A Deal for Her Innocence

by Williams Cathy

  But of course she’d been kissed.

  Had boyfriends. Made love. Even if none of those lovers had managed to scatter the stardust she seemed to be looking for.

  Hadn’t she? Surely! The way she had earnestly regaled him with her high moral code and her mystifying ‘love for ever’ mantra nudged the crazy notion into his head that she might be far more untouched than most women her age. Certainly the ones he had been involved with over the years.

  A warning bell sounded somewhere. It could have been elevator music for all the attention Niccolo paid to it.

  ‘I’m not going to run around gazing at you in a besotted fashion and holding hands,’ she said tartly, and Niccolo grinned.

  ‘Is that how you behave when you’re an item with someone?’ He raised his eyebrows and laughed. ‘Don’t worry. I’m not into star gazing and holding hands.’

  ‘Aren’t you?’

  ‘I prefer to leave that to the eternal romantics. I take a more pragmatic approach to relationships.’

  Ellie knew that what he thought about relationships was none of her business and yet, in an odd way, wasn’t she here to promote a project that dealt with relationships? ‘Is that why you believe that casual hook-ups are all right? Because of your pragmatic approach?’

  ‘Let’s put it this way,’ Niccolo drawled. ‘The only certainty in life is financial security. Look after your finances and they’ll never let you down. The same can’t be said for relationships. My guests will come here in search of something—a companion, a lover, a permanent fixture in their life, a dream, a hope. Who knows? I provide the sort of environment where all those things are a possibility. If some find that a casual relationship presents itself, then good for them. Even if it doesn’t end up going anywhere.

  ‘You really can’t hide your disapproval, can you? You’ll just have to judge for yourself. You might find that the resort is full of very happy and contented men and women who are looking for sex without strings attached, or sex with only a few strings attached.’

  Ellie snorted. ‘I don’t understand what “sex with only a few strings attached” is. I know all about sex with no strings. That’s the typical relationship where a man makes sure the words “permanent”, “tomorrow” or “in the future” never accidentally cross his lips.’

  Niccolo grinned and lounged indolently against the door. She’d certainly summed it up nicely. He couldn’t think when those words had last crossed his lips.

  ‘So,’ Ellie demanded, ‘I’m curious as to what the few strings are.’

  ‘Okay...give me a minute or two and I’ll get back to you on that one.’ He was still grinning and the lazy amusement in his eyes sent a buzz of awareness rippling through her.

  Night-black collided with cool hazel and for a second their eyes tangled, leaving her breathless.

  She frantically found the thread of her disapproval and seized upon it with heartfelt relief. ‘Maybe the so-called strings involve some poor woman cooking your meals before you dispatch her back to the dating pool.’

  ‘No, definitely no strings of the sort you’re describing.’ Niccolo laughed with an elegant, rueful gesture. ‘I’ve never encouraged any woman to familiarise herself with the layout of my kitchen.’

  ‘Because you enjoy cooking yourself?’ Ellie tried and failed to picture the arrogant, impossibly sexy man in front of her being a New Age guy who shared the household chores and enjoyed getting behind a stove. In fact, she tried and failed to imagine any apartment he lived in actually having a kitchen at all.

  ‘Proud to say, I’ve never explored that avenue.’ Niccolo was tickled pink at the ebb and flow of colour in her cheeks. She was so easy to rile and it took more willpower than he possessed not to continually rise to the occasion. ‘Maybe you’re right,’ he mused truthfully, surprised to find himself, just for a second, forsaking the ease of banter to give her a heartfelt response. ‘Maybe there’s no such thing as a relationship with just some strings attached. Maybe there are either no strings or a complete ball of string unravelling into eternity.’

  ‘And you’re a no-strings kind of guy.’ Ellie thought that, for all his devastating good looks and charismatic charm, he really was the last sort of man in the world she could ever fall for. Yes, there was some kind of weird physical appeal that defied all common sense, but beyond that was just the sort of man she scorned, the sort of man for whom commitment was a dirty word. He was right about financial security being important but emotional security was equally as important.

  ‘I feel sorry for the women who decide to go out with you,’ she ventured thoughtfully, staring off into the distance, pulled back to her ever-changing past where stability had spelt boring and physical attraction was something to be indulged, whatever the consequences.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because I can imagine you leave jars of broken hearts behind you.’

  ‘And that’s where you’re going to have to try and revisit your mind-set.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘When you stroll around, chatting to my guests, it might be an idea not to give in to the temptation to preach to them about the misery of life without a wedding ring on their finger. Try and avoid playing the judgement card.’

  ‘I told you I would keep an open mind and I meant it.’ But Ellie flushed, conscious of the fact that what she saw as morally upright he saw as dangerously narrow-minded.

  She wanted this job—the agency would take wings and fly into the outer stratosphere if she landed it—and as a consequence Niccolo did as he had hinted at and poured other work their way.

  To get the job she had to fight down her natural inclination to be dismissive about the whole concept of his resort and look at it through different eyes. Or, at the very least, she had to stop shooting her mouth off and persuade him that, yes, she knew where he was coming from with the concept.

  ‘Glad to hear it.’ Niccolo straightened. Looked at her coolly and neutrally. ‘Now I expect, after all the shocks to your system, the last thing you want is to explore the resort with me in the role of my girlfriend. Fortunately, exhaustion is a very good excuse for retiring for the evening.’

  For a brief moment, Ellie had actually forgotten the whole ‘phoney girlfriend’ situation but now it came back to her in a rush and the knot in her stomach reappeared at speed.

  The villa was enormous. There was no question that the charade would leave her in the awkward position of having to jostle for space alongside him when they were inside. They could practically set up camps on opposite sides and never cross paths unless accidentally.

  Which wasn’t going to happen, but at least once inside the villa they could be the business colleagues that they were and could agree when and where to meet so that they could discuss and debrief.

  And it was only going to be for a matter of days.

  ‘I am exhausted. Tomorrow? Perhaps you could let me know order of events.’

  ‘Hard to plan in advance.’

  ‘I will need some time during the day to work on the campaign.’

  ‘Don’t worry. You’ll have ample time to bury yourself in your work,’ Niccolo told her wryly, once again piqued by her obvious lack of enthusiasm to be in his company unless absolutely necessary. ‘You’re not going to be chained to my side. Anyone who knows anything about me would know that that’s not how I operate, so you’ll find you have lots of free time to do your own thing. At any rate, I’ll be busy checking out behind the scenes, making sure the electrics aren’t going to fail or the walls aren’t going to fall down. My people will have taken care of everything but I’m the boss. I’ll have to spend time prodding and poking.’

  ‘Oh, that’s a relief.’ Then she half-smiled sheepishly. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean that to sound the way it did.’

  There was nothing Niccolo found amusing about a confession that couldn’t have been further from the truth but he managed something like a smile in return. ‘The days kick off early in the tropics,’ he said abruptly. ‘I ve
ry much doubt you’ll be tempted to lie in.’

  ‘I’m a morning person.’ Ellie decided that this was a perfect opportunity to lay down some rules and regulations, because she could very easily find herself bobbing and drifting in unfamiliar waters, which was something that just seemed to happen in Niccolo’s presence. One minute she could be comfortably discussing work-related matters and then, without warning, she would be floundering in a whirlpool of treacherous prying, personal questions that made her anxious and uncertain. The man didn’t play by the rules, and he was unpredictable, and a week of that wasn’t going to do. At least, not if she was going to emerge with her blood pressure and nervous system intact.

  ‘I wonder why I’m not shocked to hear that?’ Niccolo murmured under his breath.

  ‘And I’m not here to lie in and enjoy late mornings. I’m here to work and you needn’t be worried that I’m going to forget that for a moment.’

  ‘I wasn’t.’

  ‘Perhaps we could loosely agree on a timetable whereby we discuss the day ahead over breakfast, and then I’ll wander around and not just get a feel for the place, but ascertain the most scenic shots that could be used in an extensive visual campaign, perhaps targeting the upmarket tourist trade. People are heavily influenced by photographs, so I’ll make it a priority to go beyond the obvious scenic shots and really try and encompass things that tell a slightly different story of what it would be like to come out here for a short break.’

  Niccolo thought that, animated as she was now, she was even more attractive. His eyes lingered on the shadow of a dimple on one side of her mouth, which appeared when she smiled, and the way her hazel eyes lit up, as clear as polished glass.

  ‘We could loosely agree to have breakfast around eight-thirty,’ he murmured. ‘There’s the option of having it delivered to us here, which would probably be the preferred choice, were we star-struck lovers...’

  ‘But as we’re not...’ Ellie’s skin burned at the image that shot into her head at those carelessly delivered words, an image of Niccolo as a lover, hot and hard and burning with passion. She gulped. ‘As we’re not...’ She cleared her throat and shuffled because the heat that swept through her was proof of just how powerful those images in her head were. ‘We could meet at the...hotel restaurant...’

  ‘But for tonight...’ Niccolo glanced at his watch ‘...feel free to order in anything you want. The fridge is also stocked with basics. I’m going to touch base with some of my people here and find out what’s left to be done and how the guest list is shaping up. Is there anything you need before I leave?’

  ‘No.’ She was looking forward to him clearing off. She really was. She couldn’t wait to be on her own because, when she was around him, she was manoeuvring through a minefield. She very definitely did not feel a certain sense of emptiness at the prospect of several much needed hours on her own. Without having to spar with him. Without wondering what conversational ambush he was going to lead her into. Without bristling because he was either laughing at her or deliberately making her feel uncomfortable.

  ‘In that case, I’m off and I’ll see you tomorrow morning. We can reconvene by the front door.’

  Ellie got the impression he was laughing at her, although his lean face was serious. ‘That sounds brilliant,’ she told him vaguely.

  ‘And,’ Niccolo added, lowering his voice, which did dangerous things to her equilibrium, ‘just for the record—and I’m only saying this because, as my girlfriend, it’s something you should know...’

  ‘I’m not your girlfriend!’

  Niccolo ignored the interruption. ‘You really shouldn’t feel sorry for any of the women I’ve dated in the past. I’m excellent when it comes to knowing what it takes to make sure my woman is happy.’

  Ellie went beetroot-red. ‘I’m sure you’ll find that...that...women want love and commitment,’ she stuttered, furiously embarrassed.

  ‘And for those, they have only themselves to blame, because I always state from the outset that those are two things that are not on the table. However...’

  Ellie stared into the smouldering depths of his deep, dark eyes and was overcome by a sensation of drowning. Her brain was telling her to snap out of it and confront him with the derision that remark deserved—to inform him coldly and firmly that washing his hands of commitment before embarking on a sexual adventure with a woman did not make him a hero. Her body, however, was responding in a way that was wildly out of control. She blinked and opened and shut her mouth, goldfish-style. Niccolo gazed at her until her whole treacherous body was burning up.

  ‘However?’ was all she could croak.

  ‘However, I’m generous to a fault, and not just when it comes to cars and jewellery.’

  ‘There’s more to generosity,’ Ellie managed to point out, dry though her mouth was, ‘Than cars and jewellery.’

  ‘Indeed there is, and that’s what I’m talking about. Well done to you for honing in on that.’ He smiled slowly and his dark eyes glittered with just the sort of wicked, wicked intent that made her want to whimper. ‘I’m generous where it matters. In bed. Between the sheets.’ He lowered his eyes and then, when he next spoke, his voice was crisp and businesslike, while Ellie had to mentally shake herself down, agonisingly conscious that she had been hanging onto his every word like a teenager in the grip of an adolescent crush.

  ‘See you in the morning!’ Niccolo wanted her so badly right now that his body hurt. Did she have any idea at all how dangerously appealing those expressive eyes were? How little it would take for a man like him, highly sexed and highly experienced, to cover her parted lips with his and show her just how hot his generosity could be?

  Ellie frowned, hurt because she knew that she was being dismissed. He looked positively anxious to be on his way.

  And that, she told herself as he swung round on his heels, slamming shut the door behind him, should be a vital lesson in making sure she didn’t lose focus while she was out here.

  She had no idea what to expect with them both living under one roof. She had visions of hearing him rattling around when he returned, reminding her that she wasn’t alone in the villa, but as it turned out she was able to prepare herself some fresh bread and cheese for dinner before taking to her bedroom, which not only had an en suite bathroom but an adjoining room that had been kitted out as a sitting room, complete with television and the facilities to work, including Internet access.

  She planned to wake at the crack of dawn so that she could flick through the work she had brought with her and find a direction in which to move forward. It would give them both something to talk about over what would probably be a very stilted breakfast. She hoped that she wouldn’t be expected to stare adoringly at him while she fiddled with a plate of scrambled eggs, and was reassured by what he had said about not being the kind of guy who walked around holding hands and whispering sweet nothings.

  Niccolo struck her as just the sort of man who would see romantic gestures as pointless and risible. Romance, for him, would be getting his secretary to pick out an expensive item of jewellery, which the store would thoughtfully gift wrap so that his only contribution would be handing it over to the woman in question.

  Then she remembered what he had said about his generosity and burned. Forget about the jewellery. That would probably only be a secondary concern to any woman he went out with. Who needed jewellery when they had the option of leading him by his designer tie straight into the nearest bed?

  Mortified at the direction of her thoughts, Ellie looked at her phone to find that all her good intentions had been blown out of the water—she had overslept.

  The woman who hadn’t actually woken up later than seven in the morning since she’d been a teenager opened her eyes to find that it was after nine, at which point she sprang into action, throwing on the first thing that came to hand and bolting downstairs, too hot and bothered to wonder whether she would bump into Niccolo...and then not surprised to find an empty house because her adoring boyfrien
d clearly hadn’t had the manners to hang around and wait for her to get out of bed.

  She went outside and followed her nose in a sprawling resort that was largely still asleep.

  The sun had already gathered pace and the skies were turquoise and cloud-free. In the distance, the sea glittered silvery-blue through banks of palm trees. The guests might still have been asleep, but the employees were up and about. Ellie nodded vaguely at some of them as she weaved her way around scattered cabanas and villas, none of which were anywhere as grand as the one she had just vacated, but all of which oozed luxury.

  Here and there, some of the early risers were up and about. She glimpsed a swimming pool through the foliage, accessed down a winding flower-lined path. A couple of guests were reading, soaking up the sun. She wondered what the day would hold in store for them. Love? A soul mate? Exciting conversations with someone who might later become a fixture in their lives?

  The more employees she spotted, the closer she knew she was to the main hotel building, which was hard to discern through the thickly landscaped gardens and the rows upon rows of palm trees.

  Sure enough, she emerged into an open space, having walked for at least ten minutes. Almost immediately she spotted Niccolo, who was chatting at an outside table with two of his employees, who glanced at her as she approached.

  He looked...beautiful. White linen shirt, rolled to the elbows, khaki shorts, loafers. Cool elegance. In the space of a few hours and with a change of scenery, he somehow looked more exotically foreign, his skin burnished bronze.

  His slightly too-long hair gave him the look of a pirate and she had to make a conscious effort to propel herself forward, remembering to plaster a smile on her face the closer she got to him.

  He was smiling back, perfectly at ease, although surely he was as uncomfortable with this awkward situation as she was?