Chapter Fifteen
ASHLEY STARED OUT at the view of San Marco Piazza, still hardly able to believe she was here in Italy…with Nico.
The last ten days had been an utter whirlwind, something between a fever dream and a fairy tale.
When Nico had asked her to accompany him on his trip, Ashley had been incredulous.
Her instinct to say no, to stay safe and hold onto her sanity, had been short-circuited by the overwhelming longing she had simply to go.
She wanted to have fun, yes, but more importantly she wanted to be with this man—wherever he was.
Even if it didn’t make sense. Even if it would have to end.
And even if it was dangerous…because, just ten days later, she knew she was falling in love with him.
It was hard not to, when Nico was so attentive and generous, both in bed and out of it.
They’d flown business class to Milan and then, after a few work meetings in the city that Nico had attended while she’d entertained herself, they’d spent three days in a private villa on Lake Maggiore, exploring the area… and each other.
Ashley blushed just to think of the things they’d done to each other in the privacy of their bedroom, and in a lot of other places as well.
But it hadn’t just been sex, as nice as that had been.
It had been morning coffee on the sunlit terrace, them talking about their lives.
She’d even dared to ask Nico about his time in prison, to which he’d responded with a startling honesty.
‘I won’t say it was easy. But prison life wasn’t the hardest part. It was not being free, and in being so not being able to help my family.’ His face had tightened then, as if he was recalling certain things and not wanting to.
‘Your family…?’ Ashley had repeated, like an invitation.
‘A mother, a sister and a brother. They all needed my help. Some more than others.’
‘It wasn’t your fault, Nico,’ Ashely had said gently then, sensing he needed to be told, but he’d just shaken his head.
‘I know, but it doesn’t matter.’ The tension had been dispelled when he’d reached for her hand. ‘But thank you for saying so.’
After their time in the lakes, they’d gone to Venice, where they’d hired a private gondola to take them around the city’s glorious canals, and had spent a beautiful day out on Murano Island, exploring the glass-making shops. Nico had bought her a beautiful necklace of deep-blue Murano glass.
He’d fastened it onto her neck, dropping a kiss onto her nape. ‘Next time it will be diamonds.’
But Ashley didn’t want diamonds; she’d had enough of them in her lifetime. ‘Glass is enough for me,’ she’d assured him, running her fingers over the smooth pearl-like glass baubles. What she hadn’t said, even as the words had formed on her lips, in her heart, was that all she wanted was him. This.
As the days slipped by like pearls off a string, the reality of her life back in New York inevitably started to encroach.
It had been such a relief to escape the pressures of her life in New York, if just for a short time.
Ashley knew she’d need to get back soon enough—to see her mother as well as search for a new job.
Without needing to discuss it, she and Nico hadn’t talked about any of that while they’d been in Italy.
Her former employees’ jobs were safe, and for that Ashley was thankful, even if she longed for so much more for herself—for Nico and her.
‘Ready to go?’ Nico asked as he strolled into the room, looking as devastatingly handsome as ever in khaki trousers and a white button-down shirt open at the throat. He’d seemed more relaxed on this trip, lighter in both spirit and tone.
Today they were off to Rome, for Nico to attend to some business before they both flew back to New York.
Ashley knew she would be sad at the trip ending, because she suspected that they would end too.
Nico certainly hadn’t made any noises about things continuing once they were back in their real lives, and at the start he’d made it very clear that he didn’t see where this would go, or for how long.
And, after all, she was a Woodward. That fact could not be changed or erased.
And yet Ashley still hoped. After all the things they’d done and said to each other, she knew she would struggle simply to walk away. But would Nico?
‘Yes, I’m ready,’ she said, turning away from the window as Nico took her in his arms and gave her a thorough kiss. It was the kind of thing Ashley knew she could get very used to. She pretty much already had.
‘I’m afraid there’s some sort of charity event I’m meant to go tonight,’ he told her as one of the hotel’s staff collected their bags. ‘I know they’re not your favourite thing, but I’d like to have you there.’
‘But I don’t have anything to wear,’ Ashley quipped, and Nico smiled at her with a tender wryness that made her heart skip a beat—and yearn all the more. This last week and a half had been so wonderful. Why did it have to end?
‘I don’t care what you wear,’ he told her. ‘But if you would like a new gown, there are certainly plenty of couture boutiques in Rome that would happily send a dozen dresses or more for your perusal.’
‘I think I’d like that,’ Ashley said with an honesty that surprised her. The days of being browbeaten by her father were over. ‘A new start,’ she told Nico. ‘I get to choose my own dress…and enjoy wearing it.’
He kissed her again. ‘Indeed you do.’
They took a commercial flight from Venice to Rome, landing in the Eternal City in the early afternoon.
A limo met them at the airport, to take them to yet another Galletti hotel, this one overlooking the Spanish Steps.
All of Nico’s hotels were small, discreet and catered to an elite clientele.
As they had in Milan and Venice, they would stay in the penthouse, with its own private terrace and hot tub.
When they arrived, a dozen dresses were already waiting for her.
For a moment, Ashley simply let herself stand in front of them, recalling, as much as she could remember, that the last time Nico had bought clothes for her she’d basically had a breakdown…
all because of the memories, or lack of memories, of her father and the way he’d emotionally abused her.
Nico came to stand behind her. ‘You don’t have to, you know,’ he said gently, his hands resting on her shoulders.
‘No, I want to. I don’t want the past to define me.’ She twisted to turn to face him. ‘This is part of reclaiming that and making it mine.’
‘Then can I have a fashion show?’ Nico asked, a smile lurking about his mouth and glinting in his eyes.
‘Don’t you mean a striptease?’ Ashley murmured daringly, and he laughed as he caught her round the waist.
‘Maybe I do…’
The dresses were beautiful. Each one Ashley tried on slipped over her like liquid, silky-soft and clinging to her curves.
And, instead of feeling trapped and burdened by the clothes and the expectations, she felt powerful…
free. Seeing Nico’s eyes darken with desire only added to the heady feeling of finally reclaiming her past and feeling in control of her life.
She settled on a halter-neck dress of emerald satin with a deep vee and a slit up the side to the thigh. Despite this, the dress was surprisingly modest, at least until she started walking, with every step showing a long, golden glimpse of thigh.
‘You’d better take that dress off,’ Nico growled as he reached for her. ‘I don’t want to rip it.’
‘Take it off?’ Ashley replied innocently.
She reached behind to undo the tie at the back of her neck, and with a single shrug of her shoulders the dress slithered down to her waist. A twist of her hips had it slipping silently to her ankles, so all she wore was a tiny pair of pants and four-inch stiletto heels.
Nico growled again, low in his throat.
Ashley stepped out of the dress and strolled towards him, revelling in both the power she had in this moment and the power he had—because already she felt as if she were both melting and burning inside, absolutely desperate for his touch.
She came to stand in front of him and he fastened his hands on her hips, his mouth mere inches from the juncture of her thighs.
‘These have to go,’ he murmured huskily, and hooked one finger in the elastic band of her pants before tugging them firmly downward.
Ashley stepped out of them, a moan escaping her as Nico brought her hips even closer, settling his mouth on the most intimate part of herself.
She anchored herself with her hands in his hair, her head thrown back as she swayed with pleasure.
He explored every moist fold and kept coming back for more.
It was the most exposing, intimate and vulnerable thing she’d ever done, being so open to him like this, having him know her even more fully than he had before, and she relished every minute.
When her climax came, rushing over her in an onslaught of sensation, her knees buckled and Nico swept her into his arms, striding with confidence to the bedroom, leaving all the dresses behind, including the one she would wear tonight, which was rumpled on the floor.
Ashley lay on the bed, dazed and flushed, the aftershocks of her climax still pleasurably zinging through her as Nico quickly shed his clothes.
‘Do we have time…?’ she murmured as he stretched out next to her.
He laughed throatily as he pulled her to him. ‘Oh yes,’ he assured her. ‘We have plenty of time…’