“Adeline! Where are you?” Nicolo called as he made his way up the long, curving stairs to the Romano del Mare’s second floor. Adeline had sent him a text saying to meet her there, but she had refused to tell him why. He didn't know what she had planned, but the beautiful woman threatening to steer his desires to her whims needed to learn how to let things go. Soon enough the Romano del Mare would be nothing more than piles of rubble. He would make her see that… and accept it.

Outside, the sky had already turned dark and had given way to stars. Nicolo didn’t like the thought of Adeline being in the abandoned resort alone at night. While the building’s power had been turned back on to accommodate the inspectors various buyers would undoubtedly hire, many of the light fixtures had burned out or had simply stopped working due to issues that had developed in the wiring over time. So, as he made his way through the building, the rooms and corridors were more full of shadows than they were of light.

Reaching the stair’s top landing, he turned to make his way down a long hallway. She had said to meet her on the top floor but hadn’t said where. Then he spotted a glow emanating from the open door of one of the rooms, covering that portion of the hallway in a soft glow.

“Adeline?” he called, starting to wonder if he was about to meet a ghost from his past. Possibly his Nanna or Nanno had come to tell him how disappointed they were in his eager willingness to sell his birthright.

Nicolo’s steps paused and he took a deep breath. His grandparents had worked all their lives to make the Romano del Mare a place that instilled joy in all those who visited. To this day, generations of family spoke of the resort—and his grandparents—with great affection. As long as his grandparents had been at the helm, the resort had thrived. It wasn’t until they stepped aside that it started going downhill. That had been when Nicolo was around fourteen years old. He hadn’t known about the mismanagement that had followed his grandparent’s retirement, but even if he had, he wouldn’t have been equipped with the tools he'd have needed to save the resort.

Within a year of his grandparents stepping aside, the Romano del Mare stopped resembling the charming resort everyone wanted to visit. In four more years, the resort had closed its doors. It was not until their grandparents had passed away last year that Nicolo and his brothers realized the incredible fines that had been lodged against the property. In just over a decade, those fines had doubled and quadrupled until they equaled nearly eighteen million euro. It was a weight under which the building itself seemed to be crumbling. The cracks in the plaster walls and concrete foundation were a testament to its tired existence. Nicolo didn’t want to see the Romano del Mare demolished, but it needed to be demolished.

A shadow moved through the cascading light pooling into the corridor as someone in the room shifted. Nicolo quickened his step. He still had not heard Adeline’s voice, and worry gripped him now. He didn’t know of any connections that the mafia had to the Romano del Mare, but with the hefty fines laid against it, anything was possible. Who knew whose pockets the payment of those fines would fill.

If someone has put hands on Adeline… If someone has hurt her… Nicolo couldn’t finish the thought, and it was with a startling realization that he recognized that she meant more to him than he had known. Focused on reaching her as fast as he could, he broke into a run only to freeze when he rounded the corner into the room where the soft light glowed. “Adeline,” he whispered.

Standing before him in a gently flowing, baby blue handkerchief dress with spaghetti straps and black, high-heeled mary jane shoes was Adeline. An angelic choir’s worth of candles lit the room in a light that coalesced around her. She glowed.

“Adeline,” Nicolo whispered again, stepping deeper into the room—a room that was magnificent. The bed was covered with a crushed red velvet cover and topped with shiny, white satin pillows. The soft scent of honeysuckle and ginger reached him next. It was the distinct smell of the plumeria flowers that grew wild around the resort. No other plumeria on the island had that same scent. “Adeline, what have you done?”

Adeline shifted her weight nervously from one foot to the other before crossing her legs at her ankles and clasping her hands before her.

She is so beautiful. Nicolo hungered to take her in his arms and make her his, even if only for a night. But, he didn’t move toward her. She had worked magic in a place that everyone else had given up on. He would let her have her say. He wouldn’t tell her beforehand that her efforts were for nothing. He wouldn’t say that his mind could not be changed from giving up on his family’s legacy. No, he wouldn’t say anything. This was her moment.

“This is the Romano del Mare,” Adeline said, opening her arms wide to take in the room.

Nicolo could see the cracks in the plaster behind the dreamy candlelight, but instead of showing itself as a fault, it added to the room’s charm. Despite that, Nicolo wanted to interrupt Adeline. He wanted to tell her that this had been the Romano del Mare, but it was not that place any longer. Those days had gone.

“I came here as a little girl with my grandparents,” Adeline continued. “They taught me about life and love, and every time I thought about coming home to Sicily, my memory of this place was at the heart of it. The Romano del Mare can be fixed. She’s worth it. She’s got good bones. Strong bones. The crack you pointed out yesterday to the buyer, it’s nothing. I checked with an inspector. He said that the Romano del Mare still has years and years of life in her. She’s a good place.” Adeline put her hand over her heart. “It’s where I saw my grandparents at their happiest. They loved each other all their lives, but there was an extra spark of joy in them when they were here.”

Nicolo wanted to counter her. He wanted to say that the extra spark of joy that she had seen in them was from them having her near, but he held his tongue.

“But that’s only one story,” Adeline spoke on. “Countless people have come here to fall in love, sometimes with each other all over again. When we would go into town, people would learn that we were staying here and their faces would light up with delight. The town loves this place! It provided good jobs. Not just jobs, it gave people a way to provide for their families. Jobs aren’t always easy to come by on the island, but the tourism that the Romano del Mare brought into the region kept the whole area afloat. Since the Romano del Mare closed its doors, the entire region has suffered.”

A small knife twisted in Nicolo’s gut at the confirmation that the resort’s closing had hurt the surrounding towns.

“If someone like Thomas builds here, they will try to encapsulate the experience of the tourists. They will try to keep those tourists here and keep all of their money here too. They won’t share with the community. On top of that, they’ll ship most of their products in from the mainland. I researched them. They won’t even offer good jobs to the region. For any position above menial labor, they ship the staff in. So, not even the jobs will go to the people who live here.”

That’s not good… He thought it, and he meant it. It wasn’t good at all. Sicily was full of talented, hard working people. They deserved better than to be shoved aside as someone took from them and gave nothing back. It wasn’t good business let alone not being good for Sicily. It was not how he designed development properties, and he could not advocate such a practice being used here. Yet, he didn’t want the Romano del Mare. His family was done with it, and he did not want to make it his life’s work as his grandparents had done. Life had more to offer him, and he was going to take it.

Adeline took a step forward. “But, if you fix the Romano del Mare before you sell her, if you make improvements, there’s a chance that whatever buyer you sell her to will keep her intact. They might not tear her to the ground. She could still stand, and she could still be a boon to the community.”

“Improvements…” The hotel had nearly eighteen million euros of fines against her, yet Adeline wanted his family to pour more money into her. The thought didn’t sit easily, but neither did the thought of turning his back on a community that had depended on the Romano del Mare for generations. Why didn’t I see it before? he wondered. Because you haven’t been here long enough to see the truth, the other half of his brain answered for him.

Adeline took another step forward. “I’ve run the numbers. I’ve spoken with the inspector and several contractors. If you make improvements and fixes to the Romano del Mare, she could be worth millions of euros more when it comes time to sell.”

Nicolo blinked as her words sank in. He took a step forward. “So the money invested in it would be multiplied, the Romano del Mare would more likely be purchased by a renovator instead of a bulldoze and build company, and the entire region would benefit?”

“Yes,” Adeline said, lifting her fingers to her lips. She looked as though she was ready to jump up and down like a little girl from excitement.

So investing more was a win in every way. If she’s right… But Nicolo ignored the voice of warning. Right now, he didn’t care if she was wrong. He chose to believe in the world as she saw it. He chose to believe in the possibilities.

His head started nodding before he said the word, then when he did say it, his voice filled the room. “Yes.”

“Yes?”

He smiled big, feeling like a better man than he ever had been. He definitely had a lighter heart. “Yes!”

Adeline squealed with delight and ran to Nicolo. Jumping just before she reached him, she flew into his arms, and it was the most natural thing in the world for him to close his arms around her. There, tight against his body, he held her lifted off the ground so that her face was even with his.

He had never seen a creature so beautiful in all his life. Then, when she put her hands on his face and leaned in to kiss him, the world faded away so that all that was left was her.

“Adeline,” he whispered against her lips. Softening his grip on her, he allowed her to slip through his arms until she stood on the ground. It was then his turn to take her face in his hands and lean down to kiss her lips.

“Maybe this is a good time to ask how single you are,” Adeline said. Her lips were like the brush of a flower’s petal as they moved over his.

Nicolo pulled his head back to look at her. He studied her face for signs of what she might be feeling. “You don’t want to be the other woman?”

Adeline’s arms pushed against his chest with surprising strength as an instant answer to his question.

“Shhh, bedda,” he chuckled. Her body softened against his, though he was not foolish enough to think that her concerns were soothed. Leaning down he dragged his lips over her cheek to her ear. “I have no one and nothing but this moment here with you. There is no woman who has claim to my bed, but I will give it to you if you want it.” Her small frame shivered against him, and it brought a growl from somewhere deep in his chest. “Please say you want it.”

She moved against him but he pulled away so that he could see her face. Looking up at him with eyes overheating with desire, she nodded and said, “Yes, I want your bed to be mine.”

Nicolo hoped that Adeline knew what she was saying. He wasn’t asking for a one night stand. He wasn’t asking for a fling. He wanted to know her. He wanted her in his life. For once, he wanted to belong to someone—at least for a little while.

Cupping the back of her head in his hand, he bent to take her lips with his. He was gentle at first, but as her fists twisted into the fabric of his shirt, his kiss grew harder and more demanding. In the next moment she was climbing him and wrapping her legs around his waist. She was taking control—insatiable, determined.

Walking blindly, he carried her to the bed. There, with his hands on her waist, he lifted her off of his body and tossed her onto the bed. When he stepped away, putting distance between him and the bed, she got onto her knees and looked as though she would leap off to tackle him. He considered letting her. Her eagerness turned him on like nothing ever had before, and every noise of delight and desire that she’d made had his whole body straining toward her. But he held himself back. This was their first time together; he wanted to make it last.

“Bedda, will I survive this night with you?” he asked as he pulled his button-up shirt from his pants. He unbuttoned it at his wrists before going to work on the buttons below his neck.

“Rip it off,” Adeline demanded.

“Tsk, tsk. No, no. You do not mess with a Sicilian man’s clothes. I would’ve thought you knew this,” he teased. It wasn’t true, at least not for him. He would rip his shirt off in a heartbeat to please her, but he needed to take his time. He wanted to savor her.

It was Adeline’s turn to growl, but her growl turned into a purr when Nicolo finally stripped away his shirt to expose what lay beneath. “Oh my God… Where’d you get those abs?” she whispered. He watched as her eyes raked his body from head to toe and back up again.

Not wasting any time, his hands went to his belt. He pulled hard on the strap to release the buckle, tightening it around his waist. Then, he whipped it out of its moorings and slung it across the room.

Adeline’s eyes narrowed and she bit her lip as his hands moved to the button at the top of his trousers. After unbuttoning them, he took his time unzipping them. But once done, he let the offending covering fall to pool around his feet. It left him bare except for a skin hugging boxer brief that he knew accentuated more than hid what he had to offer her.

Adeline gasped, and Nicolo arched an eyebrow and relished her reaction with a crooked grin. She gasped again, then smiled, when he was naked a second later and his boxer briefs were kicked across the floor.

Nicolo advanced on the bed, eager to make the woman within it his. With a teasing smile, she backed away as he neared. Seeing her make him work to earn her pleasures set his blood on fire with want, and once he reached the bed, he moved an arm with lightning speed to capture her delicate ankle in his hand and drag her back down the bed to him.

Adeline screamed and then laughed with nervous glee as he pulled her to him. But rather than work his way further up her body, he held her leg up and cradled her foot between his bicep and forearm. Deft fingers unbuckled her shoe, then pulled it off and tossed it over his shoulder. She didn’t fight him when he caught her other leg, and he had that shoe off a second later.

Surprise registered on Adeline’s face when Nicolo released her altogether and extended his hand to her. She was breathing fast, and she licked her lips before sliding her hand into his.

Nicolo helped her into a position of kneeling upright so that they faced each other. Just as when they were standing, she only came to his chest. With trusting eyes she looked up at him, waiting for what would come next. His excitement stood out erect from his body, clearly ready and wanting. Yet, Nicolo took his time.

His fingers traced the spaghetti strap of her dress. It was such a small piece of fabric standing between him and his treasure. Dipping his head to her neck, Nicolo captured Adeline’s earlobe in his lips and teeth. He kissed and nipped it, earning him a moan of satisfaction as his hands brushed the straps from Adeline’s shoulders.

Her dress fell low on her body to pool atop the round curve of her hips. Everything above was bare.

“Adeline,” Nicolo whispered, his mouth traveling down the elegant slope of her neck as he cupped her naked breast. She was warm and soft to his touch, and she filled the palm of his large hand in a way that made his mouth want something more than her earlobe to nibble on.

“Adeline,” Nicolo groaned. “I didn’t plan for this. I didn’t bring anything.”

Adeline’s small hand lifted to Nicolo’s chest, but instead of cupping him as he cupped her, she dragged her nails down his skin with a forceful passion that ignited his blood anew with a need that made him feel drunk.

“I want you,” Adeline demanded. It was not the voice of an innocent. It was the voice of a vixen temptress calling him to his death upon the jagged rocks. He couldn’t do it, though. No matter how sure he was that he was safe, he couldn’t allow them to take the risk.

“I can’t—”

“I’m safe,” Adeline interrupted, “and I’m on birth control. Are you safe?”

Nicolo hesitated, then answered, “Yes,” amazed that he got to be here, tonight. That soon he would be inside her—filling her, feeling her tighten around him. The thought made the room spin and the air grow thick. He did not want to admit to her that it had been over two months since he had shared his bed with a woman, and that he had never—ever—been inside of a woman without protection. But now that the thought was in his head, he couldn’t imagine having her any other way for their first time. He needed to feel her, to really feel her—the urge was suddenly overwhelming. Silently, he thanked God that he’d had the foresight to get frequent wellness checks. He knew he was safe.

Nicolo captured Adeline’s face in his hands. “Are you sure?”

Adeline blushed and her eyes drifted to the side. There was something she was embarrassed to say.

“Tell me,” he bid her.

“It’s been eight months for me.” Her fingers traced the length of his abdomen, exploring lower and lower and making it more and more difficult for him to think. “We used protection, and the one before that was two years earlier.” Her cheeks turned pink as if she were divulging some shameful secret.

Laughing and no longer worried about his two-month stay from the touch of a woman, Nicolo pulled her close against his body and kissed the top of her head before kissing her lips.

The momentum of their passion grew like a fire across dry weeds. Adeline wrapped her arms around Nicolo’s neck and held on tight as he pushed her dress down off her hips. Her panties were gone a second later, and then Nicolo had Adeline pinned under him on the bed.

She was exquisite. She was a blushing rose barely open from its bud, and she was willing to share all of herself with him.

“Adeline…” His mouth travelled down her graceful neck and over her collarbone until it found the swollen nub of her breast. Capturing it in his lips, he sucked hard.

Crying out, Adeline arched her chest into him as she sank her fingers into his thick hair and held him tight against her. It was as natural as the moving tides when Nicolo slid his hand between her legs and she opened for him, spreading her knees wide.

His thumb found the small epicenter of her pleasure, and Adeline’s hips bucked. It was all that Nicolo could take. He was down the length of her body a second later. He guided one of her legs over his shoulder, then he sank two long, thick fingers into her heat.

Adeline moaned as her body welcomed his fingers, but she screamed with sudden, intense pleasure when Nicolo’s lips closed over her sweet button with an insistent suction.

When her hips bucked again, Nicolo moved with her. He kept his mouth on her, sucking and teasing, while the tips of his thrusting fingers rubbed the swell in her channel that made her writhe and moan his name. Her sounds were music to his ears, and they made him want to lose himself inside of her and never find his way back out.

Her pleasured cries intensified to fill the room as her body clamped down hard around Nicolo’s fingers and held him oh so tight in place. She was determined not to let him go, and Nicolo let her keep him until her cries softened to breathy moans and the tension in her body drifted away.

It was not until then that Nicolo made his way back up Adeline’s languid form. He wondered again if he should back out, if maybe they were moving too fast, but his want for her had him too far gone. He needed to be inside of her. Afterward, he would be sure she understood. She was not a fling. He wanted to know her and make room for her in his life. He wanted all of her.

Looking sleepy and sated, the drag of Adeline’s heel up the back of his thigh let him know that she wasn’t done with him either.

Brushing the hair off her forehead, Nicolo looked down into her rich, gold-flecked brown eyes.

“Fill me,” she said. It wasn’t a demand this time. It was a plea. She needed him inside of her… and inside of her was where he needed to be.

“T’amu,” he whispered, calling her his love as he shifted his hips. The tip of his round, throbbing head pressed against her wet, swollen heat. He shifted again and her lips parted for him, inviting him to the entrance of her depths.

“T’amu,” Nicolo whispered again. His heart beat fast as with the flex of his hips, Adeline’s tight channel opened to allow him inside. It was beyond anything that he’d ever dreamed of, and he could barely hold himself back. “Adeline,” he groaned, unable to control his need to thrust deeper. He’d meant to take her slow, to give her body time to adjust to his girth, but his whole body was shaking with need and he felt as though all of the air in the room had left.

He sank in deep, and caught Adeline’s arched neck in his teeth as a gasped moan escaped her.

“Adeline,” he groaned as he gathered her into his arms before thrusting fully into her. Her answer was to open herself by lifting her knees high and wrapping her legs around his torso and crossing her ankles over his lower back. It was all the invitation he needed. He thrust into her hard, again and again. The pulsing bed cracked new lines in the wall’s plaster as he filled her with his full length. He could feel everything, every spasm of her muscles, even the breaths she took.

“Nicolo…” It was a whimpered cry as Adeline’s pleasure grew. Her nails were already branding his back as hers. The pain of it mingled with the unequaled ecstasy of being naked inside of her.

Nicolo slipped a hand under Adeline’s hips to tilt her just a little bit higher as he ground himself against her. Soon, her moans became unintelligible words. She grunted with each hard thrust of Nicolo’s hips as his entire body shook in an effort to hold his seed inside. She wasn’t ready yet. She just needed a little bit more of him. He would hold on. He would wait for her…

Adeline’s body stiffened beneath him and her eyes rolled back in her head.

“That’s it,” Nicolo said with his lips pressed to Adeline’s uplifted chin. Her neck was bowed so far back that nearly the top of her head rested on the bed. “Let me have it. Give it to me!” he demanded.

Adeline’s sheath spasmed and then clenched tight around him. Nicolo tried with all his might to hold on, but when Adeline’s hips bucked, all of his ability to wait left him.

With a heavy groan, he plunged inside of Adeline with all his might, his hips turning into a piston. He held on as every muscle in him tightened. A heavy fullness, a pressure that both felt good and uncomfortable followed, and then, with one last, hard thrust, Nicolo cried out his anguished pleasure as he surged into her depths.

It was sleep that claimed them next as they lay wrapped in a tangle of each others’ arms.

Dreams came to Nicolo as he slept. Dreams of a white picket fence, a smiling Adeline—her hand on her round, swollen belly, and laughing children running through the yard. The images were not the stuff of nightmares as Nicolo had thought they would be. Instead, at least within his dreams, they were his heart’s greatest desire and most fervent wish.