His eyes drifted closed, then his arms came around her, tight and possessive, pulling her into a hug that lifted her from the floor. He dragged his lips across her cheek, then murmured, “I don’t want to have sex for the sake of sex. I’m done with it. I want to make love to you. Slowly. Beautifully. I want it to mean something. To mean everything.”
She wrapped her hand around the back of his head, cradling him to her as he kissed her ear, her neck, then her shoulder. Engulfed by the raging desire and immense love she felt all at once for this man. They stood wrapped in each other’s arms for a long time, then finally, he pulled away enough to make eye contact.
“Once, I brought a woman to orgasm without touching her. I simply stood near her and talked her into it. I took her imagination where she wanted to go.”
“Braggart.” She couldn’t help but give him a flirtatious grin. No way would she let him do that to her. Not tonight.
He shook his head, his expression remaining serious. “It worked because I didn’t know that woman, not really. And she didn’t know me. Nor did we care to. It’s symptomatic of every relationship I’ve ever had.” He scoffed at his own words. “They weren’t even relationships. I’m telling you this because I want to know you, Frannie. I want you to know me, even if that scares me. If I stay here tonight, I want it to be about that. For the first time in my life, and I believe for the last time, I’m truly, deeply in love.”
She bracketed his face with her fingers. “Then know me. And love me. There’s nothing to fear.”
His mouth came down on hers in a kiss that stole her breath. Minutes later, they’d made their way to her room, having extinguished the office lights and locked the doors behind them.
“It’s a twin bed,” she murmured against his mouth.
“I don’t care.”
Then they were on top of her tangled sheets, her robe somewhere on the floor, her nightgown around her waist. Her breath thundered in her own ears as she pulled his shirt from his pants, then slowly undid each button so she could explore his glorious, hard upper body. She wanted to learn his contours, to taste him, to know him as well as she knew herself. Ironically, even as she revealed each increment of bare skin and muscle, then explored him with her fingertips, she felt she already knew him…that she knew how they fit, how compatible they were, how and where to touch him to make him mad with desire. Each movement of her hands over his body drew the reaction she ached to see. She savored each sound, each pleasured flinch, each hazy-eyed smile of satisfaction. Then, when her nightgown disappeared and she was naked to him, he gently rolled her to her back and kissed his way down her body, taking her nipples into his mouth one at a time.
His gentle, slow worship of her body drove her mad with lust even as her heart threatened to burst with love. She thrilled to the gooseflesh that rose along her skin.
“You are heaven,” he murmured against her belly. She realized then that he was shaking. So was she.
“Dear God, Frannie. You are my home.”
Long minutes later, when he slid one hand to her hip, entered her, and breathed her name, she closed her eyes and whimpered softly, overwhelmed.
Yes, they’d both found home. A safe place, a loving place. A place where they were known. The best place. Forever.
* * *
Frannie stirred just before sunrise.
Alessandro held her in front of him, spoon-style, in her narrow bed, and pressed a long kiss to the top of her head. Her sigh of contentment warmed him to the core.
“Rule breaker,” he whispered. He couldn’t believe they’d spent the entire night making love right in the compound, only a short distance from the bunkhouses where the children slept. At the same time, it’d felt amazingly right.
Her arms tightened over his, then she wiggled so her back rested fully against his torso. “This from the man pretending to be his twin brother the first time we met.”
“I had good cause.”
“So do I.”
He chuckled at that, then dropped another kiss into her hair.
“Thank you,” she whispered, her voice filled with emotion.
“Don’t thank me—”
“Not for that,” she said as she threaded her fingers through his. “For pushing me to expand my views. And for encouraging me to ignore the rules sometimes. Rules have always brought me security. You’ve shown me that it’s okay to relax when I’m wound so tightly I can’t see beyond my mental walls. Not just that it’s okay to relax…but good.”
He nuzzled against her. “In that case, you’re quite welcome.”
“Speaking of rule breakers,” she said, “I need to tell you about Naomi.” Frannie rolled over and explained that Naomi’s father had secured a position with the island’s fire department and that Naomi had gone home. “She confessed to taking the Scotch from my cabinet. She also told me how you reacted when she gave it to you. I promised her you’d go visit and share a drink with her parents.”
Alessandro could only imagine Frannie’s reaction to hearing Naomi’s sweet voice, let alone her reaction to the words themselves.
“Hearing her speak…oh, Alessandro, it was the most beautiful sound.” Frannie squeezed his arm. “It was a moment I’ll remember the rest of my life. Thank you.”
“Why thank me?”
“Because she spoke to you first. You earned her trust, which made her feel safe, then you ensured she’d speak again by keeping her trust when she stole the Scotch.” Frannie’s thumb moved along his arm in a sweet caress. “I owe you an apology. I should have trusted you.”
“Frannie, you did trust me, or you would have demanded I return the liquor to the cabinet.”
She laughed, and the sound reverberated through him. He could listen to it for the rest of his life. Her expression turned serious, and he could tell she was about to grovel in earnest. Much as it would feed his ego, he didn’t need to hear it. She was already forgiven.
He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Much as I’m enjoying your rule-breaking, we shouldn’t get caught. I’ll go across the hall to the room I used when I first arrived. At breakfast, let everyone know you let me in late. They won’t question that I stayed across the hall instead of trying to go through the bunkhouse where I might wake everyone. You can tell them I’m sleeping in.”
“Wait, you get your beauty sleep, but I don’t?”
“You don’t need it.” He relaxed into her pillow, unwilling to move quite yet. He wasn’t sure how they’d make a relationship work in the close confines of the shelter, but they would. He had no doubt.
“You having morning-after regrets?” she asked when he remained quiet, though he could tell from her tone she didn’t believe it to be the case.
“Not at all. Just thinking about logistics.”
She used her fingers to comb his hair away from his face. “How so?”
“Eventually, I do have to return to Sarcaccia. And on that topic, I need to tell you something private and trust that it will never be repeated.” He waited for her nod of acceptance, then explained about Vittorio and Emily. “I hope that it’s all for naught and that Emily can get pregnant and carry a baby to term. Realistically, though, it’s a very long shot. I need to prepare for that. Maybe I should have told you last night, before we got to this point. But my mind wasn’t exactly on my brother.”
She spread one hand across his chest. Her gaze followed her fingertips. “You didn’t need to tell me at all. It’s Emily and Vittorio’s business, not mine.”
“If you and I want a future, it’s your business, too. I know you don’t want a relationship like your parents’, where—much as they might love each other—their passions mean that they live separate lives. I want to stay with you at Sunrise Shelter until the last child is gone, and I’ll do my best to accomplish that. However, I’m beholden to the people of my country. When it’s time to go, I have to go. But I need to know if there will be a day that you can come to Sarcaccia with me.”
Frannie’s hand stilled over his
heart, then she looked into his eyes. “That’s a lovely invitation.”
“Lovely or not, I need you to be honest. If it’s not something you can do, I should go at the end of my three months. He covered her hand with his and looked deep into her dark eyes with their beautiful upturned edges. “Staying here, knowing that I can’t be with you…it would be very difficult.”
“I dream of the day the kids all have homes and don’t need me any more. With everything in my heart, I believe that day will come. After that, then, yes. I’d be willing to move Sarcaccia with you. But I can’t promise not to spend my time there helping children in need. Their situation isn’t what the children face here on Kilakuru, but it’s my calling.”
He lifted his head from the pillow to give her a soft kiss. “I’d expect nothing less. It’s who you are. On the other hand, if Vittorio doesn’t have children, and I ascend the throne—”
“That’s a big if. Even so, I know you could do it. You’ve proven how good you could be.”
He appreciated her confidence, but there was a bigger issue. “It is a big if. But if it happened, I’d want you by my side. It’s a lot to ask—you should see all my mother does—and I wouldn’t ask it of you unless you were willing to take on the responsibility.”
He knew he was putting the cart before the horse, both in planning a possible ascendancy to the throne and a possible marriage. They’d spent only one night together. But, as with his mother and father, and with Vittorio and Emily, he knew.
He held his breath, afraid to hear her answer, yet knowing he’d had to take the risk and ask.
“Your mother spends a great deal of time helping teens. She might not live with them, but the support she gives makes a difference. If I can make a difference the way she does, I’d be happy.” She shrugged. “It’s not a decision we need to make now. But I have a question for you.”
He covered her fingers, then drew them to his mouth for a quick kiss. “Yes?”
“This is all new. I realize we’ve spent a lot of time together since you arrived and have gotten to know a lot about each other, but—and I don’t mean to sound insecure…I’m asking this honestly—how do you know you won’t get bored with me?”
He wanted to laugh, but the sincerity in her voice stopped him. He didn’t take his gaze from hers. “You saw the news when my father announced that he’d had three children with Teresa Cornaro?”
At Frannie’s frown and nod, he continued, “Two of them were born at the beginning of his marriage to my mother, one was born before. My father only informed me—and my brothers and sister—a few days before that press conference. But my mother knew about the Cornaro children all along. I’ve seen my parents’ relationship firsthand over the years. They had an arranged marriage, but I know how deeply they’ve come to love each other. When I was home for Vittorio’s wedding, I asked my mother how in the world she’d known it would all work with my father. How she knew she loved him. She said something along the lines of, ‘I simply do. I think I knew within days of meeting him. His soul spoke to mine.’ That’s how I feel when I’m with you, Frannie. As if your soul speaks to mine. I’m in love with you. It’s a love I believe can overcome any obstacle.” His fingers tightened around hers. “We don’t have the obstacles my parents had. God willing, we never will. The worst that can happen is that I become my father’s heir. Or we have to figure out how to live on opposite sides of the world for a short time. Can you see a way for us past those difficulties? I know, given the troubles your parents had, it might seem impossible.”
She sat up in bed, pulling him with her. Silently, she draped one arm over his shoulder, then tucked her other hand beneath the sheets, where her fingers found his knee. When she met his gaze, her smile was brilliant.
“Have you ever heard the saying about seeing the distance of your headlights?”
He felt himself returning her smile. “You don’t need to see the entire road in order to drive in the dark. You need only see the distance of your headlights.”
Her hand moved slowly up his thigh. “Exactly. You once asked me if I was bothered by my upbringing, by my parents’ divorce or having to move so many times. I meant it when I said I wasn’t. None of us knew what the future held, but because my parents gave me love and security, I only needed to see as far as the headlights shone. That sense is what I want to give to these kids. But most important, it’s what you give me. It’s why, even when you left me in the dining room and said you weren’t the man for me, I had hope, deep in my heart, that we’d find a way, even if I couldn’t see it in that moment.”
Her hand eased farther up his thigh, though when he glanced down, the sheets obscured the movement. “You are amazing.” And he was so, so lucky.
She leaned toward him, slowly, until her nose touched his. “I have every confidence that we’ll find a way to reach our destination, even if we can’t see the road right now. If you believe that, too, we have nothing to fear.”
Her hand shifted higher just as his mouth found hers. They made slow, romantic love until her bedside alarm rang, then, with a final kiss, he darted across the hall.
Epilogue
Two Years Later
* * *
Frannie picked up a handful of seed pods that had fallen from the palm trees surrounding the compound, then tossed them in the organic waste bin. Now that the trees—some planted, others transplanted—were strong enough not to require staking, they generated seed pods by the dozens. Having to clean up every time she walked across the compound was a fair trade for the shade they provided.
She shielded her eyes and angled her head to watch as the trees bent with the breeze. Kilakuru would always bear scars from the tsunami, but the trees were a sign of the island’s healing.
On that thought, she pushed through the door to the dining hall.
Music pumped through speakers strategically placed in the corners of the dining hall as kids and adults alike danced under the spinning overhead fans. This afternoon, Frannie and Alessandro had pushed the tables to the room’s outer edges in order to create a makeshift dance floor. Paper chains made by the kids the day before now hung over the doorway and the refreshment table. Even Chloe, visiting from Australia on an extended diving trip, had come to the shelter this morning to help decorate.
The energetic beat reminded Frannie of the night she met Alessandro at Sophia’s Christmas party, but little else resembled that affair. This was all island verve, sandals, and red punch, rather than wealthy Europeans dressed to the nines and sipping champagne.
“This is quite the celebration. I’ve never seen the kids so happy,” Tommy said as he came to stand alongside Frannie. “I’ve never seen you so happy.”
She ladled a cup of punch and handed it to Tommy. “Probably because I’ve never been so happy.”
Tommy’s grin broadened. “Four kids in one week. Hard to believe. You’re going to miss them, I bet.”
“They aren’t going far. The Luani kids will be here on the island with their parents, now that their home has been rebuilt. Their mother is going to run her beauty salon from their house until their father’s pharmacy opens. After that, she’ll move into space at the back of the pharmacy building.”
“She’ll do big business. You didn’t know her before the tsunami, but her salon was always full.”
“Irene told me she’s very good.” Irene had waxed poetic about Mrs. Luani’s talent since Frannie first arrived on Kilakuru. When Irene heard the Luanis were moving home, Irene urged Frannie to book an appointment immediately or risk having to wait a long time.
“And Walter tells me the Tolangi sisters were adopted. Is that true? Irene hadn’t heard anything about it.”
Frannie nodded. With few children left at the shelter, Irene had found a permanent position elsewhere on the island and Tommy was days away from reopening his auto repair shop. They’d both fallen behind on shelter gossip. “They’re going to live with an aunt and uncle who’ve moved back to Kilakuru. They’re thrilled.”
>
“So it’s true. That’s wonderful!” Irene said, coming up behind her brother. “What’s the plan once they move out? Surely you’re not keeping the place going with one resident?”
Frannie schooled her features to keep from betraying her emotions. “Remy’s needs haven’t changed. I’ve always told the kids that the shelter would be their home for as long as they need it, and I’m going to stick to that.”
“It’ll be hard on Remy, being alone,” Tommy said. Lines of concern crisscrossed his brow. “Especially with Johnny gone. He’s always looked up to Johnny.”
“Johnny’s been great about keeping in touch with Remy, and Remy understands that going to California was the best thing for Johnny’s future.” Ever since Johnny was awarded a scholarship to attend college in the United States, Frannie kept close tabs on Remy and his reaction to the situation. So far, all had gone well. It helped that Remy witnessed the regular communication between Tehani and Johnny since Tehani left to attend college in Fiji the year before.
“Remy’s matured a lot since moving into the shelter. Even so, it’ll be difficult for him to be the only one here,” Irene said.
Choosing her words carefully, Frannie told them, “You never know when there’ll be children in need. We could end up with new residents next week. That’s why Jack Gladwell named this the Sunrise Shelter. It’s a place of optimism. Of new beginnings.”
Frannie smiled as she saw Alessandro greet the Iakopo family, who’d been invited to the celebration. To Irene and Tommy, she said, “In the meantime, once the hospital opens down the street, we’ll offer a portion of our beds to families who want to be near their loved ones. I expect there’ll be a lot of kids coming in and out. Plenty of company for Remy, should he want it.”
Both Irene and Tommy looked doubtful, but Frannie was saved from further comment when Alessandro signaled for her to join him.
“We’ll talk more later,” Tommy said, his gaze following Frannie’s to where Alessandro now climbed onto one of the benches to call for the crowd’s attention.
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