Author: Bella Andre

Her stomach growled in immediate response to the fluffy cinnamon bun that dripped with sugar on the beautiful hand-thrown, green plate. Telling herself there wasn’t a person alive with the willpower to resist the breakfast treat, especially when presented so beautifully, she pulled off a piece and popped it in her mouth.

Her eyes closed as the hit of sugar, perfectly spiced with cinnamon, hit her tongue, and a low moan of pleasure escaped her lips. It was decadent. Full of too many empty calories.

And exactly what she needed.

She didn’t know how she’d missed the aroma of freshly brewed coffee before now, but when she reached for the mug the liquid was still warm as she greedily drank it down. She admired the ongoing beauty of the lily of the valley she’d put in a blown-glass vase she’d found in the kitchen the night before.

She was just putting down the mug when she finally saw the note.

Valentina,

The color of the plate and mug made me think of the green in your hazel eyes. I missed seeing them—and you—on set yesterday.

Enjoy your breakfast.

Smith

Valentina stared at the note for a very long time before carefully folding it up and slipping it into her purse. And then she ate every last piece of the cinnamon bun with more pleasure than she’d allowed herself to feel in as long as she could remember.

* * *

By the time Valentina finally emerged from her office to say thank you to Smith for both the flower and breakfast, she was frustrated—and more than a little relieved—to remember that he had an offsite meeting with his investors. He didn’t need to share these kinds of details with her and Tatiana, but he obviously believed an informed team worked better than one kept in the dark. It was yet another factor that set him apart.

“Honey!”

Valentina turned with surprise to see her beautiful mother walking toward her with her arms outstretched. Even though she was a good six inches taller than Ava Landon and hadn’t been a child for a very long time, as Valentina stepped into the familiar arms and expensive air of perfume, she suddenly felt two decades younger.

“I’m so glad I could make it here today. You know how much I love being on set.”

She loved her mother enough to momentarily forget to be wary about Ava’s reasons for the sudden visit to San Francisco. “You look great, Mom.”

Ava Landon lit up the way she always did at compliments, before turning her gaze to her daughter. “You’ve lost weight. You know how much better you look when your figure is fuller.”

Valentina stifled a sigh. “I think Tatiana has a small break before they need her again on set. I’ll take you to her trailer.”

But her mother was looking over her shoulder. “Here I am, baby!”

A good-looking man who couldn’t be too much older than Valentina was walking toward them. Her mother leaned in closer and said, “Isn’t he just too beautiful? I’m so in love with him.”

Trying not to wince at her mother’s too-free use of the word love, and glad the question was clearly rhetorical, Valentina shook the man’s hand as her mother made the introductions.

“David, this is my eldest daughter, Val.”

Valentina saw the slight surprise flash in his eyes at just how different she looked from her mother and sister.

“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.

“They’d like the two of us to play our characters, wearing clothes, makeup, even the props from the movie.”

“That sounds fine,” she said, clearly wondering why he’d felt the urgent need to discuss it with her right then. “Did they give you any other details?”

He tried to keep his voice easy as he explained, “The photo editor wants to do a pretty tight focus on the characters as a couple.”

He was pretty sure Valentina’s step faltered right before she said, “How tight a focus?”

“They want to portray the intimacy of the couple’s connection.”

She stopped in the middle of the lot, the fierce protector again, her cheeks flushed as she informed him, “I’m not okay with Tatiana being dressed up and photographed as some sort of nubile sex kitten.”

He wanted to smooth away the hard lines at the corners of her mouth. Not with his fingertips, but with his own mouth. With a kiss that would heal as much as it would arouse.

Soon, damn it. He needed it to happen before he lost his mind entirely over wanting her.

“Neither am I,” he said softly before clarifying, “From the conversation I had with the photo editor, I believe their goal is to highlight the romantic elements...not the sexual ones. And that’s the direction I’m pushing them to go in, too—for romance rather than sex. We see plenty of sex every day in magazines and on TV. But romance will stand out.”

He watched her long, smooth throat move as she swallowed. “Romance.” The word slipped from her lips with equal disbelief and longing. “That sounds—”

Her words faltered now just as her step had a short while before, not because she was worried about her sister being photographed with too few clothes on, but, he hoped, because she didn’t like the image of her sister being romantic with him. And there was only one reason that would bother her: if she wanted him for herself.