Page 49 of Saved by the CEO

He wanted her. But he was holding back to let her make the first move. That she held the power was all Louisa needed to reach a decision.

She pulled his head down to meet hers...

Dear Lord, how on earth could she have gone so long without kissing him? Nico might have given her the power to decide, but once their mouths joined, he took control, kissing her so deeply Louisa couldn’t tell where she ended and he began. She didn’t care. She was too swept away by the moment.

It was the cheer rising from the crowd that finally broke the moment. “I think the crowd approves,” Nico said, rubbing his nose against hers.

Heat rushed to Louisa’s cheeks. Let the crowd cheer, she decided. She held his gaze and wondered if her eyes looked as blown and glazed over as his.

“Why don’t we go someplace more private?” he said. Without giving her a chance to answer, he carried her out of the barrel and through the crowd.

* * *

Nico pressed a kiss to the head resting on his shoulder. Louisa and he were in his garden, ensconced on a lounger beneath the pergola. Insects could be heard buzzing in the foliage above, their soft droning working with the wine to make him comfortable and drowsy. An interesting sensation, since only an hour before he’d been consumed with lust. Once alone, the urgency had receded. The best wines were made with patience. So it was with lovemaking, as well. They had all night. Why rush when you could draw out the pleasure?

Besides, strange as it seemed, being close to Louisa like this was pleasure itself.

“What was she like?”

Her question came out of nowhere. “Who?” he asked, fingers playing with the tendrils of her hair.

“Your fiancée.”

“Floriana? Why do you ask? Are you jealous?” That she might be gave him a jolt of satisfaction.

“I’m curious. What made her so perfect?”

He thought back. “I told you, she liked the same things I liked, she had the same sense of humor. Plus we wanted the same things out of life.”

“Which were?”

“To create wine and live a life free of drama.”

“I take it you never threw a reporter off her balcony.”

“She didn’t own a balcony,”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yes, I do.” Floriana would never need to take refuge in his winery to avoid scandal. Rational to a fault, she would never have fallen for a man like Steven in the first place. On the other hand, she also never ignited a fire in the pit of his stomach the way Louisa did. Standing in those grapes, with that silly floral crown falling about her ears and her clothes wrinkled and damp from the heat, Louisa had been the most gorgeous thing he’d ever seen.

“She sounds like someone Steven would have liked. Whenever I found an interest Steven didn’t like, he would find a way to suck the fun out of it.”

“I don’t understand.” The American colloquialism threw him, although he could wager a guess.

“Well...” She shifted so she could prop herself up on one elbow. “He would either get condescending and make me feel like it was silly, or he’d suggest it wasn’t the kind of thing ‘Mrs. Steven Clark’ should be doing.”

The man was a bully. Nico was glad they’d put him in prison. Her ex deserved to be locked up in a cell as lonely and sad as he’d made his wife.

“He didn’t deserve you. You know that.”

“When we met, I thought I didn’t deserve him.”

A most foolish notion. If anything Steven Clark must have known from the start that he’d discovered a treasure and that was why he’d insisted on wrapping her up so tightly.

“What’s sad is how I was so impressed by something that wasn’t real. I mean, all his power and breeding. Turned out he wasn’t any better than me.”

“You were the better one,” Nico said. “To begin with, you weren’t a thief.”

Louisa smiled. “Thanks, but I meant background-wise. He was just some guy from the Midwest. His fancy family history was as phony as his investment scheme. When I contacted the feds, the whole house of cards came tumbling down. The only truly real thing that survived was the palazzo.” She nestled back against the curve of his neck, her hand coming up to play with the edge of his shirt collar.

“Thank God, I never told him about the place or it would be gone, too.”

Prison was too good for him. “The bastard is lucky he wasn’t the one on your balcony,” he muttered.

“Might have been interesting if he was. I think I’d have liked to see you throw him over.”

“Satisfying, too,” Nico said. Propping himself on an elbow, he smiled down at her face. “What is it about you that incites me to violence?”

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