He knew his words were coming out staccato, that he wasn’t putting any color whatsoever into his description, but damn it, it was all he could do just to keep from pushing Valentina down onto the couch and ripping off her clothes.

“How old is their baby?”

“Three months.”

Valentina’s eyes lit up and went soft all the same time. “She must be so beautiful.”

God, if he hadn’t already fallen for her, right then and there he would have known just how beautiful her soul was, just by the way she reacted to the thought of a three-month-old baby.

“She is. None of us can get enough of her.”

Valentina’s eyes moved to his mouth, then back up to meet his gaze, and he could almost taste her lips before she quickly said, “Tell me about everyone else.”

Damn it, she was right. They needed to keep talking, to keep doing anything but making out again. Because this time if they started, neither one of them was going to be able to stop.

“Sophie’s a librarian and has been invaluable not only with this film, but with helping me research my roles for the past ten years.”

“I’m sure she loves to help,” she murmured.

“Zach is into cars. He just got engaged to Heather. She trains dogs.”

“The dogs from the puzzle, right?”

He nodded. “Plus Summer’s poodle. My brother Gabe is going to be her stepfather soon, when he marries Megan on New Year’s Eve. Gabe’s a firefighter.”

“I love the fact that you and your siblings all do such different things,” she said, and then, “I’ve chatted with Vicki a few times when she’s come to drop off another new sculpture. She’s engaged to your baseball-playing brother, isn’t she?”

“Ryan and Vicki are the newest engagement in the family.” He had to reach out and brush a lock of hair back from her forehead, for no other reason than that he couldn’t resist touching her.

“Is anyone else but you free?”

Free? He wasn’t even close to free, and was only now realizing that he hadn’t been since the day he’d first seen her, first talked to her, first tasted her lips and held her in his arms.

“Just Lori. She’s Sophie’s twin. A great choreographer. We call her Naughty to Sophie’s Nice.”

Valentina grinned. “Naughty, huh? What does she think of that?”

He grinned back. “She loves causing trouble and making sure she lives up to it every day of her life.”

“Of every one of your siblings, I think she’s the one I’m jealous of.” Valentina looked down to where her hand was still splayed out over his chest before lifting her eyes back up to his. “Getting to be naughty, knowing it’s okay just to let go, sounds so wonderful.”

Oh hell. He’d known there was passion simmering just beneath Valentina’s cool and collected surface, but hearing her say it aloud sent him all the way to the edge of his control.

The gentle jolt of his yacht as the engine was turned off stopped him less than an inch from her mouth. “I’ve got to help Billy dock up,” he said in a voice raw with the passion he was trying to keep from unleashing for just a little while longer, but Lord knew he could barely move his arms from around Valentina to go and do it.

Her eyes were full of so much sensuality as she said, “I’ll help, too. Just tell me what you need me to do.”

His body responded immediately to the idea of Valentina letting him take charge, and he couldn’t resist dropping his mouth to hers for a quick, hard kiss in the few seconds before they made it to the dock.

“I’ve never seen you take orders from anyone.”

She nipped at his lower lip before murmuring, “That’s because no one has ever had the guts to give me any before.”

His entire body responded to her way-too-tempting challenge as she shimmied past him and out onto the deck.

Working quickly and efficiently—or, as efficiently as Smith could given that watching Valentina tie a perfect sailor’s knot made his fingers slip on the ropes more than once—the three of them brought his boat in and secured it to the dock. And then, finally, they were saying goodnight to Billy and were back in Smith’s car.

He was gunning out of the parking lot when Valentina said, “I think we need to set some ground rules before we get to your house.”

Her words still held that note of sensuality that had been present ever since she’d kissed him earlier, yet he could tell she was completely serious. Smith had never liked being constrained by rules. He knew when to respect them, whether he wanted to or not...and he also knew when it was absolutely imperative to break them.

So even though he was beyond desperate to get her into his bed, he pulled over on a dark street and turned the engine off. “All I want is to give you pleasure, Valentina. More pleasure than you’ve ever imagined.” But that wasn’t enough. He knew he had to offer her more than just pleasure. “I promise I won’t do anything, not one single thing tonight, that you don’t want.”

She blinked at him, her gaze full of a mixture of longing and lingering worry that tugged hard at his heartstrings. And when she said, “I know you won’t,” her softly spoken response pulled them even tighter.

“Whatever happens when we get to my house—” He paused, knowing he couldn’t let either of them hide from what was about to happen. “—and to my bed, I don’t want either of us to regret tonight.” Or any of the nights that I know will come after that.

Her pause was longer this time before she said, “I won’t regret it.” She slid her hand over his. “I want tonight just as much as you do.” She paused again before adding, “But only tonight.”

Her thumb brushed over his palm the same way his had across hers on the boat, as if the gentle touch of her skin could in some way soften the fact that she’d just made her intention to spend one night with him, and one night only, perfectly clear.

He lifted her hand to his lips, knew that was as close as he could get to kissing her again until they were behind the locked doors of his house—unless they wanted to get arrested for indecent exposure in his car.

As sure as Valentina was that this couldn’t go past one night, he was even more sure they were going to end up in it for the long haul. Just like his siblings and their mates. Just like his mother and father.

Chapter Thirteen

As soon as they were parked in his garage, Smith jumped out of his car, yanked open Valentina’s door, and scooped her up into his arms.