The only thing she knew for sure was that she wanted Ian and he wanted her. Yesterday in her kitchen, he hadn’t denied their attraction the way other men might have, because he wasn’t a man who lied. Ever.
Immediately, she’d discounted playing the seductress. Not only because she wasn’t sure she knew how, but also because she respected Ian too much to trick him like that. If and when they finally came together, she wanted it to happen on honest ground, and to know that they were both all the way in.
As for her new role, while she’d learned a heck of a lot already about how to successfully run a company from watching Ian—he was shockingly hands-on, tough but fair, and made sure to surround himself with brilliant, friendly people who always kept their eye on the ball—she was still lost. Seeing the way Serena had dived straight down into her character when they’d done the short read-through of Smith’s script the previous day had only highlighted how screwed Tatiana was.
Good thing the director and producer weren’t asking her to do a read-through right now, because it would be a total mess.
She didn’t realize her private emotions were spilling out of her until Brian, the owner of the warehousing company, turned to her and said, “Is everything okay? You didn’t step on something sharp, did you?” He looked around the concrete floor, clearly worried.
Belatedly realizing the little frustrated scream hadn’t remained in her head, she forced her lips up into what she hoped looked like a real smile. “No, I’m fine.”
When Ian looked concerned as well, she said, “I didn’t mean to interrupt. Please, just forget I’m here.”
“Actually,” Brian said, “I hope you don’t mind my asking, but I’m pretty sure my employees would love a chance to get a few autographs, if it would be okay with you.”
“Of course I don’t mind. I just don’t want to get in your way.”
Ian’s eyes went dark as he looked at her. “You’ve never been in anyone’s way, Tatiana.” He nodded over to the group of workers who were sitting in the nearby break room. “We have plenty of time for you to go and make everyone’s day.”
Brian took her over and she signed autographs and took pictures and just plain had a great time chatting with everyone. It was so nice to get out of her head for a little while that she was shocked when she looked up at the clock on the wall and realized just how long she’d been at it.
“Ian, I’m sorry,” she said as she pushed back from the plastic table. “I’ve thrown off your schedule.”
“Like I said before, we’re fine.” He gestured behind him to a little girl and her mother who were walking toward them from the parking lot. “Besides, I think you’ve got a couple more people to say hello to before we head out.”
Did he have any idea how sweet he was? She wanted so badly to reach out to him and feel again what she’d felt so strongly yesterday when they’d had their arms around each other in her kitchen.
Instead, she walked toward the little girl with big brown eyes and knelt in front of her. “Hi, what’s your name?”
“Keely.”
“Oooh, I love your name, Keely.”
“I was watching you on TV last night. You’re famous.”
Tatiana laughed. “I guess so. But you’re the one with the awesome shoes that light up. Can you make them sparkle again?”
As the little girl danced around, though Tatiana wasn’t anywhere close to having kids yet, she couldn’t deny the little tug in her heart.
“If it wouldn’t be too much to ask,” her mother said, “could I take a picture of you together?”
“Absolutely, but only if you take one for me on my phone, too.” Tatiana reached into her bag for it, but by the time she came up empty, Ian was already holding his out.
“I’ll take it with mine, Tatiana,” he said, having clearly guessed that she’d forgotten it somewhere.
Because he knew her.
Tatiana and Keely posed for pictures, first with big smiles, and then making silly faces. After hugging both the little girl and her mother, Tatiana waved good-bye to everyone, then headed for Ian’s town car.
“We’ll need to head to my place rather than my office for my next meeting,” Ian explained, “because I need my video conferencing software. Given the way traffic is looking right now, my home office is at least fifteen minutes closer. And,” he said, holding up a hand before she could apologize for making them so late, “I would have asked you to leave your fans if I’d wanted to. But you were making them happy—and they were making you happy, too. So I didn’t want to ask you to leave.”
Seeing Ian’s house would be another window into the man she’d fallen head over heels for. And maybe, she thought with renewed hope after what he’d just said to her about liking to see her happy, it would give her new clues into how to get closer to the heart he always made sure to guard so carefully.
The building he lived in was cool and polished, everything classy and top-of-the-line, from the high-tech elevator controls to the crisply pressed uniform on the doorman who called Ian sir and her miss.
She could tell Ian was preoccupied with what he was missing in the meeting that had started without him, so when he let them inside and offered to get her a drink, she waved him away. “Go dial in. I’ll come find you once I’ve found drinks for both of us.”
He looked undecided for a moment, and she had to wonder if it was because he was afraid she was going to find something he’d kept hidden from everyone else. But then, when his cell phone rang again, he said, “My home office is the door just beyond the living room.”