The Maid's Best Kept Secret (The Marchetti Dynasty 1)

She felt hopelessly conflicted.

Would it really be so bad to take something for herself? When she’d never behaved selfishly in her life?

Just for a moment in time?

Nikos Marchetti was under this roof for one night. Based on his track record, he wouldn’t be back for ages. If ever.

A million butterflies erupted in Maggie’s belly and she put a hand there, as if that would quell them.

Maybe if she hadn’t actually seen him naked...

But, no... She couldn’t possibly be considering—could she? No!

She shut down her feverish mind and went and briskly turned off the lights, made her way upstairs. Her room was the most modest—tucked in a return, away from the main bedrooms. But she hesitated on the landing.

She could go into her bedroom, shut her door, and Nikos Marchetti would most likely be gone before she even woke in the morning. Temptation gone. The moment passed. Her world would never collide with his again. She moved in circles far outside of his sphere. By the time he returned to the house again she probably would have moved on to another job.

And still be a virgin.

As that stark thought sank in, a kind of recklessness she’d never experienced before rose up inside her. Nikos Marchetti was offering something decadent and illicit. He was offering life, and vitality. And, after seeing her mother wither away, Maggie desperately needed to feel that life force.

Almost of their own volition her feet turned in the other direction. She walked down the corridor towards Nikos Marchetti’s bedroom. She stopped at the door, feeling slightly light-headed with the enormity of what she was contemplating.

She raised her hand and saw it was shaking. She lowered it again. She couldn’t do this. She wasn’t experienced enough to take what Nikos Marchetti was offering and remain unscathed. As tempted as she was, he would scorch her alive.

She turned away—and came face to face with fire.

Nikos Marchetti was standing in the corridor, naked from the waist up. Sweat pants hung low from his hips and he had a towel slung around his shoulders. His hair was damp. Face flushed. His dark olive skin gleamed. Dimly, she realised he must have been in the gym.

If Maggie had had a moment to resist then it had passed. He took a step closer and she could smell him. Musky and thrillingly masculine.

‘Maggie?’

She dragged her gaze up from where it had been fixated on the dark curling hair covering his pectorals. ‘Yes?’

‘I presume you’re not here to check if I have everything I need?’

She knew that she could quite easily step around him and continue on back to her bedroom. If she wanted to. Which she didn’t.

Slowly, she shook her head.

‘Do you know what you’re doing?’

No, said an inner voice. But she nodded jerkily. ‘I... I think so

.’

Nikos Marchetti stepped closer. So close that she could see how his eyes glittered.

‘You need to be sure, Maggie. I won’t accept anything less.’

A deep, intense longing settled in her core. She couldn’t turn her back on this. ‘I am sure.’

‘Nikos,’ he said.

She blinked. ‘You want me to say your name?’

He nodded.