Page 16
Author: Bella Andre
It was hard to think of this gorgeous woman next to him as family. Just as hard as it was to remember that she was even younger than his sister. Both really, really good reasons for Ian to have absolutely no business mentally stripping her dress off her.
But, Lord, even those extremely rational reasons couldn’t stop him from wondering just how soft her skin would be. . . and if she would taste as good as she smelled.
“We’ll be cousins by marriage. ”
They’d made it to the grove of oak trees by then, but neither of them could spot Mia. Ian looked out over the rolling, vine-covered hills. “She’s been to enough of these weddings to know pictures are about to be taken,” he mused aloud. “Where could she have gone?”
Tatiana touched his arm to get his attention. Their eyes met as undeniable electricity rushed between them. With the sun shining down over her, he could see her pulse beneath the skin on her neck. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d wanted a woman this much. Not even the woman he’d so foolishly married.
Pulling back her hand from his arm, the heat from her touch remained as she asked, “Do you think she could be with Ford Vincent?”
“Ford Vincent is here?”
“He slipped in the side door right before the ceremony started and sat next to Mia. Didn’t Marcus mention he was coming?” When Ian shook his head, Tatiana said, “Nicola seemed pretty thrilled that Ford was able to rearrange his schedule to make it. I kind of figured he might come in incognito like that—with a hat on—since people can get weird about musicians. ”
“Don’t people get weird about actors, too?”
“They do, but even the other engaged and married girls were freaking out last night about Ford coming today. He’s really popular. Even more than Smith is, I think. ”
Worry for his sister was the only thing that could possibly have made Ian forget his attraction to Tatiana. Because, damn it, Ian could only imagine what moves the really popular rock star was trying to pull on Mia. He knew his sister wasn’t exactly innocent, but though Ian had taught her enough martial arts as a teenager to make sure she could fend for herself, he couldn’t risk leaving her alone with some guy who thought he was God’s gift to women. . . and likely acted accordingly.
Where, Ian asked himself, would he go if he were a rock star intent on getting some from a pretty girl he’d just met at a wedding? Especially if he wanted to get her alone before the rest of the guests discovered that he’d arrived and started making a fuss over him?
Ian scanned the grounds with narrowed eyes. It didn’t take him long to realize that the outbuilding beside the barn would be the perfect place for an impromptu post-wedding tryst.
“Over there. ”
His long legs ate up the distance between the oak grove and the barn, but though Tatiana was at least a foot shorter and was wearing heels, she kept up with him. “Why do you think they’re in that small building?”
“I’m a guy. I know how to think like scum. ”
She reached for his arm again as if she were trying to slow him down. “Wait. What if she is in there with Ford? Maybe we shouldn’t just barge in on them like that. I mean, if I were trying to steal a little private time with someone, I know I’d be upset if my sister interrupted us. ”
It didn’t even occur to Ian that Tatiana could have a point, or that Mia could have made the choice to fool around with the rock star today. He yanked open the door to the storeroom so hard that it slammed back against the wall. . . to find exactly what he’d feared.
The bastard didn’t just have his hands all over Mia, but his mouth was on her too. Ian immediately saw red as any appreciation he might have had for the guy’s music disappeared.
“Get your filthy mouth off my sister. ”
Chapter Fifteen
Clearly, neither Mia nor the scumbag who was holding her had heard the door open or Tatiana’s gasp of shock at finding them wrapped around each other like that. The horrible picture of the guy pawing and drooling all over his little sister was seared into Ian’s brain. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to forget it.
“Ian? Tatiana?” Mia’s skin was flushed, and her eyes remained slightly unfocused. Until, suddenly, she seemed to realize just how bad things looked.
He was halfway to lunging across the storeroom to wrap his hands around Ford’s throat, when Mia pulled out of the guy’s arms and grabbed Ian. With surprising strength, she dragged Ian away from both the storeroom and the guy whose face he wanted to rearrange with his fists.
“I can’t believe you just did that!”
She looked furious and embarrassed, but Ian was so lost in his haze of fury that he couldn’t stop himself from shooting back, “I can’t believe you were in there with that scumbag!” He worked to pull away from her grip. “You and I are going to have a long talk about just what the hell you were doing later. After I tear him to pieces. ”
“No!” She yanked harder on his suit jacket, until they both heard a seam begin to tear. “I can handle him myself. ”
“That was handling him?” He cursed, one harsh word that landed between them like a stone. “Did you want him to kiss you?”
She paused just a little too long before sighing and saying, “You know what, I actually think I did. ”
“Damn it, Mia, it’s my job to protect you. You’ve got to let me—”
“If you do one more thing to embarrass me like that again, I’ll never forgive you. ”
His sister had always been full of fire, but he’d never seen her quite this worked up.
“You know I’d never do anything to hurt you,” he tried to explain in a calm, reasonable voice, “but I can’t let anyone else hurt you, either. And I’ve known guys like him. They’re too rich, too famous, to think they need to play by anyone else’s rules. You’ve got to understand that. ”
Now that they were standing behind a large hedge of roses, she’d relaxed her grip on his jacket. “I do understand. And you’ve been the best big brother ever, but what happened between me and Ford isn’t something I want anyone to know about until I’ve figured out exactly how I feel about him. This reaction you’re having is exactly why I didn’t tell you about him five years ago. ”
Ian’s blood pressure shot all the way back up as he asked, “You didn’t just meet him here today? What the hell, Mia? How could you keep a secret like this from me?”
“Because if you’re acting like this when I’m a twenty-eight-year-old woman who runs her own very successful business, how do you think you would have reacted five years ago if I’d come to you and said, ‘Guess what, big brother, I’m dating a rock star. Can I have your blessing?’ Would you have actually given it to me?”
He had to admit, “I would have hunted him down. ”
“Exactly. And the thing is, you’ve always let me make my own mistakes in business, but never with love. ” She put her hand on his arm more softly now. “I know you don’t ever want me to get hurt, but what if falling in love sometimes means risking enough to royally screw up a few times along the way?”
Intellectually, Ian knew his sister was an adult. But there was a big difference between respecting her business acumen. . . and accepting that she could lose her heart to some douchebag without his being able to protect her.
“So you’ve been together with him for five years without any of us knowing?”
“No. It was just one week. I didn’t see him again until a couple of days ago. ”
“What does he want now that he’s back?” She’d never been able to lie to him, and he knew how difficult it must have been for her to keep her relationship with Ford a secret for so long. “Apart from the obvious,” he added in frustration.
“A fresh start. ”
Ian wanted answers to a dozen other questions, but there was really only one that mattered. “Are you in love with him?”
His sister sighed again, and there was s
o much pain in the sound and in the expression on her face that Ian put his arms around her.
“Once upon a time I thought I was, and then I was sure that I wasn’t. ” She laughed against his chest, but there was no humor in it, only frustration. She pulled back to look up at him. “Have you ever wanted to punch and kiss someone at the same time?”
He grimaced. “Please don’t remind me of that kiss again if you want me to keep my fists from changing the entire shape of his face. ”
“Does that mean you’ve agreed to stay on your side of the ring today?”
This time he was the one sighing. “For today,” he agreed against his better judgment. “But no promises come twelve-oh-one. ”
She laid her cheek against his chest and snuggled against him the way she always had from the time she was a baby. When their mother hadn’t been able to get her to stop crying as a little girl, all Claudia Sullivan had to do was hand Mia over to Ian and she’d immediately settle.
They’d always been so close that he hated to think she’d kept something from him because she thought he couldn’t handle it. Then again, he’d never really talked with her about his marriage, had he? Both of them had kept secrets from each other, and even now that she’d told him hers, he was still keeping his.
Forcing down his frustration at not being able to deal with Ford the way he wanted to, Ian gently brushed her hair back from her forehead. “Looks like they’re ready for pictures with you now. ”
Mia stepped back and smoothed a hand over her dress. “Do I look okay?”
“You’re absolutely beautiful, as always, little girl. ”
“And you’re devastatingly handsome, as always, big brother. ” As the two of them headed toward the area where the wedding photos were being taken, she said, “I wonder what Tatiana is thinking after what she saw?”
Damn it, he’d left her behind with Ford. But when he turned to look back at the storeroom, he didn’t see either of them nearby.
“Why were you and Tatiana together, anyway?” Mia wanted to know.
“She was looking for you. ”
He thought he’d been careful to speak about Tatiana with absolutely no inflection, but when Mia shot him a sidelong glance heavy with curiosity, he knew he’d blown it.
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she? And so nice I keep forgetting to be awed by what a great actress she is. Hey,” she said when he didn’t immediately respond, “wouldn’t it be amazing if Valentina married Smith and then you and Tatiana—”
“She’s not my type. ”
Mia actually laughed at that one. “Are you kidding? She’s everyone’s type. Heck, I’m not the least bit into women, and I can barely keep from drooling over her every time we’re together. ” She patted his hand as if he shouldn’t blame himself for already being a lost cause. “I want to see you happy, too, you know. ”
With that, she pressed a kiss to his cheek, and left him to go be in the pictures.
* * *
“Any chance you can fill me in on what just happened there?” Ford asked.
Tatiana had a feeling she looked just as shell-shocked as Ford. Not because she’d been particularly stunned to see him and Mia kissing, but because she had wanted to pull Ian Sullivan into some other private room on the property and kiss him just like that.
She’d never felt that kind of electric attraction to anyone before. His eyes were such a deep brown she’d gotten lost in them, even as she’d felt as though he was looking all the way down into her soul. Men had always come a distant second to acting. She rarely dated, and when she did, she often wished she was alone with a script or spending time with her sister. But for the first time in her life, she understood the kind of desire that could drive people to do crazy things. . . like wanting to head back out into the throngs of wedding guests to find Ian again so that she could give him a kiss that would, hopefully, blow both of their minds.