The Moretti Heir Read Online Free PDF Page A

warmth of his hand on the center of her back and the low thrum of the hot tub located on the end of the balcony settled her nerves. She let go of all the planning and concentrated on the fact that she was here with a charming and sexy man.
    “I’d like that,” she said.
    “There’s a changing room over there stocked with robes,” Marco said, his voice deep and dark in the moonlit night. He gestured to the small building next to the tub.
    Having spent most of her adult life waiting for this exact moment, she knew it was time for her to act. But action was the one thing that had always scared her. Her grandmother had loved Lorenzo Moretti and that single act had completely ruined Cassia’s life.
    Perhaps sensing her unease, Marco said, “Do you know about the stars?”
    “What?”
    “The stories of the different stars and why the constellations fill the sky,” he said. Wrapping his arm around her waist, he led her to a double lounge chair and gestured for her to sit down.
    She did, and Marco sat down next to her. He put his arm around her shoulder and shifted until she was lying next to him with her head on his shoulder.
    She looked at him and knew without a doubt that he had sensed her keyed-up nerves. And she wondered if this was a sign from the universe that she should give up on her plan. Was there a side effect she’d missed when she’d determined the way to break the curse on their families was by getting pregnant with Marco’s child?
    “The sky is different here,” Marco said. “In the Northern Hemisphere, where we both live, you can never see the Southern Cross.”
    She stopped worrying about seduction and relaxed against him. “I had heard that. Where is the Southern Cross?”
    He pointed at the sky. “Right there…do you see it?”
    Her gaze followed the line of his arm, and she saw four stars in a diamond shape in the sky. The Southern Cross. “Does it have a legend with it, like Orion or Sirius?”
    “Not really. Because it is visible only from the Southern Hemisphere, we have no Greek or Roman legends associated with it.”
    “What is that constellation?” she asked pointing to another one.
    “That is Leo. Egyptian priests used to be able to predict when the Nile would flood based on its position in the sky.”
    He talked about other constellations and she began to see beyond the international celebrity race car driver to the man beneath. He was used to moving in a world of privilege and wealth, yet tonight he was just a man.
    “How did you become interested in stars?”
    “My father. He isn’t into racing or cars…not the way a Moretti should be.” He turned on the lounge chair so that he was leaning over her. “But he loves legends and the past…he has spent a lot of his life reading about stories of old.”
    “Where are your parents now?”
    “In San Giuliano Milanese. It’s where our family home is.”
    “Are you close to your parents?” she asked.
    “In some ways. I’ve always shared a love of the night sky with my father. When I was younger, most of my time alone with him was spent outside at night, looking through the lens of his telescope.”
    Being an only child, she’d had too much time alone with her mother, who had been very sad most of the time.
    “Why didn’t your father like cars?” she asked. She knew that Giovanni Moretti was rumored to have been too easygoing to run the big automotive company. That he wasn’t interested in business…only in making love to his wife.
    “He liked them, he just loved my mother more. So business didn’t hold his interest.”
    “Yet, it does hold yours,” she said.
    “Tonight I can see why my father was distracted,” Marco said.
    She thought she saw surprise in his eyes as he revealed that, but he recovered quickly, leaning in close to kiss her. His kiss was soft and slow, one of seduction rather than full-out passion.
    He swept his hand down the side of her body, un-erringly finding the zipper in the side of her dress.