‘I swore I would never get involved with another man again. Not for a long, long time. Once bitten, twice shy.’
‘I am not your ex-lover. In fact, if you ever fancy letting me have his full name, he would find out just how long and how powerful my reach is. I would make sure he spent the remainder of his useless life grovelling on the street for coins.’
‘I think Scott just needs therapy,’ Sophie said. ‘Anyway. Enough of him. I just wish I could warn whoever happens to come after me that he’s trouble.’
‘Come back to my room.’
‘I don’t want...complications...’ She heard the hesitancy in her voice with alarm. She was riveted by the shadows and the angles of his face, thrown into stark relief by the darkness outside and the intermittent lighting inside.
‘Trust me, that’s the last thing I want,’ Niccolo said gruffly. ‘But I feel a need to...to hold you. I want to hold you close, breathe you in, feel your softness against me.’
Sophie laughed and felt a whoosh of inappropriate tenderness steal into her.
‘I never saw you for a poet, Niccolo.’
‘I’m a man of many surprises. I know you’re scared but I won’t hurt you. We’re on the same page, though perhaps for different reasons. Neither of us wants complications. You’ve been through hell...maybe it’s time you allowed yourself some enjoyment.’
‘I’m already enjoying myself...being here...’ But his words were enticing. She hadn’t enjoyed herself for a long, long time. Was this what she needed? As well as wanted? She was still young. Did she just need to have some fun?
He could be dangerous...something inside was telling her that. But he had laid his cards on the table and however thrillingly, excitinglydangeroushe seemed, like a huge, burning fire, dazzling in its beauty yet perilous if you got too close, she knew what she wanted in her forever guy, and it wasn’t commitment issues.
He was dangerous if he stole your heart, but her heart wasn’t up for grabs and enjoyment—pure, undistilled enjoyment—was dizzyingly enticing.
‘Besides,’ she was peering into an abyss and it made her shiver, ‘I look after Annalise...’
‘You do,’ Niccolo murmured, ‘although I’m struggling to see where that fits into the picture. Naturally, we won’t be all over one another in public. Nothing will change in connection with you looking after my daughter. I have always protected her, the best I can, from my private life, and nothing will change on that front. And if for the rest of the trip the de Lucas see what they expect to see, then that wouldn’t be a problem.’
‘You mean, on the face of things, you’re still my boss and nothing else? At least insofar as Annalise is concerned, but it’s okay for Vincenzo and his family to believe that we’re an item?’
‘We’re adults. Two adults who want one another and are both honest enough to admit it. Neither of us anticipated this, even if my aunt may have...’ For a few seconds, Niccolo couldn’t help but smile at the thought of Evalina, who had accurately predicted a spark but had certainly been wildly over-optimistic when it came to longer-term predictions. How could she have known that both he and Sophie had their hearts locked away for very different reasons? But here they were and the thought of sleeping with the woman looking up at him with a little frown, chewing over a decision that was, in the great scheme of things, not exactly world-shattering, filled him with a heady sense of euphoria.
‘Annalise will be sound asleep, and she knows where I am if she needs to find me. But, trust me, she won’t.’
‘And I’ll return to my room afterwards?’
‘I don’t tend to spend nights with anyone,’ Niccolo admitted. ‘That’s not how I’m built.’
They were walking now, slowly, Sophie trailing her hand along the smooth walnut of the banister that separated a sumptuous sitting area from a space that was clearly designed for conferences and work, with a long table, upright chairs and USB ports everywhere.
The smell of the ocean filled the air, tangy and salty. Romance all around them, a bubble waiting to be burst, but who cared? This was a magical setting and if she gave in to the magic then it wouldn’t be the end of the world, would it?
‘You’veneverspent the night with a woman? Apart from your...wife?’
‘Don’t sound so shocked.’ Niccolo was amused by her reaction. ‘I have a daughter, and the last thing an impressionable child needs to see is a revolving door filled with women.’
‘Revolving door?’ Sophie asked with saccharine sarcasm. ‘I’m not sure that’s something you should be bragging about.’
Niccolo grinned and looked across to her appreciatively, anticipation fizzing inside him.
She wasn’t a turn-on because of the way she looked—although no one with eyes in their head could deny that she was sensational...no, she was a turn-on because of who she was, her personality, her absolute willingness to say what was on her mind without thinking that she might offend him.
She didn’t obey the usual rules that seemed to keep everyone who dealt with him in check, and he was finding that he liked that.
Annalise was out for the count when they checked in on her.
‘It’s the ocean air and the hot sun,’ Niccolo said as he closed the door to his daughter’s cabin. ‘Tomorrow, the sea beckons. She’ll enjoy swimming in it. It’s quite different from a pool.’
Their eyes met and there was a question in his as they stood in the quiet of the spacious living area.