Author: Bella Andre

“See, I knew you’d do this. That you’d tell me you weren’t going to push in one breath, then immediately start talking about my marrying you in the next.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

She looked utterly taken aback. “You are?”

“I am,” he said. “Now, about that kiss to seal the deal.”

Her laughter was utterly unexpected and amazingly beautiful. All he wanted to do for the rest of his life was find new ways to make her happy.

“You and your obsession with getting a kiss out of me. You’re really pushing your luck, rock star.” But even as she said it, he could read the anticipation in her eyes. “Fine. You can have one kiss, but—” She lifted a finger to make sure he heeded her condition. “—no tongues.”

He wanted her so badly that it took his brain longer than it should have to make sense of what she’d just said. “Did you just say no tongues?”

“I promised myself that we’d have this little air-clearing chat today without my tongue ending up in your mouth.”

Jesus, just flirting like this with Mia was crazy hot. Especially because her voice was growing huskier with every word she spoke even as she informed him that he’d need to keep the kiss to a simple peck on the lips.

“What about my tongue ending up in your mouth?”

“Nope,” she confirmed as her lips yet again fought the battle against smiling. “But if you’re not up to a tongueless kiss—”

“I’m definitely up for the challenge,” he interjected. “Give me any challenge at all, Mia, and I’m going to rise to meet it.”

Her eyes darkened further as she clearly began to understand that he meant it. And as she grabbed his tie and yanked him against her so that she could control their kiss this time, the chorus of Leonard Cohen’s famous song, Hallelujah, began playing in his head.

* * *

Mia had tried to lie to herself for five years about how much Ford had meant to her. But it was pretty much impossible to keep up the ruse when he was right here with her, his mouth only a breath away, his eyes dark with desire as he waited for her to press her lips against his.

She was still reeling, not only from having him so close to her during the beautiful wedding ceremony, but also from what they’d shared with each other today. Finally, they’d addressed the past. The wounds weren’t anywhere near completely healed yet, of course, but now that she’d said her piece, she knew that healing could truly begin in earnest.

But as important as dealing with their past in an open and honest way was, it was what he’d told her about his name and his parents that had truly been a shock. And, even more than what he’d shared with her, it was his reasons for sharing that had sent her way off kilter.

He wanted to start over fresh.

But could they really?

Would she ever really be able to believe that they wouldn’t eventually end up exactly where they had the first time around?

And, more to the point, regardless of what the answers were, how could she possibly do anything right now but close the distance between them for one more kiss?

His mouth was so warm and soft against hers that a sigh of pleasure escaped her before she could stop it. There was absolutely no reason that Ford’s lips simply brushing back and forth against hers in a mesmerizing pattern of heat should be so arousing. But with every sinfully sweet brush of his mouth over hers, she fell deeper and deeper into the sensual spell that only he had ever been able to weave around her. And when his mouth moved from hers to create a path of heat across her cheek and then her jaw, she didn’t even consider fighting the instinct to tilt back so that he could press more kisses down her neck, then into the hollow of her throat.

One of her hands was still clenched on his tie, holding him tightly against her, but her other hand had slipped into his dark hair of its own volition. Arching into the sweet pressure of his mouth on her skin, she heard Ford’s low groan of pleasure as if from a distance as he cupped her hips in his hands and dragged her even closer.

The scratch of his teeth over her bare shoulder sent shudders through her. “Ford.”

“I’m not breaking your promise,” he murmured against her skin before pressing his lips over the slight ache he’d just created, then roaming with lips and teeth—but no tongue—across her collarbone to her other shoulder, where he took another nip.

She’d been so sure that abiding by her promise to keep tongues out of the kiss would also keep it from sending her senses into overdrive. But, oh, how wrong she’d been.

Because of all the kisses the two of them had ever shared, this one was quickly becoming the absolute hottest.

Chapter Fourteen

“Hi, I’m Tatiana. We met briefly last night at the party.” Tatiana Landon seemed a little nervous as she said, “You’re Ian, right?”

Ian Sullivan looked down into a face so beautiful it actually made his chest ache just to look at her. Ian had met Tatiana’s older sister, Valentina, at his cousin Gabe’s wedding in Lake Tahoe. Valentina and his cousin Smith had just become engaged over the holidays and Ian had been surprised that his movie-star cousin had managed to find true love in the middle of his Hollywood world filled with paparazzi and online gossip columns. Last night, Ian had finally met Tatiana when she’d arrived late to Nicola’s bachelorette party. They’d been quickly introduced before the girls had pulled her over to their side of the barbecue. He’d shaken plenty of hands last night, but the feel of hers had stuck with him for some reason he hadn’t wanted to dissect.

Did she really think there was a chance in hell that he wouldn’t know who she was when the Oscar buzz around her performance with Smith Sullivan in Gravity was so big that even a guy like him—who very rarely made it out of a conference room and into a movie theater—could miss it? Or was this just some cute little act the starlet put on with strangers?

Not for the first time, Ian thought how different Tatiana and her sister, Valentina, were. Smith’s fiancée was long and lean, with an exotic air about her. Valentina’s younger sister, on the other hand, was small and curvy, with an air of innocence that had a guy wanting nothing more than to see what it would take to get her to sin. Even the dress Tatiana was wearing was understated, as if she was trying to make sure she didn’t draw any attention away from the bride. Of course, as a movie star, she obviously craved the spotlight, so he figured she must have another reason to dress so conservatively. No doubt it was another of her actress tricks to try to convince people that she didn’t have a huge ego so that they’d be even more likely to give her whatever she wanted. He’d learned plenty of those tricks the hard way, living with his ex-wife.

Ian made sure none of his speculations were evident as he said, “It’s nice to see you again today, Tatiana.”

“It was such a beautiful wedding, wasn’t it?”

The dreaminess in her eyes told him that she believed wholeheartedly in love and forever. Ian had also believed in it once, until his own marriage had gone straight down the tubes. He was happy for his cousins, for his brother Rafe, and he hoped his other siblings all found great people to fall in love with, too. But for himself, Ian couldn’t imagine a world in which he’d willingly marry again.

“Marcus and Nicola are both good people.”

Tatiana’s eyebrows went up. “I take it you’re not a big fan of love?”

Well, this wasn’t what he’d expected from the beautiful star. Not even close. He figured she’d be so busy positioning herself in the best possible light that she wouldn’t notice anything about anyone else.

Intrigued despite himself, he said, “I have no doubt that the two of them are in love.”

“So if it’s not love that bothers you, it must be marriage?”

Ian couldn’t think of the last time anyone had been this in his face about love and marriage. His business associates and male friends never talked about relationships. And with the women he casually saw, he deliberately kept to no-strings pleasure.

Rather than directly answering her intrusive question, he asked her one to which he could already guess the answer. “How old were you the first time you dressed up in a wedding gown?”

Her answering smile was so bright, and pretty, that he could have sworn the sun had been behind a cloud until now—even though rationally he knew that the Northern California sky was as blue and cloud-free as ever.

“I was probably four or five. My mom had the most amazing wedding dress with lace and satin and sparkles. Even though I could have ruined it, she always let me play in it.” Her smile widened. “Plus, she had satin-covered shoes, a tiara, and long white gloves with ribbons that ran from the inside of the wrist to the elbow. Well, her elbow, but my shoulder.” Tatiana gave a happy little sigh, as though the memory was precious to her. “It was awesome wearing her wedding dress, like being in a fairy tale, except for the fact that my dog never turned into a prince when I kissed him.”

As he listened to her tell him about her childhood, it was nearly impossible to remember that she was a movie star with the entire world falling at her feet. Still, she’d asked him point-blank for his thoughts about love and marriage, and he hadn’t yet finished making his own point.

“How often do you think those fairy tales come true?”

She tilted her head and thought about it for a few moments. “I hope,” she said in a soft voice, “that they come true all the time.”

Very few people had ever made Ian speechless, but Tatiana Landon had just done it inside of five minutes. Ian could break down his life into a handful of moments when everything had turned on a dime. The day his father had told their family he’d lost his job. The day Ian found out that everything his now ex-wife had said to him had been a big lie.

And, strangely, right now, as he stood in the middle of his cousin’s vineyard with a young, stunningly beautiful movie star.

Fortunately, he’d had a chance to see Gravity and hadn’t even come close to forgetting the way Tatiana’s love scene with his cousin Smith had steamed up the screen. Sure, they were both great actors, but despite the fact that there clearly wasn’t anything between Smith and Tatiana in real life, it still meant that Ian couldn’t quite believe that Tatiana was as innocent as she seemed.

No virgin could drip with the kind of sensuality that he—and millions of viewers around the world—had witnessed in that movie.

She gave him another smile, one that was just a little bit crooked, an imperfection that only managed to make her more beautiful. “Actually, I didn’t come to quiz you on your feelings about love and marriage. I was wondering if you’d seen Mia. The photographer needs all the Sullivan girls together soon and since I’m not a Sullivan I volunteered to find her.”

Since he’d actually been looking for Mia, too—even from the far end of the pew he’d thought something hadn’t seemed quite right about his sister during the ceremony—he said, “I’ll help you look for her.”

The two of them headed toward a grove of oak trees, where the bartenders were doing a steady business in Marcus’s wine. A light breeze over the vineyard blew Tatiana’s scent to him. It was fresh, sweet, and so mouthwateringly tantalizing that he had to work to push back his arousal at simply being near her.

“Mia said you flew in from London for the wedding. When do you need to go back?”

“First thing tomorrow morning.”

“I only have today away from the set in Boston, too. But next time I’m in London, it will be nice to know there’s family there. Well, almost family, since as soon as Valentina and Smith say their own I do’s, you and I will be...” She scrunched up her gorgeous face and turned to him to ask, “What exactly will we be since I’m Valentina’s sister and you’re Smith’s cousin?”