Page 139 of Modern Romance October 2025 5-8

The toot of a moped’s horn cut through her thoughts and she tuned back into the signs of life around her, inhaling the scent of the sea. She turned back and took in the Capri nightlife, loud and vibrant and bright, even at this hour. Couples lounged at café tables that had sprawled onto the streets, friends laughed and chatted, and even a few lovers danced beneath the stars to music wafting out of restaurants and bars.

Enzo hadn’t even waited for them to start dinner, let alone finish it, that’s how eager he’d been to get her onto the boat, she thought, amazed that she’d got this far in her plan. Of course, she’d have to make sure he understood,trulyunderstood, that she wouldn’t sleep with him, just because she had agreed to stay on his yacht.

Especially after that kiss.

She noticed her hand rise towards her lips and ordered herself to get a grip.

As for how he would feel about the line she would be drawing about no sex before marriage—or even after, if she had her way—that remained to be seen. It wasn’t that she was a prude. Erin had had boyfriends in the past, both of whom had been very nice and considerate of her feelings. But they hadn’t been able to compete with the attention she’d needed to give to HomeJames, or everything that she was doing to get Charterhouse back. And she’d not been able to bend for them like her mother had bent for her father...until there was very little of herself left.

So no, it wasn’t that sex was abhorrent to her. But whatwasabhorrent was the idea of using sex to get what she wanted. She just couldn’t bear to lie to him while sharing such an intimacy. That felt like a betrayal that she might not come back from. So, she had decided, before she’d even agreed to Gio’s outrageous offer, that she could only go through with this if shedidn’tsleep with him.

As for how to go about that? She would use his reputation against him, insisting on waiting until after they were married to prove that he only wanted her for one thing—that she could not be just another flash-in-the-pan relationship like all his others. She imagined that his ego would be up for the challenge.

And after the marriage? Well, she’d explain to him that she had to return to London to assume her role as CEO of Charterhouse, and she doubted that the Playboy of Amalfi would be happy to sit idly by in London while she worked all hours god sent to turn around the failing publishing company. She’d be ‘so very sorry’ that it had come between them, but ‘it wouldn’t be for long’...just, oh, say, the six months that Gio Gallo has insisted upon?

And when she got the publishing company back from Gio Gallo, she could begin to claw back a little of what they’d lost. The family business. The security. Their identity. And all she needed was—

‘Bellissima,’ called a very recognisable voice and she opened her eyes to find Enzo standing at the large cream wheel of a classic speedboat thatgleamedin the lights from the harbour.

He’d taken off his jacket, rolled back his sleeves, and the white shirt, open at his neck, offered just a peek at the spattering of swirls of dark chest hair. Combined with the rakish grin across devastatingly handsome features, it had a near heart-stopping lethality.

He seemed to revel in the attention that he and his boat were getting, yet despite that, his focus remained solely on her. He threw a rope up to a marina employee who tied it off for him while Enzo climbed the stairs, stopping almost directly in front of her. He held the two top rungs and leaned back, as if to take her in fully.

‘You are beautiful,’ he said, as if he hadn’t seen her but twenty minutes before. The effect was quite unnerving for Erin who had spent a significant portion of her teenage years trying to avoid attention. However,Rinaccepted it with a wry smile.

She leaned forward a little, to where he was looking up at her.

‘So are you,’ she said truthfully and Enzo threw his head back and laughed.

This one sounded different to many of the others she’d heard from him in the last twenty-four hours. It sounded free. And something in Erin preened to have made such an impact, even as she reminded herself to be on her guard against his charms.

‘My lady,’ he said affecting an upper-class British accent. ‘Allow me,’ he said, holding out his hand for her to take. Her luggage was already being passed down by harbour staff, so she let him lead her towards the metal ladder clinging to the side of the stone harbour wall. But when she’d expected him to move away, he didn’t. And she found herself being turned in his arms and stepping backwards and down almost directly into his hold.

Her heart pumped as she was encased in the heat of his body. And though he wasn’t touching her, she felt him envelop her. His aftershave, warm on the currents that flowed back and forth between them, bringing amber, salt, and citrus deep into her lungs when she breathed.

And then it was gone.

He jumped the small distance from the ladder to the boat below, his arm still outstretched to guide her.

‘Va bene,’ he said, when she and her luggage were stowed safely on the deck of the speedboat.

She was about to ask whether he was going to pilot the boat, before she realised that of course he would. After the helicopter, she shouldn’t be surprised. But there was something nerve-wracking about the boat navigating its way out of the harbour into the darkness of the open sea.

Yet despite her discomfort, he seemed utterly in his element. Strong powerful hands guiding the wheel, the wind ruffling the dark hair that was longer on the top and shorter on the sides.

A pirate captain.

The fanciful description suited him.

As if he sensed her attention he turned slightly—eyes still on his destination—to ask, ‘Do you want to have a go?’

‘Driving?’ Erin squeaked, and then remembered that she was supposed to be cool and sophisticated.

‘Well, we say “steering,” but yes,’ he said with a smile.

He’d sensed her hesitation, but whatever had caused it was clearly thrust aside as she rose from the seat at the back of the speedboat, and came to meet him on unsteady feet, which was understandable given the way the boat wedged into the choppy waters.

He stood back to give her enough room to stand in front of him, and placed her hands where his had been. He noticed the shiver that passed across her body at the same time as sparks jabbed at his fingertips.