From This Moment On (The Sullivans #2)(17)

She’d screwed up big time. And it was even worse because she hadn’t even gotten the pleasure she wanted to go along with it...just the smashed pride.

She had to ask, “How bad are they?” even though she really didn’t want to know.

“Fortunately,” Sandra had said, “they’re amateur pics. Both of your faces are too blurry for anyone to bother running them, but you might want to be more careful in the future."

No kidding. After narrowly dodging the bullet like that, she had vowed to be the most careful person on the planet from now on.

And yet, as they ran through the complicated choreography again and again, she still couldn’t stop flashing back to her night—and morning—with Marcus.

The lyrics to One Moment weren’t helping at all.

All it took was one moment

One look in your eyes

One taste of your lips

To know that you were the one

The afternoon she’d written the song, she’d been listening to Cole Porter’s From This Moment On. Everything had still been sunshine and butterflies in her life and she’d been so lucky so far that she’d believed true love was just another beautiful gift waiting around the corner. She’d written One Moment as an ode to that future love and had even incorporated samples from the classic Cole Porter tune. Her label had loved it, calling it fresh and catchy. It helped that they also owned the licenses to the classic Cole Porter songs and hoped sales of those songs would take off as well.

Of course, once everything had busted apart with Kenny, she hadn’t wanted to record the song. She’d felt like a fool for ever believing in one moment, in one kiss, in one touch that could change everything. But her label insisted it should be her first single. And she knew they were right, that she couldn’t let Kenny and what he’d done remove the joy she got from her music, so she’d recorded the song, putting every ounce of her heart and soul into it.

But even though she’d hurdled that first huge bump months ago, today she found herself hitting a new one.

She couldn’t stop thinking of Marcus every time they got to the chorus.

She couldn’t stop seeing his face, couldn’t stop feeling his hands holding hers.

And she couldn’t stop reeling from his kiss.

Her dancers had been given a thirty-minute coffee break before coming back to put in another hour or so to try and pull it together. She knew how frustrated they all were with her. She’d never planned on being a dancer, hadn’t trained at it like they had, but she’d always enjoyed moving her body, and had picked up a handful of pretty good moves over the years.

Not that anyone would know it from watching her today.

Even Lori, her fun—and extremely positive—choreographer seemed frustrated.

The sound of Lori’s laughter drew Nicola’s attention across the room. Earlier in the day, Lori had asked if she could invite her brother to observe for a bit. Nicola had been a public figure for long enough that she wasn’t particularly concerned about one more person watching her.

She could see how much Lori adored her brother by the way she lit up while she was talking to him. Not that Lori was ever un-lit, of course, with a ready laugh and a wicked glint in her eyes.

“Good news,” Lori said as she walked back across the large dance studio with a smile. “My big brother is heading over now.”

“Great,” Nicola said, trying to sound enthusiastic despite how low she’d been feeling all day.

But Lori was way too perceptive. “Seriously, Nico, you should tell me if you don’t want him here. I can see him later.”

Nicola shook her head and forced herself to smile wider—and more convincingly. “I really don’t mind at all.”

The other woman frowned. “Is everything okay?”

“I know I’ve been sucking today. Sorry about that.”

Lori reached out and put her hand on Nicola’s arm. “No, you’re doing great. But you seem kind of...” She paused. “...well, sad, I guess.”

Nicola knew better than to talk to someone she was working with about her personal life, but Lori seemed different than most of the people Nicola worked with. Nicer. More honest, somehow.

Kind of like Marcus.

Even though she should keep her mouth shut, she found herself saying, “I met a guy last night.”

Lori’s eyes widened. “A hot guy?”

Nicola was glad for another chance to smile. “Yes. Very hot.” She felt compelled to explain, “But nothing happened. Except for me falling asleep before we even kissed.”

“Oh,” Lori said, clearly caught off guard. “How’d he take it?”

“Great, actually. He made me coffee this morning.” And then told her she was way too young and sweet for him.

“Coffee? That’s all?”

She sighed. “Actually, he kissed me. Just once.”

“And?”

“And it was awesome.”

“Awesome is good, right?”

“Not when it’s also goodbye,” Nicola told her.

Lori looked confused. “Wait, so he kissed you and then you were done?”

“Yup. And for some reason the whole thing is messing with my head. I’m really sorry, Lori, I’m not usually like this. Especially over some guy I just met and will never, ever see again.”