Come A Little Bit Closer (The Sullivans #7)(9)

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?

Chapter Four

After that first day on set, when Valentina had pulled Smith into his office and warned him not to mess with her sister, she’d made sure to steer clear of him, and had been perfectly polite when they met in a group to discuss an issue with the script or wardrobe or Tatiana’s schedule. Even when she was watching them shoot a scene, she held perfect focus on Tatiana.

Too perfect.

Only, if her plan had been to try and fade out of his sight, she hadn’t succeeded. Because it didn’t matter how many times he reminded himself that he didn’t have time to focus on anything but his movie.

He just couldn’t get Valentina out of his head.

It wasn’t just because of her incredible legs or exotic beauty. In Hollywood a great figure and pretty face were a given. But after seeing her with Nicola, and the genuine pleasure Valentina had shown over the stunning engagement ring and their happy-ever-after, he was reminded of just how much family meant to her. She was all business on set—and with him—but as soon as her sister needed her for anything even remotely emotional, she immediately stopped being a business manager to transform back into a sister. One whose love ran so deep that she didn’t hold anything back.

“My brother is one seriously happy guy,” he remarked as he walked back into the kitchen and found her standing with her glass in her hand, staring out the window at the city lights.

“They both are,” she said as she turned her beautiful gaze back to him. “It was very sweet to see.”

“I wasn’t sure about the two of them at first,” he admitted, knowing he hadn’t exactly been encouraging in the early days of his brother’s relationship, “but somehow they’ve made the age difference and the demands of both their careers work.”

“Is Marcus also in the entertainment industry?”

“Nope.” Not even close. “He owns Sullivan Winery.”

“Wow, I wish I’d known he was behind some of my favorite cabernets. I would have liked to thank him for all the hours of pleasure he’s given me.”

She was clearly surprised by Marcus’s profession, and yet again Smith loved the fact that she knew next to nothing about his life, when any fan could have recited his siblings’ names and careers by heart. He also loved the way she spoke of pleasure...even if she was giving his brother the credit for it.

“Now I get what you mean about the demands of both their careers,” she said. “They really do live in different worlds, don’t they?”

Smith refilled up their drinks and carried them into the living room. “I don’t think it’s always easy to juggle her tours and his busy seasons in the vineyards, but they clearly love each other enough to make it work.”

When he set their drinks on the coffee table, he could see her surprise at finding a half-finished puzzle on it.

“I love puzzles,” she exclaimed. “Tatiana and I used to do them together all the time before we got so busy.”

She immediately sat down on the plush couch, picked up a puzzle piece and clicked it into place. Smith moved beside her and slid a piece into the corner of one of the dog’s ears while she filled in the nose on another. He was glad to see her forget to keep the distance she seemed to think was so damned necessary.

This easy companionship was precisely why he’d brought her over to the coffee table, where the puzzle of three silly dogs was halfway done...and it was yet another reason why he loved his brother Gabe’s soon-to-be stepdaughter Summer so much. The eight-year-old girl had taken the picture of the three dogs sitting crookedly with their ears blowing in the breeze and had turned it into a puzzle for him. His twin sisters had been great when they were eight, too. Heck, they’d been great at every age, and even if it sometimes seemed like his sister Lori—aka “Naughty” to Sophie’s “Nice”—grew to be more and more of a pain in the butt with every passing year, he wouldn’t have given them up for anything.

“Some picture, isn’t it?”

He loved the sound of Valentina’s laughter. “The absolute best. Where did you find it?”

“Two of the dogs belong to my brother Zach and his fiancée, Heather. The huge one,” he said, pointing at the Great Dane, “and the little one—” He popped a section of the Yorkie’s shoulder into place. “—fell in love first. Zach and Heather weren’t far behind them, though.”