Chapter Sixteen

After very little sleep, they’d hiked up Gianicolo Hill for a gorgeous sunrise, then relaxed in the open air at La Portineria. Drago should have been tired, but instead he found himself energized as they walked back toward the hotel. On an appreciative sigh, he spread his arms wide. “You’ve got to love having choices.”

She slid her gaze toward him. “Choices?”

“Choices give you options, excitement, adventure. When you’ve created a life with endless choice, you can go anywhere, do anything.”

Tilting her head, she studied him. “It sounds romantic, but I think it would get lonely. I want to put down roots, make a home that I don’t want to run from.”

“Having choices isn’t running away from anything, it’s running to something.”

“Is it?”

“What would you propose, then? Being trapped in a marriage with two kids and a dog where traveling is only a dream and choice is a chess game of responsibilities? No, thank you.”

He swore the look on her face was one of disappointment, but she replaced it with a smile.

“No answer?” he pushed.

“I don’t think my answer will interest you. But having a family is a choice. Belonging somewhere is a choice. I’m tired of floating about the world with flight attendants as my family and hotels as my home. I want to be bound to someone, to some place. It doesn’t feel like a trap, but a release from searching for something more. I’ve only been waiting my whole life.”

The earnest tone of her voice breezed over his skin, almost making him believe her words, but the memories of how his father had walked away and his mother had disappeared into herself surfaced as an ugly reminder. He’d been bound to a family, to a place, and it had brought him and his brothers pain. The kind that never really went away, because the cause of it would never change.

“I have two brothers. Niccolo and Marco. We learned early on that family didn’t guarantee you’d always have someone to count on. Our father left us when we were young.”

She reached for his hand, and he let her caress his knuckles. “He didn’t disappear where we never saw him again, but in a way I wish he had. At least then I could convince myself that he couldn’t come back. Our dad checked in once in a while in a way that proved he didn’t want to come back. Staying in one place didn’t suit him. And I’m just like him.” It was good for her to know the truth, to believe it. She could have her roots, but his past demanded he break free.
Her eyes wavered, but then lit up with excitement.

He followed her gaze to the Trevi Fountain. She dropped his hand and slipped off a shoe. He reached out for her. “What’re you doing?”

Kicking off the other shoe, she sent him a decidedly mischievous smirk. “When in Rome…” She stepped over the edge and into the water.

“Chase, you can’t. You’ll get fined, or worse, arrested.”

She walked backward toward the falling water, a strange light in her eyes. What was she about?

He quickly removed his shoes and socks, then stepped into the water himself. “This is a mistake.”

“Then it’s the best kind.” She looked up at him as he met her under the water’s spray. “I feel like Anita Ekberg in La Dolce Vita.” She ran her hand through her short hair. “But without the long blond locks.”

He held her gaze. Something was going on, but he had to get her out of the fountain before they were arrested. But then he glanced at her mouth. Her lower lip glistened with water drops, and her eyelashes framed her dark eyes in a ray of wet little spikes. She called to him even though her mouth never moved.

Lowering his head, he brushed his lips against hers, and felt the caress through his whole body. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.” Sliding his tongue against her lower lip, he gently nibbled, then melded his mouth to hers in such a way that he couldn’t breathe but swore she was all the breath he’d need.

A sharp whistle made them both jump. “Arresto!”

Cazzo. Drago wrenched his head up to see two uniformed police heading toward the fountain. He grabbed Chase’s hand and pulled her from the water.

“Wait, what’re you doing?”

He jerked his chin in the direction of the police, then grabbed their shoes. “Run!” Dodging a few tourists, he pulled her behind him. “Come on. Don’t stop.”

“Drago, wait.”

“No time.” The police were caught up in the rush of tourists ready to catch a view of the commotion. He yanked her along the sidewalk, skirting benches, zigzagging around crowds of people. One thing on their side was the popularity of Rome.

Concerned, he glanced back at her, but her eyes were bright as they connected with his. Then she laughed—the kind of laugh that was so lost in delight that anyone in hearing distance would be susceptible to catching it.

His own bubbled in his chest. “You’re crazy.”

Once he was sure they were out of harm’s way, he swung her around in front of him and dropped their shoes to the ground. Pulling her to him, he pressed a kiss to her smiling lips.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss with thorough enthusiasm. “Let’s do that again,” she whispered against his mouth.

He wished they could. And for the first time in his life, he yearned for something permanent—with her. He’d fly her to Rome every weekend and kiss in the fountain just to see that smile on her face, to feel her in his arms.

“I always knew an American would be my downfall.”

She grinned. “Do we have to go back?” she asked, slamming him back to reality.

He pulled back slightly, holding her by the arms. “I need an update on our accountant.” He snapped his mouth shut.

Chase drew her brows together. “What do you mean? Your accountant?”

He jerked his chin. “Never mind.”

“Drago. Tell me.”

He studied the way the sun glinted off her hair, how the heat put a flush in her cheeks and the sun seemed to color her before his eyes like a paintbrush. He trusted her. And that hadn’t come easy. She’d never hurt Nonna. “This must remain between us.”

“Of course.” Her eyes widened, and she reached for his hand. “What is it?”

“Our accountant embezzled the inn’s money and is now hiding in Taiwan. That’s part of why the inn won’t survive opening alongside Huntington House. The funds we’d have fallen back on are gone.”

She sucked in a breath. “Oh, I had no idea. Nonna’s always so positive and strong.” She bit her lip with a small shake of her head. “What’re you going to do?”

“I’m working with a private investigator, but there’s no way it’ll be resolved in time. Actually, there’s no guarantee it’ll be resolved at all.”

Tears welled in Chase’s eyes, but she pulled in a breath and blinked before they fell. “And Nonna? What’ll she do?”

“I don’t know. I’m scheduled to leave town by the middle of next month. I can take care of her financially, but I don’t know how long she’ll survive without the inn.” Shame swelled in his chest.

Chase dipped her chin. “That’s my worry, too. It’s her whole life. Her family. What do your brothers say?”

He winced. “They don’t know. It’s my responsibility, and nothing they can do will change what Diego has done. And Nonna won’t take any money. I tried.”

She squeezed his hand. “You’re a good man. Family’s important.”

He studied her face for any false concern. Family was important, and it was part of Chase’s dream, which frustrated him in a peculiar way. If she understood how important it was, how could she still allow Huntington House to destroy the inn? Because in the end, the bottom line was never people, not even family. It was the almighty dollar—or power. And with Chase’s success, she’d get both. As much as she might believe it, she couldn’t be bound to the idea of family any more than he was.

Pushing the dark thoughts away, he released her hand. “Enough of that. You have an opening to finish planning for.”

With a frown, she studied him as she slid on her shoes. “And what do you have?”

That was the question, wasn’t it? At one time, he thought he had the world at his feet, but after being back in Ferrara, he was beginning to see he didn’t even have his own hometown. “Your outfit’s ruined.”

Grinning, she looked down at her soaked pant legs, then shrugged. “I got kissed in the Trevi Fountain by an incredibly sexy Italian and chased through Rome by the police. I think I can handle it.”

He flashed her a smile and reached for her hand. “Come. I promised to get you back by lunch.”

They flew back in companionable silence. He’d give his portfolio to know what she was thinking, but he refused to ask, because what he wouldn’t give were his own thoughts.

He’d never fly in his jet again without drowning in the memories of her and Rome. He’d had plenty of women on this plane, but couldn’t recall one face, one name. Nothing but mangoes and cocoa butter, dark eyes and darker hair, and skin softer than velvet. Minchia.

After dropping her off at the Huntington House, he released his driver and headed toward the city center on foot. After being with Chase, his urgency to fix his mess intensified. He couldn’t be responsible for destroying her dreams. The look in her eyes would be the first he’d find difficult to meet across the table. He’d never be able to give her the commitment she sought, but he could make sure she got back to Malibu and her hotel.

But his first stop had to do with Nonna. Rounding a corner, he barely missed a bicyclist. “Cazzo.” He spun away, his heart slammed against his ribs. If he didn’t get his head on straight, he wouldn’t survive until the openings.

His phone vibrated in his suit pocket, and he forced himself to slow down and focus. Swiping through to the main screen, he tapped on a text from the detective.

A nibble, but no bite.

Drago wanted to throw his phone. Diego wasn’t moving on the investment front. If only Nonna would agree to take his money. It was situations like this one that made him wish family worked more like a business, where he could just buy what he wanted.

This time, he’d have to earn it as Drago instead of the Dragon.

But how in the hell was he supposed do that?