Italian Billionaire's Stubborn Lover (The Romano Brothers 1)

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?”

Ade

line 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.”