Defying Her Billionaire Protector

Her gaze thinned. ‘Holidays,’ she said. ‘Where do you go on holiday?’

‘I don’t.’

She frowned. ‘You don’t take holidays?’

‘This is where I come to unwind.’

‘Alone?’

‘Oui,’ he said. ‘Alone.’

Her eyes widened. ‘So you don’t bring your...friends here?’

He lifted an eyebrow. ‘Do you mean to ask me if I bring my lovers here, Marietta?’

The colour in her cheeks brightened. She picked up her wine glass, took a large sip and sat back. ‘Do you not get lonely here on your own?’

He shrugged. ‘I like the quiet.’ Which wasn’t strictly true. He craved the isolation more than the quiet itself. The disconnection from the world and the people in it.

Marietta looked towards the ocean and the setting sun. Half a dozen shades of orange and gold—colours she would no doubt give fancy names to—streaked the sky. ‘It is peaceful here. And beautiful.’ Her gaze returned to his. ‘Are there no other places you’d like to visit, though? Things you’d like to see?’

He shifted in his chair. ‘I’ve seen more things in this world than you can imagine,’ he said. ‘And most of them I never wish to see again.’

He heard something dark and bleak in his own voice then. Marietta studied him, and he shrugged off the notion that she could somehow see the darkness inside him...the emptiness he’d never been able to fill since losing his wife.

‘Well,’ she said, ‘I haven’t seen enough of the world. There’s plenty of places I’d like to see...things I’d like to do.’

‘Such as...?’

‘The pyramids in Egypt.’

His brows dropped. Was she kidding? ‘Do you have any idea how volatile that region is?’

She lifted her shoulders. ‘Isn’t the whole world “volatile” these days?’

‘Oui. Which is why travellers need to be more selective about the destinations they choose. More safety conscious.’

‘I agree. But no one can live in a protective bubble, can they? If people did they’d never go anywhere, never do anything. Living involves risk, whether we like it or not.’

‘Risk can be minimised through sensible choices.’

Marietta sighed. ‘You sound like my brother.’

‘That’s because Leo is a smart man,’ he clipped out.

She flicked her hair over one shoulder. She wore another halterneck top tonight, this one red and floaty and partially see-through. Nico kept his gaze above her collarbone.

‘None of that diminishes my desire to see the pyramids,’ she said. ‘In fact it doesn’t change anything on my wish list.’

His brows sank lower. ‘You have a list?’

‘Si.’

‘Tell me about it.’

Her chin notched up a fraction. ‘I’m not sure I want to.’

‘Tell me,’ he commanded.