously impressed. With both of you.” Tatiana leaned in closer and lowered her voice as she grinned. “On the chair, huh?”

Frantically working to stuff away the huge wave of embarrassment rolling over her at the thought of her baby sister witnessing her completely losing control in Smith’s arms, Valentina asked, “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Hurt briefly flashed in Tatiana’s eyes. “I could tell you were feeling a little weird about it, so I was waiting for you to tell me.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t confide in you,” Valentina said, and she truly was.

Why hadn’t she talked to her sister? Especially since she’d been so tormented by emotions and feelings she didn’t understand. She’d tried to tell herself that it was because she didn’t want to accidentally derail the success of the movie by putting her sister in the middle of what was going on with her and Tatiana’s powerful co-star. But while there was certainly truth to that concern, the bigger truth was that she hadn’t wanted to accept that her sister was all grown up...so she’d treated her like a child instead of the incredible woman she was.

Trying to explain, Valentina said, “I swear I didn’t think there was going to be anything to tell, that once he got past the challenge, he’d lose interest.” She was still waiting for that, and was more than a little confused about why it hadn’t happened yet.