From This Moment On (27 page)
Read From This Moment On Online
Authors: Bella Andre
And then, there he was again and Jimmy and Katie were looking between the two of them
.
“Should I call Security, Nico
?"
“No, Jimmy. I’m fine.”
Better than fine, with Marcus standing in front of her again.
Katie asked, “Should we leave you alone for a few minutes?”
Oh God, no. Alone was a bad idea
.
Scratch that. It was a
terrible
idea.
Of course, all Nicola could do was nod. And say, “Please.”
Marcus didn’t wait for her to ask about how he’d spent his day in Salt Lake City. He simply said, “There’s a great bottling factory near here. I think I’m going to use them for our next champagne release.”
She’d given all of this some thought the night before—all day today, too—and made herself say, “You can’t keep doing this.”
He reached out to brush his hand across her forehead, where her hair was falling over one eye. “I’m having a good time doing this.”
Her body instantly recognized her sweetly dominant lover as his hand lingered on her skin in a possessive way that had it heating up, top to bottom and everywhere in between. She couldn’t resist turning her face into his palm for a split second, but then, knowing there were any number of eyes on her—and that each of them was wondering just what in hell was going on between her and the good-looking stranger in the expensive suit—she made herself draw back when all she really wanted to do was curl up against him as she once had.
Lowering her voice to make sure no one could possibly hear, she said, “Are you planning on following me around the globe?”
His grin would have stolen her heart if there had been any part of it he didn’t already have. “You’re playing some of my favorite cities.”
It was pure torture to imagine how glorious it would be to slip under the covers with Marcus late at night after her shows, in a bus or plane or hotel room.
“I won’t forgive myself if your winery goes to hell without you there.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think my management team would take too kindly to hearing what you think of them.”
“That’s not what I mean!” she told him, too frustrated with the game he was playing—and how much she wanted him to keep playing it, despite knowing better—to keep her voice down
.
“You were beautiful up there tonight, kitten, and so damn good it blew me away all over again.”
The only way she could keep herself from blurting out how much she loved him, how much she missed him, was to say, “It’s not just the fame, Marcus. It’s not just how impossible our schedules are. I’m not good for you. If your community, your colleagues, knew about me...”
“I didn’t cheat,” he said, and just when she realized he meant he hadn’t looked her up on the Internet, he added, “But your fans talk. And they love you. They’re on your side. Just like I am. And I love you, too. We were all young and stupid once. We’ve all done things we aren’t proud of. We’ve all trusted people we shouldn’t have trusted. Yes, people are probably going to believe something they read or saw. Lots of people, even. But I can guarantee you that anyone who actually meets you and gets to know you will fall as much in love with you as I am.”
She could almost taste his kiss, was actually dying for it, when he said, “I promised you I wasn’t going anywhere and I’m not. But this is your decision just as much as it’s mine.” He took her hand in his and brought it to his lips to press a kiss to her knuckles. “Good night, kitten.”
* * *
Denver, CO
“Don’t tell me,” she said when she and Marcus were the only two people left in the meet-and-greet the next night. “There’s a winery in Colorado that you’re thinking of acquiring.”
“Actually, an old college friend lives nearby. I had a great day visiting with him and his family.”
He grinned at her and she couldn’t help but grin back. All day she’d been looking forward to seeing him.
And all day, she’d been having a harder and harder time convincing herself that being without him was the right thing. Marcus, she had started to realize, didn’t seem to care much for what people thought of him. If he did, he wouldn’t be buying the VIP charity meet-and-greet package every single night
.
After only three nights of hanging out with her crew while she chatted with her fans, it was already like he was one of them, like he was supposed to be on tour with them. She was starting to suspect that was part of his plan...and she was more than a little amazed at the fact that he’d managed to pull this kind of schedule off in the first place
.
Still, how long could he continue with it
?
“Please tell me you’re headed back to Napa, Marcus. Back to your real life.”
“Actually, I’m on the board of a local event that’s taking place tomorrow night, so yes, I’ll need to head back for the next couple of nights.”
Her stomach sank down to her kneecaps. “Good. I know how much it will mean to everyone to have you there.”
She was surprised to feel his fingers beneath her chin, tilting her face back up to his. “Come with me, Nicola. I’ve got a plane chartered that leaves tonight. We could make it back by morning, spend the day at my winery, attend the event, and I’ll easily have you back at your next venue in time for interviews and sound check.”
“Marcus, I—”
His mouth was over hers before she could even figure out what she was going to say. His kiss was soft and sweet, but she felt as if her entire world had been upended by it
.
“That’s not fair,” she protested in a breathless voice.
“I’m not playing fair anymore, kitten. I love you too much to stick to the rules.”
And then his hands were in her hair and her arms were around his neck and she was kissing him like she’d been dreaming of kissing him for weeks. If it hadn’t been for the many pairs of eyes burning a hole through them, she would have never stopped kissing him
.
Forcing herself to pull away from his lips, she said, “How about I introduce you to my crew?” against his mouth.
“I think they’ve already got a pretty good idea who I am
."
She was amazed to find herself laughing with him as they broke apart
.
She’d been so careful to make sure she didn’t give anyone—even the road crew she’d grown to trust over the years—any potential ammo to use against her that she’d basically been living like a nun for the past six months
.
Now, she had to wonder if the reason she’d cared so much what everyone thought was because it was easier to use the press as an excuse, rather than risk getting hurt again.
But maybe, she was just starting to think, some things were worth the risk.
“I’m going to grab my things off the bus,” she suddenly told Katie, who was standing a few feet away. “Turns out I’ve got a plane to Napa Valley waiting.”
Her tour manager looked between Nicola and Marcus, then nodded her approval. “Just as long as you have her back for her interview at noon in Dallas in two days.”
Grinning, Nicola said, “You guys can work out the schedule while I go get my stuff.” She was halfway out the door when she looked over her shoulder to see Katie and Marcus with their heads together over their smart phones
.
But as she walked down the hall toward her tour bus, she knew that kissing Marcus in front of her crew had been the easy part
.
He’d told her that her circus life didn’t scare him.
Now he was actually showing her that he meant it.
Unfortunately, the bigger question remained: What would his world think of her? Would they welcome her with open arms the way she was sure her crew was already welcoming Marcus?
Or would her youth and bad reputation hurt Marcus in just the way she feared?
* * *
There were so many things that Nicola knew needed to be said between them as she boarded the private jet, but when Marcus wrapped his arms around her and strapped his seatbelt over them both, she gave in to the warmth of his arms, curling into him the way she always had, with his heart beating against her ear, the feeling of being perfectly safe easing her into a deeper sleep than she’d had in weeks.
* * *
Finally, as Nicola fell asleep against his chest, Marcus let the breath he’d been holding go
.
Nicola was back where she belonged. In his arms.
Now all he needed to do was convince her to stay.
This time, by any means necessary...
Chapter Twenty-four
“My God, this is beautiful.”
The sun was rising over the Sullivan Winery and the birds were just coming awake. Nicola laughed softly as a baby blue jay peeked its head up out of its nest to greet them. As they stood on his porch and looked out over the rolling grapevines, Marcus silently thanked his property for putting on its finest show for Nicola.
They’d both slept on the plane and even though it hadn’t been a full night’s rest, he felt more refreshed and alert than he had since Nicola had left San Francisco almost three weeks ago
.
“This winery is where you came to heal, isn’t it?”
No one had ever laid it out so clearly to him...or had hit it so directly on the head.
Pulling her closer, he told her, “The first time I ever saw this land was on a high school field trip. It was crazy, but I swore I saw a man who looked like my father working the vines. As soon as I got my driver’s license, I drove up here to look for him again.”
“You weren’t alone, were you?”
“Nope.” He smiled at the woman he loved. “Most of my brothers and sisters crammed into the car with me. I didn’t tell them about what I thought I’d seen, but I knew right then that one day this land would be mine. And that I’d make him proud.”
He watched her swallow, saw her eyes glitter at his story. Her voice was raw, husky, as she asked, “How can you even think of leaving this for days and weeks on end?”
He knew what she was asking, that she didn’t understand why he would want to be with her on the road.
“It’s been twenty-two years since my father died and until you, I never told anyone how hard it was on me to take his place in the family. I never wanted to admit it to myself. And no one dared push me up against the wall on it. I’m sure others saw it. They had to. But I managed to keep them all away
."
She had turned to him and he didn’t know if she realized it, but she’d taken his hands and was holding them both over her heart
.
“But not you, Nicola. You were shoving your way in from that first moment in the club and no matter how hard I tried to push you away, you never let me keep you out.”
“I’m annoying like that,” she said in a soft voice. “Always pushing in where I don’t belong.”
“I love that you push, that you decide what you want and don’t let anyone get in your way. No wonder your career is shooting through the stratosphere and they want you to come play shows in Timbuktu
."
He was glad to see her smile at that, to see the dark shadow begin to slide from her pretty eyes
.
“I didn’t completely lose my youth, but there were big chunks of it that just disappeared.” He shook his head, trying to put words to his feelings even as he finally registered what they were. “I don’t regret spending so much time with my brothers and sisters to help my mother. They were worth it
."
“So are you, Marcus.”
He pressed a soft kiss to her lips and then said, “Do you know what my mother said to me that Sunday at lunch?”
“What the hell are you thinking, getting involved with a girl like her?” she guessed, but her mouth was quirking up on one side and he knew she was teasing.
“She told me she’d been waiting for me to find someone I could love more than I loved them.”
“I told you before, in that old playground behind your mother’s house, that I don’t want to get in the way of your relationship with your family.”
“Not in the way, kitten. You’ve shown me it’s time to finally cut the strings, to let them live their lives. And that it’s finally time for me to live mine. All this time, it was easier for me to focus on my brothers and sisters and helping my mother and running this winery than it was for me to focus on my own heart.” He tugged her even closer. “You once told me people believe what’s easiest to believe. Both you and I believed so strongly that we couldn’t make this relationship work, that we were too different…didn’t we?”
She nodded. “It’s safer that way.”
“I know it is, but I’m finally ready to believe in the thing that’s hardest to believe, instead.” He smiled down at her. “I knew words would never convince you that we could make this work, that I’d need to show you, to prove it to you by pushing just as hard as you always pushed me.”
“My crew thought you were crazy. Jimmy was going to call the cops that first night, you know. The second, too.”
