Page 200 of Modern Romance June 2025 5-8

Addie glanced at his olive tanned hand on her breast and something hot spilled in her belly. ‘No one has ever told me that before. I’ve always been compared to my mother and found wanting.’

‘Your mother is beautiful, but it’s a surface thing. Your beauty runs deeper. It is a part of your nature, and it enhances your physical attributes in a way makeup and professional styling can never do.’

Tears prickled at the backs of her eyes and a lump formed in her throat. ‘Do you really mean that?

Vic’s mouth tilted in a sexy manner. ‘You should know me well enough by now that I speak as I find.’ His voice deepened and he began to caress her breast once more with his thumb. Then he bent his head and put his mouth on the soft skin of her breast, tasting her with his tongue, then using his tongue to circle her nipple, sending sparks of delight through her body.

Addie clung to his hips, needing an anchor as the tingles of pleasure flowed through her body. She had never thought her breasts could be so sensitive, so responsive to a man’s touch. Vic continued his sensual exploration of her breasts, moving to her other one, subjecting it to the same spine-tingling caresses. Addie’s inner core dampened with the dew of desire, her legs trembling with the overwhelming power of it.

Finally, he came back to press his mouth to hers, his kiss long and deep and yet tender and worshipful at the same time. It was like he found her mouth captivating, exciting and thrilling to kiss. Addie had so little experience with kissing, but her lips and tongue seemed to know what to do without much thought. Her response to him was so natural, so uninhibited, so in tune with his movements it was like dancing with the perfect partner. You moved with them, not against them, your steps in perfect sync with theirs.

Addie wound her arms around his neck, one of her hands playing with the damp ends of his hair, her body pressed so close to him she could feel the potent ridge of his arousal against her belly. The water they were standing in somehow heightened the sensuality of the moment. She was aware of every point of contact with his wet skin, aware of the movement of the pool water each time he changed position to kiss her. The water became another caress, silky, warm, erotic. Vic kept kissing her, deeply, thoroughly, his murmurs of enjoyment like music to her ears.

Vic slowly lifted his mouth from hers, still holding her by the hips, looking down at her with a hooded gaze. ‘If we don’t stop, I won’t want to stop.’

Addie didn’t want to stop either. Her body was already feeling short-changed as he put a little distance between them. ‘Do we have to stop?’

He closed his eyes in a slow blink as if trying to summon up some willpower. Then he carefully covered her exposed breast and let his hands drop from her body. ‘You know we have to.’

Addie swallowed the bitter taste of disappointment, her body still aching for him. But she decided against begging him to assuage her needs. She gathered some remnants of pride and affected a relaxed and casual attitude to what had happened between them. It was just a kiss after all. But, oh, what a kiss. ‘Yes, of course we do.’ She painted a smile on her lips and added, ‘I’ve probably had enough sun for one day anyway.’

He gave a crooked smile, but somehow there was still a frown about his eyes. ‘Go and have a shower. Later, I’d like to take you and Katerina for a walk to see the grotto.’

‘There’s a grotto?’

‘It’s not a natural one—my father made it out of some rocks. It’s hidden away in the garden down near the water’s edge.’

Addie climbed out of the pool and covered herself in her wrap, tying it around her waist. She turned and faced him, trying not to stare at his body as he launched himself out of the pool in one graceful movement, his biceps bulging, his abdomen ridged with taut muscles she ached to explore with her hands. ‘What will you do with it when you redevelop the villa into a hotel? Will you get rid of it?’

A flicker of something went through his gaze and he looked away as he leaned down to pick up his blue-and-white-striped towel. He rubbed his face with the towel before he answered, ‘The gardens will be relandscaped to suit the needs of the hotel.’

‘But what about the sentimental value? Isn’t that important to you?’

Vic’s smile wasn’t quite a smile, the hardness in his eyes like a glaze of cynicism. ‘Any decisions about the development will be financial, not sentimental ones. I would not be where I am today if I followed my heart instead of my head.’

Addie garnered some courage to hold his gaze. ‘Do you ever follow your heart?’

‘No.’ His answer bordered on curt, his smile as brittle as his gaze. ‘Never.’

Vic watched as Addie walked back inside the villa, torn between wanting to follow her and finish what he had started and the other part of him telling himself he was every sort of fool to give in to the temptation to kiss her. What was he thinking? Getting involved with Addie in any shape or form was dangerous. It would change the dynamic between them permanently and it would disrupt the balance of their other relationships—with Marcus and Isabella, and even with Katerina. He didn’t know why he hadn’t been able to resist her. She wasn’t even his type. He normally steered clear of sweet and innocent unworldly women for those were the ones who wanted the fairytale, and he didn’t believe in happy-ever-afters. Some people, if they were lucky, were happy for a time like his parents had been until death had snatched his father away. So many things could go wrong in a relationship even without illness and death. People grew apart, went in different directions, wanted different experiences and the other partner either had to compromise or be left behind.

But…kissing Addie had opened up a world of possibilities to him he was tempted to explore in spite of his misgivings. The passion she had ignited in him had stunned him. Passion that was more intense than any he had experienced in the last few years of his casual dating. Was it because she wasn’t a stranger? A casual hook-up he wouldn’t see again. Was it because he already had a connection with her through her brother and his sister and their little goddaughter? All of those factors changed the way he saw her.

The sun was warm on his back and shoulders, but it was nothing to the heat Addie had stirred in his flesh. He ached to explore the sweet contours of her body, to introduce her to the sensual world of making love. It intrigued him she was still a virgin and the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to be her first lover. He was shocked at himself for wanting it so badly. He wasn’t a trophy hunter; he wasn’t a man who treated women as objects rather than people. But he hated the thought of someone else sleeping with Addie without taking the care and consideration someone as unworldly as she would need. She had shyly offered herself to him and he had said no. But with their joint care and responsibility of Katerina to consider, the possibility of making love with Addie was something that had to be put to one side. For how long, he wasn’t sure, and that was the thing that unsettled him the most. For while he wanted her, he could not give her what she truly deserved. Would it be fair to ask her to settle for less?

CHAPTER SEVEN

Addie had showeredand changed and was playing with Katerina in the nursery when her phone rang. She glanced at the screen and saw it was Marcus on a video call and she grabbed her phone and answered it. ‘Hi! I’ve been so desperate to hear news of you. Where are you?’

‘Daddy!’ Katerina piped up, trying to take the phone off Addie. Addie bundled her onto her lap and angled the screen so the little toddler could see both of her parents, as Isabella appeared in the frame too. ‘Mummy!’

‘Baby, we will be home soon. We miss you, darling. Are you having a nice time with Uncle Vic and Auntie Addie?’ Isabella said, blinking back tears.

‘Sorry it’s taken us so long to get in contact, it’s been wild here,’ Marcus said, once he had spoken to his little girl first. ‘But we’re booked on a flight that leaves first thing tomorrow or at least that’s what we’ve been told. The plans keep getting changed when there’s a new weather report. Let’s hope there aren’t any further delays. How have you been managing?’

‘It’s been fine,’ Addie said, trying not to think of Vic’s kiss only half an hour ago. ‘Katerina has had lots of fun with Vic and me, and of course Lucia has been invaluable if not a little exhausted at times.’

Isabella chuckled. ‘Yes, well, Little Miss is at a very energetic age. Thanks so much for stepping in for us. I would have asked my mother but she’s on a cruise with my father and Marcus wasn’t keen on asking Solange.’

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