Page 144 of Modern Romance October 2025 5-8

Ahh, finally.She had shaken Enzo’s limpet-like attachment to her side and found a shop that she actuallyliked. Unlike the others that had been filled with improbable silks and impractical satins, here were more wearable clothes in linen and cotton for her time on the yacht.

She breathed a little sigh of relief at her moment of freedom. It was exhausting being the perfect girlfriend for Enzo. But every time she spent his money, he seemed more and more pleased. Of course, Erin had no real intention of wearing even half of what she’d bought and had every intention of returning the items the first chance she could get in order to refund the money into his account.

One of the main reasons this entire plan was bearable was because it wasn’t costing Enzo a penny. As for emotionally? Well, he’d left a swathe of broken hearts across the world. Surely his could do with a little denting in return?

Her fingers brushed along the palazzo trousers that she was drawn to, the cotton shirts that looked loose and comfortable, because she reallydidneed some more clothes. She hadn’t exactly packed with a long yacht trip in mind. She picked a few things off the rails. A cropped sleeveless linen top with matching wide-legged trousers. A simple linen dress, a long-sleeved shirt and a cotton jumper. Things that she would pay for herself, she decided.

‘Would you like to try something on,Signorina?’

Erin tore her gaze away and smiled at the saleswoman. ‘Yes, please,’ she said, and gave the items she wanted to try on to the woman who placed them in the changing area for her. Really, it was just a curtained-off corner, but it would suffice.

Her phone beeped with a message from Sam just as she was looking at a cotton vest.

Is it working?

Was it? Shethoughtso. She just wished she didn’t feel so guilty. The way that he’d listened to her last night, as if he was actually paying attention to what she was saying, the way that she had wanted to believe that he actually did support her goal for Charterhouse...it felt wrong somehow because she was using him to get it.

But she forced those doubts aside, because he was right, she did need to do whatever was necessary to get her hands on it. Becausewhen we get Charterhouse back...So, she typed back a reply to Sam and sent a pic of all the shopping bags she’d amassed at his expense so far.

I think so.

Samara sent back a head exploding emoji and Erin smiled a little. Her phone beeped again just as she was about to put it back in her bag.

I hear wedding bells!

Erin then jumped when the bell across the door to the shop sounded and Enzo appeared.

‘So, this is where I find you?’ he asked, looking around at the clothes in the shop as if he were a little confused. They were probably too cheap for him and a part of her was irritated by his disdain.

Shoving it aside, she smiled at him and said, ‘Well, as beautiful as silks and satins are, if we are going to spend the next ten days on a yacht, I might need something a little more practical.’

‘I don’t see why,’ he dismissed. ‘But as you wish. Let’s see,’ he said, fluttering his hand at her and sinking into a chair at the opposite end of the shop. He had a new shopping bag with him and she wondered whether he’d finally given in and bought himself something.

‘You want a fashion show?’ she asked, her voice high-pitched in surprise.

‘Yes,’ he said, crossing his ankle over his leg, as if settling in for the long haul.

She looked for a way out, but couldn’t see one, and eventually retreated to the changing room, passing the shop manager who had caught sight of Enzo Rossetti and had dollar signs in her eyes.

Erin closed the curtains around her and bit her lip. There was nothing indecent about what she was doing. He couldn’tseeanything. But it felt...strange to be undressing in such close proximity to him. Not that he’d care, she realised. He could have seen hundreds of naked forms. What was one more? And with that slightly deflating thought, she changed into the first outfit.

Enzo cast an eye around the clothes, all of them attractive, and good quality, but nothing he’d have thought particularly extravagant enough to catch Rin’s eye. He scanned the room, coming to a halt when his gaze caught on the sliver of the changing room that the curtain had failed to cover.

It was nothing indecent. He’d seen more flesh on the beach at Capri the night they’d met. All he could see was the curve of her shoulder and the flare of her hip. He should look away, but it was impossible. Because he knew the feel of the flare of her hip beneath his palm, he’d traced the long line of her neck with his fingers. Even now his body warmed from the memory of it.

Erin’s honeyed cream skin glowed beneath the spotlight above the changing area. His fingers curled reflexively, his jaw tightened. He caught sight of her face in profile as she fiddled with something—a button, a zip?—the frown of concentration and the slight flush on her cheeks. Could she tell? Could she feel his gaze? Had she done this on purpose? he wondered.

He felt like a voyeur which only served to enflame the wildfire of arousal burning across his body. By the time she emerged from the changing area to see herself in the only full-length mirror in the shop, he was wound as tightly as an unexploded bomb.

Seemingly unaware, Rin walked to the mirror and turned her back to him, and he watched her observe herself, at first critically and then with something like surprise.

The wide-legged trousers flattered the narrow lines of her curves, and the sleeveless linen top showcased the sleek lines of her toned arms.

It shouldn’t have looked anything other than okay. But the rich forest-green linen made her look like a wild sprite, ready to demand his servitude.

She caught his gaze in the reflection in the mirror and stilled.

It was a strange moment, her clear blue eyes wide and on him, and with a jolt he realised that her mask had slipped. The vulnerability he saw there was not fake or imagined. It was real because he felt it like a punch to his chest.