Come A Little Bit Closer (The Sullivans #7)(74)

The cameras kept clicking as she spoke and she knew she was feeling just what Smith had that morning on her doorstep. Like she’d do anything she had to if only she could get them to leave.

“Please.” She hadn’t had the words earlier when Smith had needed them from her, wasn’t sure she had it in her to sacrifice her privacy, or to sign up for the circus that would likely always be his life. Now, even though it was too little, too late, nothing could stop her from saying, “Tell me what you want so that you’ll leave the Sullivan family alone today. Tell me and I’ll do whatever I can to make sure you have it.”

She didn’t even have time to take her next breath before the first question came. “Is it true that Smith has been dating both you and your sister secretly?”

“No.”

“Then who is he really with?”

“Me. Just me.”

“How long have you been with Smith?”

“Four weeks.”

“Were you dating in secret?”

“Yes.”

“Did your sister know?”

“No.”

“Does he love you?”

She shook her head, knowing tears were going to start falling soon. “I don’t know.”

“Are you in love with him?”

Tears began to fall down her cheeks, one after the other. “Yes, I love him.”

And with that, she knew she’d given them exactly what they wanted. A clear shot of the endless depth of her love for Smith...and the fear and uncertainty that came right alongside it.

“Now, please,” she asked them, “go.”

Amazingly, they did, but she still stood right where she was to make sure they didn’t change their minds at the last second. When she finally turned around, she walked right into a hard chest.

“Smith?”

“I don’t deserve you.”

He cupped her face in his hands and looked down at her, his eyes blazing with dark, intense heat, and she realized he must have seen and heard everything.

“I know you deserve more than this,” he told her. “You deserve better than to be thrust into my crazy life, but I’m too much of a selfish son of a bitch to let you go.”

His mouth came down on hers, crushing her lips in a kiss that held nothing back. And just like every one of their kisses that had come before, she couldn’t hold anything back from him, either.

“I love you, Valentina. I love that you’re here with my family. And I can’t wait to remind you how stunned you looked that day I told you I loved you, too, while we were standing in a hospital waiting room, surrounded by bright fluorescent lights and cheap blue plastic chairs.”

“Smith Sullivan?” a middle-aged nurse called. “I’m ready to take you back to see your sister now.”

He gave her one more breath-stealing kiss and then he was heading into the maternity ward to make sure his sister was okay.

* * *

The swinging doors had barely closed behind Smith and the maternity nurse when Lori moved to Valentina’s side.

“I knew it.”

Valentina still felt so stunned, so overwhelmed by what Smith had told her not just once, but three times in a row, and by what she’d told the photographers—“Yes, I love him”—that she couldn’t have made her lips form a response to his sister for the life of her. Smith’s brothers and their significant others weren’t nearly as overt, but she could tell they were all paying rapt attention to the way things would play out from here.

But for all of Lori’s energy and enthusiasm, she clearly wasn’t without empathy, because she linked her arm through Valentina’s and said, “Anywhere I am waiting for something important, if there’s a coffee machine, I make sure to buy a cup. Kind of a little superstition, I guess. Want one?”

A minute later, Valentina was holding a cup of truly disgusting-looking coffee. Looking down at the watery sludge, then back at Lori, she said, “Thank you.”

Smith’s sister smiled at her. As beautiful as he was, each member of his family held a different shade of that beauty. Lori’s beauty, however, was so stunning upon first glance, that Valentina was suddenly reminded of her sister and mother and had to wonder if Lori’d had a difficult time moving past her looks.

Suddenly noticing how tired Lori looked and that she was wearing tights, a sparkly skirt, and ballroom dance shoes, Valentina asked, “Would you mind if we sat down for a few minutes?”

As Lori gratefully sank into the one of the chairs, Valentina thought she saw more than tiredness on her pretty face. There was sadness there, too, all but rippling outward to Valentina as Lori momentarily dropped her perky cover. For all that she was reeling from Smith’s declaration a few minutes ago, Valentina found herself wanting to reach out to Lori.

“Is everything okay?”

Lori’s eyes widened with surprise and for a moment it looked like her face was going to crumple. But then she was shaking her head and saying, “I’m just thinking about Sophie. You know, the whole twin connection and her pain is my pain, and all that.”

Valentina didn’t doubt that Lori was, in fact, very concerned about Sophie’s wellbeing...but she also didn’t fully believe what Smith’s sister had just said.

Only, before she could let Lori know that she was happy to listen anywhere, any time, if she had something she wanted to talk about, Lori sipped at her coffee and made a face.