“Each role I play is different, and I love learning about new careers, new worlds. I’m not a method actor by any means—I can’t imagine putting my real life on hold so that I can stay completely in character while filming—but it is really important to me that I fully understand the character I’m playing, inside and out.” She stopped and smiled at him, clearly reading his mind as she said, “I know you’re probably sitting there wondering why I’m telling you all this.”

He would have had to forcibly repress the urge to grin at her breathless monologue were it not for the fact that his gut was still churning with a sense of impending danger. “I am.”

“The character I’m playing next becomes a billionaire overnight when she inherits a huge company and ends up having to run a multinational corporation much like yours. I’d like to shadow you, Ian, for the next couple of weeks as research for my role.”

She wanted to shadow him?

Of all the things he thought she might want from him, he’d never have come up with this in a million years. But that didn’t mean he didn’t immediately know what his answer had to be.

No.

Of course, because she was nearly family, he’d temper his refusal with kindness. Not only would he and Tatiana be seeing each other at family events for the next sixty years, but if his sister Mia found out he’d done something to hurt Tatiana’s feelings, she’d forever crucify him for being an unhelpful jerk.

“First off,” he said, “I’m not a billionaire.”

It was a goal that had driven him for many years until he was so close to making it a reality that he could practically taste it, and every additional hour he needed to work to reach that goal was well worth it. It was one of the reasons the eAirBox deal was so important to him, not just because it would be a brilliant move for Sullivan Investments, but also because it would push him straight into billionaire territory. For Ian, the zeros on his bank statements weren’t just a barometer of success and professional victory, they also meant security. And though he’d already set up a trust funds for everyone in his family, it was important to him to know with absolute certainty that they’d all be taken care of in the future, no matter what.

“No, not yet,” she said with a nod, “but I’ve studied your holdings and I’m guessing your next big investment will get you there.”

Yet again, he was surprised. But this time, it was the intelligence in her gaze that caught him as she spoke about researching his financial holdings. Stranger, though, was the very offhand way in which she talked about his near billion-dollar net worth, as if she didn’t particularly care how rich he was.

Ian knew very few people to whom his wealth didn’t matter, and most of them shared his surname. Sure, Tatiana had done well with her acting career, but they both knew he could buy and sell her a hundred times over. Considering she was a woman who clearly liked pretty things, like the red shoes she was wearing and the gems sparkling at her ears, his wealth had to matter to her, didn’t it? Especially, the cynical part of his brain added, if she thought there was a chance he might ever spend some of it on her.

“In any case,” she continued, “from what I’ve already learned about you while doing some preliminary research, you’re the perfect CEO for me to shadow for my role. You’re focused. You’re driven. You obviously know how to pinpoint ideas that will be successful and profitable. And on top of that, you give back to the community. You won’t even notice I’m here while I’m shadowing you. I’d like to take notes for myself, of course, but I’ll sign an ironclad nondisclosure agreement, and I promise that not one word of what I hear and see in your office will ever leak. Monday morning, I’ll show up wherever you tell me to, at whatever time you tell me to be ready.”

Just that fast, visions of Tatiana doing whatever he told her to do assaulted him. Only, they weren’t in his office in those visions...they were in his bedroom, and she was naked and flushed with need, and he was touching all those soft curves she wore so beautifully.

Damn it, this was exactly the road he couldn’t let himself walk and was the perfect reminder of why he couldn’t possibly let her shadow him. Because while he was normally known for his self-control, from the first time they’d met, nothing about his reaction to Tatiana had been anywhere close to normal.

“I’ve just returned to my Seattle headquarters from London, as I’m sure you already know from your research,” he said with a lift of one brow, “and it’s a particularly busy time for the company. In addition to my usual workload, I’ve got several important events to manage and business trips coming up, as well.”

Tatiana listened to his excuses without looking away from him. The brightness of her smile had dimmed a bit, but her determination still shone brightly as she said, “I know I haven’t given you any warning, so maybe if I wait until your schedule eases a bit—”

“My schedule never eases.”

When her expression softened with concern, Ian was reminded of the way his mother and his sister looked when they were worried about him.

“I’m sure there are other CEOs in Seattle who could work with you.” And no doubt every last one of them would jump at the chance to spend a couple of weeks with her. But even as he reached for his phone so that he could give her their numbers, he hated the idea of Tatiana sharing an office with any of them. What if one of them tried something with her?

“I know there are plenty of other CEOs in Seattle I could call. But you’re special, Ian. And I’d very much like to shadow you for this role.”

Half a dozen further reasons why he couldn’t say yes lay on the tip of his tongue, but he was well aware that only one was really true: He didn’t trust himself with Tatiana for an hour, let alone a week. Already, from nothing more than this one short conversation, the sparks and the heat between them were stronger than he could ever remember with another woman.

The less time they spent together, the better it would be for both of them. Tatiana was a young, talented beauty with eyes full of wonder and dreams and the certainty of endless possibilities. Whereas Ian knew from first-hand experience just how impossible some things really were. He’d already crushed the wonder and dreams and endless possibilities in his ex-wife. He’d never forgive himself if he did the same to Tatiana.

So though he wished he could spare her feelings, he knew it wouldn’t be wise to sugar-coat his answer and give her hope that he’d change his mind. “No.”

Surprise didn’t flicker in her eyes. But disappointment was there, and it twisted in his gut despite the fact that he was doing the right thing. Because if he ever made the mistake of touching her—if he ever let himself have her even for an hour—he couldn’t imagine a world in which he’d ever be able to let her go again. Especially not to find pleasure with another man.

He’d learned at Marcus and Nicola’s wedding that Tatiana dreamed of long white dresses and lacy veils, and had been picturing her own wedding since she was a little girl playing in the backyard in her mother’s wedding dress. Ian could never again be a part of that dream for any woman, regardless of how much he wanted her.

But even as he moved to take a step away from her, she was closing the distance between them in her sexy red heels. Her skin was flushed and soft looking as she stopped barely a breath from him to ask, “Why?”

He understood, suddenly, why she’d been such a success. It wasn’t just that she was a great actor. She also didn’t seem to know fear, didn’t hesitate or hold things back where other people would instinctively have done all of the above in the face of his firm no.

“I heard all of the reasons you’ve just given me,” she continued in the same forthright and open manner with which she’d spoken to him in Marcus’s Napa Valley vineyard months ago, “but none of those are the real reason you’re saying no, are they?”

For a moment—one split second of temporary madness—he was tempted to show her exactly why. To drag her into his arms and steal a kiss that she’d never forget. To show her the force, the power, that the intense attraction between them had.

And the damage it could do.

Self-control asserted itself just in time for him to curl his hands into fists in his pockets instead of in her silky hair, and he was carefully weighing his words, measuring his response, when his office door flew open.

“Aha! I knew I’d find you here, still working. Ford is waiting in the car downstairs to drag you to Mom and Dad’s house right aw—” His sister, Mia, suddenly realized he wasn’t alone. “Tatiana, I didn’t know you were in Seattle already. It’s so great to see you again!”

As the two women hugged hello, Mia shot Ian a look over Tatiana’s shoulder—one that had him gritting his teeth even harder than he had been before his sister arrived, all because he could read Mia’s mind.

Ian and Tatiana sitting in a tree

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

When they were children, everything could be boiled down to such simple sentiments. But life wasn’t that simple anymore, and hadn’t been for a very long time. Heck, Mia ought to understand that after how difficult things had been between her and Ford Vincent. The rock star was now her utterly devoted fiancé, but during the previous five years, their relationship had been a radically different story.

As the oldest in their family, Ian had done his best to watch over Mia since the day his parents had brought her home from the hospital—a tiny, innocent bundle wrapped in soft blankets. He’d made sure to take care of her when she skinned her knee, when she fell from the bars in the playground, when she took a tumble on the ski slopes, when she’d needed help staying up all night to study for a test. She’d always been there for him, too, making him laugh with her silly antics, even once he was in college and things had begun to fall apart for them as a family...and there hadn’t been time for much laughter anymore.

Later, when they were both adults, his sister had tried to be there for him again when he’d been going through his divorce. But instead of letting her, he’d left the country. In the years since, he still hadn’t shared the finer details of his divorce with anyone, including his sister, but that didn’t mean she was clueless. She knew he wasn’t interested in love, romance, or marriage again, even if she didn’t know exactly why.

Mia let go of Tatiana to move into the circle of his arms, and as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, he knew for sure that he’d made the right decision to come back to Seattle. He’d missed his sister a great deal during his years in London.

“I’m glad you’re back, big brother,” she said as she hugged him tighter. Of course, the second she let go of him, she went straight back to poking around in his private business. “It looked like I interrupted a pretty serious discussion between the two of you.” She didn’t even try to be subtle as she asked them, “Did I?”

“I was in the neighborhood,” Tatiana said with an easy smile. “So I decided to drop in and see if I could catch Ian before he headed out for the night. I’ll be playing a heroine who inherits a big company, and I figured watching your brother in action for a little while might provide some helpful research.”

He was amazed at how smoothly she’d told the truth, while also deftly saving him from having to admit to his sister that he was a jerk who had flat-out refused to help her.

“Interesting,” Mia said in a tone that told Ian precisely how interesting she found the whole situation. Far too much for his peace of mind, which was already teetering on the edge of sanity simply from being this close to Tatiana. “Did you learn anything yet that you’ll be able to use for your role?”

Tatiana’s eyes held his for a brief but heated moment before she turned to smile again at his sister. “Only that CEOs are busy. So busy that their sisters have to come and make sure they leave the office at a reasonable hour on a Friday night.”