Saved by the CEO (18 page)

Well, when he looked at her like that... She grabbed the neck of his T-shirt and tugged him forward. “Now that you mention it, I might have a few other requests.”

* * *

Following their lovemaking this morning, he’d wanted nothing more than to burrow with her beneath the sheets and, maybe after some rest, make love again. Unfortunately, Louisa insisted they needed to make an appearance at the winery before the gossip got too out of control.

As he leaned back against the bed watching her dress, he marveled at how light and full his chest felt. Never in his entire life could Nico remember feeling this way. It was as though overnight the entire world had grown brighter: every color more brilliant, every smell and sound more pronounced. And Louisa—beautiful, beautiful Louisa—he couldn’t get enough of her. Not sexually, although making love with her was amazing, but of
her
. Her company, her presence, her happiness. It overwhelmed him how much he wanted to keep her close and protect her.

Suddenly, it hit him. He was in love.

For the first time in his life, he, Nico Amatucci, was truly, madly and deeply in love. The knowledge swelled inside him, inflating his heart until he thought it might burst.

To distract himself from the desire to haul her down the hall and back into his bed, he pretended to check the messages on his phone. Comprehension was difficult, what with his beautiful American standing a few feet away clad only in jeans and a bra.

“You should move your clothes into the closet,” he said as he watched her taking a shirt from her suitcase. This long under his roof, and she hadn’t unpacked? They would need to remedy that.

“Actually,” Louisa said, “I was thinking it might be time for me to move back to the palazzo.”

What? He sat a little straighter. “So soon?”

“It’s hardly soon, Nico. I’ve been here two and a half weeks. This was only supposed to be until the press died down, remember?”

He remembered. He didn’t want her to go. Her decision felt too much like her deciding to leave Monte Calanetti. How could she want to leave when they were only just were discovering their feelings.

It took all his effort to keep his voice light and not spoil the moment with his panic. “I suppose,” he said, heaving the most dramatic sigh he could muster, “if you prefer to sleep alone in a cold palazzo than in my warm bed...”

“I never said I
preferred
the cold palazzo.” She mocked his exaggerated voice with one of her own. “But I will have to go back eventually.”

“I know. Not tonight, though?”

“Well...” He could tell from the sparkle in her eyes that she was only pretending to hesitate. “Okay, not tonight. But soon.”

“Soon,” he said, with a smile. He was surprised at how strongly he wanted her to stay. This new passionate self was going to take some getting used to.

Returning his attention to his phone, he noticed a message from Rafe. Agenda Items for Next Tuesday, the subject line read.

“Did Dani say any more about what Rafe wanted to talk about at this meeting?” he asked Louisa.

“Just that he wanted to get plans rolling on some type of event to attract visitors now that the harvest is wrapping up.” She was buttoning the same silk blouse she’d worn when moving in. “He was thinking maybe something in February,” she said. Around Valentine’s Day.”

“A holiday that will attract couples to his restaurant. Why am I not surprised?”

“Well, it is a romantic time of year. What could be more romantic than candlelit dinners with fine wine?”

“True.” No sooner did she say the words than the image of the two of them nestled together in a corner table came to mind. “Very romantic indeed,” he murmured.

“You could relabel one of your wines for the occasion. The winery must have something bubbly. A prosecco maybe?”

She was on to something. The winery had a very nice prosecco they produced on a limited basis. He could easily convince the local businesses to incorporate it into any plans they came up with.

Tossing his phone aside, he got up and, giving in partially to his desire, wrapped his arms around her waist. “Beautiful and brilliant,” he said, kissing her neck. “You are definitely a prize worth keeping.”

“Glad you think so.”

Was it his imagination or did she tense slightly before breaking the embrace. She had a smile on her face, so he must have.

“Isn’t Valentine’s Day when you were hoping to open the palazzo to guests?” Since she obviously wasn’t going to leave Monte Calanetti now, she could put her project back into motion.

To his surprise, she answered his question with a very sarcastic laugh. “I’m pretty sure those plans bit the dust when Dominic Merloni canceled our appointment.”

Dominic Merloni. That shortsighted idiot. “He is not the only financier in Italy. There are other banks. Other sources of funding,” he reminded her.

Louisa set down the hairbrush she was using to look at him. “Who’s going to lend Luscious Louisa money? It was naive of me to think I could slide by on my maiden name. Too much of my past financial history is tied to Steven’s.”

“There is still the investor route. I’m sure there are plenty of people who would be interested. I’ve already said I would—”

“No.” Her refusal was sharp and sudden, cutting him off. The reaction must have shown on his face, because her voice immediately softened. “We’ve already had this conversation Nico. I can’t take money from you.”

“Yes, but...” But that was before they became lovers. Surely, the situation had changed. Why not let him help?

“The whole idea of the hotel was to create something of my own,” she said, cutting off his protest. “If I take money from you, then it won’t feel that way. Especially now. The papers claim I’m dating you for your money,” she added, picking up her brush.

“I thought you no longer cared what the papers said.”

“I said I could deal with a small mention. What I don’t want to do is give them more ammunition.”

“So, what are you going to do? Give up on your plan?”

“I’m not ‘giving up’ on anything. The palazzo is going to make a wonderful hotel. Just not as soon as I hoped, is all. In another year or so, maybe, when I’ve had time to build a better financial profile.”

Hearing Louisa put her dream on hold broke his heart. It wasn’t right, her suffering another setback because of that cretin she’d married. Especially when he had the wealth and connections to make things happen.

Maybe... He looked down at his phone. Maybe she wouldn’t have to wait too long. Wouldn’t hurt to make a few phone calls and see if he could open a few doors, would it?

CHAPTER ELEVEN

M
ORE
THAN
A
few heads turned when Louisa and Nico entered the winery together. Dozens of pairs of eyes all staring knowingly in her direction.

Suppressing the old, familiar apprehension, Louisa nodded hello to everyone. “Looks like our secret is out,” she said. The din of the machinery forced her to holler directly into Nico’s ear.

He turned and looked at her with such concern, her heart wobbled. “Will you be all right?” he asked.

“I’ll be fine.” Even if she wouldn’t, there was no way she could tell him that when he was looking at her so tenderly. “If I was worried about discretion, I wouldn’t have kissed you in front of the whole village, would I?”

Nico looked about to reply when one of the workers called his name.

“Duty calls,” he said. He flicked the hair from her eyes with his index finger. While not a kiss, the gesture was still intimate enough that, if there had been any employees who didn’t suspect their affair, there weren’t anymore.

Trying her best to look nonchalant, Louisa headed toward the back office. She was nodding hello to the women at the destemmer when she noticed the two men behind them exchanging euros.

“They’ve been placing bets ever since the picture of you and Signor Amatucci appeared in the paper,” Mario said, appearing at her shoulder.

Bets.
Her stomach churned a little at the news. “On what?”

“On you and Signor Amatucci. Half the staff believed the two of you were just friends; the other half was convinced the two of you had been together for months.”

“Months? You must have heard wrong.” Up until the royal wedding, she and Nico had only crossed paths when necessary, and half the time they’d butted heads.

The young man shrugged. “I only know what people told me.”

“Which side were you on?” she asked.

“I don’t like to place money on anyone who is writing me a reference.”

“A smart man,” she replied.

“For what it’s worth,” Mario continued, following her into the office “the majority were hoping the rumors turned out to be true.”

“They were?” Come to think of it, while people stared, nobody seemed particularly acrimonious. There were no cold shoulders like in Boston. In fact, Louisa realized, some of them had amusement in their eyes.

“Public consensus seems to be that it was high time Signor Amatucci had a serious relationship.”

“It is, is it?”

“At least among the older female employees.”

“I see.” She wondered if Nico knew he had a mothering contingent. Probably.

Feeling slightly better, she sat down at her desk. Today’s order list wasn’t as long as previous days’ as most people had purchased their bottles in person at the festival. She counted fewer than two dozen names.

“Those should be the last of the orders,” Mario said. “We’ll be out of Amatucci Reserve after today.”

“Guess that means my job will be finishing soon, as well. No wine, no need to fulfill orders.” With the headlines dying down and the wine gone, it was definitely time to go home.

“That’s too bad,” Mario replied. “You’ll be missed.”

“I know. What will people have to bet on?”

“I’m serious. I’ll admit, when you first arrived some of us were concerned. We didn’t know what to expect. But then we got to know you, and we realized what Signor Amatucci said at the staff meeting was true...”

“I’m sorry.” Louisa put down the paper she’d picked up. “What staff meeting?”

“Right after you started.
Signor
held a staff meeting and told us the headlines were all exaggerations and that we should make a point of getting to know you.”

So that’s why Mario and the others had warmed up to her. Because Nico had told them to. “How very kind of him,” she replied. Inside, she wanted to wring Nico’s neck.

“Well, like
signor
said, once we got to know you, we’d realize we shouldn’t believe everything we read. At least I don’t believe it.”

“Thank you.” She did her best to keep her voice calm and kind. The young man was being sincere. Besides, her annoyance wasn’t with him, it was with his boss.

“This reminds me...” Palms pressed to the desk top, she pushed herself to her feet, deliberately moving slowly so as to stay calm. “There’s something I wanted to ask Nico about today’s orders. Do you mind?”

“Not at all. I saw him and Vitale heading toward the wine cellar.”

Perfect. They could talk without being overheard.

* * *

Cool and dark, the wine cellar Nico had proudly told her about on her first day had changed little from when the Amatuccis first started making wine. The stone walls and floor were the same ones against which his great-grandfather had stacked his wine barrels. At the moment the tradition meant little as she stalked the floor-to-ceiling stacks looking for Nico.

She found him in the farthest room, clipboard in hand. Soon as he saw her, a smile broke across his face. “Now here is a pleasant coincidence. I was just imagining what it would be like to bring you down here and have my way with you.”

“You’ll have to keep imagining,” she replied, sidestepping his grasp.

Immediately his smile turned into a frown. “Is something wrong?”

“You tell me. Did you really tell your employees they had to be nice to me?”

“Where did you hear that?”

“Mario told me about your staff meeting.” Not that it mattered who’d told her. The way he was avoiding looking her in the eyes told her it was true.

The irritation she’d been tamping down, quickly roared to life, making it a herculean effort for her not to snatch the clipboard from his hands and toss it on the ground then and there to make him look at her. She settled for spinning around and slamming the door shut. “I can’t believe you did that,” she hissed once she had his attention.

“Did what?”

“Forced your employees to be my friends. Who do you think you are?”

“Their boss,” he replied, sharply, eyes flashing. “And I did not force anyone. I told them to treat you with respect, something I thought you were sorely in need of at the time. Or don’t you remember how upset you were on that first day? When you told me about the trial?”

And broke down in his arms. “I remember,” she said. All too well. Like so many times, Nico had been the rock she so desperately needed.

“That doesn’t entitle you to go around speaking on my behalf.” Hearing the complaint aloud, it sounded a lot less egregious than it had when she came marching down here. Still, she pressed on. There was some merit to her grievance. “I needed to win people over on my own, not because of your influence.”

“And you did,” Nico replied. She rolled her eyes. “Look, I simply told people to give you a chance. That if they got to know you, they would see that what the newspapers were saying was nothing but a load of garbage.”

Exactly what Mario said.

“I assure you,
bella mia
, any goodwill you received you earned on your own.” With a duck of his head, he offered a small smile. “You are irresistible, you know.”

In spite her annoyance, Louisa’s stomach gave a little wobble. He wasn’t getting off that easily, though. “Regardless, you should have told me what you were planning. I don’t like the idea of everyone talking behind my back.”

“They were already talking; I wanted to make sure they talked correctly. Besides, if I had mentioned my plans, you would have told me not to, making your job twice as hard.”

He had a point, even if the logic didn’t sit completely well with her.