Author: Bella Andre

He’d done that on purpose, knowing even the faintest trail would find him heading straight toward her.

Especially after that kiss.

Jesus. That kiss.

She’d tasted so good. A faint taste of coffee, a hint of toothpaste, but none of that could disguise her own sweet essence.

What, he’d been wondering every single second since then, would her skin taste like? Not just on her face, her shoulders, her breasts, but between her legs, while—

His sister Lori’s face popped up on his phone and he realized he’d been doing it again: losing the thread of everything but Nicola.

“Excuse me, I need to take this,” he told the group before pushing away from the table and walking out into the hallway.

Family always came first for Marcus, just as Jill had accused. If one of his brothers or sisters or his mother needed him, he would do anything he could to be there for them. Even before his father had died, as the oldest there’d been an instinctive weight of responsibility on his shoulders. Of course, after his father died that weight had grown infinitely heavier.

“Hi, Naughty,” he said, using the nickname Chase had given Lori years ago.

He could almost see her expression, that faintly irritated look she had whenever they called her that. Despite her protests that she didn’t like it, Marcus knew better. Lori definitely liked people thinking she had a little edge. Especially since she would have hated being called Nice like her twin sister, Sophie.

“Are you still in the city?”

“I’m just about to finish my last meeting.”

“Great!”

Lori’s energy was palpable even through the phone. Dancing was the perfect career for her, considering she had more energy that two people combined. She’d been a terror as a toddler and pre-schooler. A really cute terror who knew just when to turn on the smiles to get what she wanted or the waterworks to get out of trouble.

“Do you have time to come by and see me at my video shoot before you head back to Napa?”

“I wouldn’t miss it. Text me your location and I’ll leave now.”

Ellen had things well covered here. And considering he couldn’t concentrate worth a damn today, the meeting would be better off without him.

Hanging up, he walked back into the conference room. “I need to leave early, but as you already know, Ellen is well versed in what we’re looking for and can take it from here.”

She beamed at him, clearly pleased that he had enough faith in her abilities to leave her in charge of the negotiations. He shook everyone’s hand and said a silent thank you to Ellen. You’re welcome was evident in her returning smile.

Lori was just the person he needed to see. Even though Smith was a movie star, she hadn’t gotten the job working on the pop star’s video through her connection to him. She’d worked hard to get this gig all by herself, and Marcus, along with the rest of them, was incredibly proud of her.

He and Lori had always had a special relationship and he was glad she’d asked him to come watch her work.

It was the perfect way for him to forget all about Nicola.

* * *

Nicola lifted the water bottle to her lips and drained it. They’d all been working hard today in preparation for the filming that began tomorrow. Shooting a video was never cheap, but as soon as the cameras started rolling the costs went up exponentially. Nicola and the rest of her dancers needed to be ready to the nth degree by the time the director walked into the room Friday morning.

Yesterday, she’d thought she was good to go.

But today had been a disaster.

She couldn’t focus. Not after the call that had come in from her publicist just after she’d left in the cab. Nicola always had Sandra inform her of any pictures she saw circulating of her and whatever star of the week she was supposed to be dating so she’d be prepared to deal with questions.

This morning Sandra had come straight to the point. “I’ve just seen pictures of you leaving a club with some guy I don’t recognize."

Even though Nicola had expected this, her heart had pretty much stopped. Especially because she’d been too upset about her battered pride at Marcus turning her down to actually get around to telling him who she was and to mention some unexpected press might be coming his way in the very near future.

She’d screwed up big time. And it was even worse because she hadn’t even gotten the pleasure she wanted to go along with it...just the smashed pride.

She had to ask, “How bad are they?” even though she really didn’t want to know.

“Fortunately,” Sandra had said, “they’re amateur pics. Both of your faces are too blurry for anyone to bother running them, but you might want to be more careful in the future."

No kidding. After narrowly dodging the bullet like that, she had vowed to be the most careful person on the planet from now on.

And yet, as they ran through the complicated choreography again and again, she still couldn’t stop flashing back to her night—and morning—with Marcus.

The lyrics to One Moment weren’t helping at all.

All it took was one moment

One look in your eyes

One taste of your lips

To know that you were the one

The afternoon she’d written the song, she’d been listening to Cole Porter’s From This Moment On. Everything had still been sunshine and butterflies in her life and she’d been so lucky so far that she’d believed true love was just another beautiful gift waiting around the corner. She’d written One Moment as an ode to that future love and had even incorporated samples from the classic Cole Porter tune. Her label had loved it, calling it fresh and catchy. It helped that they also owned the licenses to the classic Cole Porter songs and hoped sales of those songs would take off as well.

Of course, once everything had busted apart with Kenny, she hadn’t wanted to record the song. She’d felt like a fool for ever believing in one moment, in one kiss, in one touch that could change everything. But her label insisted it should be her first single. And she knew they were right, that she couldn’t let Kenny and what he’d done remove the joy she got from her music, so she’d recorded the song, putting every ounce of her heart and soul into it.

But even though she’d hurdled that first huge bump months ago, today she found herself hitting a new one.

She couldn’t stop thinking of Marcus every time they got to the chorus.

She couldn’t stop seeing his face, couldn’t stop feeling his hands holding hers.

And she couldn’t stop reeling from his kiss.

Her dancers had been given a thirty-minute coffee break before coming back to put in another hour or so to try and pull it together. She knew how frustrated they all were with her. She’d never planned on being a dancer, hadn’t trained at it like they had, but she’d always enjoyed moving her body, and had picked up a handful of pretty good moves over the years.

Not that anyone would know it from watching her today.

Even Lori, her fun—and extremely positive—choreographer seemed frustrated.

The sound of Lori’s laughter drew Nicola’s attention across the room. Earlier in the day, Lori had asked if she could invite her brother to observe for a bit. Nicola had been a public figure for long enough that she wasn’t particularly concerned about one more person watching her.

She could see how much Lori adored her brother by the way she lit up while she was talking to him. Not that Lori was ever un-lit, of course, with a ready laugh and a wicked glint in her eyes.

“Good news,” Lori said as she walked back across the large dance studio with a smile. “My big brother is heading over now.”

“Great,” Nicola said, trying to sound enthusiastic despite how low she’d been feeling all day.

But Lori was way too perceptive. “Seriously, Nico, you should tell me if you don’t want him here. I can see him later.”

Nicola shook her head and forced herself to smile wider—and more convincingly. “I really don’t mind at all.”

The other woman frowned. “Is everything okay?”

“I know I’ve been sucking today. Sorry about that.”

Lori reached out and put her hand on Nicola’s arm. “No, you’re doing great. But you seem kind of...” She paused. “...well, sad, I guess.”

Nicola knew better than to talk to someone she was working with about her personal life, but Lori seemed different than most of the people Nicola worked with. Nicer. More honest, somehow.

Kind of like Marcus.

Even though she should keep her mouth shut, she found herself saying, “I met a guy last night.”

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?”