“You did what?” Luciana’s cheeks colored and Gianpierre didn’t see one ounce of good humor in her eyes. She was fresh back from her girl’s night out, but the evening hadn’t seemed to do anything to soften her reaction to what Gianpierre had done.

“I called a nanny service,” Gianpierre said again, wondering more than a little bit if he’d crossed a line. He’d only wanted to help, and he had to get her to see that. “Natalia and I started work on a fairy castle—”

“A fairy castle,” Luciana interrupted, her tone flat, her eyes narrowed and her beautiful lips thinned.

“Yes,” Gianpierre said, eager to restore her feelings of goodwill toward him. “Natalia wanted to watch videos about fairy castles and I knew that you had told her that she wasn’t allowed to watch online videos without you, so instead of watching videos about fairy castles, I offered to help her build one.”

Luciana crossed her arms over her chest. “And that led you to call a nanny service?”

“Well, no, not directly, but while we worked on the building plans, little Natalia talked and I listened. She said that one of her teachers at her daycare snapped at her when she woke up from a bad dream during nap time. The woman told her she was a bad girl and to go stand in the corner.”

Luciana’s eyes went wide, her mouth fell open and her arms fell to her sides. “What’s her name? Tell me. I’ll rip her heart out through her throat,” Luciana growled as her entire body went into fight mode.

Gianpierre had to resist the urge to take a step back and instead took a step forward. He moved carefully, as if approaching a wild mother cougar protecting her young. Every muscle in Luciana’s body was tight and she was ready to pounce, but it was him who was in her line of sight. He needed her to know that he was looking out for Natalia and that he wanted to protect her too.

“We can’t have you maiming anyone,” Gianpierre soothed. “Natalia needs her Mama. She needs you, and she doesn’t need to be around someone who isn’t willing to put her needs before their own—like the lady at the daycare. So, I called a nanny service and they are sending someone over tonight.”

Luciana took a tense breath as if preparing to deliver a cutting verbal onslaught, but Gianpierre quickly continued speaking in order to stave off the tempest of her anger.

“If you like the nanny, we keep her. If we don’t, we send her away. But”—he held up a finger—“she specializes in children who have experienced traumatic events.”

And just like that, all the breath and all the tension that Luciana had been holding in as she readied her attack whooshed out of her. Even her shoulders sagged. “She specializes in traumatized kids?”

“She does,” Gianpierre said, stepping close enough to take Luciana’s hand in his. He led her to the couch where he sat her down and then sat down next to her. “This is a good thing. Natalia doesn’t need anyone making her feel bad about what she’s going through. She deserves better than that.”

Luciana shook her head. “I can’t afford that. I can barely afford this home, and when you’re gone… when my job is gone, I don’t even have a next step in place yet. I don’t know how I’m going to make this work, and now this? I can’t afford a nanny. I want the best for Natalia, but there’s only so much I’m capable of.”

Gianpierre’s chest tightened at seeing Luciana’s struggles without the filter of time or space. If he wasn’t living with them and if he hadn’t gotten the chance to get to know Natalia, she would simply be some little girl who mattered a lot to somebody else. She wouldn’t even be a blip on his radar. But he had met her and he did care about her, and he couldn’t turn his back on her needs… or Luciana’s.

“You aren’t going to pay for the nanny. I am. I called the agency, and I’m going to take care of this. Not you. Not now, and not ever. Not while you are working for me, and not after I go to Dubai. I am going to pay for the nanny.”

“You can’t do this,” Luciana said, but her voice cracked. “I can’t ask you to.”

“You didn’t ask me, and I am doing what I need to do. I need to be the man who makes sure that Natalia is okay.” He paused as he stared into Luciana’s beautiful, worry-stricken face, and then he did the unthinkable. Lifting a hand, he cupped Luciana’s cheek in his palm and stroked her with the brush of his thumb over her soft skin. “I need to be the man who makes sure that you’re okay.”

Luciana gasped and jerked her head away from his touch and then abruptly stood up, but Gianpierre stood up with her. Capturing her face in his hands, he held her gaze with his own. Then, leaning in slowly, he gave her the chance to refuse him before he took her lips with his own. Her lips were sweet and delicate, and while they didn’t kiss him back at first, Luciana’s hands soon found their way to his sides and she leaned into him, opening her mouth in invitation for him to take the kiss deeper.

“You’re going to leave her; you’re going to leave us,” Luciana said in a whisper against his lips when they came up for air. It was a truth that laid his soul bare because he couldn’t refute it. He was going to leave them both, and he wasn’t going to come back for years. He had a goal: get on the cover of Architectural Digest. He was so close to achieving that goal that he could practically reach out his hand and touch it. He wouldn’t turn his back on that now, no matter how much he enjoyed the company of the beautiful woman before him.

A sturdy knock sounded at the door. Luciana turned and walked away, and Gianpierre felt the chill of her absence. Before that second he’d thought that growing his career and his prestige as the premiere expert in medieval architecture was the most important thing in his life, but in that moment insurmountable doubt filled him. He wanted Luciana. He wanted everything about her. The way she threw her head back and laughed without trying to be demure or dainty. The way worry crinkled the corners of her eyes. The way she cooked—terribly—in the kitchen with Natalia. God, she was an awful cook. She burned half of everything she tried to make, yet somehow it only endeared her to him more.

I have to get away from her, and I have to do it soon. It was the warning toll of a cathedral sized bell that rang in his head. His desire to go was slipping away. She was stealing his drive to be the best of the best. Replacing it was his need to be their best, their everything. He’d seen his brother, Nicolo, turn away from a career defining project that would have kept him on the lips of other developers for decades. He wouldn’t make that same mistake. He wouldn’t trade his future for the happiness of a woman, not even the wonderful Luciana and her charming ward, Natalia.

He followed Luciana at a distance toward the door and watched as she opened it and a comfortably plump, middle-aged woman introduced herself as Signora Esposito. Her presence was instantly gracious and calming, and Gianpierre breathed a private sigh of relief that his girls would be okay even without him. He would quietly see them through any financial hardships that faced them, never letting Luciana know that he was her financial backer, and he would make sure that both she and Natalia had the resources they needed to be able to thrive. With a nanny like Signora Esposito on hand, Luciana would be freed to pursue whatever job that arose that best suited her skills and her needs—and he would make damn sure that those jobs became available to her. His family’s name, and his name specifically, was well known and well respected within the land development community. With only a few well placed phone calls, he would ensure that Luciana had her pick of jobs waiting for her when he moved on. She and Natalia would be okay, and they would be okay without him. He was still a free man. Nothing had changed, no matter how much it felt as though everything had.

“Natalia,” Luciana called, “there’s someone here that I’d like you to meet.”

Gianpierre stayed in the background and watched as Luciana knelt so that she was eye to eye with Natalia as she introduced the little girl to her new governess. Once he moved out, Signora Esposito could move in and take up residence in his vacated bedroom and be available regardless of Luciana’s schedule. It was yet another reason that he should move on as soon as possible. Signora Esposito had specialized training in dealing with childhood trauma as well as a strong educational background in the sciences and the arts. She would be an excellent tutor as well as a guardian and care provider. He’d miss the little girl—and her new mother—but him leaving was inevitable. It didn’t matter that a growing part of himself didn’t want to leave. He’d throw himself into his new job, and everything else would cease to matter. It’s how it always was for him. The people he left behind always faded in importance. Over the years he’d learned to accept that about himself.

Slipping into the back hallway, Gianpierre climbed the tucked-away staircase that led up to the roof. There, he leaned on the stone banister that lined the rooftop.

Night had fallen and blanketed the small town below him. Unseen in the distance, he could hear the Ionian Sea lapping against the shore and the gentle sounds of small-town life. Above him, the stars seemed to twinkle and blink, and he wondered what celestial bodies would be visible to him once he got to Dubai.

The sound of a door closing caused him to turn around. Still in her wrap-around dress that hugged her every curve and the strappy black stilettos she’d worn during her girl’s night out, Luciana appeared like a vision in the soft glow of the underwater lights that lit the long, narrow lap pool that he’d had installed.

“I’m sorry,” he said, beating her to the punch. He didn’t know if she’d come to the roof to fight, but she’d make a formidable foe and he didn’t want to take that chance. There were so many things he wanted to do to her at that moment, but fighting simply wasn’t one of them.

“For what? For looking out for us? Taking care of us?”

Gianpierre smiled. “Mmm, I am sorry for doing something that wasn’t mine to do.” It was a lie. He wasn’t sorry. He’d do it again… and again… and again. Whatever it took to take care of them, but those were not the words to say to a strong, smart, and independent woman such as Luciana.

With a slow walk that swung her round hips like a hypnotic metronome, Luciana closed the distance between them. “Natalia’s downstairs with one of the biggest smiles I’ve ever seen on her face, so I’m not sorry you took control. You did something that I couldn’t have done on my own, and I won’t deny the joy that brings her just to save my pride.” She stopped mere inches from Gianpierre’s chest. “Thank you,” she said, and then reached up on tip toes to put a kiss on his cheek. The next one graced his lips.

Gianpierre didn’t kiss her back, not at first. His heart pounded so hard and so loud he thought it was a wonder that she didn’t hear it, and he knew that he was standing on the edge of a cliff. One step. One slip. That was all that it would take to fall into Luciana’s arms and never be able to climb his way back up and away from her. But then the touch of her hand came to rest on his chest and she nuzzled her nose into his neck before kissing him there, and he knew he’d already fallen. He’d fallen weeks ago, but he’d been in too much of a delusional daze to realize it.

He’d lost his control to Luicana the moment she’d walked into his life… and he didn’t want it back. Ever.