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She glanced up at Dante, who stood in front of her, those dark eyes twinkling in the waning sunlight, the breeze making his short mop of ebony curls stir. His white cotton shirt billowed, so she could see the outline of his hard, muscular chest. His bronzed skin glowing in the waning light and, of course, that lopsided smile.
“What about the luau? Aren’t we supposed to go there and network? You’ve traveled so far to attend this, don’t you want to mingle?”
He snorted. “I have done enough networking to last a lifetime. For once I’ve no desire to talk about medicine. Tonight is a beautiful night. Let’s go.”
Go.
“Okay,” Shay said, not needing any more convincing. She finished her drink and set her empty glass down on the bar and took his hand. It was strong and she was surprised how easily her hand slipped into his. She hoped he didn’t notice that her nails were much too short, that her palms were rough from the hard physical work. She envied well-manicured nails, perfectly coifed hair, women who had time for makeup and clothes that weren’t torn, stained or scrubs.
Only Dante didn’t seem to care.
She couldn’t believe that he’d chosen to spend all his free time with her this week.
A surgeon and a nurse.
Don’t worry about that now. Just enjoy it. Live the fantasy for one night.
They walked away from the bar, down a winding sandy path to the beach. It was tranquil and a bit deserted at the moment. It was perfect.
“Hold on,” she said. She let go of Dante’s hand.
“What’re you doing?” he asked.
“Taking off my shoes. The sand is getting in and I hate that feeling of sand in your shoes.”
He chuckled. “Good idea.”
They kicked off their shoes and carried them as they headed down to the shore. The sun was almost gone, as if it were disappearing behind a curtain of water. It was picture-perfect. The water licked at their toes as they walked in silence along the shoreline.
It was the perfect end to the conference.
Tomorrow she’d be flying back to New Orleans for a short time and then off on her next assignment to the Middle East. Always moving, as she’d been doing her whole life. No stability. No roots. New Orleans was just a base for her, but it really wasn’t home since her mother died and she didn’t know why she kept returning to it.
“You seem sad all of a sudden, cara.”
The way he called her cara made her tremble with anticipation.
“I was just thinking how wonderful this week has been.” She bit her lip and sighed. “It’s been amazing getting to know you, Dante.”
He smiled and then ran his knuckles across her cheek. “I’ve enjoyed my time with you as well, cara.”
Shay’s pulse began to race and she closed her eyes, his touch making her heart skip a beat, and then, before she had a chance to say anything else, his lips claimed hers.
She dropped her shoes to the sand and sank into the kiss, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him close.
Dante’s kiss deepened, his tongue pushing past her lips; it was a kiss that seared her soul.
“Shay,” he whispered, his mouth still close to her, his hands cupping her face. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself. You’re so beautiful, so wonderful...” He kissed her again.
“I don’t want this to end,” she whispered against his ear as he held her close, his hands drifting down her back.
“Me neither.”
“Then let’s not let tonight end.” She took his hand. “Let’s go to your room...”
“Are you sure, cara?” he asked.
“Positive. We can just have tonight. I’m not looking for anything long-term, Dante.”
Just passion. Unforgettable passion.
That was what she craved right now.
He smiled. “I want tonight too.”
Dante took her hand and they picked up their shoes and headed back to the hotel, to his room and something wonderful that she’d always remember...
* * *
Dante didn’t know what he was thinking when he bent down to kiss Shay, other than that the need to connect with her was so totally overwhelming. With the tropical wind blowing wisps of her honey-blonde hair around her heart-shaped face, he couldn’t resist her siren call.
He didn’t know what possessed him, other than absolute desire and need, because he’d sworn when Olivia broke his heart he’d keep away from women. Love was a loss of control and he hated losing that loss of control.
Only from the moment he’d met Shay, when she’d reached out to help him, he couldn’t help himself. He knew he should’ve stayed away, but couldn’t. Her brown eyes were warm, friendly, and the more he got to know her, the more he felt completely at ease with her.
To the point where his carefully constructed walls came down.
“Cara, I want you so bad,” he whispered against her neck.
“I want you too,” she said, her breath hot against his skin. It drove him wild.
It’s only for one night.
And he had to keep reminding himself of that. That it was only one night.
She only wants tonight. I can give her tonight.
His heart didn’t have to get hurt.
You don’t have one-night stands, a little voice reminded him, but he shook that thought away. His brother did and he fared just fine. Dante was not his father. He wasn’t married, he wasn’t hurting anyone, they were both consenting adults.
This was what his younger brother, Enzo, lived by; he could do that too, if only for one night.
Shay sighed as he ran his fingers through her silky hair as she wrapped her arms around him. Her long, delicate fingers tickling at the nape of his neck.
Mio Dio. It was only for tonight.
He could give himself over to one night. One night didn’t mean forever.
It couldn’t.
CHAPTER ONE (#ucbb52889-2b9d-55f6-ae6d-6c3003fbe77b)
DANTE CLENCHED HIS fists as he jammed them into the pockets of his crisp white lab coat. Everything about him was controlled and ordered. Only today his schedule was off, and he was not in the mood for meeting the practitioner from America and running a simulation lab with him. And it wasn’t just for one day; he’d then have him working under him as a surgical nurse in his operating room for twelve weeks.
Twelve weeks might not seem long in the grand scheme of things, but if Dante and this nurse practitioner didn’t get along, then twelve weeks would feel like an eternity.
He remembered the last American from the United World Wide Health Association he’d worked with two years ago and that had been a nightmare. She’d been totally unorganized and needed constant guidance, which had driven him crazy.
Not all Americans are bad.
And his mood lightened as he thought of Shay and that stolen night in Oahu. She was the first woman he’d been with since Olivia had crushed his heart. Shay was one American he could get used to having around. Even now, months later, he could still feel her lips on his.
Only she was off who knew where on her latest assignment and he had to make nice with a stranger. Someone he didn’t trust, and it brought back why he was in a bad mood.
His father. Someone else he absolutely didn’t trust.
At dinner last night with his younger brother, Enzo, Dante had learned that their father, Prince Marco Affini, had once again sold off more of the family land. And he was eyeing the land their late mother had left in trust for Dante and Enzo until they married and produced an heir. At least their father couldn’t sell it off yet. Unless they married before they turned thirty-five and produced an heir within a year of that marriage. Last night Enzo had reminded Dante once again that soon Dante would be turning thirty-five in a matter of months, without a marriage in sight.
Dante was painfully aware that his villa on Lido di Venezia was in danger of being sold as well, because that had been his maternal grandfather’s home.
The villa on the sandbar, a ten-minute ferry ride from Venice proper, was part of Dante’s inheritance. It would be his as long as he married and produced an heir by the time he was thirty-five, according to the stipulations of the trust fund and the marriage contract between his parents, as his mother had been a commoner and his father of royal blood.
And his thirty-fifth birthday was approaching fast, without a wife or heir in sight.
And whose fault was that?
It was his. He knew it; he just didn’t have any desire to get married after what had happened with his ex, Olivia, and he didn’t want to have a child out of wedlock. Even if he did, that wouldn’t help him recover his inheritance, such were the archaic terms of the trust.
If he didn’t get married and have a child, he would lose his home, everything that was meant for him by his late mother, including his beloved vineyard in Tuscany.
His grandfather had worked that vineyard. It was his pride and joy. Even though the family had money, his maternal grandfather always took pride in working his land. A work ethic that Dante had picked up on. He loved saving lives and he loved the life that bloomed in his vineyard in Tuscany.
Dante loved it there.
He loved working the land himself as well and the thought of someone else owning it was too much to bear.
It kept him awake most nights and he had the legal receipts to prove that he’d tried to get around the trust his mother signed on her wedding day, but it was ironclad. His father had the upper hand, until Dante and Enzo were married.
Dante downed the shot of espresso he’d grabbed before he headed to the lecture hall where he’d welcome the new United World Wide Health Association nurses and first responders who had come from all over Italy to join the organization. Here they’d learn what they needed to know, and then they would disperse over the world, providing health care.
Dante admired them and, even though he didn’t want to be here and meet with his new associate from the United States, he knew he couldn’t take his frustrations out on them.
He took a deep breath, ran his hand through his dark hair as he glanced in a mirror briefly, cursing inwardly for not having shaved the stubble from his face, and he hated the dark circles under his eyes, but he hadn’t got much sleep last night.
Once, he’d had the chance to save all the land meant for him, but that had cost him his heart and he swore he would never fall into that trap again. He just had to get used to the fact he was going to lose it all.
He was going to let down his brother and the memory of his mother.
His father would sell it all off and Dante would have to find a new place to live in a matter of a few months. He shook his head as he tried not to think about that now. He had to be charming and affable as the head of trauma at the Ospedale San Pietro.
Bracing himself now, Dante opened the door, ready to greet the American.
“Ciao, I’m Dr. Dante Affini, Head of...”
The nurse turned, just slightly, and Dante couldn’t believe who he was looking at. His pulse raced and a rare smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. It was Shay!
She looked stunning. She was absolutely glowing, her cheeks rosy with a bloom she didn’t have before.
Her honey-blonde hair wasn’t as long as he remembered. She’d cut it, shorter in a bob, but it suited her delicate heart-shaped face. Those dark brown eyes of hers were warm and welcoming as she smiled at him, her pink lips soft and inviting. He could still feel them pressed against his. A blush rose in her round, creamy cheeks, deepening the healthy glow. Her lithe frame was fuller, but the curves suited her. “Hello, Dante.”
“Shay?” Dante whispered, and then he smiled, realizing it was her who was here to work with him. “What are you doing here? I thought...I thought Daniel Lucey was going to be running this program.”
“He was,” Shay said. “But something came up for him, so I jumped at the chance to come to Italy and take an easier job for a while.”
“An easier job? You’re never one to back away from a challenge, cara.”
A pink blush deepened on her cheeks and she tucked away an errant silky strand behind her ear. “I know, but I have no choice.” She bit her lip. “Dante, I took this job because...because I’m pregnant.”
Pregnant. Shay was having a baby?
It hit him and for a moment he wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly. Well, that explained the glow and the newly acquired curves. And then another realization struck him...
“Is it... Is it mine?”
“Yes.” She bit her lip in a way that had driven him wild before but now filled him with a sense of trepidation.
A baby.
He had put up the walls to protect himself for a reason and he’d been a fool for letting her in back in Oahu.
It had been a moment of complete weakness on his part.
Dante scrubbed a hand over his face.
Why didn’t she tell me? Was he really the father? Olivia had led him to believe that she carried his baby, only then he’d found out she’d tricked him. She’d already been pregnant when they’d slept together. Olivia had viewed Dante as perfect daddy material for another man’s child...
He was angry. Angry at himself for thinking Shay might be different, but apparently not. He should’ve known better—a week and a one-night stand were no time to get to know someone. To trust someone.
A pink blush tinged her creamy cheeks. “I took this job so that I could tell you in person.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” he demanded. “Why didn’t you contact me before you showed up here? As soon as you found out? It’s been months, Shay. You can understand my trepidation. My anger, surely?”
She winced. “I know. But I’ve only very recently found out myself, Dante. I’m sixteen weeks.”
“Four months in and you expect me to believe that you just found out?” Dante scoffed.
“Yes. I was working in a war-torn area. My periods have always been irregular and I put their absence down to stress and travel. I wasn’t keeping that close an eye on dates, but something told me that it had been too long. I took a test, which came out positive, but then there was no way to contact you. Communication was spotty.”
