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

I won’t let that happen to her, he silently vowed.

“You could come with me,” he said. “I could show you the world.”

“You mean for a weekend?”

Nicolo shrugged. “Or a month… or two.”

Adeline’s attention shifted to look out over the sea, and he knew that his answer had failed to impress. He understood why. Asking her to run around the world while he pursued his life was asking her to put her own life’s pursuits on hold. He would get everything, but she would only get him. Then, if he was gone, she would have nothing left but memories and a life to rebuild. It was a terrible thing for him to ask of her. He knew that, and now he realized that she knew it, too.

Silence dragged between them until Nicolo could stand it no more. “Tell me what it is that you want to see when you look at the Romano del Mare.”

Adeline twisted to look over her shoulder at the sprawling building that stood a dozen yards away. Then, she pivoted her hips and pulled her legs up so that she sat with the outside of her thigh pressed against the blanket and her knees together.

“Lights,” she said. “During the day, nature and the natural surroundings are what is most beautiful. But in the evening, I would love to see the Romano del Mare lit up as the star of the night.”

It was a very cosmetic answer that did nothing for the structural integrity that would keep the Romano del Mare’s patrons safe, but he liked it all the same. He loved the way she always looked for the best in all she saw. To her, everything glowed with the sparkle of a jewel.

A half-hour later, Nicolo helped Adeline to her feet, and they headed inside the resort to talk further about the updates that needed to be done.

“The entire building’s electrical system needs to be rewired, and the electrical systems for the kitchen, laundry and other service areas need to be updated to meet industrial needs. The inspector found several hotspots throughout the building that could have easily turned into fires,” Nicolo said as they stood within the grand foyer. The floor was made of marble and the ceiling reached all the way up both floors to the building’s roof.

“High speed Internet plug-ins for every room with an option of individually password protected Wi-Fi.”

Nicolo’s mouth dropped open. “Why not use one Wi-Fi signal for the entire resort?”

“It would overload it, and the user couldn’t be confident that their data uploads weren’t getting intercepted and stolen.”

“Oh,” Nicolo said, feeling more than a little bit impressed as he shoved his hands deep inside his pockets. He rocked back on his heels and considered Adeline’s suggestion. What she was recommending was addressing an actual safety issue, though not necessarily one that was life or death. “The plumbing needs to be gutted and reinstalled with a new boiler as well.” It was possible for the current plumbing to introduce lead contaminants into the water, and the old boiler was an explosive hazard.

“Restore the existing crown molding where possible and replace it in places it can’t be fixed,” Adeline said.

“Crown molding?”

“Mmhmm,” Adeline nodded. “When buyers come into the space, while they’re going to care about the updated wiring and plumbing, what they will see is the crown molding.”

Nicolo tried to hide his smile. Adeline’s plans seemed to be leaning toward getting the Romano del Mare ready for a new launch rather than a new owner, and he loved her ambition. He loved that when he gave an inch she then asked for a mile. Her drive, fire and passion were exhilarating. She was always ready to push him and challenge him, and his money meant nothing to her beyond what it could do for the Romano del Mare.

And yet, he was still torn. Restoring the resort would add decades and maybe even centuries to its life. He wouldn’t give someone else rights to the Romano name for all that time, and he was leaning heavily toward making a name change a requirement of any future purchase of the resort, even though that stipulation would likely make selling the place all the harder. The Romano del Mare once held the clout of having within it a Michelin five-star restaurant. For a restaurant to have five stars was as rare as unicorns, and many foodies still remembered the Romano del Mare’s name because of it. Its name had a lot of value, and most buyers would likely be reticent to move forward without it.

“And how much do you think this crown molding will cost, and do you think that its cost will be supported by an increased value of the property during a re-sale?” Nicolo thought that he was making a sharp point with his question, but to his surprise Adeline smiled with smug satisfaction and marched over to him with her notebook tucked snug under her arm. Pulling it out, she opened it, and then dragged her finger down one of many columns.

“Here we go,” she said, tapping her finger on “Crown Molding.” He followed the line item over to a column of numbers. The anticipated cost of the crown molding was marked in red, the anticipated re-sale value was marked in black, and then the difference between them was marked in black, indicating an increased value to the property above the loss of the expense of fixing the crown molding.

Nicolo took the folder from her and started flipping through its pages. “When did you do this?”

“I started on it eight months ago, right after I signed on with Vero Immobiliare Real Estate. That they handled the account for the Romano del Mare is the reason—the only reason—I accepted the job.”

Nicolo didn’t know what to say, so he did what he did best. He looked at the columns of numbers. “I know that you told me previously that these are accurate, but I don’t see how they could be,” he said, and then answered his own doubt by declaring, “These can’t be accurate. They’re too low. Anyone willing to do the jobs at these prices would do sub-par work.”

A tap sounded on the open front door of the Romano del Mare’s main entrance. Looking up from the notebook, Nicolo saw that it was a man who looked to be in his early 50’s, dressed in a rolled-sleeve, button-up shirt tucked into tan slacks that had definitely seen many a day of honest work.

“Alberto!” Adeline exclaimed and walked toward the man with arms open. They greeted each other with a two-armed embrace and kisses to each cheek. “Alberto, this is Nicolo Romano, the owner of the Romano del Mare.”

“One of the owners,” Nicolo said, crossing the space between them to shake Alberto’s hand.

“Alberto Scuderi,” Alberto said, completing his introduction. His face was weathered with deep-set wrinkles from squinting in the sun, but he had a genuine kindness to his eyes. Nicolo liked him instantly.

“Alberto is a contractor that I’ve requested to come by to talk to us about the restoration,” Adeline said.