Chapter Seventeen

Monday afternoon, Smith found Valentina in the set parking lot just as she was about to get into her car. "I'm glad I caught you." He slid into the passenger seat of her Lexus before she could protest. "Tatiana said she thought you were heading out to Union Square. I could really use your help with picking out gifts for the holiday party this week, if you've got a little time to spare."

God, she was pretty, he thought as she turned to face him, her expression clearly wary about the excuse he'd just given her. Saturday morning when she'd been in his bed had been too long ago, and he couldn't stop himself from reaching out to touch her at least in some small way by running his hands through the ends of her ponytail.

"I'm happy to help you pick out gifts for everyone," she told him in a voice that was anything but happy, "but you and I already know that this - " She gestured between the two of them. " - isn't a good idea." The only sign that being near him was affecting her was the slightly breathy tone of her otherwise beautifully modulated voice.

She was right. The two of them weren't a good idea.

They were a great one. And when he slid his hand down from her hair to her arm, then down the soft leather of her jacket to her hands, he could feel just how right he was in the way she trembled beneath his fingertips. He slid his fingers through hers.

"I missed you the past two nights. Badly."

He'd hated sleeping each night without her, hated just as much not being able to take her hand like this today on set. The Sullivan family was an affectionate one and Smith wasn't used to keeping his feelings to himself. Especially when they were this strong.

Valentina sighed, but fortunately, it seemed that her desire was stronger than her will to resist him. So instead of kicking him out, she simply slid her hand from his, turned the key in the ignition, and started her car.

Smith settled back into the leather seat, his long legs stretched out in front of him, enjoying just being with Valentina. Her scent, the way the pulse raced at her neck, the fire that leapt in her skin even as she tried to hold it - and him - at bay...there wasn't a part of her that didn't interest and attract him.

A short while later they were walking out of the parking garage and into the heart of Union Square. Her eyes grew wide as she looked at the holiday lights in the trees and on the buildings that surrounded the square, which looked so different now than they had when they'd filmed the opening scene of the movie here weeks ago. Ice skaters held court in the rink at the center of it all.

"It's like a winter wonderland."

She was gazing at the skating couple twirling in each other's arms with such longing that he wouldn't have been able to resist the urge to grab her and kiss her beautiful mouth were it not for a group of teenage girls who spotted him and ran over.

"Oh my God, it's Smith Sullivan!"

Their squeals got the attention of dozens of other people, all of whom suddenly pulled out their phones to take pictures and text their friends. He wasn't surprised when Valentina moved out of range of the camera, but when he took a pen to start signing autographs, he greatly appreciated the way she offered to take his fans' pictures with him so that all of them could be in the picture at once. Clearly, she'd been through this more than once with her sister, and yet again, he was glad to know that his world wasn't at all foreign to her.

Couldn't she see that if anyone could withstand the unique pressures of dating a movie star it would be her? To his mind, it was the perfect test for how well they would do if this were more than a simple shopping trip, and she had agreed to be his girlfriend.

Ten minutes later, when the last of the crowd seemed to have had their fill, Smith asked her, "Have you ever been to Gumps?"

She gave him such a cute look as she asked, "What's a gump?" that he couldn't resist stroking her cheek, which was flushed from the cold air - and, he hoped, from being with him.

"It's that way," he said with a grin that she, fortunately, couldn't seem to stop herself from returning. "Let's see if we can get out of here before the next group descends."

"I should have rethought my plan to come downtown with you," she said in a slightly apologetic tone, as if it were in some way her fault that his fame had just slowed down her shopping trip. "Although," she said with a wry twist of her lips, "I'm not sure there's anywhere remote enough that you wouldn't be recognized."

"Cities tend to have the most enthusiastic fans. A few months ago I was in a little town in Kansas, and no one even gave me a second glance."

She made a sound of disbelief. "You're very sweet with your fans. I hope Tatiana will be able to deal with hers as well as you do."

He knew what Valentina was doing - talking about his fame as though reinforcing it would help her remember to keep her distance from him. A street performer was juggling six pins while standing on a rolling board, and while all eyes were on the juggler instead of them, Smith told her in a low voice, "Little doses. That's all fame has to be. The rest of the time, when I'm on set or at home, I'm just like everyone else."

"You're wrong," she said in a similarly low voice that only he could hear as she looked directly at him, her beautiful hazel eyes full of as much desire as regret. "You could never be just like everyone else."

When he thought he heard someone on the sidewalk say his name, he quickly pulled Valentina into the store. The floor manager who greeted them was an old friend of his from high school, and one of the reasons he loved coming to Gump's was because Judy and the rest of her staff went out of their way to make his shopping experience smooth. Even better than that was the utter un-rhyme and un-reason of the store.

He enjoyed watching Valentina crane her neck to take in the glass sculptures and Chinese figurines and ornate chairs that shared the space with handmade dog bowls and inexpensive Christmas ornaments.

"There must be one heck of a story about this place."

"Gold rush money," he explained. "The Gump brothers got lucky in the rivers and decided to turn their winnings into this."

"None of these things should fit together, but somehow, they all do. Is there anything this store doesn't have?"

"Let's find out."

They started on the bottom floor and worked their way up. Valentina had an uncanny talent for finding the perfect gift for each member of the cast and crew. Smith had always prided himself on getting to know the people he worked with on each film, no matter how transient their lives. But Valentina, he now realized, knew his crew members even better than he did.

She spoke of endings, acted like she was prepared for every single beginning to come full circle sooner or later...but now he saw just how far she went to keep that from happening.

Their gift-wrapped packages behind the counter had piled up when they finally reached the floor he'd been waiting impatiently for. The music was quieter on the fifth floor, the displays even more elegant, the colors softer to compliment the very expensive lingerie on display.

Valentina's flush said it all, even before she spoke. "I can't think of anyone who needs something from this section of the store."

He let his gaze move over her flushed cheeks, her full lips, her too-bright eyes. "I can." He moved close enough to slide the tips of his fingers over her hand in the barest of touches. "The next time I see you in silk and lace, Valentina, I want to know that I'm the only man who has ever taken it off you."

* * *

Pure sensual need hit Valentina at nothing more than the lightest touch of Smith's fingers...and his very sexy words.

Friday night and Saturday morning's pleasure still felt fresh on her skin, heating tingles that reminded her of just how beautiful every moment she'd spent in Smith's arms had been. She knew he had to be able to see it all on her face, the flush of her skin, the way she all but trembled with passion for him whenever he was near. No man had ever made her feel so feminine before, so aware of her curves, her softness, her warmth.

It wasn't only desire that had her knees feeling weak, though. It would be easier if it were, because then she could write it off as nothing more than a physical attraction that anyone with a pulse would feel for Smith Sullivan.

No, it was the sweet promise in his eyes, in the way he always touched her with such gentleness, and the emotion on his face whenever he looked at her, that had her heart beating so out of control and words failing her.

Valentina didn't like to think of herself as a coward, even if her heart was pounding faster than it ever had before and she could barely tamp down on the urge to turn and run down five flights of stairs. That, she swore to herself, was the only reason she was going to let Smith have his way in the lingerie section of the strangest, most wonderful department store she'd ever been in.

Not the secretly wonderful thought that out of all the women in the world he could have had - the supermodels, the stunningly beautiful stars - he really had picked her.

Granted, her willingness to stay by his side as he collected what seemed like every bra and panty set on the fifth floor, each one more exquisite than the next, and all of them in exactly her size, may also have had something to do with her weakness for lingerie.

A weakness only rivaled by her need for a straight shot of sugar first thing in the morning...and her growing, borderline desperate weakness for the man beside her.

Fortunately, instead of saying any more deliciously sensual things to her, things that might very well have tempted her to lose all self-control and drag him into a dressing room, he peppered her with questions instead.

"Did you have a dog when you were a kid?"

"No, but our cat was as big as a dog, and twice as scary to anyone who came to the front door."

"What was your favorite subject at school?"

"Physics."

"I love that you always surprise me," he said with a grin. "Now tell me why physics, and not English or history or math."

She shrugged, feeling a little foolish. "Nothing about trajectories and acceleration made any sense, until, one day, they suddenly did. I guess I felt invincible after acing that class, like there was nothing I couldn't figure out if I just worked at it hard enough and didn't dare give up." Wanting desperately to know more about him, she took her chance by asking, "What about you?"

"I went for anything where I could get up in front of the class and make a fool of myself. Acting. Dancing. Improv. Glee club. The rest of the time I was on a soccer field or trying to hit a home run or trying to dunk a basketball. But if I'd known a girl like you was in the lab, physics would have definitely shot straight to the top of my list."

They were in the middle of a store where anyone could see them or take a picture, but despite everything Valentina was afraid of where Smith was concerned, and despite everything she had learned in her physics class, she couldn't find a way to stop gravity.

Because, oh, how she wanted to feel his hands on her waist, his mouth on hers, and she was leaning in closer to do just that when his phone suddenly rang - the one particularly harsh ring-tone that told both of them there was an emergency on set.

On a curse, Smith pulled back from her and picked up. When he hung up a minute later, from his half of the conversation, she'd gleaned that one of the lighting rigs that had been giving them trouble from the first day had overheated and taken down half the power on set with it.

"I'll take you back," she offered immediately.

"I want you to finish your own shopping," he replied. "I'll take a cab." He didn't reach for her then, but it would have been easier if he had, rather than saying in that low voice that sent thrill bumps running all across her skin, "I enjoyed spending the afternoon with you, Valentina. So much that it will make missing you tonight even harder."

"Don't miss me, Smith. Please don't," she begged him, partly because she hated hurting him, but also because his wishing he could be with her only made her own impossible wishes harder to ignore.

"Would you be happier knowing that I'm waiting for you to come to me, instead?"

Waiting? For her?

Oh God, she didn't know how to respond to that, especially not when he said, "I should warn you now that I'm no good at waiting. Especially not when every single voice in my head is telling me to take what I know is already mine."

Before she could respond, he was gone in another perfectly timed exit that left her feeling like her heart was hanging by a thread.

A very, very thin one.

Her head was spinning and it was tempting to head back to bury herself in work or a hot bath. But since this was her one chance to get the rest of her holiday shopping done, she made herself peruse the rest of the wonders on the remaining floors of Gump's.

Valentina was about to pay for her gifts when she saw the box by the register: a puzzle of Alcatraz.

She hadn't yet bought a gift to give to Smith at the cast and crew holiday party. The puzzle couldn't be more perfect. And as she asked the woman behind the counter to please wrap it up as well, she suddenly had to wonder - could gravity have as much to do with forever as it did with the first flush of falling for someone?

When she got home a little while later and unpacked the gifts she'd bought, she was surprised yet again...this time by layer upon layer of gorgeous tissue-wrapped silk and lace lingerie that Smith had somehow gotten the staff at Gump's to place in her shopping bags.

* * *

Valentina could have quite easily stayed hidden from Smith the next day. She could have stuck near Tatiana, who was filming scenes with alternating triplet newborns who had been brought in for the movie. She could have buried herself in email, could have even taken her computer home to get her work done in the peace and quiet of their rental house.

But she wasn't a coward, damn it...and she couldn't let Smith keep putting his life on hold while he waited for her to come around.

She found him in the screening room, sitting in the dark. His attention was so completely on the screen that she wasn't sure he even knew she'd come into the room, not until he reached out a hand for her and she took it without thinking.

In silence, they watched the scene from the first day of filming. She was shocked to think that she and Smith had still been strangers then, at least until she'd yanked him into his office to warn him away from her sister.

How, she found herself wondering, had there ever been a time when she hadn't known him? He'd become so important, so vital, to every single one of her days...and to one incredibly perfect night that she'd never, ever forget.

But the questions faded as she got lost in the scene all over again, forgetting everything except the drama playing out before her eyes. When the scene ended and the screen went to black, she had to tell him, "It's even better than I remembered. The two of you are so perfect together."

"Our characters are perfect together. But they aren't real," he reminded her as he tugged her closer to him in her chair on wheels in the dimly lit room. "You. Me. We're what's real, Valentina. How much longer are you going to make me wait for you?"

It had barely been three days since they'd made love. And yet, Valentina knew exactly why Smith was so frustrated with those seventy-two hours.

Every inch of her skin ached for his touch. When she woke from having a dream in which she was safe and warm in his arms, her heart broke as she'd reached for him and realized he wasn't there.

"That's why I came to find you," she told him, hating how shaky, how breathless her voice was.

It was getting harder and harder to get her brain and mouth to work around the desire - and the longing - that was billowing up like an oncoming thunderstorm all around them.

"The lingerie is beautiful. I can't possibly deny that, or lie to you by saying that I'm going to take any of it back to the store." She could feel her skin flush deeper with every word. "But the fact that I can't resist wearing the beautiful things you bought for me doesn't change anything."

He looked like he was having trouble breathing for a moment. The storm gathered in even closer as he finally choked out, "You're wearing them?"

Oh God, why had she told him that? She was trying to push him away, not draw him closer.

Wasn't she?