The Billionaire's Island Romance (The Romero Brothers, Book 3.5) by Shadonna Richards Page B

out for herself
like this before? Perhaps having her parents, especially her father, so in need
of emotional support had taken its toll on her without even realizing it. Thank
God for Christian. If he hadn’t pushed her to take the plunge, so to speak, she
would have worked her way through another week without a break. She needed this
reprieve—badly. Of course, she thought that she and Christian were
through, so burying herself in work and making sure her parents were all right
had been her top priorities at the time. Well now, she was going to take some
time for herself once in a while to debrief. To recharge her energies. Really recharge her energies.

 
 
    *     *    *

 
    What a day it had been. Arianna snuggled up
to Christian in the bed as he slept. Thank God, Christian had taken Arianna off
the premise for a change in scenery. She really needed that badly. They had
taken a fun-filled splash in the famous Dunn’s River Falls and soaked up the
sights of the west coast and taken in a midafternoon concert and later relaxed
by the beach in a secluded area. The dolphin show was a blast! It was a dream.
    Christian even gave her a wonderful, and
erotic, massage. She hadn’t realized how tense her muscles were until he got
out most of the kinks. Gosh, he was so good with his hands in every way
imaginable.
    Everything had been centered on the Duponte
premises and she’d been working overtime lately to get caught up with
inventory, special events and back orders. Not to mention handling the
management that had been placed there long before she came on board. Since her
father’s health had deteriorated somewhat, Arianna wanted to ensure everything
was in order and no one was going to take over.
    Especially her debt-ridden, gambling uncle
who would like nothing more than to yank the resort from underneath her and
sell it off to the highest, or lowest, bidder he could get. He already ran
several of his other companies into the ground. No way was her uncle going to
take the hotel away from them and do what he pleased with it. It would kill her
father. It would kill everything they’d worked so hard for. The Duponte was his
whole life. He’d taken the once run-down property, which was willed to him on
certain conditions, from a useless property to the five-star exclusive hotel
that it was today.
    It was more than her parents’
dream , it was their life .
It was her life. She had moved her world over to help manage things, relocating
temporarily from New York, while things got running again smoothly. She had
every intention once her staff had a handle on things to shift back to the
States, where she could go back to her normal life, overseeing things from
abroad. But right now, Arianna had other things to take care of. Her life. Her love life. Her well-being .
Christian was right; without taking care of herself first, she didn’t have a
hope of taking care of others—or her business.

 
 
CHAPTER NINE

 
    The following day, things had pretty much returned
to normal. Crazy normal. Arianna spent most of the morning going over budgets,
staff appraisal comments, making notes for the person who would take over in
managing the day-to-day functions of the hotel—someone who had been on
staff at the hotel from the beginning, and reviewing upcoming events, like the
Romero wedding over the weekend. Inventory was satisfactory , thank heavens .
    But oh, last night with Christian was so
amazing. Last night and into the early hours of the morning Christian made love
to her over and over again until the beautiful glowing sunrise on the beach,
warming them into a new day. The cadence of the crickets singing outside, the
ocean waves beating against the white sandy beach, the birds chirping,
everything was so melodious, calm and perfect. Ari’s heart
thumped like crazy in her chest just thinking about him. Missing him
already when he wasn’t in her sight. Oh, how she craved his presence all the
time.
    Would she ever get