Page 209 of Modern Romance Collection May 2024 Books 1-4

‘I’m sorry. That must have been very hard.’

‘It was, but the upside is that I always feel connected to him here.’ He paused, watching her with friendly eyes. ‘Have you enjoyed the evening?’

‘Very much.’ In the ensuing silence, Rae’s heart thudded. It wasn’t her place to do so, and she had never before dreamt of meddling in Domenico’s business dealings, but as she spied the opening to raise the topic of the deal, Rae knew she couldn’t let it pass by. Although Domenico had recovered well from his troubled state that morning, and had so far charmed everyone they’d met that evening with his confident smile and magnetic charisma, she knew he was still singularly focused on getting the deal done. If there was any chance she could help, her heart was compelling her to try because the last thing she wanted was to see him mired in more despair. And now that she knew why it mattered so much to him... ‘Although I noticed that you and Domenico haven’t had the chance to talk yet.’

‘Unfortunately not. Hosting duties are keeping me rather busy.’

‘Is that the only reason?’ Rae pressed, trembling within at her boldness. ‘Domenico is worried that you’re getting cold feet about the deal.’

‘I do have some concerns,’ Lorca admitted, much to her surprise. ‘Given that history I just briefly touched upon, my company matters a great deal to me, and to the rest of my family. I am very conservative about if and who I enter into partnerships with. And your husband is in the middle of an emotional transition.’

‘Because of the death of his aunt?’ Rae queried.

‘Precisely. And also, if you’ll forgive me for being so blunt, the rumours about your marriage.’ With those words a hole slowly started to gnaw open in Rae’s stomach. ‘I’m not asking for an explanation; your personal life is private. But whilst Domenico always had a reputation for being pragmatic and unemotional, I worry that in having to contend with such issues he could become emotional. And emotional people are known to exercise poor judgement and take risks—the type of risks I don’t want my company involved in.’

For a moment Rae couldn’t speak. Her fingers had grown clammy around her champagne glass as all she could feel was the weight of the future of the deal on her shoulders. If she said the wrong thing in response, it could blow it to pieces. But if she could explain to him who Domenico really was, could she perhaps save it? And save Domenico from drowning in that fear of not being enough?

‘Domenico would never be reckless with The Ricci Group,’ she responded, the need to defend him rising in her like a tide. ‘No matter what’s going on in his personal life. The company belonged to the aunt who raised him, and before that her husband, and it means everything to him. Now that they are both gone, Domenico treasures it even more. He wants to make this deal for them, to fulfil a dream that they had. That’s how you can be sure you can trust him, because he’s just a son trying to make his parents’ dream come true. And after what you just told me, surely you can understand that.’

‘I can.’ He nodded slowly before smiling across at her, the action sincere. ‘I’m glad to have met you, Rae. You have given me an insight into your husband I didn’t previously have.’ He fixed his gaze on something over her shoulder. ‘Your wife is delightful, Ricci.’

Turning her head over her shoulder, Rae’s heart flipped to see Domenico sauntering closer. In his pale-coloured suit and open-necked shirt and with his hair gleaming in the starlit darkness, he looked almost too good to be true.

‘She is. I’m a lucky man,’ he agreed, sliding an arm that felt almost proprietorial around her waist.

‘I don’t want to interrupt your evening, but do you have a moment to talk now?’ Lorca asked him. ‘I have a fifteen-year-old Scotch I’ve been meaning to try. We can slip away for ten minutes.’

Domenico glanced down at her. ‘Rae?’

‘Go. I can amuse myself for a while.’

He pressed a feather-soft kiss to her lips before walking off in step with Lorca and Rae watched him go, happy that she had been able to help, yet uneasy about that happiness. Because there was only one reason that she would be so delighted for him, Rae recognised with a lump swelling in her throat. Because she still cared for him. More than she really should.

More than was safe, or smart.

More than she had actually realised when she’d agreed to their crazy charade.

But Domenico had always been quicksand. She only had to recall how quickly she had fallen for him in the first place. It had taken only hours and days for him to steal her heart. It really shouldn’t surprise her he would be a stubborn presence to erase from it.

Feeling her pulse start to skip out of control with her escalating worry, Rae attempted to comfort herself with the thought that it was different this time around, thatshewas incredibly different...but it was then that it hit her—because of those changes in her,everythingbetween her and Domenico had become different too.

What they had now was not the same relationship that she had run away from. It was an entirely different beast, and that meant she was in entirely unchartered waters.

Later that evening, once they had returned to the villa, Rae was watching herself remove the delicate drop earrings from her ears in the mirror when she spied Domenico approaching in the reflection. Coming up behind her, one hand gently brushed her hair to one side before he touched his lips to the sensitive skin of her neck and feeling erupted along her skin.

‘Thank you,’ he breathed, his breath moving across her skin like a tender flame. ‘For whatever it was that you said to Lorca.’

‘All I told him was the type of man that you are,’ Rae said, her eyes drawn into meeting his in the reflection by a magnetic pull that she couldn’t fight.

‘Whatever you said, it had some effect. We’re meeting tomorrow morning to finalise the details of the contract.’

Happiness streamed through her again, making the nervous pit in her stomach grow wider, but she smiled back at him. ‘Good. I’m happy for you.’

This time when he pressed a kiss to her neck it was open-mouthed. His tongue flickered against her hammering pulse point and it was like a flame being held to a tinderbox. Feeling exploded inside her. She wanted to hold back, to find some much-needed space to claw back the intensity of her growing feelings, but her body craved the opposite and as his lips trailed a line of fire up her neck and to her ear, and his hands started their slide of possession around her waist, Rae’s eyes fluttered closed, her battle already lost. Her heart thundered with desire a hundred times stronger than anything she had ever felt before and all she wanted was to drown in the glorious feeling he conjured within her. To float in that space for ever.

She turned in his arms and he slowly lowered his head, but impatience ruled her actions and she rose to her tiptoes, speedily closing the distance between them and relishing that sinuous slide of his mouth against hers, need mounting frantically in her already, a hot and needy throb pounding in her molten core.

But whispers of warning continued to swirl around her mind. Where exactly would this leave her? She’d returned, amongst other reasons, to find some closure, but now all she was doing was drawing back closer and closer to Domenico, stripping back layer upon layer in a quest to know and understand him so much better. And the bond between them was intensifying, deepening... Would the boundaries of their original arrangement still be able to keep her safe? Or was she deluding herself, hiding behind an agreement that was no more stable than a sandcastle?

---