A slick sheen glistened all over Ava’s naked body as she lay in bed, hot, sweaty and sated. She glanced over at Nico who lay asleep peacefully beside her. Just watching him sent her pulse racing.

He was beautiful. He had sought her out. And he was hers, for now. Her heart filled with warm love for this man who, until a few hours ago, she had been willing to turn her back on and never see again. Yet Nico was nothing like Connor.

No way. Connor was something else.

Her stomach clenched as memories of being dumped six weeks before her Valentine’s Day wedding jumped back at her. Lying in her sumptuous bed at the Hotel Sant’ Adelina in Venice, with the most gorgeous man beside her, softened the hurt a little.

Golden light streamed in, casting a yellow haze everywhere and soaked Nico in a warm light. He slept so deeply, this beautiful, handsome man and she resisted the urge to run her hands over his face. But she could not resist letting her fingers dance lightly across his bare chest. He, too, lay on his side with his arm across her hip. She bent her head and kissed the big curve of his bicep, where it dipped slightly. Just the smell of him sent a warm fuzzy feeling through her body.

If things had gone according to plan, she would have been lying here with Connor. And now she had Nico instead.

He was everything that Connor was not and the stark difference between the two men in her recent love life was never more glaringly obvious to her than now.

A sudden clicking noise at the door jolted her. She flashed a glance over her shoulder, her eyes riveted as the doorknob turned. The hairs on the back of her neck bristled.

They had put out a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign.

As she sat bolt upright in bed, her heart thumped wildly, and the figure of a man skulked into view.

“Connor?” She rubbed her eyes and blinked, then hugged the sheet closer to her chest.  Beside her, Nico still lay asleep, completely oblivious to the intrusion.

Connor’s gaze flew from Ava’s face to the bare-chested man lying beside her. He slammed the door shut, set down his luggage and took a few steps toward her, his eyes swallowing up the intimate scene before him.

“What’s this?” His voice was surprisingly calm, but he narrowed his eyes at her.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Her anger replaced embarrassment.

Now that he was no more than a foot away, she recoiled at his closeness, still paralyzed from the shock of seeing him, and having him see her in flagrante.

Not that she was doing anything wrong, technically. She was still single.

She watched Connor’s gaze take in Nico’s handsome face, his powerful bare chest, with its dusting of dark hairs. Connor’s face reddened. It was perfectly obvious what she and this man had been up to.

“We’re even now. Is that what this is about?” Not the words she was expecting to hear from him.

“We’re even?” she snapped, incredulous. She wasn’t sure what made her angrier, the fact that Nico could sleep like a baby despite the storm raging above his head, or the fact that Connor had the audacity to follow her to Venice and to turn up in her hotel room.

I thought I had closed this chapter of my life forever.

She was about to fling the sheet aside and bound out of bed before she remembered she was naked underneath.

It was hard to express anger while sitting in bed with no clothes on.

Nico stirred beside her; his arm still draped over her lower half as if he was claiming his territory. His slight movement caught Connor’s eye. Outwardly he seemed calm, but Ava knew him too well. She knew that his unruffled exterior was only his corporate lawyer façade on display.  As he flexed his fingers, Ava knew that inside he was anything but at ease.

“Yes,” rasped Connor, looking at Nico who had only just opened his eyes. “We’re even.”

The sound of a man’s voice in his hotel room shook Nico’s senses. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, placing his hand on Ava’s arm.

“Who the hell are you?” he barked; his suspicious gaze hooked on Connor.

When Connor said nothing, Nico looked at Ava. “Ava?” But she had bunched her knees up and hugged them toward her, refusing to acknowledge his stare, or Connor’s presence.

Connor held out his hand toward Nico, in a handshake gesture. “I’m her ex-fiancé, Connor Beachcroft. And you must be someone she picked up.”

Nico slapped Connor’s hand away. “Get out before I call security and have you thrown out,” he growled. Connor backed away.

In all this Ava remained quiet, but her anger slowly bubbled away beneath the surface. Her mind was in chaos; confused thoughts married to disbelief.

What had possessed this man to fly across the Atlantic looking for her? Why now? Why at all? She needed answers but was not prepared to have a conversation with her ex while she and Nico were naked in bed.

“Go, Connor,” she pleaded.

“We need to talk, Ava.” Connor looked at her fixedly. She had never in a million years considered that he might come for her. She’d been broken when he’d dumped her and had done her best to continue with her life, putting on a brave face for the world when inside she was bruised and disappointed. Back then she’d waited and hoped he might want to talk and resolve matters and that perhaps he might even want to get back together again. But he hadn’t even contacted her in the early days. It was as clear a sign as anything that things were over between them forever.

Now, after her whirlwind of a trip to Verona, and having met Nico, she felt as though she had been freed.

“There’s nothing to talk about.” Nico intervened; his powerfully built body naked as the sheet slipped even further below his waist. Connor’s gaze wavered as he surveyed his opponent warily.

“This isn’t about you,” returned Connor quietly. “I’ll be waiting downstairs, Ava. Just give me ten minutes. Please.” He shot her a parting glance and walked toward the door slowly.

Nico had gotten up and put his boxers back on. He reached the door just as Connor did and let Connor take a good look at his powerful physique. He held the door wide open.

“Out, now.” Nico’s face darkened. He threw out Connor’s luggage and locked the door behind him.

Ava sat motionless in bed, watching the standoff between the two men. They were like fighting cockerels, puffing their chests out and suspiciously assessing each other. She wished she had never set eyes on Connor again. The fact that he had walked in on her and Nico, invading the quiet tranquility of their world, had shattered her new peace.

Nico sat down beside her. “That was the shithead you were going to marry?” His hands tenderly grasped her arms, as he gently tried to unwrap them from around her knees.

The golden hue of their afternoon should have lifted her spirits, but she felt as if the world had ground to a halt. Energy seeped out of her body. “I don’t know why he’s here,” she mumbled, more to herself, than to Nico.

He moved forward, slowly pushing her knees down and the sheet fell away, exposing her nakedness. He kissed her on the lips lightly. “It’s obvious. He wants you back.”

Ava hooked her arms around his neck and reeled him in closer to her. “He can dream on.”

Nico rewarded her with a searing kiss that sent her senses out of control. She kissed him back deeply, needing him all over again.

Connor could wait.

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