But the truth was, continuing to shadow him wasn’t about her pride. And it wasn’t completely about researching her role, either.

The real reason she was going to stay in his life was because she recognized, deep inside herself, that there wasn’t any decision for her to make. Not when her heart really and truly had made it for her all those months ago in Napa Valley, when Ian had held her hands in his...and she’d looked up into eyes that she’d been waiting to gaze into her entire life.

Yes, she knew that it was crazy to try for Ian’s heart. While he was a caring man, he wasn’t an easy one like his brothers. On top of that, he had obviously been terribly scarred by his marriage, his heart now imprisoned behind a thick, seemingly impenetrable wall.

And yet, she couldn’t help but feel that it would be so much crazier not to try—to let him go without knowing she’d risked absolutely everything first. His mother’s words from Friday night replayed inside her head: “What I learned when Ian’s father and I were trying to make things work between the two of us, was just how much determination it can sometimes take to stay on your heart’s path. I also learned that love is worth the struggle. Always.”

Just then, Tatiana’s phone buzzed from the couch. She picked it up and was both surprised and pleased to see a text from Ian’s sister.


HAVING DRINKS WITH THE GIRLS AT MY PLACE. PLEASE COME!


Tatiana considered her options. She could go in to Ian’s meeting, even though he’d just made it clear he didn’t want her there. She could go back to her condo and read over her script another dozen times. Or she could go to Mia’s house, have a couple of drinks, and try to forget that any headway she’d made with Ian had just been stripped completely away.

After texting Ian’s sister back and noting her address, Tatiana tossed her phone at her open bag, then headed for Mia’s.

* * *

“What a fabulous house,” Tatiana marveled as Mia put a glass of wine in her hand the second she walked through the front door. “Is that a tower I saw just behind the house?”

“Complete with thirteenth century stones and everything,” Mia confirmed. “It’s where Ford first tricked me into seeing him again, and then later proposed. It’s my favorite place on the property. He’s turning the lower level into a recording studio, which means there will be lots of hot musicians always hanging around,” she added with a wicked grin. “No complaints here.”

Tatiana already knew the story of how, five years after they’d had a week-long affair and then split up, Ford had posed as an anonymous buyer to hire Mia as his Realtor to find him a house in Seattle. He’d believed it was the only way to get her to see him again, and while Mia had been furious with him at first, beneath her anger had been a deep and true love that had never gone away in the years she and Ford had been apart.

“I love watching the two of you together. Ford loves you so much.”

“Sometimes,” Mia said with a happy glow, “I wake up in the morning and he’s right there, and I still can hardly believe we were lucky enough to get a second chance.”

Tatiana was so happy for her friend, for all of her friends and family members who had found true love. One day, she hoped, she’d be the one glowing from being loved so well.

Brooke and Colbie walked in just then and there were more hugs among them all. Brooke was getting married to Mia’s brother Rafe that summer. They lived full time on a lake a couple of hours away, but were often in Seattle for business meetings and to see family, though they’d had to miss dinner at Max and Claudia’s on Friday night. Colbie was Mia’s oldest friend from kindergarten, and she had also gotten married recently, Tatiana remembered when she saw the stack of bridal magazines Colbie and Brooke plopped onto the kitchen counter.

“Here’s everything we had between the two of us. Although we already ripped out the pictures of all the good dresses,” Colbie teased Mia.

“I swear,” Mia said as she poured glasses of wine for her friends, “thinking through the logistics of marrying Ford is like planning a covert military operation. He’s just so famous, I honestly don’t know how we can avoid helicopters and paparazzi. I’m starting to think we should just throw on some bathing suits one afternoon and say our vows by the pool, then eat burgers and hot dogs at a cookout with everyone afterward.”

Even though Tatiana knew Mia hadn’t been serious, she had to ask, “Why don’t you?”

Mia looked thoughtful. “Now that we’re talking about it,” she said slowly, “maybe that’s exactly what we should do. I’ll have to see what Ford thinks, but something tells me he’d be just as happy as I would to avoid the circus.”

Mia had turned on the heat lamps on the covered porch that looked out over the lake and had laid out blankets on the seats so they’d be comfortable sitting outside. Brooke pulled a big box of chocolates out of her bag and put it on the coffee table next to the plate of crackers and cheese.

“I know how busy your filming and traveling schedule is,” Brooke said to Tatiana, “but I hope you’ll be able to come to our wedding at the lake this summer.”

“Their plans are super romantic and sweet,” Mia said around a mouthful of chocolate truffle.

Brooke smiled, possessing the exact same glow that Mia did. “We’re going to spend the weekend with everyone at the lake and then have the ceremony and reception out on the beach in front of our house at sunset.”

“It sounds amazing.” Tatiana hadn’t visited their lake house before, but the pictures she’d seen had shown a really cute lakefront cottage with a beautiful view. “And thank you for the invitation. I’d love to come to your wedding.” She turned to ask Colbie, whom she’d met only briefly once before, “You just returned from your honeymoon, didn’t you? Was it amazing?”

“Beyond amazing.” Colbie’s deep blush said more than words would have about just how amazing it had been.

They talked honeymoons for a while longer, until Mia suddenly zoomed in on Tatiana and changed the subject. “So, how is shadowing my big brother at the office going?” When Colbie looked confused, Mia explained, “Tatiana is spending the next couple of weeks at the office with Ian to do some research on CEOs for her new movie. She’s been working with him a couple of days already.”

Clearly surprised by this bit of information, Colbie said, “Wow, how interesting. I can’t wait to hear about what it’s like to shadow Ian.”

“Rafe and I were wondering how it’s going, too,” Brooke said. “Do tell.”

Feeling slightly flustered at the sudden attention, plus the glass of wine on a fairly empty stomach, Tatiana said, “It’s going fine.” Ugh, that didn’t sound right. It was just that the day had ended on such a weird note, and she was still reeling from it. “I mean, it’s going great.” She took a sip from her glass before repeating, “Really great.”

Everyone remained quiet, as though they were waiting for her to say something more. Tatiana had promised not to share any information about what happened in Ian’s office with anyone. And she would never spill his business secrets. But she had to know, “What’s the deal with his ex-wife?”

“Chelsea?” Mia made a face. “Why do you ask?”

“I met her today.” Tatiana held up a hand. “But I promised Ian I’d keep everything that goes on in his office private, so that’s all I can say. I shouldn’t even have brought it up, and I don’t mean to gossip, especially about your family—”

“We know that’s not why you’re asking,” Mia said, cutting off her apology. “You’re probably just wondering, How could he have married her?”

Tatiana had to reluctantly nod. “When I saw them together...well, I just couldn’t see them together.”

“I’m probably not the most objective person in the world when it comes to Chelsea,” Mia admitted, “but I swear to you that when he brought her home for the first time, we all tried to like her. We really gave it everything we could, all of us—my brothers, my parents, my cousins. But in the end she never wanted to be any closer to us than we did to her. I think she was used to getting what she wanted...and she wanted my brother all to herself. No family always in the way. No work commitments eating up both his days and nights, when she was dying to have her picture taken for the society pages in the couture dresses he bought for her.”

“But family and work,” Tatiana said, “that’s who Ian is. He loves you guys to pieces and running his business gives him a rush, every day, every part of it.”

“He used to be a lot of fun, too, though you might not see it.”

“I saw it when he was playing football with your brothers on Friday night.” She smiled. “And when he was teasing me about falling asleep in a meeting this afternoon, neither of us could keep from laughing.”

“You fell asleep in a meeting?”

“Evidently,” she said, embarrassment flooding back, “I was snoring.”

“And Ian teased you about it?” Colbie asked, sharing a look with Mia and Brooke that Tatiana couldn’t quite read.

“When he realized I felt really bad about it, he made me feel better by telling me he’d once done the exact same thing.”

All three women looked surprised, but none more than Ian’s sister. “Let me make sure I have this straight. First he laughed with you in his office and then he went out of his way to make you feel better? Amazing.” Mia took a large gulp of her drink, then refilled everyone’s glasses. “Anyway, back to Chelsea. I think she planned on changing him. Standard female fantasy, so I guess I can’t totally blame her for that.” Though it was clear to Tatiana that Mia wanted to. “When he didn’t magically change to suit her, from what I could see from the outside looking in, she decided to blame him for not being good enough to her. For not treating her the way she believed he should treat her. And for, and this is a direct quote from a hissy fit of hers that I accidentally walked in on, ‘stealing the best years of her life.’”