Just To Be With You (The Sullivans #12)

“Dating her would be like dating my sister. Don’t get me wrong, she’s gorgeous and fun, and it’d be great if things were different. But that’s just not what’s between us. Never has been. Besides—” Dylan paused, grinned. “—she only has eyes for you. So I think a better question is, why haven’t you asked her out? Or,” he said as his gaze sharpened, “have you?”

“I haven’t.” And it was true. Ian had made love to her all night long and then broken her heart the next morning...all without ever asking her out.

“Why not? And don’t bother repeating my she’s-like-a-sister line. Because there were some major sparks shooting off between you two at dinner on Friday night. So hot they practically melted the chocolates.”

Ian worked to keep his hands steady on the boom as he said, “I’m not looking for anything serious. She is.”

“Look,” Dylan said, “I’m not looking for anything serious right now, either, so I get where you’re coming from. But I’ve got to tell you that if a girl like Tatiana came along who I connected with, who I couldn’t stop thinking about, who was clearly one in a million, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t stop at anything to make her mine. And I’d make sure I did whatever I needed to do to keep her happy.”

“Of course I want her to be happy.” Ian knew he was losing his cool now, but damn it, the last thing he needed was his little brother lecturing him about love. “I’ve never met anyone with her inner strength before. When she believes something is true, is real, she’ll go down with the ship, never wavering for one second, no matter how dangerous the waters might be.”

“Then why aren’t you making a move?”

“Because more than anything else, Tatiana believes in true love. She wants it, deserves it, and I hope like hell that she gets it one day. But I can’t give it to her. She thinks I can, but I can’t.”

“Wait a minute.” His brother pinned him with a serious look. “Something happened, didn’t it? Between the two of you this week.”

“I screwed up. Big time.”

Ian cursed as he ran his hands through his hair. He’d already shared more with Tatiana than he’d shared with anyone else—not just the inner workings of his company and day-to-day schedule, but particularly about his ex-wife. And he knew why he had.

Because he already felt a hundred times more for Tatiana than he ever had for anyone else.

But she had her whole life, and the whole world, in front of her. She could have and be anything she wanted, and he simply couldn’t believe that a cynical, brooding workaholic like him was right for her.

“I can’t screw up with her again. I can’t hurt her again.”

“Then don’t,” Dylan told him. “But don’t lie to yourself, either, and think that you’ll be able to stay away if you keep seeing her every day in your office.”

Ian had always been decisive, had never wavered over the right path to take. Even when he’d left football behind to go into business, he’d never second guessed, never hesitated, never wondered “what if?” But while it was true that he didn’t want to hurt her more than he already had, at the same time, Ian knew that he couldn’t keep lying to himself and say he was only staying away for her benefit.

In college when his family had been hurting, he’d found out what it was like to be vulnerable, to come face-to-face with the cold fear of how quickly everything you’d ever taken for granted could be lost. He’d vowed never to let himself, or any of the people he loved, be vulnerable like that again. Work, money, success—those were the things that Ian could always count on to save his family. And himself. But somehow, Tatiana had begun to get behind his shields…

All week long he’d known that being close to her every day was a bad idea. But at the same time, he’d wanted to be close to her too much to put a stop to it. Now, thanks to this conversation with his brother, Ian knew exactly what he needed to do.

Even if it killed him.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“Thanks for meeting me on a Saturday, Tatiana.” Ben Mitchell hugged her hello. “Now that they’ve decided to move up the first day of filming to Thursday, everyone is scrambling.” He squeezed her extra hard before adding, “And huge congratulations on your nomination! You’re going to win, I just know it.”

Ben was one of the best costume designers in the business and Tatiana had been lucky enough to work with him twice before. When he’d called to ask if they could do a last-minute fitting, she’d been happy to pop by the Seattle set, which was already partly transformed for them to begin filming.

Laughing, she reminded her very fashionable friend, “You do realize four of the biggest and best actresses in the business were also nominated, don’t you?”

But Ben didn’t reply because his eyes had narrowed in on her. “You look different. Your skin has a different glow to it. And,” he added with a little sound of disapproval, “you’re thinner. You’re not tanning and dieting because you’re feeling pressure from the nomination, are you?”

Tatiana could already feel herself blushing as she shook her head.

“Ah, I see what’s going on now,” Ben said, his lips curving up into a slightly wicked smile. “Is the lucky guy anyone I know?”

“No. He’s not in the business.” Or, rather, only very peripherally, since Ian had invested in a couple of Smith’s films.