“Se, Signore. I’ll hold,” Luciana said with her cell phone pressed to her ear. She nudged her sunglasses up her nose. She didn’t need them on such an overcast day, but she’d spent the last hour fighting tears. Signora Rizzo had visited her at home last night to tell her that the bank had approved the loan after all, but when Luciana had called the bank as soon as it had opened this morning to confirm that it was true, the bank had told her no. She was still denied the loan—any loan. Now she was back to square one of trying to figure out how to provide Natalia with a home that she could find happiness in.

“Signorina Vivaldi, I am sorry to make you wait. I am Signore Glordano, the bank presidenti,” said the reassuring, patient voice of what sounded like an older gentleman.

Luciana tried to hide a sniffle. “It’s no problem, Signore.” She couldn’t imagine what else they had to tell her. How many times did she need to be told that they didn’t deem her a good financial risk?

“There has been a mistake.”

“It’s okay. They’ve already told me that I don’t qualify for a loan.”

“But that is the mistake. You have been approved for the original loan amount that you requested.”

“What?” Luciana couldn’t believe her ears.

“My sincerest apologies, Signorina. There was a mistake, but your line of credit has now been approved.”

New tears flooded Luciana’s eyes, but this time they were tears of joy.

“Come in later this afternoon and we will finalize the paperwork. I’ve given instructions for you to be directed to my office, and I look forward to seeing you.”

Luciana’s heart skipped a beat. “This afternoon?” The bank would be closed by the time she got off work. Gianpierre had been pushing them into longer and longer hours. “I’m not sure that I can get away from work.”

“This evening, then. Whatever time works for you. I will send you a text of my personal mobile number. Let me know that you are on your way, and I will meet you here. No time is too late.”

Luciana pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it in disbelief. Possibly it was a cultural difference between Sicily and America, but she had never had a bank official be so nice to her. “Se, Signore! Gratzij! Gratzij!”

Clicking off of the call, Luciana jumped up and down in place and then did a little dance. Gianpierre’s crew watched her and laughed, but it was in good humor with camaraderie.

“We can get Gianpierre’s place!” Luciana exclaimed unintelligibly in a muted squeal. It was loud enough to give her glee someplace to go while not being so loud as to telecast her business to everyone within hearing distance. As far as she knew, none of Gianpierre’s regular crew knew what had happened between them. They didn’t know that she was trying to buy his home, and they sure as heck didn’t know that she had walked in on him while he was naked.

To be honest, Gianpierre had barely spoken ten words to her since that night. She’d taken the next day off—per Gianpierre’s direction—and then had returned to work the day after as usual. She’d tried to talk to him about the incident twice, but each time he would bark out an order to someone on his crew and they would be off to investigate some new corner of the catacombs. This time, though, Luciana had news about the catacombs herself. One of the workers had found yet another room that had been filled with dirt. Its structural integrity was unknown, and its contents were unknown.

“Where is he?” Luciana said aloud as she scanned the courtyard. Gianpierre was traditionally the first one on-site and the last one to leave, but today he was late. “Michela,” she called out, flagging down one of Gianpierre’s regular crew. Crossing the courtyard, Luciana was careful where she stepped and looked for any tell-tale signs that the ground was dipping.

“Se?” the Sicilian beauty asked, setting her hammer and chisel aside and standing up. She was reshaping the stone bricks to ensure the best fit possible. No filler was to be used between the rock bricks in many places and maximum surface-to-surface contact was imperative for the bricks to lock in place with a good pressure and friction hold.

Luciana had shaken hands with the woman once not long after being hired on as Project Manager. She would never make that mistake again. Michela had gotten goosed in the ribs by another worker just as their hands were locking. Startled, Michela had clamped down on her grip, and Luciana had thought that Michela had broken her hand. It was clear that Michela was all woman, but beneath her soft, feminine features was work-hardened muscle.

Luciana couldn’t help but wonder if her and Gianpierre had ever been a pair. The woman was stunning with high cheekbones, long, thick black hair and eyes that had a mesmerizing, smoky darkness that was not quite black and not quite brown. As for Gianpierre, he was certainly handsome enough to turn any woman’s head. It would make sense that Gianpierre would find companionship with one of the people he travelled with most. Despite that, she’d never seen either of them look at each other with even a hint of that kind of familiarity. Luciana was the only one he ever seemed to look at with heat in his eyes, but it was hard for her to accept that she was not part of a convenient trend.

“Michela, have you or any of the others heard from Gianpierre this morning?”

“Ahh, se. He’s there,” she said, pointing past Luciana before returning to her work.

Luciana turned around to see Gianpierre making his way across the courtyard. He was wearing his usual work-worn jeans but also wore a navy blue suit jacket over top.

Sex on a stick. The words were in her head without her invitation, and the intensity of her desire for her boss caught her off guard. Her cheeks heated, and she looked away, desperate for him not to see her blush.

Squaring her shoulders and hugging her tablet to her chest like a shield, she hurried forward with quick, sure steps. Gianpierre would talk to her this time. She’d make him.

As she neared, Gianpierre lifted an arm in preparation of waving someone over, but Luciana countered with a stern, “Sir.” His attention shifted to her and she stepped close, so close that for him not to acknowledge her would require him to be bluntly rude. “Sir,” she said again.

“It’s fine—” he said at the same time that she said, “There’s been a development in the catacombs.”

“What?” Gianpierre asked, his brows lifting.

“Paolo discovered a room behind a blocked entrance. The room might be full of dirt and debris, or it might be open and susceptible to cave in. It needs further evaluation.”

“Paolo!” Gianpierre called out, lifting his gaze to look out over Luciana’s head.

Luciana was tempted to raise up onto the tips of her work boots to make it harder for him to see past her but resisted the urge. “Paolo is already down in the catacombs, sir.”

Gianpierre leveled a cool gaze on her as she used the word “sir” yet again.

She cleared her throat. “Gianpierre,” she corrected and then felt her cheeks heat again. The magnetic pull of his bright blue eyes on her made her memory flash with seeing him naked… gloriously naked. His lean body had been perfection, and the muscles that were hinted at beneath his clothes had not been a lie. If he had been crafted out of clay by a master’s hands, he could not have been any more handsome and virile. “I will take you down into the catacombs to him.”

“No.”

Luciana’s head bobbed backward and her eyes went wide with surprise.

“You have a young child to go home to. You will not go below with me. You do not belong there.”

Luciana’s mouth fell open, and then she found her voice. “Sir,” she said, purposely stressing the word, “I will do my job and this is my job. There are time schedules to discuss as well as materials, not to mention inspectors to be postponed.”

Gianpierre winced when she said “postponed.”

“Sir… Gianpierre,” she said, softening her tone. “I am good at my job. Please, let me do my job.”

He looked her up and down, and his jaw tensed, but finally he gave a single nod. Turning on his heel, he headed for the main entrance to the catacombs. It was a roped off opening in the courtyard floor that would eventually be sealed over with a custom made door, which would sit flush with the surrounding cobblestone.

Grabbing a couple of yellow hard hats sitting on the ground, Gianpierre handed one to her and put the other one under his arm. She stood staring and waiting with the hard hat in her hands, but Gianpierre didn’t budge until she lifted it to sit atop her head. Then he turned away once more, shrugged off his jacket, and headed into the bowels of the Romano del Mare.

Once they were below, Luciana moved into the lead. At nearly every turn of the tunnels, she referenced the map on her computer pad again. Even so, she got them lost and walking in circles. She kept waiting for Gianpierre to become impatient and chide her before ripping the computer pad away, but it never happened. Instead, he remained calm and patient, and eventually she was able to lead them to the spot that Paolo had found. He was there, too, on his knees with a tubed video scope in his hands. He’d pushed it through the jumble of rocks and dirt that filled an arched doorway in an attempt to see what was beyond.

“Any luck?” Gianpierre asked, kneeling down next to Paolo and peering at the scope’s monitor.

“Not yet. The debris is thick. The entire room might be a cave in that was bricked over up above. But if it’s not…”

Luciana knew what it was that Paolo wasn’t saying. If the room was not completely full of stone and debris, there was a chance that the courtyard floor above the room could eventually give way. People could be hurt or even killed. Finding out what was inside the room was a matter of safety.

“This scope’s not long enough,” Gianpierre said. “We need the ten foot.”

“Se, I’ll get it,” Paolo said. He was on his feet and gone in the next moment. He didn’t have a map. He’d been down here so much that he knew his way around.

Luciana’s gaze moved to Gianpierre with a flash of realization. Gianpierre could have taken over and figured out where the uncovered room was in a matter of minutes, but he’d given her the chance to prove herself by allowing her to lead them to it instead. He could be so gruff and so hurried that his tendency for gentle leadership always caught her off guard.

Gianpierre adjusted the light density of the small view screen. “It looks like mostly rubble. We could drill a coring hole through the top of the courtyard, but I’d rather not damage the top bricks.” Standing, he left the monitor on the ground and shook his head. “I don’t have time for this. I’m needed in Dubai. These setbacks, they’re no good. They’re ruining my schedule. I’m going to leave this. It will still be here when I’m ready.”

“Sir… Gianpierre, no. You can’t.” Her heart thudded heavily in her chest and she felt light headed. She’d only just gotten approved for her loan. If she had to report back to the bank that her two-week-old job had already ended, all the progress she’d made toward providing little Natalia with a better life would slip away. She couldn’t let that happen.

Gianpierre shot her a sharp look in response to her declaration that he “could not” abandon the unfinished job. This was his show, she knew that. Not only was he one of the most sought after medieval restoration experts in the world, he was also one of the three owners of this property. He could do whatever he pleased with it, even if that was shoving a stick of dynamite under the thing and blowing it up. Telling the man what he couldn’t do wasn’t going to work, Luciana quickly realized. So, she tried a different approach.

Taking a deep breath despite the dusty, stale air of the catacombs, Luciana willed her heart to slow and her body to relax. If she was tense, he’d be tense. And, if she was relaxed, he might relax a little. Next, she smiled the biggest smile she could manage, but when that effort was met by Gianpierre’s grunt as he refocused on the little monitor, she let the smile soften and then pressed forward with her new, gentler attack on his plans. “Is walling a section off to come back to it later something that’s commonly done?”

Gianpierre shrugged. “Sometimes.”

Luciana licked her lips nervously and was thankful that he wasn’t looking at her to notice. “Is it something you’ve done in the past?” Please say no. Please say no.

Gianpierre’s lips thinned and his eyes narrowed as he shifted his attention back to her but he did not give an answer.

Gotcha! Luciana resisted the urge to do a triumphant fist pump in the air.

Gianpierre twisted the tubed camera scope in an effort to get it to travel into the rocky debris a little further. “You’re right. I would not normally leave a cave-in until later, but situations change. It can’t be helped. The entire project is taking too long. One delay after another. It’s too much.” He backed the tube out a few inches before attempting to push it back in at a different angle.

Luciana shone her flashlight at the jumble of dirt and rocks at eye level. Tracing the edges of the curved archway, she spotted a rock that was only loosely wedged into the debris and it seemed to have some space behind it. “There’s a spot up here,” she said as she reached on tiptoes to pull the rock free.

“Don’t!” Gianpierre yelled, but his warning came after Luciana already had her fingers hooked around behind the rock and was in mid-yank. A small sound followed of dirt and rock cascading, but then, as if someone turned up the volume on a set of speakers, the sound grew.

Luciana backed away from the clogged archway with her hands still lifted in the air where they had been when she’d pulled the rock.

There was a grumbling that felt as much like vibration as it was sound, and then… an avalanche. Rock, dirt and heavy carved stones flooded out of the archway as the archway itself lost its shape on one side.

Fear shot through Luciana as she saw the dirt that would become her grave come down at her, then Gianpierre’s long arms wrapped themselves around her body and she was pulled hard onto her back on the ground. There, Gianpierre covered her head with his arms, head and shoulders while his torso and legs did a good job of shielding the rest of her.

The air turned thick with dust that left Luciana gasping for air, and Gianpierre’s powerful body lay unmoving on top of her, his added weight making it all the more difficult to breathe.

“Sir? Gianpierre!” Terror filled Luciana that she had brought their deaths. She’d been a fool to insist on coming down into the catacombs. She’d only wanted to be seen as valuable to his team, but now she’d cost them both everything.

Gianpierre moved with a groan, sending dust from his hat into Luciana’s face. Squeezing her eyes shut, she coughed and spluttered, but then stilled when Gianpierre’s fingers brushed the dirt away from her eyes and cheeks.

“Are you alright?” Gianpierre’s gruff voice asked. “Say you’re alright.”

“I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have pulled that rock. I’m—”

“Luciana,” Gianpierre interrupted, “are you alright?”

“I’m so sorry—”

“It doesn’t matter. Luciana! Are you alright?” He held her face in both his hands, and even in the dim light Luciana could see the brightness of his blue eyes. “Tell me you’re alright.”

In the distance, Luciana could hear the yells of Gianpierre’s crew, their voices muted as if yelling through a wall. Lost in the rubble, one of their flashlights blinked but then stabilized.

“I’m alright,” Luciana whispered, giving in to the feel of having Gianpierre’s body on top of hers, his weight on her, as he held her and stared down at her through the murky darkness with an intensity that unnerved her.

Gianpierre’s big thumb stroked her cheek as his eyes continued to search her face. His expression wasn’t one of anger; it was defeat.

Gianpierre’s body shifted, and Luciana failed to stifle the tiniest of moans, filled with desperate want. Then he did the unthinkable. He dipped his head and pressed his warm lips to hers. His crew’s frantic yells could be heard as they fought through the rubble to reach them, but it was as if he didn’t care. The rest of the world didn’t matter. There was only her, and the man whose kiss Luciana had craved to taste since the moment she’d met him ignited a hope in the future she hadn’t realized had gone out.

Wrapping her arms around him, Luciana kissed him back, opening herself to the caress of his tongue. What started out gentle turned into a fervent celebration of life as they lost themselves in each other, and they did not stop until the flow of fresh air reached them as Gianpierre’s crew breached the barrier that stood between them and the rest of the world.