Author: Bella Andre

She reinforced the short word by pulling her hand from his and reaching for some of the food. She hoped no one noticed that she couldn’t stop her hand from trembling.

Once everyone had a full plate and was starting to dig in, Marcus’s mother said, “We’re so glad you could join us today, Nicola.” If anyone thought it strange that their mother hadn’t called her Nico, they were too polite to say anything about it. “I hope everyone has been on their best behavior while I was inside.”

“Everyone has been great.” Realizing she was mumbling, she made herself sit up straighter and smile at Mary. “I don’t get to see my family as much as I’d like to. I miss Sunday lunches like this.”

As Mary asked her about her family and she had them laughing with stories about the pranks she and her twin brothers would play on each other when they were kids, Nicola was almost able to relax.

The problem was, she was palpably aware of the fact that neither Marcus nor Smith were laughing along with the rest of them. It didn’t take long for everyone to realize something was up.

“Marcus?” Lori asked. “You’re not eating and you look kind of, well, not so good.” She scrunched up her nose. “In fact, I can’t think of the last time you didn’t shave. Are you feeling okay?”

“No,” Marcus replied, “I’m not okay.”

Six faces—Chloe and all the siblings apart from Smith—went slack with shock. Clearly, this was the first time their overly capable big brother had ever admitted to having a problem in front of them.

Nicola was glad she hadn’t had more than a couple of bites of her hot dog, because it would have come back up all over the pretty tablecloth. He couldn’t be about to do what it looked like he was going to do, was he?

Okay, yes, the two of them had a few more things to say to each other. But not in front of his whole family.

Marcus had just turned to face her and was obviously about to say something when Smith abruptly stood up.

“There’s something I need to show you in the garage, Marcus.”

“We’re in the middle of lunch,” Mary protested, but there wasn’t any heat behind her words. In fact, she sounded strangely pleased with the turn events had taken.

“Sorry, this can’t wait.” Smith stood up and headed for the house. “Marcus needs to see it right now.”

For a moment, Nicola didn’t think Marcus was going to follow. But then, on a muttered curse, he threw his napkin down and shoved his chair back.

Nicola expected his mother to look upset at the way her meal was falling to pieces. Instead, she simply raised her eyebrows at her other sons and said in a mild voice, “Go ahead. I know you boys are dying to see it, too.”

A few moments later, Nicola found herself sitting alone with the women.

“Sullivan men.” Mary smiled at her. “They’re really something else, aren’t they?”

The understanding in Mary’s eyes nearly broke Nicola, and no matter what else went on here today, she needed Marcus’s mother to know. “You have a beautiful family.”

“I know, honey. I’m so glad you’re here with us today.”

And, amazingly, even though this lunch had been a struggle from the very first moment she’d walked in the door, Nicola realized she was, too.

Because she hadn’t just fallen in love with Marcus...she’d fallen for his entire family while she was at it.

Chapter Twenty-one

“What the hell is going on with you guys?” Gabe asked as he and Zach walked into the garage, with Chase and Ryan following closely behind.

“Marcus has been doing our pretty young guest.”

Marcus grabbed a handful of Smith’s shirt. “Talk like that about her again and I’ll make sure you can only do horror films from now on.”

“Whoa,” Gabe said, moving to put himself between his brothers. “Hold on a second.”

Marcus was on the verge of letting Smith go when he said, “What the hell are you doing with someone like her? Isn’t she a little young and slutty for you?”

A split second later, Marcus was throwing the first punch. The two of them each got a couple of good slams in before Zach and Gabe worked together to pull them off each other.

“You don’t know the first goddamned thing about her.”

“And you’re telling me that you do? Beyond how wild she is in bed, that is."

“I warned you,” Marcus growled.

Smith held up his hands and took a step back, “Look, I’m not trying to piss you off. I’m just trying to talk some sense into you.”

“Hold up,” Zach said. “Somebody give me the Cliff Notes version of what the hell is going on.”

All eyes turned to Marcus and he bit out the words, “Nicola and I met after the engagement party. I didn’t know who she was at first.”

Gabe whistled low and long. “Trust old man Sullivan not to recognize a huge pop star. So, when did you figure it out?”

“When Lori invited me to the dance studio the next day for their rehearsal.” He ran his hand over his face. “I thought Nicola was one of the dancers.”

“You’re an idiot.”

Zach was right. He was an idiot. What the hell was he doing in the garage with his brothers when Nicola was outside in the yard with his mother and sisters? He’d vowed that the next time he saw her he’d fix everything. Instead, all he’d done was make everything worse.

“I’ve got to go talk to her,” he said, but Smith grabbed his arm. Hard.

“Do you have any idea what it will be like to date her?”

“I don’t care about her fame.”

“That’s easy to say now,” Smith said, “but what about the fiftieth time you guys try to go out? You’ll think you’re having a private conversation about grapes or songs or whatever the hell you two talk about and someone will snap a shot that looks like you’re fighting. The next thing you know, the headline will be that you couldn’t hack it, that you were too different from the start. They’ll even throw in some quote from an anonymous friend saying Nicola always knew you were wrong together. You’ll want to trust her when she says it isn’t true, that she didn’t say that to anyone, but you’ll start wondering if she actually did.”

It was the most Smith had ever said to any of them about the trials of fame, but Marcus didn’t care right now about how hard life could be for his hugely famous brother. All he cared about was the woman he’d hurt by being careless with her heart.

“I know you think you’re helping, but this is between me and Nicola, not you guys, and not the rest of the goddamned world.”

But Smith wouldn’t stay out of his face. “Listen to me. For a guy like you who likes his expensive wine, his peace and quiet out there in the grapevines, all that trouble that comes with fame will drive you crazy. Fast.” Smith frowned. “What I don’t get is how the hell no pictures of you two have surfaced yet?"

“We’ve been careful,” he said between his teeth.

“You two are skulking around in corners? See, it’s already messed up, man.” Smith gestured to his brothers. “We all get that Jill turned out to be a cold bitch and Nico is a hot rebound—a damned great rebound—but her life is way too messy for a straight-ahead guy like you.”

Ryan nodded. “Hate to say it, but he’s right, Marcus. The press will drive you insane. Even playing baseball, they’re in my face way too often.”

Surprisingly, Chase nodded. “She seems great—much sweeter, more innocent-looking than I thought she’d be after some of things I’ve heard about her.” He pinned Marcus with his steady gaze. “But it doesn’t help that she looks like she’s barely graduated high school. Everyone is going to think you’re nothing but a dirty old man.”

Only Gabe broke in to say, “Hold up a sec. Are you in love with Nico?”

“Her name is Nicola,” Marcus shot at his youngest brother.

And Gabe wasn’t the one who needed to know that he was in love with Nicola. None of his brothers were the ones who needed to hear those words.

The one person who needed to know exactly how he felt about her was sitting out in his mother’s backyard thinking he didn’t love her back.

All because he’d been too much of a coward to own up to his feelings.

“Get out of my way,” he growled to his five younger brothers.

No one said another word. They just parted ranks to let him through.

“Jesus,” Zach swore as Marcus left the rest of them standing in the garage with their mouths open, “I can’t believe the six of us were in here talking like a bunch of girls about love and relationships."

“At least I tried to talk sense into him,” Smith said as they followed Marcus out in single file. He shrugged. “But since he’s clearly a basket case over her, we might as well get a good seat for the show.”

* * *

“Nicola, I can’t keep doing this.”

She looked up from the conversation he’d interrupted between the women with extreme alarm on her pretty face.

Marcus knew she didn’t want him to out their relationship in front of his entire family, but he couldn’t keep pretending he didn’t know her. He couldn’t keep acting like he didn’t love her. And he sure as hell couldn’t stand to listen to Smith talk about her so dismissively, like she was nothing more than a hot piece of ass.

Marcus wanted everyone to see her the way he did—as a smart, focused, brilliant artist and businesswoman. And a truly beautiful person, inside and out.

So what if he didn’t fit into her world and she didn’t fit into his?

How could he give her up?

She was shaking her head, her eyes desperate as she silently begged him to stop talking. But he couldn’t stop now, knew he had to get it all out before another second passed where she didn’t think he loved her.

He moved to her, pulled her up out of her seat.

“No, Marcus.” She looked wildly around at his family, who were now all assembled in their seats at the table, their faces pressed up to the invisible glass. Hell, knowing them, they all wished they had bowls of popcorn to munch from. But he didn’t care. Nothing mattered now but Nicola.

And the fact that he was going to lose her if he didn’t do something quick.

“Don’t. Please don’t.”

Maybe if he’d gotten more sleep, he would have been able to see how serious she was, that his declaration was the last thing she wanted right now. But in that moment, all Marcus knew was how right it felt to touch her, to be close to her.

“I love you."

She backed away from him and would have stumbled on a tree root in the grass if he hadn’t been gripping her hands in his.

“Please don’t do this. Not here. Not now.” Her words were barely a whisper, but the backyard was so deadly silent, with not even a bird chirping or a breeze to sound through the trees, that everyone heard her plea loud and clear.

“I should have told you before. I was a fool to let you go, to let you believe I didn’t love you, too.”

Nicola was trying to pull her hands from his and clearly wanted nothing more than to escape. But he couldn’t let her go, not without making her face what was between them.

Marcus knew there were a million different ways he could have done this better, but right now there was nothing left for him to do but pull her against him and kiss her...in front of his whole family.

Her body was stiff against his, her mouth tight and closed. But then, their connection took over despite the fact that she clearly wanted to fight him, and the passion neither of them had ever been able to hold back from each other came crashing through. They kissed each other like it had been years since their mouths had touched instead of twenty-four hours.