From This Moment On (8 page)

She’d screwed up big time. And it was even worse because she hadn’t even gotten the pleasure she wanted to go along with it...just the smashed pride
.

She had to ask, “How bad are they?” even though she really didn’t want to know.

“Fortunately,” Sandra had said, “they’re amateur pics. Both of your faces are too blurry for anyone to bother running them, but you might want to be more careful in the future
."

No kidding. After narrowly dodging the bullet like that, she had vowed to be the most careful person on the planet from now on
.

And yet, as they ran through the complicated choreography again and again, she still couldn’t stop flashing back to her night—and morning—with Marcus.

The lyrics to
One Moment
weren’t helping at all
.

All it took was one moment

One look in your eyes

One taste of your lips

To know that you were the one

The afternoon she’d written the song, she’d been listening to Cole Porter’s
From This Moment On
. Everything had still been sunshine and butterflies in her life and she’d been so lucky so far that she’d believed true love was just another beautiful gift waiting around the corner. She’d written
One Moment
as an ode to that future love and had even incorporated samples from the classic Cole Porter tune. Her label had loved it, calling it fresh and catchy. It helped that they also owned the licenses to the classic Cole Porter songs and hoped sales of those songs would take off as well.

Of course, once everything had busted apart with Kenny, she hadn’t wanted to record the song. She’d felt like a fool for ever believing in one moment, in one kiss, in one touch that could change everything. But her label insisted it should be her first single. And she knew they were right, that she couldn’t let Kenny and what he’d done remove the joy she got from her music, so she’d recorded the song, putting every ounce of her heart and soul into it
.

But even though she’d hurdled that first huge bump months ago, today she found herself hitting a new one.

She couldn’t stop thinking of Marcus every time they got to the chorus
.

She couldn’t stop seeing his face, couldn’t stop feeling his hands holding hers.

And she couldn’t stop reeling from his kiss.

Her dancers had been given a thirty-minute coffee break before coming back to put in another hour or so to try and pull it together. She knew how frustrated they all were with her. She’d never planned on being a dancer, hadn’t trained at it like they had, but she’d always enjoyed moving her body, and had picked up a handful of pretty good moves over the years.

Not that anyone would know it from watching her today.

Even Lori, her fun—and extremely positive—choreographer seemed frustrated
.

The sound of Lori’s laughter drew Nicola’s attention across the room. Earlier in the day, Lori had asked if she could invite her brother to observe for a bit. Nicola had been a public figure for long enough that she wasn’t particularly concerned about one more person watching her
.

She could see how much Lori adored her brother by the way she lit up while she was talking to him. Not that Lori was ever un-lit, of course, with a ready laugh and a wicked glint in her eyes.

“Good news,” Lori said as she walked back across the large dance studio with a smile. “My big brother is heading over now.”

“Great,” Nicola said, trying to sound enthusiastic despite how low she’d been feeling all day.

But Lori was way too perceptive. “Seriously, Nico, you should tell me if you don’t want him here. I can see him later.”

Nicola shook her head and forced herself to smile wider—and more convincingly. “I really don’t mind at all.”

The other woman frowned. “Is everything okay?”

“I know I’ve been sucking today. Sorry about that.”

Lori reached out and put her hand on Nicola’s arm. “No, you’re doing great. But you seem kind of...” She paused. “...well, sad, I guess.”

Nicola knew better than to talk to someone she was working with about her personal life, but Lori seemed different than most of the people Nicola worked with. Nicer. More honest, somehow.

Kind of like Marcus.

Even though she should keep her mouth shut, she found herself saying, “I met a guy last night.”

Lori’s eyes widened. “A hot guy?”

Nicola was glad for another chance to smile. “Yes. Very hot.” She felt compelled to explain, “But nothing happened. Except for me falling asleep before we even kissed.”

“Oh,” Lori said, clearly caught off guard. “How’d he take it?”

“Great, actually. He made me coffee this morning.” And then told her she was way too young and sweet for him.

“Coffee? That’s all?”

She sighed. “Actually, he kissed me. Just once.”

“And?”

“And it was awesome.”

“Awesome is good, right?”

“Not when it’s also goodbye,” Nicola told her.

Lori looked confused. “Wait, so he kissed you and then you were done?”

“Yup. And for some reason the whole thing is messing with my head. I’m really sorry, Lori, I’m not usually like this. Especially over some guy I just met and will never, ever see again.”

When Lori didn’t say anything for several long seconds, Nicola began to panic. What had she been thinking, sharing all of her secrets with someone who was still, for all intents and purposes, a stranger? Hadn’t she been burned hard enough to know better?

“Look, I shouldn’t have said anything.”

Before she could finish her sentence, Lori was throwing her arms around her and saying, “I so get it. Guys suck.” She looked a little guilty when she pulled back. “There’s something I should have told you before now. I’m related to Smith Sullivan
."

“Oh. Wow.” Nicola had met Smith at a few industry events in the past couple of years. Something jogged in her memory and she asked, “If you’re his sister, then don’t you have like a dozen siblings?”

Lori laughed. “Not quite. There are eight of us. Although I’m sure it felt more like twelve to my mother.”

Nicola didn’t understand something. “Why didn’t you want me to know that?”

“I’d hate for anyone to hire me because of who he is.”

“I would never do that.”

“I know that now,” Lori told her. “I’m sorry I wasn’t more forthright.”

After last night, Nicola was the queen of not being forthright. “Don’t worry about it, Lori. It’s really no big deal who you’re related to.”

Lori grinned and then said, “If the guy you met last night didn’t get how freaking awesome you are—and how lucky he was that you even let him kiss you—then he doesn’t deserve to be with you anyway.”

Nicola found herself blinking back tears. People were always nice to her. Because she was a star, because she had power in an industry that thrived on power, because they wanted something that they thought she could give them.

But people were very rarely nice to her
just because.

The doorbell to the studio rang and Nicola assumed her dancers were back from their break. She stood up and walked over to the barre on the mirrored wall to stretch before they began again.

Her head was down over her kneecap when she heard Lori squeal with joy. “Yay, you’re here!”

Nicola smiled and was about to lift her head to take a look at the man Lori clearly idolized, when she heard a voice that resonated through every cell in her body. “So this is where the magic happens, huh?”

Oh God
.

How could Lori’s big brother be Marcus?

And who knew that it would turn out to be a really, really big deal who Lori was related to, after all?

Chapter Six

No.

No fucking way.

Marcus stiffened beneath his sister’s hug as he made eye contact with the only other person in the room.

Nicola.

What the hell was she doing here?

He could tell from the way she was dressed in a cut-off tank top and tight short-shorts that she was a dancer. It was just his luck that she’d turned out to be one of Lori’s dancers.

Only, what should have been bad luck...wasn’t.

Because no matter how many times he’d told himself that walking away from her that morning had been the right thing to do, he hadn’t yet been able to make himself believe it. Not when his body was utterly at odds with his brain
.

And not when he’d wanted to take their one kiss and turn it into an all day—and all night—tangle of naked limbs and heat.

He’d known how beautiful her shape was last night in that leather dress, but she was much closer to naked now, with only the thinnest layers of cotton and Spandex covering her beautiful curves.

And—
oh Jesus
—was that a bead of sweat trailing down her chest between her breasts?

Lori pulled back in his arms and he forced himself to drag his gaze away from Nicola. His baby sister looked up at him, studying him more carefully than usual
.

“Were your meetings okay today? You look a little tense.”

He worked to keep his attention on his sister rather than the shockingly beautiful woman by the wall of mirrors. “They were fine.”

Lori frowned at his curt response. She’d always been fascinated with the wine industry and he usually shared the details of his business with her. Not just because she was interested, but because she had good ideas. If she hadn’t been such a great dancer and choreographer, he’d have hired her straight out of college.

“Something’s wrong.” She didn’t say it as a question. “Later. I’ll make you tell me later.” And then she dropped one of his hands and used the other to pull him toward Nicola, who’d been watching them warily. “Come here. I can’t wait to introduce you to Nico.”

Nico?

Something flashed in his mind, a hint that he should know something he’d been missing since last night, but he was so off-kilter from seeing the woman he’d been reluctantly fantasizing about all day, that he couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

“Nico, this is my brother Marcus.”

Nicola—Nico didn’t sound quite right to him, even though his sister said it with such confidence—was gripping the wooden barre in front of the mirror so tightly he could see her knuckles turning white. Her face was on the white side, too, and she wasn’t doing a damn thing to erase the horror on her face at seeing him again.

Guilt hit him square across the chest. She’d put herself out there by asking him for another night and he’d turned her down cold. Apart from the kiss, which had been anything but cold.

And now, here he was, barging in on her dancing gig for a big pop star.

Seeing him had to be the very last thing she wanted.

Lori was looking between the two of them with an utterly confused expression. Knowing he’d better break the ice—and fast—before his sister clued in to just how wrong things were, he held out his hand and said, “It’s nice to meet you.”

Nicola stared down at his hand for a long moment, before looking back at him with those big eyes that had been haunting him all day. Her movements were jerky, almost robotic, as she finally pushed away from the barre and put her hand in his.

“Hi.” She cleared her throat as she yanked her hand away. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

The silence hung heavy and thick between them before he asked, “So, how long have you two been working together?”

Lori shot him another strange look. “You know I’ve been working on this video shoot for the past couple of days.”

Okay then, Nicola must be one of her new dancers. But before he could ask any other questions or try to make small talk to set Nicola more at ease, a large group started coming in through the doors. He recognized most of them as men and women Lori had worked with in the past and they raised their hands in greeting
.

“Got any vino for us, Marcus?”

He smiled, but it didn’t feel right on his face, not with Nicola still looking at him like his appearance was totally and completely unwelcome
.

“I’ll make sure there’s a case waiting for you guys at the end,” he promised. He turned back to Lori. “Looks like you’re getting back to it. I’ll get out of your way.”

She put her hand on his arm. “I wanted you to stay and watch.” She looked at Nicola. “It’s still okay if he hangs out, isn’t it?”

Nicola licked her lips, looking uncertain. And then she smiled, a lifting of her lips that looked about as genuine as the smile he’d just given the dancers
.

“Of course.” Her lips moved into a wider smile, almost a grimace. “He should see the magic you’ve created, Lori.” Finally, she looked back at him, their gazes locking together and holding for a long moment before she said, “Your sister is amazing.”