Chapter Three

One week later, Valentina paused on the front step of Smith’s house and took a deep breath that was perfumed with the scent of flowers. Beautiful, and not always easy to grow, lily of the valley was sprinkled all along his wide front drive. They were an unexpectedly soft touch for such a powerfully masculine man.

She’d spent the past ten years attending meetings similar to this one—stars often liked to show off their homes—so there was no reason to feel so off-kilter. Besides, her sister would be here shortly, so it wasn’t like Valentina was going to be all alone with Tatiana’s co-star for very long.

She’d decided over the past few days of filming that the best way to think of Smith was as Tatiana’s co-star. It de-personified him, made him almost a prop.

God forbid she forget herself and let herself think of him as a man, just as she’d caught herself doing a couple of times during the past week. If only she’d remembered two days ago when they’d filmed the scene where he was working out without a shirt on, she would have made certain to steer clear of the set. Her mouth had dropped wide open when she caught sight of his tanned, muscular shoulders, his well defined biceps, triceps, and washboard abs. Boy, had it been difficult to turn away from all that incredible male beauty. So difficult, in fact, that she hadn’t actually managed it.

Unfortunately, she was pretty sure Smith had caught her drooling over him, judging by the knowing look in his eyes when he’d moved from the weights to the monitors to watch playback.

Clutching her leather bag tightly, Valentina finally rang the doorbell. She was surprised when a pretty woman with a radiant smile opened the door.

“Hi, come in. I’m Nicola. You must be Valentina. Smith said you would be here any second now.” Valentina automatically shook the woman’s hand as she said, “The boys are in the kitchen whipping up a batch of celebration margaritas.”

It took Valentina a few very confused seconds to realize that Nicola was actually Nico, the pop star whose songs were all over the radio.

Why was Nico here?

Who were the boys?

And what were they celebrating?

Had Smith mixed up his plans and she’d just accidentally walked into some sort of celebrity orgy about to begin?

Only, as she followed Nico—or Nicola, as she’d introduced herself—through Smith’s foyer to the kitchen, it sure didn’t look like the other woman was dressed for an orgy. Not in skinny jeans and a hip-length sweater.

Smith looked up from behind the blender with a smile that set her heart to pounding even faster.

“Valentina,” he said, savoring her name just a little too much for her comfort. “Perfect timing. I can see you’ve already met Nicola. This is my brother Marcus.”

If she hadn’t only had eyes for Smith, she would have noticed the man standing next to him. Marcus was also extremely easy on the eyes, if a little bit older than Smith. As Nicola tucked herself under Marcus’s arm and leaned into him, he brushed his knuckles down the side of her face as if she never stopped pleasing him.

Valentina’s chest squeezed with something she refused to admit was longing. She was trying not to stare, but it was hard to look away from such deep—and pure—affection.

“It’s very nice to meet you,” she said, feeling awkward and out of place in this small family gathering in the suit she’d been wearing all day on set, while everyone else was casual in jeans and sweaters. Smith had kicked his shoes off and she was disgusted to realize she even found his bare feet sexy. And when he reached up to hold the top of the blender in place and it whirred to life, the sheer sensuality of watching the muscles and tendons flex slightly in his arms held her momentarily spellbound.

It should take more than a dozen inches of skin showing on each of his arms to set her heart to racing and the heat pooling low down in her belly.

Really, though, it was ridiculous for a man’s arms to be that sexy.

And she was being even more ridiculous by making a complete twit of herself—as if she’d grown up in some weird puritanical household where she’d never seen a man’s bare arms before.

Marcus’s smile was warm as he said, “It’s nice to meet you, Valentina.”

Knowing that her cheeks were still flushing, she was glad for the distraction of Smith handing out the margaritas. She hadn’t been planning to have anything to drink tonight, not if she wanted to keep her head perfectly clear, but she didn’t want to be the sole party pooper for whatever it was they were celebrating.

Smith remained by her side as he turned his focus back to his brother and Nicola. “I’d like to raise a toast to your engagement. I couldn’t be happier for both of you.”

Valentina’s eyes widened as she realized what she’d just walked into. Not an orgy, but a family celebration. No wonder there was such obvious love between Marcus and Nicola, and that both of them were absolutely glowing with happiness.

“Thank you,” Nicola said with a pretty smile. “After all, Smith, you were the one who gave Marcus and me a place to spend our first night together. Even if,” she said with a wicked little glance at her new fiancé, “your brother wouldn’t do anything more than give me one teeny tiny little kiss, no matter how much I begged.”

Valentina felt her eyes go even wider despite herself. Nicola had begged Marcus to do more than kiss her their first night together? And he’d resisted?

“Really?” Smith said, drawing the word out with pure curiosity as he leaned forward to coax more dirt from Nicola about his brother. “Tell us more.”

But before she could, Marcus covered her mouth with his. When they finally pulled apart he murmured, “Good thing I know how to keep you quiet with my teeny tiny little kisses.”

He certainly did, Valentina thought, because Marcus’s kiss had quite clearly made Nicola lose the train of her earlier thoughts. The sparks between them were practically singeing her from across the kitchen island. She could tell just how much in love the two of them were.

She hoped they knew just how lucky they were to have found each other.

“Congratulations,” she said. “I’m so happy for you both.”

Nicola’s eyes were a little glassy as the four of them lifted their glasses and clinked them together. Valentina was amazed by how right it felt in that moment to be there with them. And how surprisingly normal it all was, considering two of the people in the room were bona fide celebrities.

So normal, in fact, that as they all took a sip and Nicola’s hand flashed with brightly colored jewels, Valentina couldn’t resist saying, “Your ring is beautiful.”