Her Venice Affair (The Albury Affairs)

by OW, Christina

  * * * *

  Allan had never felt so…so…damn he didn’t know what the feeling was that had been eating at his stomach even since he’d left Riana alone in that hospital. She’d looked so scared under her false bravado. He could have insisted on staying and there would have been nothing she could have done to stop him, but the look of desperation on her face just made it impossible for him to insist.

  So he would just go and book a suite for three days and ask his lawyer to push the meeting with Torino back a week. He needed to take care of Riana, make sure she was okay. He had very little time left with her and he wanted to make the most of it.

  But the more he thought about separating the more he realized the thought of not having her curled up against him when she slept, or hearing her laughter and damn, even seeing her cry and be sick, created a deep hollow hole in his chest. He knew he shouldn’t, he couldn’t, feel like this, but Allan wanted her with him for good.

  He wanted to be able to go home, knowing she would be there waiting for him to take care of him like she had these past few weeks without him asking for it. The last woman who’d been so attentive and caring toward him was his mother.

  He cursed knowing how close he’d come to calling her his wife. And he cursed himself again when he quickly corrected the doctor’s mistake. He hadn’t meant it to come out the way it did, but judging by Riana’s knee jerk reaction, it was ghastly.

  Of course she would make a perfect wife and a wonderful mother.

  A child…when the doctor said it was just food poisoning, he was relieved. But that relief was quickly overpowered by disappointment he never knew he had lingering in the back of his mind. Had he really wanted Riana to be pregnant?

  If she had been pregnant, he would have married her the same day. He didn’t want his child to grow up without him. Riana and he would have started their own family that would fill the loss, not replace the ones they lost.

  Allan snapped out of that mental image. A marriage centered on parenting their child was way better than that born out of love. He was not going to be his father!

  Allan was back at the hospital after an hour, just in time to catch Riana at the pharmacy. The pharmacist handed her a pill dispenser which she quickly put in her handbag when she saw him approach.

  “Hey! You have perfect timing!”

  Allan had been around Riana long enough to tell sincere cheer from fake cheer. In fact, since she got sick, she’d been faking her good mood most of the time. Did she think he was going to send her home just because she was sick?

  If only she knew that he was addicted to her presence. That if he could, he would keep her in Italy until he finished the takeover.

  He settled his hand on her neck, his thumb caressing her chin. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded with a smile—a fake smile. “Perfect.”

  No problem. He knew how to get her back. “What do you say to touring San Marino for the next three days, of course after you’ve rested a bit?”

  She leaned closer, pressing against him. “Don’t you have to be in Venice in three days?”

  He kissed her forehead and tucked her under his arm as began to walk toward the exit. “Don’t worry about that. I want to take care of you and get you back to your sunny disposition first.”

  She looked down. Allan stopped walking when they got to the car. He placed his thumb under her chin and pushed her head up. “You haven’t been yourself for a while, Riana…all because I poisoned you with my cooking.”

  She chuckled. “My fault. I shouldn’t have let you cook.”

  Allan grabbed his chest as if her words had wounded him.

  “Don’t worry too much. What you lack in the kitchen, you make up for in bed.”

  He laughed pulling her into his arms. “On that note, let’s go back to the hotel so that I can put you to sleep.”

  She pulled away slightly. “Only if you promise the view from the window is not the only San Marino I’ll be seeing.”

  He kissed her long and hard. He felt his pants grow tight and Riana quickly ended the kiss pushing away from him. “Allan, that is not convincing. Now promise!”

  Riana’s face was creased in a serious scowl that made her look adorable. God this woman is perfect for me!

  He wished he could get away with it but Riana would never permit it. “I promise.”

  * * * *

  Riana slept the rest of the day away and only woke up at sunset. She seemed disappointed she missed an entire afternoon of touring but Allan was glad she did. She looked better, no longer pale and sickly. When she came out in her flannel pajama bottoms, he noticed she kept pulling it up and holding it at her waist. They had always fit her around her waist before.

  From the first day, Riana was always eating, trying something new and ordering more if she liked it, especially the pizza and pasta. She’d lost weight recently, and considering the amount of weight she’d gained since Rome, a lot of it. That worried him even more. He plied her with food that evening, hoping it wouldn’t all come up the next morning. He diligently had her take the pills from the dispenser. It made him wonder why she didn’t get a container with labels of what she was swallowing. Riana said the big medical words frightened her, but how tense she got talking about it told him she wasn’t telling the truth, or at least the entire truth. But he didn’t push.

  She was already falling asleep where she sat at the dining table after dinner. Of course she refused to actually go to sleep a few hours after she’d just woken up, so they moved to the living room and he sat with her and waited for her to nod off so he could carry her to bed.

  Once he had managed to get her in the bed, they sat close together, Riana tucked in his side, as they watched an Italian movie with English subtitles. It was a comedy and Riana laughed so much it filled the suite like rays of sunshine. It was wonderful and the familiar twinge in his heart was more pronounced as he watched her face light up.

  He realized he’d missed her laughter those weeks she’d been sick. Now, seeing her like this, it set his mind at ease but did nothing for his erratic heart.

  Yes, it was about time Allan recognized the twinge in his heart for what it was. He cared for her…no, more than cared…but he wasn’t ready to admit that yet.

  That made his father leave his children when their mother died and he had no intention of making his children suffer the same way. Maybe taking Riana as his wife was a bad idea if she was already making him feel that.

  He stroked her curly hair back, loving the feel of it between his fingers. Riana was a beauty. He would love it if any daughters of his looked exactly like her. He pulled her closer to him, knowing that was never going to happen. It was either Riana or children, and he’d always wanted children. A love marriage was out of the question.

  He felt a warm palm against his cheek. Allan closed his eyes and leaned into it before he took her hand and kissed her palm. He looked down into those beautiful brown eyes, the green in them more pronounced like they always were when they filled with desire, and that beautiful smile that always lightened his mood.

  “Allan, don’t worry so much. Everything will be okay.”

  He kissed her palm again. “What makes you think I was worrying?”

  Her smile grew to a grin. “I can hear the wheels turning in that pretty big head of yours.”

  Allan chuckled. “Pretty and big, damn! That would be a compliment if you were talking about my other head.”

  Riana pinched his cheek, and then she moved to sit on his lap. “I’m serious. Don’t worry about the takeover. You’ve done everything right and Torino will see it would be best to sell to you if he wants his dream to stay alive.”

  Allan shifted her around so that she was straddling him. He pulled her against him and her soft chest pressed against his hard chest. It amazed him how perfectly she fit against him and he loved to feel her supple softness tangled with his lean hardness.

  “Would you give up your dream to me and let me do as I wish with it?”<
br />
  Allan thought he saw something cross her face before it quickly disappeared. Was it sadness, remorse, regret?

  His heart thudded hard. Please don’t let her regret this trip.

  But even as he wished it, he knew by the end of this trip they would both be regretting it. Things between them had changed. Even when they made love—yes, he’d admitted they made love and no longer just had sex—it was different, more involved. He felt that she gave her all to him and he had just begun doing the same.

  It was hard not to give everything that was him, plus his money, to a woman like Riana. Because that is the thing, there is no other woman like my unicorn.

  “Well…it’s like giving up a child. If I couldn’t take care of a child, I would give him to someone who can. I’d of course make it an open adoption so I could see him as much as I can. But there would be rules I would have to follow from the adoptive parents so that I didn’t screw up his chances of a better life.” She drew in a deep breath and let it out shaky. “I’d love him more than enough to do that.”

  Allan saw the fear cross her face. If he hadn’t known better, he’d have sworn she was talking from experience. But aside from him—as much as he hated to think about it—Steve was her only lover and they had been together for only six months. Too soon for a child to be born from that relationship. So what was it?

  “Riana, I know you. You wouldn’t give up your child unless it was the last resort.”

  “This is the last resort for Torino, isn’t it?”

  He rubbed her back and kissed her lightly on the lips. “You do know if you find yourself in that situation you can come to me for help, right?”

  The thought of her being pregnant by another man tore at him, but it was the truth. He would do anything for Riana.

  She ran her fingers into his hair and tugged his head back. “I know. You are a wonderful man. That’s why Torino will sign over his baby. Of course, with some visitation rights.”

  Oh, no. Allan saw where this was going. She might be shy and a little naïve but she had no problem championing those she thought couldn’t help themselves. First it was the employees from the companies he took apart, now Torino. This was something they were not going to fight about.

  “I know where you are going with this, Riana, and the answer is no.”

  She shrugged, lifting her hands palms up. “What? You don’t even know what I mean by visitation rights.”

  He stood up, lifting her with him. “But I know you and we are not going to discuss this. You need to sleep, anyway.”

  He went to set her down on the bed but she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. “I know that’s not how you do business, but just think about it. If Mr. Torino feels like he’d have—”

  He tugged at her arms. “Goodnight, Riana!”

  She tightened her hold on him and went on. “—access to his lifelong dream then it would soften him up. Keep him as a manager or an advisor.”

  Allan chortled. “Why don’t I just dig a hole and pour all the money I’m using for the acquisition into it?” She pulled his hair and he winced from the pain. “Damn it, Riana! What was that for?”

  “If you take Casa Italiano completely from him without an inch to call his own, you are going to kill him. He’s worked too hard and too long to just give up without a fight. Its bankruptcy may not even be his fault.” She kissed him and smiled. That smile always made his decisions waiver, granting Riana her way…sometimes. “Not everyone has a son like you, Allan. Your father got lucky and he’s probably kissing your mother’s feet because she gave him a son like you.”

  Allan felt his chest tighten, but this time with pain. It still hurt that he didn’t have his father anymore to guide him when he felt lost, like he felt with Riana. Feeling all that he felt for this woman was like running around in a maze, and some outside perspective from someone he trusted would have helped. But his father was dead, and his best friend Matthew was in London on his honeymoon.

  He and Matthew had been lifelong friends all because of their own fathers’ business and personal relationship. They went to the same schools right from kindergarten to college until Matthew went off to Harvard law and he went to Yale business school. They’d both interned at Sinclair Enterprise under their own fathers and they were now filling those large shoes after their passing. Matthew as head of legal and Allan as president of the company.

  Allan smiled, brushing his knuckles across her soft cheek. His dad would have loved her. His mom as well.

  He probably should tell her that his parents were dead, but not yet.

  But she was right. Allan Sr. always bought Aurora, his mother, gifts in honor of his wonderful children. And they really were good kids. He and Melody never got into scraps or foolish things kids in his private academy did. Drugs, skipping school, stealing his parents’ cars, or smuggling alcohol to school just didn’t make sense to him. There was nothing exciting about it. Extreme sports like snowboarding, something his father always encouraged him to do to burn off his excessive energy, was exciting enough for an outlet.

  His father was lucky to have him as a son, and Allan was even more blessed to have him as a father, and to have made him proud. But Allan still wished he had been loveable enough for this father to fight for. If not him, for Melody.

  But he couldn’t keep thinking about that. He had a sexy, wonderful woman in his arms, and he would rather do more than argue with her about something he was never going to budge on.

  Allan tickled Riana until she let it go, falling in a heap of laughter on the bed.

  “That’s not fair!” she whined.

  Allan climbed over her, trapping her under him with his hands and knees. “Oh, it’s fair. You used that silly smile you always pull when you are trying to talk me into something.”

  Riana pouted and blinked repeatedly, looking innocently up at him. “What smile?”

  Allan chuckled and dropped on top of her. She cradled him between her thighs, her hands coming up to stroke his hair and shoulders. Being there, in that position together, felt so right to Allan it scared him. He dreaded the day they would have to say goodbye to this, but until then, he was going to make the most of it.

  Allan kissed her as he slowly pulled her tank top up to feel her bare, soft, warm skin.

  Riana gasped, and then pushed him back to pull his shirt over his head. “We are not done discussing Torino.”

  Allan pulled her pajama pants off after he did away with her tank top. He knelt above her, taking in her magnificent, naked body. Damn. He was a lucky man. She gave him her beautiful body and everything in it selflessly. No one had ever done that for him and he would always cherish her because of it.

  Allan made quick work of his belt and pants and joined their bodies. Riana gasped, her legs going around his waist and her fingers digging into his back. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly against him, but she still didn’t feel close enough.

  He devoured her lips as he moved inside her. She moved up to meet his every stroke and he picked up his tempo. “I want you, all of you!” he demanded.

  “You have me, all of me!” she cried out. She buried her face in his neck and he felt every gasp and harsh breath, which only made him hungrier for her. He moved faster, loving how she held him so wonderfully tight inside her.

  As Allan took what she gave, for the first time, he gave her all of him in return. He realized he was never going to get enough of her and he was never going to be the same after she left.

  When they both finally came back down from the wonderful oblivion, Allan kept their bodies tangled together and watched Riana fall asleep with a contented smile on her face.

  He wanted to always watch her fall asleep with that smile on her face, every single day for the rest of their lives.

  He pulled her on top of him and wrapped his arms around her. She hooked her hands under his shoulders and cuddled into him. There was no way he was going to sleep tonight, not with everything going
on in his mind.

  Shit! He was in trouble. They both were.

  * * * *

  Riana woke up with Allan’s chest pressed against her back, his arms around her and his legs raised under her, tucking her into the curve of his body. She always felt safe and wanted when she woke up like this, with his large body wrapped around her.

  She turned to her back to face him, careful not to wake him. He looked so gentle when he was asleep, like a little boy. If she didn’t know him, just seeing him like this, she would have thought him harmless. But in reality Allan was far from harmless.

  She took his hand and held it over his baby inside her. “I hope you are a boy,” she whispered speaking to her unborn baby. “I want you to look just like your daddy.”

  Leaving one hand over Allan’s, she brushed his hair back—it was now so long it covered half his face—behind his ear with the other. “Well, you won’t look exactly like your daddy, but I’m sure you’ll have the same brown hypnotizing eyes, nose, sexy lips that make me melt when he smiles and strong chin.” She spoke with adoration tracing his nose, lips and chin with the tips of her fingers. “And you are going to make him proud, just like he’s making your grandpa proud.”

  Riana’s smile faltered and remorse filled her. “But mommy has to tell daddy you exist first for that to happen, doesn’t she?” She blinked back tears. “He might hate me but he will love you. I promise.”

  Allan sighed moving his hand to her waist and pulling her to him. She tucked her head under his chin so that he wouldn’t see her tears.

  “You promise what?” he asked with a raspy voice.

  Riana stiffened. “What?”

  He tightened his arms around her. “You were talking. I only caught the last part. What’s the promise?”

  Riana began to panic. She needed a lie, a convincing one. Oh, Loraine would be so useful right now!

  Allan nudged her. “Riana?”

  “I, ah…”

  His Blackberry rang, saving her.

  Allan moved her aside and sat up. She looked up at him and her heart stopped. His hard gaze was focused on her like he knew she was hiding something.