Author: Bella Andre

“You’re the gift,” he told her, meaning it so deeply he could hardly get the words out.

She seemed to wobble on her heels for a moment at the emotion in his voice. But then she was coming toward him and, as if in slow motion, dropping to her knees between his legs. She didn’t reach for his belt buckle, simply pressed her mouth to his in a soft kiss that stole his breath, even as the sheer knowledge of what was coming had him almost losing it.

Sweet Lord, he was never going to survive this. They’d have to find someone to take over for him on the movie because he was going to die of pleasure tonight.

And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I know there will be other actresses that you’ll have to kiss,” she said when she took her mouth from his and pressed her palms flat over his pecs, “but the only woman I ever want you to think of is me.” Her nails lightly scored his chest, down over his abs, which rippled beneath her touch as she marked him as hers.

“You are the only woman I’m thinking about,” he swore.

From the first moment he’d touched her, she’d been all he wanted, all he desired, his obsession. He couldn’t deny the truth, didn’t see the point in wasting any energy when there were so many better places to put it.

Not when winning Valentina’s heart was the only thing that mattered anymore.

Instead of giving any indication that she’d heard him, she lowered her head and licked over his chest. The tips of her soft hair flickered over his skin, teasing him just as unbearably as her tongue and teeth did to his sensitive skin. He couldn’t hold back a groan of pleasure that mingled closely with frustration.

He was bigger, stronger. He could have her flat on her back and be inside of her in seconds. It would be so good, better than good. But he’d hurt her so badly today that for her to reclaim her power, she’d need to run their lovemaking from start to finish. And, damn it, since he couldn’t give her the gift of not filming the sex scene, he’d at least make sure she had this. Still, he couldn’t keep his hands from tangling in her silky hair as she roamed his skin with her lips and tongue and teeth.

Did she have any idea how sexy she was kneeling between his legs in the bra and thong and heels, as sensual in their private darkness as she was conservative in front of everyone else in daylight? Finally, she lifted her head from his stomach and licked her lips.

“That’s much better,” she murmured, more to herself than to him as she deftly unlaced his shoes and slid them off, along with his socks. He would have smiled at the sweetness of her comment if she hadn’t reached for his belt buckle just then.

He sucked in a breath as her fingertips teased over his stomach while she smoothly slid the leather buckle open. It didn’t seem to matter how many times they had each other, every time was a new beginning, a voyage of discovery that blew his mind apart all over again.

She held his gaze as she slowly pulled down his zipper. He was pretty sure he’d forgotten to breathe as he stared back into her beautiful hazel eyes, more green than brown, a color he knew he would always associate with passion. And then, she was tugging at his slacks and he was instinctively lifting his hips so that she could get them off. His boxers came off with them until he was sitting in front of her, naked and as hard as he’d ever been in his life.

Deep pleasure lit Valentina’s eyes, her mouth a sensual curve as she watched his hard flesh bob and pulse in a silent plea for attention.

“Mine,” she said in a soft voice, close enough to him that he could feel the warm rush of air over his skin as she spoke.

Another low groan sounded from his chest as she licked her lips again, and then—oh hell—she was bending over and her tongue was on him, slicking a devastating path over his hard shaft. His fingers tangled tighter in her hair as he unconsciously pulled her down to take him deeper.

He thought he heard the sweet sound of her laughter, but then she was opening up and taking him inside and he was lost to everything but the heated pleasure she was giving him.

“Valentina.”

Her name was a prayer. A plea. A benediction.

And a vow that he would give her just as much pleasure as she was so unselfishly giving him. Soon.

If he were a better man, a stronger one, he would have stopped her to make sure she was satisfied more than once before he even thought about himself. But the way Valentina so openly tasted him, the fact that she wasn’t holding anything back from him as she hummed her pleasure at his loss of control, stripped him bare.

He’d had to be in control his whole life. For his family, for his mother, for his siblings, on movie sets and with the press. But with her he could let go of all of it.

And just be.

On a roar of pleasure that reverberated throughout the trailer, he gave himself entirely up to Valentina’s mouth, her hands, the greedy little sounds she made as she used her hands and mouth to take him to the edge and then all the way over it.

When she sat back on her heels, licking her lips like a contented cat, Smith couldn’t manage to do anything but stare down at her. Her hair was knotted from his hands, her lipstick was long gone, her skin was slightly damp, her cheeks flushed.

The words I love you were on the tip of his tongue, but even as far gone as he was after what she’d just done to him, he knew better than to tell her now. When he finally told her how he felt, he would make damn sure she didn’t try to write his feelings off as driven by the heat they generated between the sheets.

Or on the couch, for that matter.

But even though he couldn’t tell her tonight, he could show her. And even though he knew she was afraid to hear what he was telling her with his mouth, his hands, his body, he would make her listen.

The same way she’d just made him.

Chapter Twenty-four

Valentina had never done anything so crazy, so wild...or so wonderful in her entire life.

She could still feel the rush of exhilaration in her veins from the way Smith had lost control beneath her hands and mouth. It had been perfect. And so sweet.

Shockingly so.

“Your turn now.” Smith punctuated his words by wrapping his large hands around her waist and pulling her onto the couch. Before she knew what was happening, he’d reversed their positions and he was the one kneeling between her legs.

Feeling suddenly vulnerable, she knew she should make a joke or say something sexy. Instead, all that would come out was, “But I just had my turn.”

His eyes, already so dark, went even closer to black as he put his hands on either side of her face and kissed her. His tongue slipped and slid against hers in a shockingly sensual rhythm, so much like what they’d just been doing when she’d been the one on her knees.

“In that case,” he said in a low voice that reverberated up, then back down her spine, “it’s my turn now, isn’t it?”

All she could do was swallow. And maybe nod just a little bit so that he’d know what a good idea she thought it was.

Only, he didn’t do anything more than stare at her, his dark gaze roving hungrily, possessively, over every inch of her skin exposed in the naughty lingerie he’d bought for her.

He was so tall that even on his knees, when he straightened she had to look up at him. Even after his climax his erection had barely abated and now, as she used her legs to pull him so close that the sheer silk of her bra was brushing against his bare chest, his erection pressed against her, right where she was so desperate for more of him.

“Smith, I can’t wait. Not tonight. I want you. I need you. Now.”

Yet again, she openly admitted just how much she wanted him.

Needed him.

His dark eyes flashed with pleasure and so much heat she lost her breath just as his mouth crashed into hers. And then his hands were cupping her hips and he was moving them so that she was lying beneath him on her sister’s couch, still in her thong and bra and heels.

As his mouth found her neck and she arched into the bite of his teeth on the sensitive skin just beneath her ear; as his fingers slid silk away; as he found protection then moved inside of her in one hard thrust so that her gasp of pleasure joined his desperate groan; as her nails dug into his shoulders and her ankles crossed tightly across the small of his back while she urged him for even more—Valentina realized the foundation for her fears was disintegrating.

Because when they were loving each other like this, with no boundaries and even less control, he wasn’t a movie star anymore, wasn’t any part of the famous Smith Sullivan that millions of women fantasized about.

He was simply a man that she couldn’t stop falling deeper and deeper for with every laugh, every hug, every kiss. And every one of the dark, heated looks he gave her, every stroke of his hand across her skin, was full of something she’d been afraid to let herself acknowledge.

“Valentina.”

She opened her eyes to find Smith staring down at her, his beautiful face awash with pleasure and need and something she’d been trying so hard to pretend wasn’t there.

Love.

And it was with the word resonating in her head and Smith’s hands slipping through to hold hers on either side of her head that the first tremors of release tore through her.

“You’re mine,” he said, and she was.

Entirely his.

For as long as he wanted her, she would be his, because he had come to mean more—so much more—to her than she had ever thought he would.

And then there were no more thoughts, no more fears, no more words. Just the potent, and oh-so-sweet, pleasure of Smith holding her so tight, and thrusting so deep, that when her climax came with enough force to take her completely under, she let herself go, finally trusting Smith with not only her body...but, for the very first time, with a piece of her heart, too.

* * *

A half hour later, when their clothes were back on and their stomachs were rumbling, Smith looked at her with clear disbelief in his eyes.

“This is where you’re taking me for our first real date?”

Kids rushed in and out of the dingy building followed by parents who were too harried to notice the star in their midst.

Valentina flushed. “Tatiana and I sort of have this thing about miniature golf. It started when we were kids and we never stopped. Plus, no one ever seems to care who she is when we’re here, so I thought—”

She never got a chance to finish her awkward explanation, because Smith’s grin was a mile wide. “You thought exactly right.”

And then he was pulling her inside with at least as much excitement as the eight-year-olds who were hopped up on Slushies and sugar sticks. Her stomach growled at the smell of hot dogs and french fries and she’d been beyond pleased when Smith ordered the fast food meal-deal for both of them. Junk food was just what the doctor ordered after the long day they’d both had.

The kid working the register was doing okay until it finally hit him who was standing in front of him. “Oh man, you’re Smith Sullivan.”

“Nice to meet you, Mark,” Smith said, making it a point to look at the kid’s name tag on his bright blue shirt.

“My friends are going to freak out when they hear you’re here! The best movie we saw last year was Forces of Destruction.”

Mark was reaching for his phone when Smith said, “Can I ask you for a special favor?”

The kid nodded. “Sure. Anything, dude.”

Smith lowered his voice and acted like she couldn’t hear him say, “I’m on a pretty important first date and I’m really afraid of blowing it with her. I was hoping to keep things low key tonight so I could make a good impression.”

The kid’s eyes were huge as he finally registered Valentina standing next to Smith at the counter. After a few seconds where he studied her like she was a bug under a microscope, he leaned toward Smith and said in a stage whisper, “Dude, she’s hot.”

In the same voice, Smith said, “I know. Seriously hot.” Buddies now, he said, “So are we cool?”