Italian Billionaire’s Stubborn Lover: The Romano Brothers Series, #1

By Leslie North

Luxury real estate agent Adeline Peluso came to Italy in search of adventure. Inheriting an apartment with a view of the coast in Sicily sounded like something out of a movie, but after two years watching a resort she’d always loved fall to pieces she’s ready to throw in the proverbial towel...that is until one of the owners finally walked into her office. Tall, dark, and devastatingly handsome, the man would drive her crazy with his arguments if he didn’t set her aflame with his kisses.

Billionaire Nicolo Romano is a global citizen. He’s the kind of guy who skis in the Alps, snorkels in the caribbean, and enjoys the lights of the Vegas strip on a whim. He has no desire to be tied down any time soon. So when he and his brothers inherit the family resort, Nicolo has one goal: Sell it and sell it fast. But coming back to the place he loved as a child to find a woman who feels just as passionately about the crumbling hotel throws him. Instead of using his business savvy to sell fast, Nicolo is wooing this woman with his island, slowly falling back in love with the place himself. 

When whip smart arguments turn into stolen kisses and stolen kisses turn into steamy nights, Adeline and Nicolo will realize that they’re fighting for more than the fate of a historic hotel. They’re fighting for the chance of life’s greatest adventure: True Love.  

• Language: English
• Publisher: Leslie North
• Release date: Jan 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386984351

Book preview

1

Adeline

Adeline Peluso tapped her stiletto heel nervously on the rust colored terracotta tile floor as she traced her perfectly manicured fingernail over her plump bottom lip. Blinking, she contemplated the choice before her. She could stay in Sicily or let go of her dreams and move on .

Poo, she said, frowning at her laptop where it lay open atop an ancient walnut desk that was large enough and heavy enough to double as a raft on choppy seas. Between her eyes was a small, pinched crease of consternation that had plagued her with compliments of adorable and sweet ever since she’d been a young girl. Now at twenty-nine it was no less cute, but in truth, she was actually quite frustrated.

The beauty of her surroundings, which normally worked wonders to lighten her mood, did nothing for her today. From outside the tall, open windows of her real estate office, the calming sound of waves lapping against the Sicilian shore reached her ears. But instead of making her thankful for the life she lived as it usually did, it made her wistful for the adventures she was missing by remaining on the island of Sicily.

Moving to Sicily had been a dream come true for Adeline. Its history and heritage were more diverse than even the home she’d left behind in America. It was in Sicily that she had learned how to live with gusto and verve, and she had treasured the summers she’d spent there with her grandparents. Though they were gone now, it was through their happy marriage in this beautiful place that she’d learned what life-long love looked like.

She had thought that she could capture some of the magic of their lives by moving to Sicily. It had been her childhood dream. She’d thought that she would find love and adventure. Instead, she had an empty apartment to go home to at night and her life was filled with the same bored routine that she’d left behind in America.

She needed adventure. She needed more from life. It was too amazing to sleepwalk through.

I could find love in Spain, she said. Crossing her legs, she tapped her toe silently in the air as she contemplated her choices.

After clicking a webpage tab for the Romano del Mare she sat back again, then frowned. Images of the once-beautiful resort hotel filled her computer screen. It was the place where her grandparents would summer every year that she’d come to visit. While her grandparents were who taught her how to live and love life, the Romano del Mare was where she had learned those things. It was a place of wonder and artful magnificence. At over 870 years old, the converted medieval monastery was grandeur in an understated old-world style. There wasn’t any glitter, gold, or tinsel. No, the resort was stately and honorable yet charming and inviting. It—and the memory of her grandparents—was what made Sicily so hard to leave. Giving up on the Romano del Mare was like giving up on the dream of finding love, and it broke Adeline’s heart.

She clicked another tab and a new page full of images filled her screen. They were again of the Romano del Mare, except that in these pictures the grand hotel had crumbling rock bricks, broken windows, and an empty parking lot. The old girl hadn’t seen a customer in nearly a decade. After the hotel’s former owners had gotten too old to handle its management themselves, they’d handed it over to a management company that had been disgraceful in its duties. They’d allowed the resort to become what it was today: a broken down memory of happier times. The Romano del Mare was now an embarrassment and an eyesore to the community, and it was why Adeline had accepted a position with Vero Immobiliare Real Estate eight months ago. They held the account for the Romano del Mare.

Adeline propped her elbow on her desk, put her chin in her hand, and sighed. A heritage and restoration dispute had been waged for months over the property, but the hotel had finally been approved for sale—and, shockingly, for demolition. Through it all, Adeline had sent email after email to the new owners, pleading with them to restore the hotel themselves rather than let it fall to the sea or to new, big commerce.

Her eyes stung with tears. She couldn’t stay to witness the destruction of the place she had cherished most. The Romano del Mare was a symbol of everything that was good in life and the love she hoped to someday find.

It was time to leave. She would accept the position of Real Estate Ambassador in Spain, specializing in Americans buying abroad.

Clicking the Internet tab that housed the application for the position in Spain, she bit her lip and then clicked send. The application was just a formality. She already had the job. The company had personally reached out to her and asked her to apply, assuring her that they were very excited and interested in the talents that she would bring. After all, she was the most successful real estate agent in Sicily.

A light rap pulled Adeline’s attention to the door, where a tall man stood leaning slightly in. He was classically handsome with a strong jawline and a strong but flattering nose. His thick, black hair was shorter on the sides than it was on top and was slicked back in a look that was more severe than the gentle kindness of his face. His skin bore the golden touch of the sun.

"Bon giornu." The well-dressed man took a step inside Adeline’s office. His voice was a rich tenor in need of a choir. Dressed impeccably in a three piece charcoal grey suit with tiny red pinstripes, he wore it as well as any model could, but everything about how he held himself made Adeline think he was a business man.

I know him… From where?

Adeline rose and made her way from behind her desk to greet her guest. A greeting of "ciao" was on her lips, but her spinning mind delayed it.

Then the stranger smiled, the sight charming and disarming, and everything fell into place. Adeline’s deep brown eyes flew wide, and she stopped.

Now you come home! she exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air and stamping her foot. What took you so long? Awaiting an answer, she put her hands on her hips and gave the man a glare that could have melted gelato.

2

Nicolo

Nicolo Romano held his hand against his abdomen as he flicked a glance over his shoulder. He was surprised to find that there was no one standing behind him .

Turning to face forward, he took in the spirited woman before him. He’d been directed to her office to discuss the sale of the long-abandoned resort recently inherited by him and his brothers. Yet upon his arrival Ms. Peluso’s face flooded with color. Its hot pink blush did nothing to hide her beauty. Her petite build was slender but had all the curves of a woman. Her light brown hair was streaked with gold, and her pencil skirt showed off just enough of her supple legs to make Nicolo’s hands crave to trace over them. Even at a glance he could tell that she had a fiery soul that only the luckiest of men would get the chance to try to tame.

I am sorry, Nicolo said, putting a hand over his chest. Perhaps you have me mistaken for another. I am Nicolo—

Oh, I know who you are. Nicolo Romano, the new owner of the Romano del Mare.

He knew her name to be Adeline Peluso from the sign on her office door. It was a good Sicilian name, yet while she looked Sicilian to his eyes, she did not sound Sicilian to his ears.

I am sorry. Have I done something to offend? This was not the reception he had anticipated. He’d been assured that Ms. Peluso was the very best that the agency had to offer, and while the resort was now dilapidated, its sale would still make any agent who handled the transaction a lot of money.

Sit, Adeline instructed, pointing to a richly upholstered armless chair sitting before her desk.

While not used to taking orders from women, beautiful or otherwise, Nicolo was intrigued by what she’d have to say, and this was after all her office. So he sat. Unbuttoning his coat jacket with one hand, he crossed his legs and cupped his palms over his knee.

Mr. Romano, as I’m sure you know, the Romano del Mare is in terrible disrepair, Adeline said as she made her way around the room. She fetched a binder from an antique shelf and placed it atop the desk before continuing her search through an assortment of other items. Her scavenger hunt finally seemed to come to an end when she retrieved a small, dusty tin off the top of a curio. She had to stand on her tiptoes to reach it and stretch to her lithe body’s maximum length. Romano knew that he should offer his assistance, but he was enjoying the view so much that he kept his mouth closed and stayed seated where she’d put him.

Ms. Peluso, you’re not telling me anything that I do not know.

Well, did you know that I have been sending you emails with projections and estimates for the last eight months regarding its renovation? Adeline asked from where she stood facing him with the small tin in her hands. All her weight was on one leg with her other lovely leg extended to the side, and Nicolo’s mind flashed to an image of her delicate ankle held in his hand as he kissed his way up.

I must be overdue for a lover. I am acting like a school boy, Nicolo chided himself. At 29, his school days were long behind him and now he was an internationally respected real estate developer. He had been to the Romano del Mare, the resort that his grandfather had inherited from his grandfather’s grandfather. He knew its history, and he also knew the sad state that it was now in. Not only was it in horrible disrepair, it also required extensive modernizing in order to meet the expectations of today’s vacationer. The resort, in his very knowledgeable opinion, needed to be destroyed. There was no saving it.

Ms. Peluso, I apologize. I never received your correspondence.

Adeline gave Nicolo an are-you-kidding-me look.

Nicolo bravely continued. My assistant weeds out… I mean to say, my assistant only forwards on to me correspondence that is actionable and business related.

Adeline’s expression transformed into something much less polite than what it had been a moment ago, and Nicolo glanced out her office door to see if anyone else was around. If she happened to start throwing things at him, he hoped that there would be someone else who could intervene so that