Page 50 of Saved by the CEO

“I don’t know.”

Neither did he, and he’d been looking for the answer for the past few weeks. All he knew was that the idea of Louisa hurting made him see red. He wanted to punish Steven and the others for making her life so hard.

Come to think of it, Louisa made him feel a lot of strong emotions. He didn’t just want to kiss her, he wanted to kiss her senseless. And he didn’t want to enjoy her company, he wanted to spend every moment he could spare with her.

Where on earth did these feelings come from? He’d never behaved this way around Floriana. Or anyone else for that matter.

Could it be that this—Louisa—was what he’d been missing all these years?

He turned on his side until they lay face-to-face. All it took was one look into her blue eyes and his pulse started racing again. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“You don’t have to thank me for anything.”

“But I do. Did you know,” she asked as he freed a stray petal from her hair, “that this past week was the first time in years that I’ve felt like I truly belonged.”

“I’m not surprised. Monte Calanetti loves you.”

“No, Monte Calanetti loves you. I’m just lucky to have won approval from its favorite son.”

“Oh, you have more than my approval, bella mia.” She’d awakened a part of him he didn’t think existed and now it belonged to her forever.

Suddenly, his desire couldn’t wait any longer. Slanting his mouth across hers, he drank in her sweet taste. This—this—was perfection, he realized. All these years he believed his soul was incomplete, it had merely been in hibernation, waiting for his blonde American to move in next door.

“Louisa, Louisa, Louisa,” he chanted, his lips raining kisses down her throat. “I’ve waited for so long.”

He paused when he reached the lace neckline blocking the rest of her skin from exploration. The top button strained to be released. All it would take was a flick of his fingers.

His hand hovered. The memory of her pushing him away at the royal wedding forced him to slow down. “Are you sure?”

Looking up, he saw eyes more black than blue, the pupils wide with desire. Out of the corner of his own eye, he saw a shaky hand reaching toward her blouse. She smiled, and a moment later, the button was undone.

It was all the answer Nico needed and he crushed his mouth to hers. Later, as his fingers made short work of the remaining buttons and as Louisa breathed his name, he wondered if maybe it wasn’t only Monte Calanetti that was in love...

* * *

“You are a lying lie-face. I hope you know that.”

What the heck? Louisa blinked at the nightstand clock and decided it was far too early to decipher what Dani meant.

“I just want you to know that I forgive you,” her friend continued.

“Forgive me for what?” She brushed the hair from her eyes.

“For telling me nothing was going on between you and Nico, of course. You’re not going to keep insisting the two of you are only friends after what we saw yesterday.”

Louisa smiled, thinking about what Dani and the others hadn’t seen. “No.”

“Good. Because unless you let all your friends literally sweep you off your feet, no one would believe you,” Dani told her. “By the way, Rafe and I completely understand why the two of you wanted to keep things private for a while. Especially given the circumstances.”

“Thank you.” No sense explaining how she and Nico weren’t together until yesterday. Like Dani said, after the way she’d kissed him in the plaza, no one would believe her anyway.

Nico had swept her off her feet, hadn’t he? In more ways than one. Her stomach dropped a little at that.

He’s not Steven. This was a different kind of affair.

“Louisa, are you there?”

She yawned and pushed herself to a sitting position. “I’m here,” she said, pulling the sheet up.

“Good. I was afraid Nico might be distracting you.”

“Nico isn’t here. He went to see how the harvest was going.” I’ll wake you when I get back, he’d whispered upon kissing her cheek. So much for that fantasy. Maybe she could pretend to be asleep. “Is there a reason you’re calling this early,” she asked, “or did you just want to call me a liar?”

“I have your sandals. You left them in the plaza, in case you were looking for them.” Oh, right. Now that she thought about it, Louisa didn’t remember Nico getting his shoes either. Definitely wouldn’t be able to sell the idea of friends.

“Thank you,” she replied, sheepishly.

“Also now that the festival is over, Rafe wants our economic development committee to start meeting in earnest. Can you ask Nico if he’s available next Tuesday morning, since you’ll probably see him before any of the rest of us will?”

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