Swept Away by the Venetian Millionaire

Maya bit down on her lip to keep from crying out loud. “Oh...um...”

Zelda immediately read into her response. Or lack thereof.

“Maya? Tell us what’s wrong. Is this about Matt? He keeps calling here, you know. Asking how to get a hold of you.”

She couldn’t bring herself to spare a single thought for Matt right now. He simply wasn’t worth it. “No. It’s not about Matt.” The last word came out with a strained hiccup.

“Sweetie, please talk to me.” The genuine concern and affection she heard in Zelda’s voice served to finally break the last string of control Maya had been holding on to.

On a shaky breath, she began to tell her cousins the whole complicated story, the words rushing out of her like an overflowing river delta. Beginning with her discovery of Matt’s dalliances with a colleague at work and ending with how she’d fallen for a handsome and charming Italian artist who’d turned around and shattered her heart after she’d so willingly and completely given it to him.

When she’d finished, a long silence ensued. For a millisecond, Maya thought maybe the connection had dropped. But then both her cousins started speaking at once. It was impossible to make out the words, though she heard “bastard” thrown about more than once, with a few other choice expressions that would have made Aunt Talley glare in disapproval.

Debatable exactly which man they were referring to.

Finally, the line went silent again.

“Listen to me, Maya.” It was Zelda’s voice. “Just come home. Come back to Boston.”

Maya sniffed and wiped her cheek with the back of her arm. “But Grandmama paid—”

“Grandmama will understand,” her cousin assured her. “She cares more about you than some silly trip she paid for.”

Maya couldn’t argue with that. When Gran knew all she was dealing with, the woman would waste no time gathering Maya into her arms and consoling her with gallons of tea and mountains of chocolate cake.

“Yes,” Lexie added, her voice firm. “Come back here, Maya. As soon as you can.”

“Just come home,” Zelda repeated. “Come back and let us all take care of you. We’ll help you get through this.”

Maya couldn’t hold back any longer. At the risk of further upsetting her dear cousins, she finally let all the sobs and tears loose. They were right. She had no business traveling through Italy by herself any longer.

She needed to be back in Boston. She needed her family.

* * *

Vito’s gaze, as well as his focus, kept drifting away from the folded newspaper he had sitting on the table at the outdoor café he frequented. The same café where he’d first laid eyes on Maya Talbot, right before she toppled out of a gondola and fell into his life.

His eye kept wandering to the same spot where he’d first noticed her, as if somehow time might turn back and he’d see her there once more.

She’d said she’d fallen in love with him. And he’d responded by crushing her heart and her spirit.

Vito would have to find a way to live with that knowledge. He’d have to deal with the fact that he’d been a selfish bastard who should never have let things get that far between them. But his callousness had come through yet again.

A shadow suddenly fell over his line of sight. “I thought I’d find you here, cousin.”

Leo pulled over a chair from an adjacent table and sat down across from him. Normally, Vito might have groaned with annoyance at the interruption of his solitude by his boisterous, noisy cousin. Today he found he could use the company. Still, he couldn’t resist a sarcastic retort. “Please, have a seat, Leo. I’d love it if you’d join me.”

Leo reached over and took a sip of Vito’s espresso without asking. “You appear to be more mopey than usual. I take it you missed your opportunity to retain something special in your life.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You let Maya leave, didn’t you? Yesterday was her last day in Venice, yes?”

“Yes. To both questions. And I don’t want to talk about it.”

Leo signaled to the waiter who gave him a nod. Both men were regulars who didn’t need to actually place their drink order.