Page 59 of The Housekeeper and the Brooding Billionaire

Her heart missed a beat as she thought about why she’d come here. He couldn’t know about her earlier appointment.

Which meant she’d have to tell him. She swallowed hard and leaned closer to his comforting warmth, revelling in it while she could.

Everything was about to change, and she had a premonition it wasn’t going to be easy.

Alessio matched his stride to Charlotte’s, nodding to acquaintances but not stopping to talk. Another time. For now he needed to leave. Not because coming to the town for the first time in years was difficult. On the contrary, it had been remarkably easy.

No, what made his skin prickle as if it were too tight to contain him was the need to be alone with Charlotte.

All morning he’d been restless. Sheer determination had seen him through the first of several online meetings. But he kept thinking of Charlotte, wondering what she was doing, wishing he could be with her.

Thecastellowas empty without her.

That realisation had brought him up short. The place was his haven, even if it held awful memories. But today, for the first time, he needed to get away.

To Charlotte.

He tightened his hold and slanted a glance at her. With her gilded hair loose over her shoulders and her breasts budding against that pretty blue dress, she looked fresh and irresistible.

Something lurched in his gut. The knowledge that he shouldn’t have initiated this affair. He was too tainted for a woman like her.

Yet how could he resist?

Part of him he didn’t recognise had taken over today. A reckless, fun-loving Alessio that reminded him of the man he’d been before marriage and disaster.

He guided Charlotte onto the boat, saw her settled, and cast off. Minutes later, throttle in his hand, the boat leapt to life beneath his touch. The way his heart leapt when she touched him.

‘Where are we going?’ Because the boat wasn’t headed towards the island.

‘You haven’t eaten lunch yet, have you?’

She shook her head and Alessio felt his mouth curve in a tight smile. Tight because his growing need for her, the fact that he’d had to interrupt his day because he missed her, rang warning bells he’d deliberately ignored.

‘Good. I raided the larder and have a picnic packed.’ His smile became a grin as he saw her eyes widen. ‘Don’t worry. It’s all delicious. I have an excellent housekeeper.’

Her mouth curled primly. ‘So I hear. I have it on good authority that you’re lucky to have her.’

Alessio laughed, the sound torn away as he pushed the throttle and they sped along the lake. The sun shone brightly and the wind was fresh on his face, while beside him Charlotte looked flushed and happy.

Life was good.

Even if just for this day, life was good.

It was a revelation, a benediction, and Alessio thanked whatever fates had led Charlotte to him.

A short time later, he pulled in to a private pier. Once the boat was secured, he grabbed the picnic blanket and basket and helped Charlotte ashore. She was nimble enough to get ashore herself, but he liked how her hand turned in his, accepting his help, then stayed there, as if she too needed the physical connection.

‘Who lives here?’ she asked.

Alessio looked up at the pale pink three-storey villa as they walked through the rambling garden. ‘Nobody at the moment. I own it, and a cousin lived here until recently. I’ll look for a tenant soon, but for now it’s empty.’ He turned to Charlotte. ‘We’re totally alone.’

Dancing blue eyes met his, and heat shafted through him. ‘Totallyalone?’

‘Absolutely.’ His voice was gravel and heat as that ever-present need for her surged anew. He saw it reflected in her face, felt it in her hand squeezing his.

Something passed between them. An understanding, an urgency. An unspoken primal message that had him dropping the picnic basket and drawing her into the deep shade of a spreading chestnut tree.

‘Charlotte.’ He tossed the picnic blanket down, but spreading it out would mean relinquishing his hold on her. Instead he backed her up against the tree trunk. ‘I want you, Charlotte. Now.’

---