No.
She shouldn’t get all twisted up about it. She’d known all along this day would come where Smith and Tatiana would film a very intimate and sexy love scene, and that was one of the reasons why she’d been so careful not to let Smith get too close...so that what happened during filming wouldn’t end up destroying her.
Valentina put her fingertips into the water to test the temperature, sucking in a breath when she realized she’d made it too hot. She ran the cold tap for a few seconds, but when she tested the water again it was too cold.
She muttered a curse, the one harsh word echoing in the tiled room, as she pulled the plug to let some water out so that she could try to get it right again. But as she watched the water swirl and drain out of the tub, she suddenly saw herself in the water, pulled deeper, faster, down down down by the inescapable force of gravity.
It didn’t matter how hard she’d tried to fight her attraction to Smith, or how far away from the edge of the cliff she’d stood...she’d never succeeded at doing anything but falling straight into his wide-open arms.
What, she suddenly found herself wondering, if she didn’t fight it?
What if she let falling in love with him be as natural as gravity?
And what if she let Smith love her the way she’d always secretly dreamed of being loved? Was there a chance that they could work through all of the potential problems and issues that came from his career and her fear of being caught out by flashbulbs and cameras?
Kneeling by the side of the tub with the questions going around and around inside her head, she stared blindly at the water. Only when the last drops going down the drain made a loud sucking sound did it jolt her into standing up to finish getting ready for bed.
As she slid naked between her sheets, with the comforting sound of Smith and Tatiana talking out in the living room lulling her toward an exhausted sleep, she dreamed, not of broken hearts and raw disappointments...but of strong, warm arms that held her close until the storm outside stopped raging.
* * *
After Smith said goodnight to Tatiana, the seconds that he waited to hear her bedroom door close felt more like hours. Finally, he headed across the hallway to Valentina, silently opening, then closing her door.
In the dark, he could see, just barely, Valentina’s curled-up form under the covers. His heart skipped a beat as he watched her sleep. She was so beautiful, so peaceful as she breathed deeply and evenly. Her long hair was spread over the pillow and there was a small smile on her face, one that had him hoping she’d been dreaming of him.
He slid in behind her, her scent sweet and utterly intoxicating. He didn’t want to wake her when he knew how badly both of them needed the rest, but he had to hold her.
“You came.”
Valentina’s voice was sleepy, and so damned seductive it sent every last cell in his body that wasn’t already on fire up in flames.
Thanking God she wasn’t angry with him for sneaking uninvited into her bed, he couldn’t stop himself from slowly, softly, running one hand down her sleek curves. He wanted her, desperately, but just this chance to lie in bed with her was so precious that he would happily forgo making love if it meant getting to hold her.
Smith had always thought he had women under control, that they were a need he could turn on or off at will, that no woman could ever cause him pain.
Valentina had proved him wrong. So damned wrong.
It was how he knew for sure that he was in love with her. And love, as he’d seen first with his parents, and then with his siblings and their significant others, was worth the need, the hurt—worth absolutely everything.
He pressed a kiss to her shoulder, then to the sensitive skin at the curve of her neck. She shivered against him, then turned to put her arms around him so that her br**sts were pressed against his chest and her legs were sliding against his. She whispered his name, but he knew she was more asleep than awake.
“Shh,” he murmured against her lips before he pressed a soft kiss against them and felt her drop back into sleep just that quickly. “I’ve got you.”
Forever, if she’d have him.
Chapter Twenty-one
The storm had washed away in the middle of the night, leaving behind brilliant blue skies and crisp, clean San Francisco air as Valentina headed into her office on the set. She pulled her laptop out of her bag and put it down on her desk, her skin still tingling from Smith’s slow, sweet lovemaking that morning.
He hadn’t woken her when he’d come to her bed in the dark, just wrapped her up in his strong arms and held her. She couldn’t ever remember sleeping so deeply or so well. Nor could she remember ever waking up so needy, so hungry, so ready to be touched, kissed, stroked, loved by a man.
Their first night together—and all the quickies that had come after—had been about temptation, about discovery, and inescapable pleasure. But this morning, their need for each other had been a demand that neither of them could, or would, deny.
Even now as she thought back to it, their early morning lovemaking seemed more like a dream than flesh-and-blood reality. Perfectly silent, barely moving, they’d come together so naturally, so perfectly. Smith’s body fit against hers like he’d been made for her, and she’d been made for him.
She pressed her hand to the hollow of her throat where he’d pressed one kiss after another as she’d arched into him, and felt her heart beating the same rhythm it had beat beneath his lips. Not fast, but with a languid heat that rose more with every slow slide of his body into hers. She couldn’t remember what any other morning had been like without him there, could barely imagine a time when Smith hadn’t been hers.
The first rays of the sun had broken through the darkness as she’d given herself to him. His mouth had covered her sounds of pleasure, his tongue against hers driving her even higher still, before he’d given himself up to her, too.
All she’d wanted was to stay like that with him forever, to forget the rest of the world existed outside of their own private paradise.
But, she couldn’t forget that he had an early call. Knew, too, that she’d need to be on set soon to support Tatiana, on what was sure to be a difficult day. Quite possibly the most difficult one of the entire shoot.
Plus, if Tatiana had seen Smith coming out of her bedroom, the jig would officially be up...and Valentina would have some pretty big explaining to do to the one person from whom she’d vowed never to keep secrets.
She’d thought for sure when Smith had shown up at their house last night that he’d been looking for a showdown, but in the morning he hadn’t made her explain any of her swirling, conflicted thoughts. Instead, he’d said, “Today, when Tatiana and I are filming—”