Free Her Venice Affair (The Albury Affairs) by Christina OW

finally
arrive in Venice.”
    Riana counted all the places he’d mentioned in her
head. She was more than excited to visit them all, but how were they going to
do that in two weeks? “Allan, we only have two weeks.”
    He sighed, and released his hold enough so that she
dropped flat on her feet. “How would you like to extend your trip?”
    Extend my
trip? “For how long?”
    His lips spread in a slow smile. “A month…or two?”
    “What?”
    He leaned down and kissed her forehead, rocking her
from side to side. “I know you have two months before you start your teaching
course. I talked to Loraine on your way to the airport. Why not spend it having
fun and learning a new language, enjoying all that Italy has to offer?”
    Riana held back her excitement for a moment longer.
“You wouldn’t mind spending all that money on me?”
    Allan chuckled. “I’d be delighted to spoil you. And I
can finally have my long deserved vacation.”
    “Don’t you have work to do? I don’t want—”
    He cut her off with a chaste kiss. “I’ll work on my
laptop and video conference my meetings. If it’s urgent I’ll have to fly to
Venice and catch up with you later.”
    She nibbled on her lower lip nervously. “One more
thing. Are we going to have to fly?”
    Allan’s brow rose in question. “You are afraid of
flying? I never would have guessed it.”
    Riana chuckled. “How could you when all you were
interested in was a certain naked lady.”
    She swallowed a gasp when he smiled—the type of smile
that said, “I’ve seen you naked, I’ve sampled your goods, and can’t wait to
have more”—and an excited chill rushed down her spin.
      “Oh yes. She
was very distracting. The best part is, I’m going to have her in that state of
undress for two whole months.”
    Riana noticed he’d assumed she was going to stay those
two months. She didn’t mind. He was offering a two month tour of the Italian
country, a shopping spree, and all his attention, what woman could say no to
that?
    “Said naked lady is excited and can’t wait to start
the adventure.”

 
    * * * *

 
    Allan wanted to sigh in relief, but he held back. He
wasn’t sure she would agree to it. Hell, Loraine hadn’t given him any hope that
she would when she stressed how sweet and innocent she is, nothing like the
type of women he had occupy his bed. And when ‘two months’ slipped out, he was
sure she was going to say no, but he kept his own startled reaction under
wraps.
      One couldn’t
survive in his line of work if they didn’t possess an excellent poker face.
    He’d done another thing he hadn’t planned—promised to
flack off work to show her all of Italy. Allan didn’t like not being present
during large takeovers like he knew Casa Italiano was going to be but, for once in his life, he
was going to put himself ahead of everyone else, including Melody.
    Taking care of Melody had been his only interest since
their father’s death three years ago. Their mother had died four years before
that, leaving their father a shell of who he used to be. Allan always thought
the day Rose Sullivan took her final breath was the same day Allan Senior died,
too. He only stayed alive long enough to teach Allan the ropes on running
Sinclair Enterprises.
    The day he closed on his first takeover was the day
Allan Senior announced he had stage four pancreatic cancer and had no intention
of trying to fight it because, ‘he was a lonely sixty-five year old and as much
as he loved his children, he wanted nothing more than to join the love of his
life.’
    Allan clenched his jaw, the familiar resentment coming
to surface. The man had been diagnosed a year before and only took medication
that would keep him around long enough for a long, final, all-issues-covered
goodbye.
    Melody saw their father’s death—Allan saw it as a
suicide—as an incredible love story and she cried more tears of joy than of
sorrow at his funeral. She wasn’t as broken as when they