Bella Andre - Just To Be With You

“Surely you can just review your notes.”

In only a day and a half, she’d nearly filled up her notebook with her thoughts and impressions of what it took to be a successful CEO of a big company. But while her notebook had been open on her lap this afternoon, all she’d managed was a jagged blue line as her pen skidded across—and off—the page.

“I really just wanted to listen this afternoon.”

“Ah,” he said, nodding again, “that explains why you had your face resting on your hands and your eyes closed. So that you could listen better.”

“Okay,” she finally admitted, “I might have lost the thread of the meeting at some point—” Like the beginning one. “—but I’m sure no one but you noticed.”

“Lost the thread,” he echoed, a small smile playing on his lips. “That’s an interesting way of talking about falling asleep in a meeting.”

“Falling asleep?” She felt her face flush and wished, for the first time, that she was as good an actor in real life as she was in front of the cameras. But unfortunately, her brain was sleepy enough that it continued to let her mouth run amok. “That’s crazy.”

He shrugged as if he were going to let it go, but just as relief came over her, he sneakily hit her with, “You were snoring.”

“I don’t snore.” Ian had to be joking, right?

The small grin he gave her was so surprisingly intimate that it almost felt as if he’d reached out to caress her skin. “You sounded just like a sleepy little tiger.”

The goose bumps she got from the caress of his voice were no match for her chagrin as she dropped her face into her hands. “How embarrassing.” She felt horrible that the presenter must have known how bored she’d been, because if Ian had noticed her snoring, surely everyone else in the room had, too. “I feel like I should apologize to—” Ugh, what were their names?

“Bill and Francesca?”

“Right, Bill and Francesca.” God, she was so tired her brain felt like it was folding in on itself. “I’d hate for them to think I thought their presentation was boring.”

“Didn’t you?”

“Can you ask me that again after I’ve had a good night’s sleep? Because by the time you dropped me off last night, it was all I could do just to take off my clothes before falling into bed.”

Just that quickly, with one teeny-tiny little mention of stripping off her clothes, the air in the room shifted from teasing to desire.

Again, it occurred to her that if she’d had more experience with men—any experience at all, really—she would have known how to capitalize on a moment like this. Surely, other women must know how to turn a heated moment into an equally heated kiss. Or more. Because, as he stared so hungrily at her mouth that her lips began to tingle from nothing more than the intensity of his gaze, she could have sworn that Ian wanted her just as much as she wanted him.

Unfortunately, it was just as clear that he was not going to be the one to make the first move.

In the day and a half that Tatiana had spent shadowing Ian, she’d seen just how well he treated his employees and the companies he worked with. She’d witnessed time and again his focus, his determination, his intense drive to win. She’d seen him soften around his family at the wedding in Napa, especially the little ones. No question about it, Ian Sullivan was a good, strong man with a great family behind him.

Which was why she still didn’t understand why he was so careful not to let anyone in too close. Especially her.

He was so careful around her, in fact, that apart from the attraction he didn’t always manage to hide, she didn’t have any idea what he really thought of her. And now she’d gone and fallen asleep in the middle of one of his meetings.

Way to impress, Tatiana.

“Tatiana, it’s okay.”

“No,” she said with a morose shake of her head, “it’s not. I came here to shadow you and stay in the background, not to embarrass you in front of your employees.”

He pushed away from his desk, moving toward her instead of away for what felt like the very first time. “I fell asleep in a meeting once.”

She couldn’t stop her mouth from falling open. “No way.”

“Way,” he said with a full-fledged grin that was so sudden, and so beautiful, that it snuck up on her and pretty much stole away the last part of her heart that he hadn’t already claimed. “And I’m afraid I snore a heck of a lot louder than you do.”

She couldn’t help but laugh then, not just at the image of the perfect and unflappable Ian Sullivan falling asleep in a meeting, but because he’d obviously told her the story to make her feel better about her own gaffe. Why would he do something like that if he didn’t care about her, at least a little bit?

And when his laughter joined with hers, it was the sweetest sound Tatiana had ever heard.

She’d seen him smile several times during each workday, usually when one of his family members called. Clearly, they were all thrilled that he was back home. And though she knew firsthand just how crowded his schedule was, she’d also heard for herself how patient he’d been on the phone with his cousin Gabe’s eight-year-old daughter when she’d asked him some questions for a project she was doing about the Sullivan family tree.

Maybe it was the lack of sleep that had her suddenly throwing her inhibitions to the wind, or maybe it was just how good it felt to laugh with him, but she suddenly needed him to know, “You have the most wonderful smile, the most infectious laugh. I could listen to it all day.”

For a moment, she could have sworn he was going to close the rest of the distance between them and give in to what had been growing more inevitable with every second they were together. But instead, he abruptly looked away from her and frowned. Taking one step back, and then another and another, until he was nearly at his desk, she thought it looked like he was smelling something that bothered him.

By the time the unmistakable scent of Chanel No. 5 hit Tatiana, she realized Ian’s ex-wife was standing in the doorway.

Chelsea Adrienne was even more stunning in person that she’d been in her pictures online...and clearly didn’t notice that Tatiana was in the room as she swept toward Ian in a very expensive couture dress.

Bethany was only a couple of steps behind her.

“Ian, I’m sorry, I tried to tell Ms. Adrienne that you were busy—”

“It’s all right, Bethany.”

His assistant shot Tatiana a worried look before leaving the office and closing the door behind her with a soft click.

“To what do I owe this pleasure, Chelsea?”

Just moments ago he’d been full of so much warmth and humor. Now, both were gone as he regarded his ex-wife the way one did an animal that might strike at any second.

“You closed the deal with Amando’s two weeks ago.”

“And now you’ve come to offer your congratulations?” His voice was so carefully modulated that although Tatiana thought it might be sarcasm, she wasn’t quite sure.

“You began those negotiations when we were married. In fact, I was the reason you even knew about the Italian shoemaker in the first place when you saw how many pairs I had in my closet.” She posed as though she’d reached the end of a runway before telling him, “I want my share of the deal.”

Tatiana had watched Ian carefully for the past couple of days, and while it had been impossible not to see the walls he put up around himself, she’d never seen his gaze turn this cold. But there was something else there, too, something worse even than the coolness.

Something that looked to Tatiana like guilt.

Still, when he moved behind his desk, opened a drawer, and pulled out a checkbook, Tatiana nearly gasped in surprise.

“Here.” He gave Chelsea the check, then pushed away from his desk. “My next meeting is about to begin. I’ll walk you out.”

His ex glanced at the check to make sure the figure he’d written on it suited her, then opened her Chanel purse and dropped it in without so much as a thank-you. But though she’d gotten what she’d come for, she didn’t follow Ian to the door. Instead, she shifted into yet another predatory pose. “I hear you’re the bachelor everyone wants to catch now that you’re back in Seattle.” She laughed, a floating sound that grated on Tatiana’s nerves despite how light and airy it was clearly supposed to be. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell any of them what being with you is really like.”

Tatiana couldn’t stand it anymore. She tried never to play off her star power unless she absolutely needed to. But right here, right now in Ian’s office as his bitchy ex-wife tried to hurt him, she was extremely glad to be one of the best-known actresses in the world.

Unfortunately, she was wearing a rose-colored cashmere sweater and black slacks rather than the kind of fashion-forward outfit that could compete with what Chelsea was wearing. Fortunately, however, after years of transforming herself on a daily basis in front of the cameras, Tatiana knew better than nearly anyone else how to turn simple into spectacular.

“Ian,” she said in a soft voice, “I’d love an introduction.”

Tatiana purposely remained sitting on the couch while Chelsea spun around to face her. Once Tatiana knew she had the other woman’s full attention, she made certain her every movement as she rose gracefully was so easy and so confident that it was perfectly clear she wasn’t trying to compete with Chelsea on any front—beauty, sensuality, or personality.

Tatiana had quickly learned in Hollywood that only an insecure woman needed to compete. The truly successful, truly confident women always forged their own paths, and didn’t give a fig what anyone thought about them or their choices, fashion or otherwise.