Lori’s eyes widened. “A hot guy?”
Nicola was glad for another chance to smile. “Yes. Very hot.” She felt compelled to explain, “But nothing happened. Except for me falling asleep before we even kissed.”
“Oh,” Lori said, clearly caught off guard. “How’d he take it?”
“Great, actually. He made me coffee this morning.” And then told her she was way too young and sweet for him.
“Coffee? That’s all?”
She sighed. “Actually, he kissed me. Just once.”
“And?”
“And it was awesome.”
“Awesome is good, right?”
“Not when it’s also goodbye,” Nicola told her.
Lori looked confused. “Wait, so he kissed you and then you were done?”
“Yup. And for some reason the whole thing is messing with my head. I’m really sorry, Lori, I’m not usually like this. Especially over some guy I just met and will never, ever see again.”
When Lori didn’t say anything for several long seconds, Nicola began to panic. What had she been thinking, sharing all of her secrets with someone who was still, for all intents and purposes, a stranger? Hadn’t she been burned hard enough to know better?
“Look, I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Before she could finish her sentence, Lori was throwing her arms around her and saying, “I so get it. Guys suck.” She looked a little guilty when she pulled back. “There’s something I should have told you before now. I’m related to Smith Sullivan."
“Oh. Wow.” Nicola had met Smith at a few industry events in the past couple of years. Something jogged in her memory and she asked, “If you’re his sister, then don’t you have like a dozen siblings?”
Lori laughed. “Not quite. There are eight of us. Although I’m sure it felt more like twelve to my mother.”
Nicola didn’t understand something. “Why didn’t you want me to know that?”
“I’d hate for anyone to hire me because of who he is.”
“I would never do that.”
“I know that now,” Lori told her. “I’m sorry I wasn’t more forthright.”
After last night, Nicola was the queen of not being forthright. “Don’t worry about it, Lori. It’s really no big deal who you’re related to.”
Lori grinned and then said, “If the guy you met last night didn’t get how freaking awesome you are—and how lucky he was that you even let him kiss you—then he doesn’t deserve to be with you anyway.”
Nicola found herself blinking back tears. People were always nice to her. Because she was a star, because she had power in an industry that thrived on power, because they wanted something that they thought she could give them.
But people were very rarely nice to her just because.
The doorbell to the studio rang and Nicola assumed her dancers were back from their break. She stood up and walked over to the barre on the mirrored wall to stretch before they began again.
Her head was down over her kneecap when she heard Lori squeal with joy. “Yay, you’re here!”
Nicola smiled and was about to lift her head to take a look at the man Lori clearly idolized, when she heard a voice that resonated through every cell in her body. “So this is where the magic happens, huh?”
Oh God.
How could Lori’s big brother be Marcus?
And who knew that it would turn out to be a really, really big deal who Lori was related to, after all?
Chapter Six
No.
No way.
Marcus stiffened beneath his sister’s hug as he made eye contact with the only other person in the room.
Nicola.
What the hell was she doing here?
He could tell from the way she was dressed in a cut-off tank top and tight short-shorts that she was a dancer. It was just his luck that she’d turned out to be one of Lori’s dancers.
Only, what should have been bad luck...wasn’t.
Because no matter how many times he’d told himself that walking away from her that morning had been the right thing to do, he hadn’t yet been able to make himself believe it. Not when his body was utterly at odds with his brain.
And not when he’d wanted to take their one kiss and turn it into an all day—and all night—tangle of naked limbs and heat.
He’d known how beautiful her shape was last night in that leather dress, but she was much closer to naked now, with only the thinnest layers of cotton and Spandex covering her beautiful curves.
And—oh Jesus—was that a bead of sweat trailing down between her br**sts?
Lori pulled back in his arms and he forced himself to drag his gaze away from Nicola. His baby sister looked up at him, studying him more carefully than usual.
“Were your meetings okay today? You look a little tense.”
He worked to keep his attention on his sister rather than the shockingly beautiful woman by the wall of mirrors. “They were fine.”
Lori frowned at his curt response. She’d always been fascinated with the wine industry and he usually shared the details of his business with her. Not just because she was interested, but because she had good ideas. If she hadn’t been such a great dancer and choreographer, he’d have hired her straight out of college.
“Something’s wrong.” She didn’t say it as a question. “Later. I’ll make you tell me later.” And then she dropped one of his hands and used the other to pull him toward Nicola, who’d been watching them warily. “Come here. I can’t wait to introduce you to Nico.”
Nico?
Something flashed in his mind, a hint that he should know something he’d been missing since last night, but he was so off-kilter from seeing the woman he’d been reluctantly fantasizing about all day, that he couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
“Nico, this is my brother Marcus.”
Nicola—Nico didn’t sound quite right to him, even though his sister said it with such confidence—was gripping the wooden barre in front of the mirror so tightly he could see her knuckles turning white. Her face was on the white side, too, and she wasn’t doing a damn thing to erase the horror on her face at seeing him again.
Guilt hit him square across the chest. She’d put herself out there by asking him for another night and he’d turned her down cold. Apart from the kiss, which had been anything but cold.
And now, here he was, barging in on her dancing gig for a big pop star.
Seeing him had to be the very last thing she wanted.