Page 215 of Modern Romance January 2025 1-4

What’s yours is mine. He had all the expressions and used them well. She reminded herself again that this was merely banter, just the light tease that they’d fallen into so easily from the start. But buried in a secret chamber deep in her heart was the burgeoning wish that he actually meant it.

‘You should pack your bikini.’ His eyes twinkled as he played his trump card and took a side detour to her straining nipple.

Elodie grabbed hold of his marauding hand and tugged him down to the bed with her. ‘You mean you’refinallyletting me loose on a beach?’

The next morning—having laughed at Ashleigh’s wholehearted reassurance that she was living her best lifeeverand Elodie could definitely pleasego—Elodie was surprised to see an additional twelve or so people board his plane with them. Personal assistants, alternate bodyguards and business analysts, apparently. All of whom were top-level Fernandez employees.

Seated in the private front cabin with Ramon, Elodie was fascinated to watch their interactions with him throughout the flight. They came solo or in small groups for short, sharply efficient meetings. Unfailingly professional, they offered Elodie a polite smile before briefing Ramon on various issues with laser-like focus. Unlike her father, Ramon actively listened, in fact he demanded intelligent input and robust debate before issuing instructions. There was no personal chat before the employees then headed to the rear cabin to work on Ramon’s directive. Elodie thought they seemed nice, but none were actuallyfriendlywith him. Not even the loyal Piotr seemed to have that status.

It struck her as somewhat sad. Ramon was surrounded by all these people who shielded him from everyone else. Yet they were distant from him themselves. Was it just so he could focus on work—as if he was some high-performance professional? Really, she increasingly thought he was a man who had only half a life. Ramon would laugh at her if she suggested it. He thought he had it so verytogether—he loved his work and he had everything he wanted.

But maybe he didn’t have all he reallyneeded.

Paris, France

‘Are you going to spend all my money at the shops?’ Ramon knew she wouldn’t, he just couldn’t resist provoking her.

‘Every. Cent.’

‘Liar,’ he mocked.

‘Enjoy your meetings.’ She blew him a kiss and sauntered out the door.

Indeed, the only money she spent was entrance fees to various galleries, museums, attractions for her and the bodyguard he’d insisted accompany her. She filled her day happily—returning late in the evening with shining eyes. Buthe’dpaced the hotel room, impatient for her return, concentration shot. He hadn’t seen half the galleries she mentioned. Didn’t like missing out. So the next morning he pushed out a meeting so he could go with her to an escape room, which took far too long given both of them were useless, with only basic school-level French.

Then he took her back to the hotel and endured meetings that went on far too long. He raced back to their suite the second he could. She was working on a puzzle on the sofa. He couldn’t resist sinking beside her and sliding his hand into her pants—he’d been dreaming of that all afternoon. Her little moan was magic and he leaned in to steal the kiss he probably should have started with. He slowed down, teased her, making her come before he lifted her to ride him. Her hair was a tangled mess of fire, curtaining them both in an insanely hot world until their orgasms tore through them and they tumbled into a heap of limbs.

‘Bed,’ he murmured sleepily. ‘We have an early flight tomorrow.’

Rome, Italy

‘Come on, let’s go out for dessert.’ Ramon hauled her to her feet when he got back to the suite after another day of long meetings. But he was challenging himself to delay their dive into bed and now, knowing Elodie had a weakness for ice cream, he had the urge to please her in a way outside of the bedroom.

‘You’re actually going to have something?’ she marvelled.

Walking in the warm evening, her joyous appreciation of the architecture made him smile. Then the gelato bar had her drooling, but she frowned when he didn’t order one for himself.

‘I thought you were going to have something sweet?’ She licked her rapidly melting treat.

‘I am.’ He leaned close and licked her lips. ‘Very sweet.’

It was disarmingly easy to flirt with her. Her blushing responses were growing more adorable—indeed hershynessseemed to be growing, which was the oddest thing. She didn’t always pin him with that fearless gaze. Often times now her glance skittered away as if she couldn’t bear to look at him too long. Naturally that only made him tease her more.

Vis, Croatia

‘You promised abeach.’ She looked at him balefully.

‘I’m told it’s abeautifulbeach,’ he assured her firmly. ‘We just have to jump down to get to it.’

‘Jump off acliff.’ She shuddered. ‘Have you not been down there?’

He shook his head. ‘One of my army of assistants recommended it.’

She’d teased him about the number of people in the back of the plane that they’d barely seen in the last two days—because he’d been avoiding work on a scale utterly unlike him. But now she knew the extent of his assistants and bodyguards and it seemed she wasn’t so much impressed as amused.

With a sigh Elodie swept her hair up into a ponytail and secured it with an elastic. He couldn’t resist running his hand down the length of it.

‘Not so bad tied up?’ She turned her head archly.

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