Page 198 of Modern Romance June 2025 5-8

‘And third and fourth and fifth.’ She chewed at the inside of her mouth for a moment. ‘But I don’t want to spoil it for Katerina.’

‘There’s my girl,’ Vic said with a slanted smile that sent a shower of sparks through her blood.

But she wasn’t his girl, was she? Nor did he want her to be. And she had better not forget it anytime soon.

Addie changed Katerina into a waterproof nappy and cute little lemon and white frilled swimsuit, and lathered her with sunscreen, even though that was the hardest part of the process but somehow, she got through it without tears. Katerina was clearly no fan of the sun-smart standards Addie adhered to, but no way was she going to allow her little goddaughter to get horribly sunburned on her watch. She had too many agonising memories of blisters and peeling skin and then more freckles than she wanted. She then took Katerina to Vic who was waiting down by the pool.

Her eyes drank in the sight of him standing waist deep in the clear blue water. His skin was tanned, his body toned with muscles in all the right places. Places she could only dream about touching—the sculptured perfection of his chest, the masculine bulge of beautifully toned biceps, the ridged washboard of his abdomen… She tried not to stare, but her eyes seemed to have their own agenda and drifted down below the waterline to study him. He was wearing black swimming trunks that clung unapologetically to his male form. A trail of black hair arrowed from the whorl of his bellybutton to disappear below his swimwear. It sent her imagination into overdrive, her wayward mind conjuring up images of what he looked like without the barrier of his trunks. She disguised a gulp as she handed Katerina down to his outstretched arms.

‘Careful, she’s slippery as an eel,’ she said, trying not to touch him in the handover. ‘She wasn’t keen on wearing sunscreen, but we came to an agreement of sorts.’

‘I heard the protest from down here.’ His lazy smile sent her heart rate off the charts, so too the gentle way he held the small child, tucking her on his lean hip.

Katerina was keen to show off her swimming prowess, but Vic was wise enough to not let her go. The child kicked and splashed and giggled with glee and Addie watched in vicarious enjoyment. And, truth be told, a bit of envy. Alotof envy. But wasn’t that the story of her life? Sitting on the sidelines watching as everyone else had a good time.

Vic looked up at her at one point, Katerina now perched up on his broad shoulders. ‘Aren’t you coming in?’

She took a step back from the inviting pool and shrugged in a dismissive manner. ‘Maybe I’ll try it another day.’

His eyebrow quirked again. ‘When was the last time you got in a pool?’

She compressed her lips for a moment, not sure her memory went back that far. Or even wanted to. ‘I’m not sure.’

‘No excuses, Addie, you have a swimsuit, now go and put it on so you can join us.’ There was a commanding quality to his voice that would have annoyed her under a different set of circumstances, but she knew she needed a little push to get herself in that pool. Okay, maybe even a big push. It wasn’t the temperature of the water; it wasn’t the exposure to the sun because she had industrial-strength sunscreen. It wasn’t the thought of sharing the pool with Vic because that was the part she was secretly longing to do. It was the thought of baring her body to his appraisal. What if he didn’t like what he saw? What if he compared her to every woman he had slept with? He had been involved with some of the most beautiful women in the world. She had seen photos of him with them. Not one of them looked anything like her.

‘You don’t have to be shy around me.’ His tone was deep and gravelly and it made her blood heat hot enough to put the sun out of a job.

‘This isn’t easy for me…’

‘Not much is the first time you do it.’ His eyes held hers in a funny little lock. A connection that felt almost audible like the click of a camera shutter.

Snap. Got you.

She swallowed and a flutter of something went through the network of her veins as quickly as lightning. ‘Okay… I’ll do it if you promise not to stare.’

‘I can’t promise that,cara.’ The deep, dark velvet quality to his voice made her heart pick up its pace.

She walked backwards from the pool deck, still mesmerised by the magnetic potency of his gaze as it kept her entrapped. Ensnared. Enraptured. She knew she had to turn away at some point otherwise she might end up in the garden or over the edge of the cliff from where the pool was situated, affording it the most magnificent view of Lake Como and its surrounds. It was the most beautiful setting and of course it would make a spectacular hotel.

But a part of her still wondered why Vic was so determined to redevelop his childhood home where his earliest memories and only memories of his loving father echoed in the grand old place. Watching him in the pool playing with his little niece made her wonder if his father had played with him in the same happy and relaxed way. But in spite of the loving relationship he had had with his father, Vic insisted he didn’t want a family of his own. But would he, like she had just minutes before when holding Katerina, feel a ripple of longing that couldn’t be ignored? A desire for more than being on the earth to make more and more money but to build something for the future, a legacy of love and connection with a family of his own.

By the time she shed her clothes and put on her bright pink bikini and then applied liberal amounts of sunscreen and covered herself in a matching pink gauzy wrap, it was some time before she got back down to the pool area. But Katerina was nowhere in sight and only Vic was in the pool, swimming up and down in an effortless, graceful freestyle. He must have sensed her approach because he stopped at the end closest to where she was standing and scraped his fingers through his wet hair to comb it back from his face.

‘Lucia has taken Katerina in for a bath and a snack,’ he said, his gaze running over her long pink wrap. ‘That colour suits you.’

‘Th-thank you.’ She was teaching herself to accept compliments from him rather than deflect them as had been her lifelong habit, but it wasn’t easy. She hugged her arms around her middle, suddenly feeling shy and gauche. Her mother would have strutted all the way along the pool deck, removing her wrap to let it float to the ground in a silky whisper in her wake. She would have tossed the mane of her long blond hair over one slim shoulder and batted her eyelash extensions at whoever was looking her way, which was usually anybody with a pulse. Speaking of pulses… Addie’s was going a little haywire. She had expected to come back down to have a quick dip with Katerina as a chaperone. But now she was intensely aware of being alone with Vic Jacobetti.

She looked at the clear blue water of the pool with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. She ran the tip of her tongue over her lips, then caught her bottom lip between her teeth, her heartbeat racing at the thought of taking off her wrap and uncovering her body to his appraising gaze. But then she somehow garnered a tiny remnant of courage and untied the wrap from around her waist and peeled it away from her body. She laid it with exaggerated care on a sun lounger next to the pool, but she was conscious of Vic’s dark gaze tracking her every movement. She turned back to face him and took in a shaky breath.

‘Okay, let’s do this…’ If only she sounded a little more confident. If only she sounded cool and sophisticated. If only she could get this over without making a complete and utter fool of herself. She inched a little closer to the pool’s edge, feeling beads of perspiration between her shoulder blades, and her mouth was as dry as the flagstones she was standing on.

Vic held out a hand to her. ‘Come on, one step at a time. It’s shallow here, you won’t be out of your depth.’

I’ve been out of my depth from the moment I met you.

She didn’t say the words out loud but what if he instinctively knew that was how she felt? She put her trembling hand in the warm steadiness of his. His fingers closed around hers, gently but firmly and a lightning bolt of longing shot through her body. His touch was electrifying, the heat of his body sending arrows of lust to her womanhood.

Eek. Why couldn’t she even name her own body parts without using old-fashioned euphemisms? For years, she had denied her feminine needs. She had ignored the primal hum and throb of her flesh, telling herself sensuality wasn’t for her, that it would only lead to more shame and embarrassment.

---