Unfortunately, none of that changed the fact that all the reasons she had to leave him were still true.

Still, as Nicola stood in the window, she silently cursed herself for not letting things with Marcus at least linger longer. Why couldn’t she have let herself be happy with him for more than a handful of days?

Nicola turned away from the window with a sigh, knowing exactly why she’d forced herself to get on that plane and leave him for good.

No matter how hard they might have tried to hide their relationship from everyone around them, eventually they would have been caught. The circus would have pulled Marcus in and turned his perfectly ordered life inside out. She couldn’t have lived with herself for hurting someone she loved like that, couldn’t have stood hearing people question his judgment for getting involved with her.

And yet, a totally contrary part of her wished they hadn’t been quite so good at hiding their relationship from the world, because at least if there had been pictures of the two of them on the Internet, maybe they would have had to deal with each other in some small way...rather than being able to cut each other completely away.

She looked down at her watch and realized she’d now officially made it through fifteen days, six hours and thirty-four minutes without him. At some point, the day would come that she wouldn’t be counting minutes and hours anymore.

And at some point, she’d stop hoping that she’d hear her name on his lips again, an out-of-the-blue “Nicola” that would have her looking up at his shockingly beautiful face, her heart racing with anticipation as she waited for him to issue another one of his sensual commands.

* * *

Damn it, setting everything up had taken much longer than he’d anticipated. Too long.

Marcus had never been big on watching TV or reading magazines, but for the past two weeks he’d been glued to them. Until he could be with Nicola again, he needed constant reassurance that the women he loved was okay. He’d been ecstatic when her song had gone straight to number one and her tour had sold out immediately. She deserved all of that and more.

So much more.

Lori had turned up on his doorstep a couple of nights ago with a plan to get them back together. She’d been beyond pleased when he informed her that he was already on it, and now while she drove him to the airport, they were listening to Nicola being interviewed on the radio.

“I’ll be honest with you, Nico,” the radio personality said, “when I first heard One Moment it sounded just like any other great pop song that makes me want to dance. But then I saw your acoustic video and finally realized what heart there is behind the song. Tell us about that.”

“I’ve always loved what I do,” she replied, her slightly husky voice washing through Marcus’s veins like the first perfect cool sip of wine on a hot, dry day, “but I recently realized that I’ve only let people see one side of me.”

“What made you decide to show us that other side of yourself, the heart-wrenching singer/songwriter that you’ve been hiding all this time?”

“A friend wasn’t afraid to get in my face about it.” She laughed and he could practically see her smile, her flashing eyes, even across the radio waves. “I’m afraid I didn’t take the advice very well at first, but eventually I came around. And that’s why I went to record the song again that way. I love the full production on my songs, I love dancing with my crew, but a stripped-down version of one of my songs was something I’ve been wanting to do for a very long time.”

“So, Nico, what’s next on your plate to conquer now that you’ve got the number one single in the country and a sold-out tour?”

Marcus could feel Lori’s eyes on him as they waited for Nicola’s response.

“Love.”

The interview over, Marcus turned off the radio just as Lori exclaimed, “God, Marcus, she’s amazing, isn’t she?”

“She is.”

“How could you not have fallen in love with her?”

He shook his head, knowing his sister was speaking the complete and utter truth. “I never had a chance.”

Lori covered his hand on the gear shift with her own. “I really hope your plan works out, big brother.”

So did he.

* * *

Boise, Idaho

At the end of the first show on her tour in Boise, Nicola did her final encore, a version of One Moment that began with just her in the middle of stage, playing guitar and singing the acoustic version before kicking into overdrive with a flash of lights and smoke that had every band member coming back on stage...and her body being covered almost head to toe in shimmering sparkles of light.

Her crew had worked with her to retool her show practically every waking minute until opening night to incorporate her dance pop with her new acoustic segments. It had been utterly exhausting. And wonderfully thrilling.

Nicola had welcomed the work, had driven herself harder than anyone else, partly for the bonus of being too tired to think about Marcus more than every other minute. If the reaction the crowd had given her all night was any indication, it had paid off. Big time.

She was determined to enjoy herself at the celebration tonight with everyone. Even though the most important person hadn’t been out there in the audience, she’d still felt as if he were with her, cheering her on, loving her in a way no one else ever had.

But first, she needed head over to the special meet-and-greet that took place backstage after every show so that she could give something to literacy foundations in each county she played in. Despite the fact that she was exhausted by the time the lights went down on stage and up for the audience, the cause was important enough to her to push through her tiredness for another hour each night.

She walked into the curtained-off area, where Katie, her tour manager, immediately led her over to the first group. Her skin prickled and heated up as she moved through the area, but even as she took a quick glance around the room to look for the only person on earth who had ever made her feel like that, she knew that there was no way Marcus could be in Idaho. She was simply keyed up from the show and her imagination was running away with her very tired mind.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Jimmy, her bodyguard, frowning and talking into his headset in a tense voice. Not sure what was happening, but trusting Jimmy to take care of it, she threw herself into chatting with her fans, smiling into their cameras, signing their CDs and iPod devices and concert T-shirts, never letting herself forget for one second that she was beyond lucky to be in her position.