by Bella Andre
Jack had nearly walked into half-a-dozen walls after Mary left his house last night. He’d simply been too preoccupied thinking about her to pay attention to anything around him. The kiss they’d shared in his garage had blown his mind, but so had the cute way she’d valiantly tried not to laugh at him when he’d confessed how his nose had been broken. And then she’d amazed him all over again when she’d settled into pizza and beer with his partners as if she’d been hanging out with them since college.
At the same time, his chest ached a little bit when he thought about the way she was so intent on hiding their budding relationship. He understood why she was still wary of being with him, especially publicly, and why she continued to ask him to be patient with her. But all that didn’t stop him from wishing for more.
Today they were back in the studio to film a TV commercial for the campaign. The moment he walked in the door, Jack did a quick scan of the studio looking for Mary and saw her in conversation with a tall woman wearing all black, with thick, black-framed glasses.
My God, Mary was beautiful in the casual jeans and green sweater they’d all agreed she’d wear for the shoot, but not in any kind of artificial way. Her hair was loose and glossy, her mouth was the same shade of rose as when he’d kissed her, and her laughter could have easily fueled him through another week of sleepless nights.
Mary moved to go to her dressing room, and that’s when she saw him. She paused at the doorway and blinked hard several times, as if she was working to get her bearings again. Jack was glad to know he wasn’t the only one who got knocked off balance simply from being in the same room. Giving him a slightly flustered smile, she disappeared into her dressing room.
Although he wanted to go straight to Mary, Jack headed toward the director to introduce himself. “Thanks so much for working with us.” He held out his hand. “I’m Jack Sullivan, one of the engineers who created the Pocket Planner.”
“Georgina Callem.” The director had a firm handshake and a serious face as she took her time studying him. “I’ve known Mary for almost a decade. I would do anything for her.”
Jack didn’t check himself before saying, “So would I.”
The woman’s stern mouth cracked just the slightest bit. “Good. Now stay out of my way today, and I think we’ll get along just fine.”
No wonder Mary appreciated Georgina so much. He imagined that as a very successful model, she would have quickly grown tired of having people pandering to her. Clearly, she liked straight shooters.
Finally, Jack went to see the woman he couldn’t stop thinking about. “Good morning.”
She was standing in the middle of the room looking as if she’d forgotten why she’d come in here in the first place. But the light in her eyes as she turned to face him told him that she was as happy to see him as he was to see her.
“Good morning.”
The air around her shimmered differently today, and as he searched her face for clues, his heart leaped as he realized what it was: Much of the wariness she sometimes had around him seemed to be gone.
“Did you sleep all right after you got home last night?”
She seemed to war with herself before shaking her head. “No.”
“Neither did I.”
“The girls have all gone home for the holidays. It was too quiet.” Then, as her pretty skin flushed, she added, “But that wasn’t the real reason I couldn’t sleep.” Honest desire reflected in her eyes. “You are.”
Lord, he’d never wanted anything as badly as he wanted to pull her into his arms to kiss the fresh lipstick off her gorgeous mouth.
In a low voice, he said, “The only reason I’m not kissing you right now is because Georgina will skin me alive if I mess you up in any way. I’m not too proud to admit that she scares me.”
Mary’s lips curved up as she took a step closer anyway and reached behind him to close the dressing room door. “I’m really good with makeup. I can fix it.”
He would have had to be superhuman to resist that invitation and, since Jack was just a flesh-and-blood man, a split second later she was in his arms, and he was kissing her senseless.
Sweeter every time he tasted her, her scent and the feel of her soft curves in his arms had him nearly forgetting where they were as he spun them around so that she was pressed up against the door and her hands were in his on either side of her head.
Dragging his mouth from hers, he looked into her eyes to see they were soft and fuzzy with pleasure. “One of my brothers called this morning. Ethan is unexpectedly back in town for the weekend, and it turns out my brother Max and his wife and son will be here from Seattle, too. Unfortunately, William can’t make it in from the East Coast due to other commitments. Come with me after the shoot. I want you to meet them.”
“That’s very sweet of you to ask.” Her lips curved up into a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “But you’ve already been spending so much time with me. I’ll be fine on my own tonight.”
His hands reflexively tightened over hers as she tried to let go. “There could never be enough time with you.”
Her eyes widened and he silently cursed himself for saying too much too soon when the depth of his feelings was bound to scare her off instead of bring her closer. Somehow, he managed to slip his fingers from hers and take a step back to give her some personal space.
“It’s just that I wouldn’t want them to get the wrong impression,” she said softly, “or to think that I was leading you on, especially since I keep telling you we should keep our distance for the rest of the campaign. And then, at the same time, I can’t seem to stop asking you to kiss me.” Guilt flickered in her eyes.
“You’ve been completely honest with me from the first moment we met,” he reminded her. “And I’ve been honest with you, too.” He ran a rough hand through his hair. “So let’s be honest one more time, okay?” When she nodded, he said, “I’m not going to deny that I’d love to be able to tell them you’re my girlfriend. I hope to do that in the very near future. But, for tonight, I’m asking you to come meet my family as my friend. My very, very good friend whom I love to steal kisses from.”
This time when her lips curved up, her smile was entirely real. “I would love to meet your family.”
They were interrupted by a hard knock on the door that had them both jumping away from it a split second before it flew open. Georgina shot both of them an irritated look.
“You,” she said, pointing to Mary, “had better fix your hair and makeup, or people are going to think we’re shooting a love story rather than an electronics campaign. And you—” Jack was instantly reduced to feeling like a naughty little boy as the woman pointed out the door “—need to do a better job of staying out of my way today.”
Barely resisting the urge to salute, Jack caught Mary’s eye as the director stalked out, and he was glad to see her gaze filled with barely repressed laughter.
* * *
Later that evening as they stood on Jack’s brother’s doorstep, Mary couldn’t wait to meet Jack’s family so that she could find out where a man like him had come from. He wasn’t only intelligent and sexy and wonderfully straightforward, he was also a gentleman who walked her home and noticed when she was getting tired in front of the camera. She had been invited to a half-dozen glitzy entertainment industry Christmas parties and she hadn’t wanted to go to any of them, so Jack’s invitation was perfect in so many ways.
Ethan Sullivan opened the door to his tricked-out bachelor pad with a grin. He shook Jack’s hand, and Mary loved the easy way it automatically turned into a hug.
“Ethan, I’d like you to meet Mary.”
Just like Jack, Ethan was an extremely good-looking man. Tall, dark, and handsome obviously ran strong in the Sullivan gene pool. But where she was sure most women’s hearts probably beat a little faster for the wealthy man in the sharp, tailored suit, Mary felt nothing more than healthy female appreciation.
“It’s lovely to meet you, Ethan.”
“Same here. Come on in. Max and Claudia will be here soon with their little guy. They would have been here earlier, but they called and said something about a diaper emergency.”
“How long are you home this time?” Jack asked his brother while he poured drinks for them at the bar in the corner of the living room.
“Depends on how the deal I’m working on shakes out over the next couple of days.” Ethan handed Mary a glass of white wine. “You must do a lot of traveling.”
“I do. Or rather,” she amended, “I have in the past.”
He raised an eyebrow in question, his gaze moving between Mary and his brother. “Have you made a change of plans recently?”
“I’ve been planning to move away from being in front of the camera for a while now,” she explained. “San Francisco seems like the perfect place to set down some roots and explore a few new directions.”
She didn’t say that when she’d been looking at her options, she’d never for a moment thought that a man might factor into them. Because in the space of one short week, Jack Sullivan—and his incredible kisses—had started to change everything….
The sound of a laughing child came from outside Ethan’s front door. “I’ll get it,” Jack offered.
Jack and his brother from Seattle hugged and when they came into the living room, Jack was holding an adorable toddler. “Mary, this is Ian the Incredible.”
Her heart melted as she looked at the gorgeous, dark-haired toddler. No question about it, Ian Sullivan was going to be a heartbreaker when he grew up.
“Hi, Mr. Incredible. It’s nice to meet you.”
He looked at her with his big brown eyes and reached out to touch her hair. “You’re pretty.”
Mary was blushing at his very sweet comment, when Jack said, “You got that right, little guy.”
“I’m Claudia.” The petite blonde who held out her hand was pregnant and glowing. “And this is my husband, Max.”
Taking in the third specimen of Sullivan male perfection, Mary couldn’t help but think how her agent, Randy, would have salivated if he could see the brothers all together. As she shook everyone’s hand, Ian wriggled down out of Jack’s arms.
“We’re so glad you could be here with Jack tonight,” Claudia told her. “All this testosterone in one room can be a little overwhelming sometimes—even if,” she added in a lower voice, “it is nice to look at.”
Mary couldn’t hold back her laughter. This was all so normal, and she loved that Claudia wasn’t gushing over her fame as a model. Instead, she was treating her just as she would any other woman her brother-in-law might bring with him to a family gathering.
Relaxing, Mary said, “When are you due?”
Claudia put her hand over her stomach. “Four mon—” Before she could finish answering, she was shooting off across the room to pick Ian up again before he could knock over a vase. Seeing this near miss, Max told Ethan, “I’m going to put a few things away before they end up in pieces on the floor.”
“Sorry about running off in the middle of a sentence,” Claudia said to Mary when she came back, holding her son. “Look,” she told Ian as she put a soft blue bag down on the carpet, “Daddy brought in your toys.”
He gave Mary a blindingly cute smile. “Play?”
Clearly, thought Mary as she grinned back at him, the straightforward Sullivan gene had passed through to the next generation, along with the good looks.
“I thought you’d never ask, Mr. Incredible.”
Glad that she was wearing pants instead of a dress tonight, she sat down cross-legged on the floor with the toddler. He grabbed a puffy plastic book that she guessed did double duty for teething and baths, and climbed onto her lap.
“Read this.”
He smelled so good she wanted to bury her face in his soft hair. Instead, she read the title, “The Sunshine Princess and the Stinky Dog.”
The little boy in her lap held his nose and made a face. “He’s smelly.”
Mary’s heart turned over inside her chest. She’d never wanted to be one of those girls in her village who married in their teens and were pregnant nine months later. And yet, for all her amazing experiences traveling the world, she’d never had this.
She opened the book up and began to read. “One day the Sunshine Princess was sitting in her bedroom looking out the window at the gray and gloomy day.” For the next few minutes, while adult conversation went on around them, she and Ian got lost in the adventures of the stinky dog hiding from the princess who needed to give him a bath. On every page, Ian would point to something that made him laugh, and she was amazed by how much he noticed about the illustrations and the story.
The moment the story ended, he scrambled out of her lap, grabbed a cracker off the table and shoved it into his mouth in one bite. Mary was just starting to get up when Claudia gave her a hand.
“Thanks for reading to him. He really likes you.”
“It was my pleasure. And I really like him, too.”
“Ian is easy to like,” Claudia agreed. “Even being pregnant with him was easy. This pregnancy is, too, actually. I guess I’m one of those lucky ones, between Max, Ian and baby-on-the-way.” She flushed. “I have a tendency to gush.”
“If I were you, I’d be gushing, too.”
They watched Ian repeatedly jump up to try to reach a signed baseball Ethan had on display on a shelf, his face a picture of concentration. “He really takes after his father,” Claudia said with a laugh. “Easygoing until he decides he wants something. And then there’s no changing his mind.”
“That sounds familiar,” Mary murmured.
“Does it?” Claudia looked extremely pleased by that piece of information, but before she could say anything more, she was dashing across the room again to stop Ian from trying to climb up Ethan’s bookshelf as though it were a ladder.
Mary turned to pick up her glass of wine from the coffee table and found Jack looking at her. She’d seen desire on his face. She’d seen admiration and respect in his eyes. But until this moment, she’d never seen such warmth.
So much warmth that, if she didn’t know better, she would have said it looked like love.
Chapter Ten
“I never thought I’d see one of the world’s most beautiful fashion models sitting on the floor letting a kid drool all over her.” Ethan shot Jack an incredulous look. “How’d you meet her again?”
“Pure luck.” Jack still marveled over it. “Somewhere along the line, I must have done something right.”
“That’s just how I felt the day I met Claudia,” Max said, looking across the room at his wife with love in his eyes. “And I’ve felt that every day since.”
Jack had never tried to fight what he felt for Mary, not when it had been so strong and clear from that first moment they’d met in Union Square. But when he realized she was becoming more important to him than the work that had held his focus for over a decade, he thought he should at least try to apply to the two of them the same arguments and calculations that he had always lived by.
But it had taken him less than ten seconds of watching her read to his little nephew to realize that all the brilliant analysis in the world didn’t mean a damn thing when it came to love.
People had often called Jack Sullivan a genius. Now he’d finally prove they were right by being smart enough to listen to what was in his heart.
Jack wanted Mary as more than another business colleague. He wanted her as more than a stunningly beautiful woman who made his blood simmer.
He wanted her.
He wanted the woman who laughed so easily with a toddler. He wanted the woman whose skin was so soft, whose arms were so strong even as he tried to turn them to rubber with a kiss. He wanted the woman who possessed so much intelligence behind her shockingly beautiful face. He wanted the woman who took care of three young models so that their mothers would know they were safe.
Claudia put Ian into his arms. “It’s your turn to keep him out of trouble while I make good on
my promise to put together something for us all to eat tonight.”
Mary ran a hand over Ian’s soft, dark hair, then followed Claudia into the kitchen.
Mary drew Jack like a magnet, so he turned to Ian and asked, “Want to follow the pretty ladies to see what they have for us to munch on before dinner?”
Ian grinned at him, four sparkling white teeth in a mouthful of gums. “Want candy.”
Jack laughed and gave the little boy a kiss on his forehead. “Let’s see what goodies we can find hiding in Uncle Ethan’s kitchen.”
Maybe he should have been surprised to find Mary with her hands in flour and eggs at the kitchen counter while Claudia sat with her feet up on a chair, but he wasn’t. Yes, she was a gorgeous, successful model. But first and foremost, she was a woman who clearly enjoyed children and food.
“Mary offered to make fresh pasta,” Claudia told him as she sipped a club soda and relaxed deeper into her seat. “I assumed it would be too difficult to make at home, so I’ve always bought pasta at the store. Where did you learn to make it, Mary?”
Mary deftly brought the flour and eggs into a ball, then began to knead it on the kitchen counter. “I was barely older than Ian when my grandmother showed me how. Homemade pasta is a tradition in Italy.”
“Is that where you’re from? I thought I heard the slightest hint of an accent.”
“You should have seen how hard I worked to get rid of it when I moved to New York City.” She laughed at herself. “I was so desperate to look and sound like everyone else back then.”
“Are you kidding? I would have loved to have had an exotic accent like yours. I’m sure if I had,” Claudia joked, “the men would have been lining up around the block for me.”
“You’re beautiful,” Mary said in her unaffected manner. “I’m sure the men were already lining up.”
“Have I mentioned how much I like you yet?” Claudia shot a meaningful glance at Jack, one that he could see clearly asked, Have you convinced her to be yours yet?