Chapter Twenty-seven

Valentina was sitting with Lori in the waiting room when Smith emerged from Sophie's room. Both of them immediately jumped up as Lori asked, "How is she?"

Smith smiled. "She's great. Better than great. The contractions are pretty rough," he said as he flexed his hand to try to get the bones back in the right position, "but I don't think it will be long now."

Chase's wife Chloe was holding onto her baby daughter in the waiting room, clearly close enough to her own birth experience to sympathize. "God, I swear I can feel her pain even from here."

Baby Emma chose that moment to reach out and grab Heather's ponytail with a happy giggle. Everyone laughed along with the baby, who looked around at her big family with glee.

Zach's fiancee took the baby when Emma reached out for her and together Heather and Zach pressed kisses to each of her soft cheeks so that she giggled even louder as she really got a good hold on Heather's ponytail.

But even though Smith absolutely adored his little niece, he couldn't take his eyes off Valentina. Every moment he'd been with Sophie and Jake, he'd been thinking of her. Now, even with his entire family surrounding them, it was as if they were the only two people in the room.

For the first time in his entire life, he was so overcome with love he simply couldn't get any other part of his body to work, save his heart, which beat only for her.

"Do you feel better now?"

"Yes," he said, both for the knowledge that Sophie was in good hands...and for the very, very sweet knowledge that Valentina loved him.

Conversation flowed around them, but Smith was happy just holding Valentina in his arms. She was quiet and warm against him. A short while later, his mother burst out of the double doors with the biggest smile he'd ever seen on her face.

"She did it!" Her eyes overflowed with happy tears. "Oh, they're so beautiful. Sophie and Jake can't wait for all of you to meet their little girl and boy."

Mary Sullivan was one of the most even-keeled women on the planet. She'd had to be to deal with eight rambunctious children, but for the first time ever she almost seemed unable to pull herself back together.

Marcus and Lori were the closest and they flanked her on either side as she said, "They named their daughter Jackie, after Jack."

Smith felt his own eyes go damp at the tribute to his father, and was glad when Valentina moved even closer to him. This moment wouldn't be nearly as good - or anywhere near complete - without her there to share it with him.

"And they named their son..." Mary looked at Smith and smiled through her happy tears. "They named him after you, Smith."

Jesus. He'd never thought how much something like that would mean to him, but now he knew.

It meant the world.

"Oh, Smith," Valentina said as she looked up at him with eyes that were so soft and warm they took his breath away just as much as hearing his sister had named her son for him. "That's so sweet."

Their mother wasn't the only one sniffling now and when Marnie, the obstetrician who had also delivered Chase and Chloe's daughter Emma earlier in the year, came out, she graciously accepted their thanks for another delivery gone well.

"Sophie and Jake were the ones doing all the work, but I'd be lying if I said a bottle of bubbly would be refused," she said with a wink in Marcus's direction. As everyone laughed, she said, "They're all cleaned up and ready to meet their aunts and uncles now, although two or three at a time should be more than enough chaos for our nursing staff back here."

Marcus, the oldest Sullivan, took a silent vote from his siblings before turning to Smith and saying, "Go meet Smith Junior and Jackie. But remember, the rest of us are waiting."

Smith pulled Valentina through the double doors before she could protest that she wasn't family. Of course, he'd also been banking on the fact that she clearly had a thing for babies.

There were scrubs and hand sanitizer waiting for them both outside Sophie's room and he had to press a kiss to the back of Valentina's neck when she automatically turned to have him tie the cotton strings together in the back. He loved the little shivers that moved through her as she leaned back into his arms for a moment.

But neither of them could wait another second to meet the two new additions to the family, so they quickly broke apart and stepped into Sophie and Jake's room.

A soft sound of wonder fell from Valentina's lips as she got her first look at the newborns. It shouldn't have been easy to tell the little baby girl from the boy, but there was something undoubtedly male about Smith and sweetly female about Jackie.

Smith's hands were already outstretched by the time he made it across the room to his sister's side. She didn't hesitate to place her son into his hands.

"He's perfect, Sophie."

Valentina was still standing by the doorway when Jake said, "Would you like to hold Jackie, Valentina?"

She was clearly overwhelmed by the offer. "I would love to," she said softly, before finally saying, "Congratulations, they're absolutely beautiful. I'm so happy for both of you."

Smith could barely take his eyes off his little nephew, but when Jake handed Jackie to Valentina, he was beyond glad he didn't miss the moment when she smiled down at the baby. She looked as open, as joyous, as she did whenever she was in his arms.

A moment later, she looked up and her gaze connected with his. This time Smith was the one with tremors moving through him.

Some people would say that as a movie star he'd already had everything. But he hadn't. Not until Valentina. And now, he wanted it all. Not just Valentina's love, not just a promise of forever in his arms and with her by his side, but family and babies and laughter and tears. He wanted to share every precious moment with her, every single one that really mattered.

Neither of them noticed the look Sophie and Jake gave each other or the pleasure on Sophie's face at the realization that she was getting to witness her beloved big brother finally giving his heart completely away.

Valentina quickly turned her attention back to the soft little package in her arms and Smith did the same, both of them murmuring how pretty and handsome and strong the babies were.

The obstetrician knocked on the door, and poked her head in with a grin. "Just want to let you know, your other brothers and sister are about to mutiny out there if they don't get some face time with the little ones soon."

Smith very reluctantly relinquished the baby boy to his sister. "You're amazing, Soph. Anything you need," he looked at Jake, too, "I want you both to call me. Day or night."

Valentina clearly was having just as hard a time letting go of the sweet little bundle in her arms. "Bye-bye, pretty girl." Soon, however, she gave the baby back to her father and hugged both Jake and Sophie.

Her eyes still held all of that softness as he put his arm around her and they headed out of the room to let his siblings know Sophie, Jake, Smith, and Jackie were ready for more visitors. Lori went next, along with Marcus and Nicola, and even though Smith loved spending time with his family, he also knew there were other things he needed more right now.

He pulled Valentina toward the exit.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Smith pulled Valentina out of his car and his mouth was on hers less than a heartbeat later and then she was in his arms and he was kicking the car door shut and carrying her into his house, just as he had their first night together after Alcatraz.

His kiss was full of passion, but also something so soft and sweet that she melted in his arms as she wound her arms around his neck and kissed him back just as passionately. Every time she'd been with Smith, she'd wanted him, but never more than in this moment.

Want. Need. Desire.

None of those words, none of those emotions, were big enough to hold everything she felt for Smith.

For his family.

For the way they'd included her in one of their most special moments.

And, most of all, for the chance to hold a miracle in her arms.

Smith laid her down on the bed, never breaking their kiss, not even for a second, as his hands found the zipper on her skirt and pulled both the metal teeth and then the fabric from her hips. With only her panties and the thigh-high stockings he'd bought for her covering her lower body, she wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him in tighter. Moments later, Smith slipped open the buttons on her blouse and pushed the silky fabric open. The front clasp on her bra was next and then her sensitive flesh was in his hands and she was arching into the warm scratch of his palms and fingertips on a gasp of pleasure.

Moment by moment, her skin grew more heated, her bones seeming to liquefy with every kiss, with every caress, with every thrust of his clothed h*ps into hers. And yet, instead of their kiss growing more out of control, Smith's mouth gentled on hers.

Amazingly, the whisper of his lips over hers only intensified her emotions, her needs, her passions, so that by the time he finally lifted his head to gaze down at her, she didn't have a prayer of holding back anything from him, even if she'd wanted to.

"The babies, Smith." Her mouth felt swollen and hot from his kisses and she sighed at the extreme pleasure of it. "Weren't they just the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?"

"They were beautiful," he agreed in a low voice that rumbled over her skin and brought up thrill bumps over every inch of her. He lifted a hand to her cheek and brushed it over her full lower lip, which trembled at his touch. "And so are you."

Holding the babies in her arms had completely erased their horrible morning with photographers and fights from which she'd been so sure she and Smith could never recover.

But, amazingly, they had.

Later, they would figure everything else out. Now, they would celebrate new life...and their love for each other.

This time she was the one pressing her mouth to his skin, first to the short, dark stubble that covered the lower half of his jaw, then to the strong, steady beat of his heart at the side of his neck. She'd never let herself be sure of a man before, and Smith was the last man on earth with whom she should have been looking for that certainty.

But how could she even think of looking anywhere else when he was all she could see?

She was so happy for him, you'd have thought it was her own sister giving birth, even though she'd only met Sophie a couple of times. Now, even with Valentina's nearly na**d body wrapped around him, heated and ready for anything he wanted, he didn't make a move to take off his clothes. He simply continued to stare down at her.

All she could hear was the sound of her heart - and his - beating in time with each other.

And all she knew was that she was deeply, truly, madly in love with him.

Not because he was the most physically beautiful man she'd ever known. Not because he was famous or rich. Not even because of the way she felt when he was kissing her, touching her, making her cry out his name in pleasure.

But because of the way he loved his family, his mother, his sister - and now, the babies - with every last piece of his heart.

Heat and wild desire had always pulled them together, even when she'd tried so desperately to stay away. Now, there was so much she wanted to tell him, and yet all that she could manage was his name on a whisper.

"Smith."

"I love you, too."

They shared a kiss full of joy and passion, happiness and desire - everything she'd always wished for, but had never truly believed she would ever have. Dreams, reality, passion, affection, all melded into the perfect sensual combination as she began to strip him of his shirt and then his pants and boxers. They made short work of the rest of their clothes until they were na**d and reaching for each other the second Smith put on protection.

Together, they tumbled into each other, strong and soft, wild and steady, as he moved into her in one beautiful thrust. She urged him deeper as she arched into him, her head falling back against the pillows while he ran his hands down her back to cup her h*ps and pull her tighter against him. Everything she gave he took, everything she craved he offered, as finally, neither of them held anything back.

In the exact moment that Valentina began to crest the wave, Smith took her mouth in a kiss so soft, so sweet, so full of love, that the tears she never let herself shed began to slide down her cheeks one after the other, faster still as the tremors of release wracked them both. The tears were still falling as Smith began to press soft kisses over her closed eyelids, her cheeks, her chin, everywhere that was streaked with wetness.

And when the waves of pleasure finally settled down, Valentina knew that she had never been so sated, so well loved in all her life...or so shocked by what had happened to herself while in Smith's arms.

A part of her felt born again, as if she'd been baptized by her own tears. But those same tears had been her last defense against the pain she'd refused to acknowledge. Even her own sister had never really seen her cry.

Only Smith.

Finally, when he'd kissed away every last hint of her tears, he lifted his head to look down at her. He didn't say anything, but he didn't need to when she could read everything in his eyes: the love, along with the lingering desire fueled anew by the soft kisses he'd never stopped giving her.

"I love you," she said, the first time she'd ever said the words directly to him.

As joy suffused every inch of Smith's face and as she said it again and again between his kisses, Valentina realized that as amazing as it had felt to hear Smith say "I love you," it was not only a million times better to say it to him...it was also easy. Sweet.

And oh-so-perfect.

As she whispered the three little words she'd been so afraid to even feel against his mouth, he whispered it back before he curled her into his arms, her head on his chest, her legs still entwined with his.

All she wanted to do was close her eyes and rest for a short while, knowing Smith was there with her to hold her all through the night. She didn't know how many hours it had been since they'd abruptly left the set, and for as long as it had taken Sophie to have her babies, Valentina hadn't cared about the responsibilities she was ignoring. But now that it was just her own pleasure on the line, didn't she have to drag herself back into the real world? No matter that it was the very last thing she wanted, that all that seemed to matter anymore was Smith and the joy she'd felt every single moment she'd ever spent with him.

As if he could read her mind, Smith pulled her closer, and said, "The world will keep spinning without us for a little while."

The last thing Valentina felt was the press of his mouth against her forehead as she finally let herself lean all the way into him...and dropped every last defense around her heart as he whispered, "I love you so much," one more time before sleep claimed her.