“Val, David is just the most talented actor.”

Valentina felt her lips tighten as the wariness she’d momentarily forgotten grabbed her with a hard shake. Didn’t her mother remember how “deeply” she’d been “in love” with the last dozen actors like David?

And how could it possibly be that easy for her mother to fall for someone...or at least fool herself into believing the desperation, the painful longing for something real and lasting, was love?

“That’s great,” Valentina said with a smile for David.

It would break her heart when he broke her mother’s heart—as each and every good looking actor always had—but she’d learned early on that there was no use in trying to protect her mother from the men she chose to date. At the very least, David didn’t look like the type to try to grab her ass when her mother’s back was turned.

Valentina tried to be grateful for small mercies.

Unfortunately, now that they’d appeared from out of the blue, on top of everything else she had to take care of today, she’d have to make sure that her mother’s big plans for David’s acting career didn’t annoy anyone on set. Thank God Smith was out for the afternoon. What a disaster that would have been otherw—

“Good afternoon, Valentina.”

She would have groaned at her terrible luck, were it not for the way Smith’s low, warm voice always affected her. In less than a millisecond, anticipation—and a rush of desire that came despite knowing she could never act on it—knocked the wariness out of her.

There simply wasn’t enough room, she was amazed to find, for both Smith and anything else.

“Smith.” She liked the feel of his name on her lips too much. “I’d like you to meet my mother.”

He smiled as he picked up her mother’s hand and pressed his lips to the back of it. Her mother was all but squealing with joy as he said, “You have two remarkable daughters, Mrs. Landon.”

“Call me Ava,” her mother said in that breathy voice she always used with good-looking men. All men, actually. “Your mother didn’t do so badly herself, Mr. Sullivan.”

Valentina cringed inwardly as he said, “Smith, please,” but at her mother’s sharply expectant glance in David’s direction, she said, “And this is David.” She knew she’d never hear the end of it if she didn’t say, “He’s an actor.”

Smith’s expression was just as friendly as it had been from the moment he’d walked up to them. “Nice to meet you,” he told the other man with a handshake.

“Big fan of yours,” David said and to his credit, he sounded like he meant it rather than simply saying it to suck up to the big movie star he hoped could get him a job due to family connections.

“Thanks,” Smith said with genuine gratitude before turning his focus back to Valentina. “Hope you don’t mind if I tag along if you’re heading over to say hello to Tatiana?”

He said it as if anyone would even think to refuse his company, and of course her mother put her hand on his arm, her perfectly shaped and manicured pink nails contrasting in a totally feminine way with his tanned skin.

“That would be absolutely lovely, Smith. It’s so much fun getting to know my daughter’s co-stars. Tell me all about yourself.”

And as her mother dragged him off, Valentina was both mortified and grateful to know that he’d be there to help her deal with the one person who always tied her up in knots, no matter how hard she tried to stay untangled.

* * *

“I’m sorry about that,” Valentina said to Smith after Ava Landon and her boyfriend had left. “My mother doesn’t mean to hurt anyone. It’s just that when she’s with one of her men, she sometimes forgets to think about how anyone else might feel. It’s like they’re all she can see for a little while.”

He heard the sometimes, the doesn’t mean to, the little while, and knew all of those qualifiers were simply Valentina being kind. Her mother was a nice woman and clearly loved her daughters. But he could see that she’d hurt them too. Especially Valentina.

The need to comfort her had him reaching out to stroke her cheek, then slipping his fingers beneath her chin and tilting her face up to his.

Her skin was soft. So incredibly soft. Yet again, Smith was surprised by how much he wanted her.

He’d never let a woman distract him from his work, and he had never had any trouble keeping a woman inside the boundaries he’d set for her. Especially now that he was at the helm of his own picture, it was too important to him to afford to lose focus because of a woman. And yet, even with all the valid reminders echoing in his head—You’re too busy for this. For her. For anything other than making this movie—it didn’t take more than a look, a smile, and now the softness of her skin against his fingertips, for him to want her.

“She loves you. And you love her. Anyone can see both of those things, even if your relationship isn’t perfect.” He continued to stroke his thumb over the soft skin of her jaw as her lips opened slightly in surprise at his words. “You were right when you said that love shouldn’t have to be a battlefield. When it’s with the right person, I’ve seen love be easy. Sweet. And perfect.”

He’d never wanted to kiss anyone as badly as he wanted to kiss her right then. One hot kiss was all it would take to make her forget her mother’s visit, and he could almost justify it to himself that way.

Only, he’d never seen her this vulnerable before, as if the armor she was so careful to put on every morning before coming to the set had been stripped away in one fell swoop by her mother’s unexpected visit.

It would be the easiest thing in the world to take advantage of her vulnerability.

Easy...and wrong.

Fortunately, Smith knew Valentina well enough by now to know that in the same way a kiss would have helped her forget her churning emotions over her relationship with her mother, so would getting back to work.

“Do you have a few minutes to discuss a request that just came in for a photo shoot with Tatiana and myself?”

She blinked at him in confusion for a few seconds, clearly surprised by his sudden shift. But then, the next time she blinked she was the same cool, calm businesswoman he’d taken one look at in that first meeting months ago and had been unable to forget.

“Absolutely. What are the details?”

He’d been so focused on turning her thoughts from her mother that, too late, Smith realized he might not have picked the best thing to discuss with her. Then again, perhaps her reaction might actually end up telling him more about her true feelings than she was willing to admit to his face.