by Maya Blake
To his utter relief, she nodded. ‘I was upset when I found out what you did, but eventually I understood the reasoning behind it.’
Relief smashed harder through him. ‘About the letter... Carlotta made me promise to hold on to it for at least three months before giving it you.’
‘Why?’
‘I suspect she was hoping that what happened between us would happen. That I would meet you, see how special you are and perhaps in time it would not be too late for me. That this thing living within me now would take hold.’
She stopped breathing and her eyes latched onto his. ‘What is the thing living inside you, Maceo?’
Her beautiful voice was hardly above a murmur.
‘It is the need for you that never goes away. The desire to be with you every hour of every day, to make you smile, to hear you laugh, to plan a future with you by my side, bearing our children, growing old with me. It is this love I have inside for you, amore mio. Carlotta was an eternal optimist and I will be in her debt for ever.’
‘Why?’
‘Because she brought you to me. I mentioned the vow I made over my parents’ grave?’
She nodded.
He reached into his pocket. ‘They made a list, mapping out their lives from the night they got engaged to their old age. I was number two, right after their wedding. Casa di Fiorenti was number five. There are eighteen things on that list, Faye.’ His fingers closed over the paper, pain rippling through him. ‘They only made it to number seven. Because of me.’
She gave a choked cry. ‘Oh... Maceo...’
‘So I vowed to deprive myself of the happiness I robbed them of.’
‘No... They wouldn’t have wanted that for you, Maceo,’ she said.
‘I see that now, amore. You came along and I was happy to fail. Because you opened my eyes and my heart to a life beyond accumulating wealth and solitude and sacrifice. What is it all worth without someone to share it? Now I’ve had time to look at this list in a different light, and I can do everything in here for them. I know they loved me enough to wish it so. And even if I don’t get to cross off the last item, and die in your arms, what I experienced with you during our time together will be enough.’
‘Wow... You’re giving up so easily?’ she taunted, but her eyes shone bright.
Maceo laughed. ‘Never. This is simply an initial skirmish. I’m Italian. I will pursue you relentlessly. Desire anything in the world and it will be yours, tesoro. Even Pico. Who misses you dreadfully.’
She smiled. Then sobered. ‘I miss him too. But what if the only thing I truly want in the world is you?’
His world shifted beneath his feet, then righted itself in a way that made him want to shout with joy.
‘What then, Maceo?’ she pressed.
‘Then you will have me,’ he vowed on a shaken breath. ‘Immediately. Now.’
Her face transformed, blooming with a smile he knew he would never forget as long as he lived. She swayed towards him and Maceo closed the gap between them, sweeping her off her feet as the sun burst through the clouds.
He froze, his gaze darting to the skies.
‘What are you looking for?’ she asked.
When what he searched for didn’t appear, Maceo knew why. Staring into the face of the woman who held his heart, he felt joy overflow within him.
‘Nothing, amore mio. I search for nothing. Because everything I want is right here in my arms.’
Tears filmed her eyes. ‘I love you, Maceo. So much.’
Gently, he brushed her tears away. ‘Ti amo anch’io, il mio bellisimmo arcobaleno.’
Her smile widened. ‘I love it when you call me that.’
‘Then you should come with me back to Italy. There’s a wonderful surprise waiting for you.’
The new Arcobaleno range of specially flavoured chocolates shaped like rainbows had been her idea. Maceo intended it to be one of many projects he undertook with her.
‘I will follow you anywhere, my love.’
‘That’s good to hear. Because right now I would very much love you to come with me to the bedroom. I have six weeks to make up for, plus a lifetime.’
‘I will—right after you show me that list.’
He handed it over, watched her face as she read it, then raised her beautiful face to his.
‘Can we start from the beginning and work our way through it?’ she asked.
A lump clogged his throat. ‘As long as I get to shower you with love, live each day with you and die in your arms, you have a deal.’
Her smile filled his heart. ‘I accept.’
And in that moment Maceo swore that he would never cause her to be without that smile.
* * *
Adored The Commanding Italian’s Challenge? You’re sure to enjoy these other Maya Blake stories!
The Sicilian’s Banished Bride
Kidnapped for His Royal Heir
Bound by My Scandalous Pregnancy
Claiming My Hidden Son
Available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from Breaking the Playboy’s Rules by Melanie Milburne.
WE HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS BOOK FROM
Escape to exotic locations where passion knows no bounds.
Welcome to the glamorous lives of royals and billionaires, where passion knows no bounds. Be swept into a world of luxury, wealth and exotic locations.
8 NEW BOOKS AVAILABLE EVERY MONTH!
Breaking the Playboy’s Rules
by Melanie Milburne
CHAPTER ONE
IT WAS THE first time in her life Millie had asked a man to meet her for a drink and now she was going to be late. Seriously, embarrassingly, late. But this was no ordinary date. This meeting with hotshot celebrity divorce lawyer Hunter Addison was not for herself but for her mother.
Her mother collected ex-husbands like some people collected coins. And, sadly, it was going to take an eye-watering amount of coins to get rid of husband number four—money that Millie could ill afford to lend her mum right now. Hunter Addison wasn’t the cheapest divorce lawyer in London, but he was reputed to be the best.
And, for her mum, Millie wanted the best.
Millie walked as quickly as she could towards the wine bar where she’d asked Hunter to meet her after work. She hadn’t spoken to him in person, only via text message. The thought of talking to him on the phone after their disastrous blind date two months ago was too confronting. So too was the prospect of meeting him again in person but this wasn’t about her—it was about her mother’s welfare. She could not bear to see her mother screwed over by yet another self-serving, narcissist ex.
Millie pushed open the front door of the wine bar and stepped inside, quickly scanning the room for any sign of Hunter. Couples and small groups were sitting at the various tables in the front section but there was no sign of a man sitting by himself. Of course, it would be incredibly rare for a man as good-looking, wealthy and sophisticated as Hunter ever to sit in a bar by himself. He had a reputation for being a fast-living playboy. Hardly a week went past when he wasn’t snapped by the paparazzi with yet another gorgeous supermodel-type woman draped on his arm.
Interestingly, in the couple of months since their blind date, there had been nothing in the press about his sexual antics. Maybe Millie’s immunity to his attractiveness that night had bruised his overblown ego. Not flipping likely. Men like Hunter Addison had industrial-strength egos. Trying to put a dent in his ego would be like trying to crack a brazil nut with a feather boa. Not going to work.
‘You’re late.’ A deep and crisp male voice rich with censure spoke from behind her.
Millie spun round and, even though she was wearing vertiginous heels, she had to crane her neck up, up, up to meet Hunter Addison’s whisky-brown eyes. It was hard not to feel a little flustered coming face-to-face with su
ch arrant masculinity. Such heart-stopping male perfection. Broad-shouldered and tall, with a lean and athletic build, he exuded strength and potency. At a virile thirty-four, he was in the prime of his life and it showed.
And every female cell in her body sat up and took notice. ‘Yes, I know. I’m sorry but—’
‘Something wrong with your phone?’ The smile that wasn’t really a smile matched the cynical gleam in his eyes.
Millie mentally counted to ten, trying to control her desire to snap out a biting retort. What was it about this man that made her feel so prickly, on edge and so...so combative? Her experience around men was limited. She had only ever had one lover and, since her childhood sweetheart Julian had died three years ago after a long battle with brain cancer, she hadn’t dated again.
Well, apart from the wretched blind date with Hunter, which had been an unmitigated disaster from start to finish. But then, she had wanted to sabotage it. She had done everything in her power to give him the cold shoulder and hot tongue routine. She was not going to be set up by friends to ‘move on’. She was not going to be flirted with and charmed by a man who hadn’t heard the word ‘no’ from a woman his entire life.
But now she needed Hunter’s help and she had no choice but to swallow the choking lump of her pride. And boy, oh, boy did it taste sour.
Millie straightened her shoulders and forced herself to hold his gaze. ‘There was, actually. I forgot to charge it overnight and it ran out of battery just after I left work. Then there was some sort of security incident involving the police on my way here and I had to take a six-block detour.’
In flipping sky-high heels and a tight-fitting pencil skirt, she wanted to add, but managed to restrain herself.
It was hard to tell if he believed her or not. His expression was now largely inscrutable and yet there was something about the way his eyes drifted to her mouth for the briefest of moments that made the backs of her knees tingle.
‘Come this way. I have a table in the back where it’s more private.’ His tone had a commanding edge that made her want to insist on a table out front instead. He probably thought she regretted giving him the brush-off. He probably thought she wanted a rerun of their date.
But no. No.
This was not a cosy little tête-à-tête. This was not a date in any shape or form. This was a meeting to convince him to act for her mother. But she found herself—meekly, for her—following him to the table in the quieter back section of the wine bar.
Hunter waited until she was seated before he took the chair opposite. She was conscious of his long legs so close to hers under the small table and kept her knees tightly together and angled to the right to avoid any accidental touching. Millie was also conscious of the way her heart was beating—deep pounding beats that echoed in her ears as if her blood was sending out a sonar warning. Danger.
Hunter picked up the drinks menu and handed it to her across the table. ‘What would you like to drink?’
Millie took the menu and gave it a cursory glance before handing it back. ‘Just mineral water, thank you.’
He made a soft sound of amusement and a sharper glint appeared in his eyes. ‘Don’t tell me you’ve gone teetotaller on me?’
Millie could feel a hot blush stealing over her cheeks. She had drunk three glasses of wine during their date, as well as a lethally strong cocktail, in an effort to get through the ordeal. The day of their disastrous date had been the anniversary of Julian’s death, and each year she struggled to get through it—which was why her friends had organised the blind date with Hunter, hoping it would distract her and help her to move on. It had distracted her all right. Everything about Hunter Addison was distracting, back then and now. Especially now.
But it wasn’t grief that had made that day so hard for her.
It was another G-word. Guilt.
Millie aimed her gaze to a point above his left shoulder rather than meet his probing gaze. ‘No. I just don’t feel like alcohol right now.’
Hunter signalled the waiter and ordered Millie’s mineral water and a gin and tonic for himself. Once the waiter had gone to fetch the drinks, Hunter leaned back in his chair with a casual ease she privately envied. He was dressed in a smart grey suit and snowy-white business shirt, the top button undone above his loosened, finely checked grey-and-white tie, giving him a chilled out, laid back air. He was devilishly handsome with short black hair, a straight nose and a sculptured mouth—the lower lip fuller than the top one. His late-in-the-day stubble shadowed his chiselled jaw and around his mouth, and he had a well-defined philtrum between his nose and top lip.
A sensual mouth...
Millie sat up straighter in her chair, shocked at her errant thought. She wasn’t interested in his mouth. She was interested in his professional expertise. And the sooner she engaged it, the better. But right now it was almost impossible to get her brain into gear, to be logical and rational and stay on task. Every time he looked at her, flutters and tingles erupted in her flesh, as if he had closed the distance between them and touched her with one of his broad-span hands.
One thing she knew for sure—she must not let him touch her. That would take her pretence of immunity way out of her skill set.
‘So, here we are. Again.’ Hunter’s gaze went on a lazy perusal of her face, and something in her stomach turned over. And the way his voice leaned ever so slightly on the word ‘again’ made the roots of her hair tingle, as if tiny footsteps were tiptoeing over her scalp.
Millie licked her suddenly too-dry lips. She smoothed her skirt over her knees with her hands and tried to ignore the way her pulse was leaping. ‘I feel I should apologise for how I behaved the last time we met.’
She chanced a glance at him and found him looking at her with studied concentration. Was that his lawyer face? The steady and watchful legal eagle quietly assessing his client. Reading between the lines of what his client said and what they did. But she wasn’t his client. Although, she wasn’t exactly a friend asking a favour either, was she? They had disliked each other on sight...or at least she had made up her mind she would dislike him.
She swallowed and continued. ‘I wasn’t in the best mood that night and I fear I might have taken it out on you.’
‘You fear?’ The edge of sarcasm in his voice was unmistakable.
Her chin came up and her gaze collided with his. ‘Well, you were hardly Mr Dream Date yourself.’
Something shifted at the back of his gaze, as if he was mentally recalling that night and didn’t like what he saw. A dull flush slashed high across his cheekbones and his lips twisted in a self-deprecating smile. ‘Point taken. My charm button was on pause that night.’
As apologies went, it wasn’t the most gracious, but then, she had been the one who had acted with the most appalling manners that night. He had been a little broody and distant, but she had been downright rude. She’d been annoyed at the matchmaking attempt of her friends, who had been at her for over a year to get out more. Beth and Dan were well-meaning, but they didn’t know the real reason she found the prospect of dating again so difficult.
Julian had been sick for six years before he’d finally succumbed to his illness, diagnosed just before he’d turned eighteen. The treatment had been gruelling, the first operation changing his personality from loving and kind to grumpy and short-tempered. But Millie had hung in there, hoping month after month, year after year, that things would get better. They hadn’t. The thought of breaking up with him had not only crossed her mind, it had taken up residence and patiently waited for a good opportunity for her to raise it with him. It had never come. Julian had always been too sick, too depressed or in one of those rare but wonderful phases when the cancer seemed to be in remission.
How could she have destroyed him by saying she wanted out?
Millie was pulled out of her reverie when the waiter appeared with their drinks and it was a moment or
two before she and Hunter were alone again. Millie picked up her glass for something to do with her hands. She took a sip and covertly studied him. There should be a law against men looking so hot without even trying. He exuded male potency and she wondered what it would be like to be in bed with him, those gym-toned legs entwined with hers. Her mind ran wild with X-rated images of his naked body in full arousal.
Sex with her late fiancé had been difficult due to the ravages of his illness and his limited stamina. She had cared for Julian rather than loved him and had allowed him to find quick pleasure in her body without insisting on her own. It had made her annoyed with herself rather than him, knowing he couldn’t help being so ill. Since his death, she’d had fleeting thoughts about sex, but had never gone any further than occasional self-pleasure. Somehow, over the years with Julian and since his death, she had begun to associate all things sexual with disappointment, dissatisfaction and faint tinges of despair.
But now, sitting opposite Hunter, all she could think about was how it would feel to have his body thrusting within hers. She was pretty sure he would never leave a partner dissatisfied or disappointed. His sexual competence was an aura that surrounded him. Every time he locked gazes with her, she felt a jolt of electricity shoot to her core. She wriggled in her seat, her lower body restless, agitated, hungry, her cheeks feeling as hot as fire.
A slight frown settled between his ink-black eyebrows and, though he picked up his drink, he didn’t take even a token sip. ‘One wonders, if you had such a miserable time on our blind date, why on earth would you want to repeat it?’ Hunter said, holding her gaze with his steely one.
Millie pressed her lips together. ‘I don’t. I wanted us to meet to discuss something...else.’
One of his eyebrows rose in a perfect arc. ‘Go on.’ His eyes never left hers—steady, strong, searching, sharply intelligent.
