Page 190 of Modern Romance June 2025 5-8

She let out a breath in a slow stream and shifted her gaze from the penetrating heat of his. ‘A bit of both.’

There was another beat of silence.

‘Do you want to talk about it?’ Vic’s voice had a raspy edge that made her flesh tingle.

She turned away again, this time to clear away the cups. ‘I think it’s time I got some sleep. I’ve already told you more than I’ve told anyone in years.’

‘Yeah, well, same goes.’ There was a wry note to his tone.

She stopped stacking the cups and glanced at him. ‘About your stepfather, you mean?’

He gave a grim nod and rubbed at the back of his neck with one of his hands. ‘I think it’s being back here. It brings up a lot of things I’d rather forget.’

‘Which is why you want to redevelop the place.’

‘Yes.’

‘But don’t you have good memories too? Of living here before your father died?’

‘The good memories have been tainted by the years that followed my father’s death. This is not a family home, not any more. It’ll do far better as a hotel.’

‘What does Isabella think of your decision to turn it into a hotel?’

A flicker of tension moved across his face—a tightening of his jaw, a flattening of his mouth, a stubborn light hardening his eyes. ‘It belongs to me, not Isabella. It’s my decision and my decision alone what to do with it.’

She frowned. ‘But why then did Isabella and Marcus ask us to mind Katerina here until they get back? Was that their decision or yours?’ She still hadn’t had a chance to talk to Marcus or Isabella herself due to travelling and time differences.

‘They were planning to come here for a summer holiday after their friend’s wedding. They’ve holidayed here a few times even before Katerina was born. Isabella wanted Katerina to enjoy her childhood home one last time. She’s far more sentimental about the place than I am.’

‘And yet, you’re still going to redevelop it?’

The intractable set to his features made her realise that once he had decided something, it was final. There would be no backing down, no matter what. ‘It was left to me by my father. It was the one thing my stepfather couldn’t take away from me. I’m going to make it into the most successful hotel in my company.’

She was in no doubt of that, but was his decision the right one?

Vic held her gaze for a long beat. ‘You don’t approve?’

‘It’s none of my business to approve or disapprove.’

His mouth quirked. ‘Don’t be too mad at me,tesore. This is purely a business decision. I never allow my emotions too much involvement.’

His casually delivered Italian endearment sent a wave of heat cascading down her spine. She needed to build up some immunity to him and fast. She couldn’t allow herself to melt at his feet in a pool of longing. ‘I—I think I’ll go to bed if you don’t mind. I want to be in a reasonable state to look after Katerina when she wakes.’

‘I’ll walk you up.’

‘No, please,’ She held up both of her hands like twin stop signs. ‘I can find my way.’

‘As you wish.’

Her exit would have been a whole lot more dignified if she hadn’t bumped into one of the kitchen stools as she went. She swore under her breath and righted the stool, glancing back at Vic, but he wasn’t even looking her way. He was staring out the windows at the golden rays of the sun coming up over the horizon with a brooding frown on his forehead.

Vic stared at the view without really seeing it. His mind was reeling with the shock of Addie’s revelation. A virgin? Not that there was anything wrong with that if it was a personal choice, but he suspected there was more to her situation than she had let on. He had lost his so long ago he could barely remember the circumstances other than it was rushed and awkward, especially as his partner had far more experience than he. But what was holding Addie back from exploring her sexuality? Was it her shyness? Her introverted personality? Or had growing up with an extroverted and undoubtedly sexually active and stunning mother made her feel inadequate? Vic had read enough about Solange Featherstone in the gossip pages over the years to realise Addie was nothing like her. Marcus hadn’t told him much about his childhood, but Vic had picked up enough to realise it hadn’t been an easy ride for either Marcus or Addie. But Marcus was more outgoing and had lived life in the fast lane until he met Isabella. Vic had unintentionally been the matchmaker and while he was happy for them that they were building a life together, married life wasn’t for him. While divorce had not brought about the destruction of Vic’s parents’ marriage, death had come out of the blue and destroyed the stability and happiness that had defined his childhood until the age of seven. The finality of it, the cruel hammer blow of grief that had consumed him haunted him to this day. There were no guarantees in life and love. Love didn’t always last, but death was an inescapable certainty. There was no avoiding it. It would find you eventually, either in early years or later ones. He figured the longer you waited for it to claim those you loved, the more damage it did to you. He had only had seven years with his father and yet he still missed him and always would. There were so many milestones his father had missed, so many things he never got to experience because fate had swept in and taken him away. But Vic hadn’t just lost his father, but his mother too. His stepfather had taken her away, changed her focus so it was trained on her new husband and not on her grieving son, essentially leaving Vic to cope alone. Vic didn’t want to love someone only to lose them. Loving someone was asking for immeasurable, incurable pain and he wanted no part of it. Which was why he had no business showing any interest in Addie Featherstone. She was the sort of young woman who deserved to be valued and loved and appreciated. He was the last person who should be thinking about her, much less feeling flickers, and spine-tingling pulses of desire. He wasn’t into breaking hearts, and she was exactly the sort of woman who would get hurt if he took things further. In a strange sort of way, he felt like he would corrupt her by taking away her innocence. He considered her as forbidden and it had to stay that way. It had to otherwise… He blinked hard and shook his head, trying to reprogram his thoughts, but somehow his body and mind were at war.

His mind saidnobut his body said,why not?

CHAPTER FOUR

Addie woke tosunshine shining through a gap in the curtains like the beam of a laser. For a moment she was completely disoriented. But then she suddenly realised where she was and that she was supposed to be minding Katerina. She quickly glanced at her phone to see the time. How could she have slept in till 9:00 a.m.? Where was her sense of responsibility? Here she was criticising her childhood caregivers for being slack in how they took care of her and yet, here she was lolling about in bed three hours past her normal wake-up time.

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