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The searing heat was intense and unbearable; all fans in the villa were on and the air conditioning and yet not a single machine could combat the Greek weather.

The office was stuffy, a humid and uncomfortable level of warmth was surrounding Leonardo as he sat before his desk, his head against his fist. He shut his eyes in discomfort. He was wearing his usual trousers and a shirt - Leonardo was never one to wear shorts and he didn't even own a pair but that day, he regretted not purchasing one to wear before arriving in Greece. It was the hottest day he had encountered.

His own sweat had made his white beige shirt stick onto his skin, the beads trickling down his forehead and back. He could hardly breathe freely in such humidity; his breaths extended and filled with exhaustion. Leonardo glanced over to the empty glass staring right back at him; he had drunk enough glasses of water that day to last him a week and yet his thirst could never be satisfied. He could feel the dryness of his throat, the desperation to have a drop of water was killing him. But he felt too hot and tired to even move to the water dispenser in his office to fill up his cup.

The small television mounted on the wall highlighted the scorching heat the city was suffering with - it would last two days. He kept the volume low to reduce the irritating sound of the presenter who was doing nothing but annoying him in such heat. Leonardo's hand wiped his wet forehead, his hand shiny with sweat. He closed his eyes and sighed, struggling to focus on the conversation he was having with Marco over the phone, the hot device was against his red ear.

It. Was. So. Hot. Leonardo could see his glasses' lens steam up from his own heat. He knew he'd have to switch to contacts to be able to clearly see. His clammy hand placed the phone on the table and pressed speaker. He tilted his head towards the fan and shut his eyes, allowing the unsustainable cool air blow against his perspiring, sweltering skin.

"It shouldn't take that long to organise. But she'll have to do some signing too."

Leonardo nodded slowly as he breathed out, rubbing his eyes. "That's fine. Just sort out the main legal issues first. I want that company to be completely clean before she gets it."

Marco chuckled on the other side. "You sound breathless. Is the weather that bad?"

Leonardo could hardly answer. He swallowed, desperate for moisture in his mouth. "You have no fucking idea," he bitterly muttered, pulling the fan closer to his face.

"Her uncle left a shithole of a mess in that place. If it wasn't for you, it might have gone down by now."

The unpleasant sun burned against Leonardo's back, the agonising heat irritating his skin. He winced, considering heading into the shower again. "Get rid of all the baggage. I should be back in a few days to give it to her."

"Si," Marco answered before quickly adding, "how should we deal with Javier's woman? She killed two of our men trying to get in!"

Leonardo had barely any energy to think and simply responded, "Va bene. Lasciala raggiungere suo marito poiché le manca così disperatamente {It's fine. Let her join her husband since she so desperately misses him}." He opened his eyes and ran his hand through his damp hair.

Marco then asked, "that confession Vincenzo was struggling with. . ." Leonardo stiffened as his eyes flickered to the phone, his attention caught. "Did he, did he succeed?" He rolled his eyes, glaring at the phone before him. About to shoot something back at Marco, he thought better of it and instead played along and provided a vague reply, "in some aspects." The proposal hadn't gone exactly how Leonardo intended it to be, however he was content with the fact that at least he was with Maria, the love of his life. He had put away his past and allowed himself to live in the present, for himself and for her. The wedding would eventually come later.

Leonardo thought about her. His office faced the back of the villa and he was certain he'd seen Maria heading there earlier. He had woken up before her that morning to work so they hadn't seen each other yet. Taking the phone, he moved back slightly on his chair and cast his eyes outside to see if she was there.

His intuition was correct. He looked down at the pool below and Leonardo's eyes caught Maria outside.

She was swimming.

Her body glided beneath the water, reaching the edge where the ladder was. The moment Maria reached the surface, her hands held onto the ladder as she climbed out and Leonardo's lips parted in shock at the beauty before him.

The clear water dripped down her magnificent body that gleamed as the sun's rays hit her smooth, radiant skin. Her hips appealingly swayed as she elegantly moved up the steps, his wide eyes unable to stop being drawn in by her eye-catching body, intimately exposed by her choice of an enticing red bikini that reminded Leonardo of her short dress at that opening performance she seduced him at nights ago. The strings of her bikini hugged her small curves. His eyes were hypnotised into following her hips as they sensually moved.

He hadn't realised he was sat there dumbstruck at the sight of the mighty woman before him. She flicked her long hair over her shoulder, her neck exposed, fixating Leonardo's eyes. Her slim figure moved to pick up the towel left folded not too far away and as she slightly bent to pick it up, the perfect view of her flawlessly shaped behind was given for free to Leonardo for a split second, the outline of her toned torso, the roundness of her athletic thighs.

If Leonardo was feeling hot before, the immense heat he was feeling in that moment had been completely overshadowed in that moment by her strong feminine energy. His cheeks had turned flushed and his face had become undeniably red and boiling hot. He was fighting to easily breathe and pulled off his glasses.

"Don. . ? Don?"

Leonardo's mind returned just as she was bringing the towel down to her chest, all the way down to her perky, little - his eyes averted immediately to the phone. He licked his lips and quickly replied, "I'll call you later, Marco." Hanging up, he sat back in his chair and covered his eyes with one hand, as though he could erase what he had seen, all there, all on display.

Leonardo's eyebrows scrunched together as the shame began to lecture him. His eyes had lost all self-restraint upon coming to Greece. But when he glanced back down to see if she was there, Maria had already disappeared.

It must have been half an hour later when Maria had eventually knocked on Leonardo's office door with a gleeful smile on her face. She fixed the strands of her hand falling in front of her face and opened the door upon hearing his deep voice. Her smile deepened at the sight of him, standing from his chair to go and greet her.

Leonardo looked insanely good; his brown hair was slightly messy and the sun enhanced the allurement of his beautiful hazel eyes. She placed the bowl of watermelon cubes on the desk at the side and immediately hugged him once they had stood close enough. "You woke early today, bambino {baby}." Maria's head rested against his warm chest. Leonardo's heart continuously struck him, hard. Her body against his was causing all sorts of emotions and feelings to overlap in him.

She pulled away to look up at him, her gray eyes shining into his. "B-Bambino?" He repeated, feeling the tips of his ears grow hotter and hotter. She gave him another one of her charming smiles with a playful look on her face. "Yes, mio bambino." Maria thought for a second before saying, "call me something cute too."

"Maria," Leonardo simply responded, earning a tiny pinch on his cheek. She frowned, her eyes becoming big and sweet. He groaned as she pulled onto his shirt with a, "come on!" He looked away to avoid her eager eyes, his eyes darting up to the ceiling as he hoped she'd stop. She knew already that he had gone back to being Mr Grumpy, there was no way he'd give in so easily.

Leonardo couldn't think of anything worse than couple terms of endearment. He didn't mind her saying them, but to get a single one out his mouth would be difficult and hard to get used to. He wasn't used to anything they had been doing the last couple of days: cuddling, touching, kissing. Even laughing and smiling was something he hadn't regularly done until Maria had come back to his life. Being in a relationship had tested many of his capabilities, ones he didn't even know he had.

He let go of her and took the bowl of watermelon she had brought for him. Quickly saying a thank you, he escaped to his desk, Maria in tow. She leaned against his desk as he sat on the chair, checking his phone to make sure he hadn't missed anything important. Maria focused on a bigger topic, "I have an interview today so I won't be back for a while." She also had a watermelon, bobbing her head a little in satisfaction at the sweetness of the fruit.

"Interview?" Leonardo curiously inquired, his eyes back on her. She nonchalantly elaborated, "it's with Azia. They'll be asking the same questions like; 'how was it? Doing a performance outside of ballet?', 'have you seen the hashtags online from that night?', 'how do you want people to view you as from now on?'." Maria shrugged, her eyes checking out the nails. "All that kind of stuff."

She adjusted her gold necklace around her neck and it was then that Leonardo took in what she was wearing; an a-line mini skirt with a short white top with thin straps, showing off her sun kissed skin. Maria's smooth legs shone beneath the sun coming in from the large windows before them. He was attracted to her natural beauty, his eyes trailed across her face; her dimples poking out as she smiled, her long lashes batting as she spoke, those moist, pretty lips of hers whenever she talked. She fanned her face with her hand, complaining of the immense heat.

Leonardo nodded slowly, remembering that Maria was in fact a celebrity. He sincerely asked, "how do you want people to view you?"

She looked at him with a slightly confused expression, "you sound like an interviewer." She chucked and nonetheless answered, "not just a pretty doll in a music box." Maria looked more thoughtful and added, "someone who explores different things and works hard in life, I suppose."

"I liked performing with Azia," Maria genuinely told him as she remembered how free she felt on stage. "I got to do something no one would ever expect. That I would never expect. I got out of my comfort zone and enjoyed it."

Leonardo decided to free himself from a lie as the situation permitted. "I didn't tell you the truth." Maria's eyes flickered over to him, a curious and slightly concerned look overcame her face.

"I watched your performance online."

Maria's eyes expanded slightly as she straightened her back. "Really?" She couldn't help but widely smile. "Did you like it? Was I good? Why didn't you say? I made so many mistakes but actually, I didn't mind so much afterwards! Did you notice? Did I look nervous? What did you think?"

"One at a time, one at a time!" Leonardo chuckled, shaking his head at her excitement. He honestly gave her his reason, "I. .I didn't tell you because-" he refrained himself from completely omitting the truth. He couldn't exactly say that he was embarrassed that he had gotten to immersed into the performance to the point that there were certain effects afterwards, therefore he wanted nothing to do with it ever again.

So, Leonardo gingerly told her, "I was just being a dick that night." He thought back to when he saw Francis with Maria and completely misunderstood their interaction. The one that made him hide away his engagement ring for her. Leonardo let out a sigh before continuing, "I'm sorry. But I did. . .I did like it."

He was shy as he added, "you showed another side to yourself and I think you danced very well. You looked confident, strong and. . .attractive." His compliment was enough for her to blush and look away, happy he had felt some romantic emotion towards her.

"Mmm. ." Maria blissfully nodded. Leonardo was slightly worried she'd take his liking to it the wrong way however she focused more on her skills, rather than the essence and ambience of the provocative performance. "I've never danced like that before in front of other people so I wasn't sure if I would look awkward or not. But since you also said it went well, I feel a lot better." She poked his shoulder with a grin, "you should've just told me."

Before Leonardo could add anything, Maria glanced at the time and quickly said, "shit, I should get going." She lifted herself off the table and began walking towards the door, already saying her goodbyes. Leonardo's eyes widened and he too stood quickly, blurting out, "wait!"

Maria hadn't fully turned around when Leonardo wrapped his arm around her waist and kept her against the wall, her back gently touched it, her own eyes surprised by the sudden close proximity between the two of them. "Oh!" Her hand was held onto his shoulder, her mouth opened in shock that he had grabbed her so quickly. Leonardo leaned down and softly planted a kiss on her warm, pink lips, making the corner of them lift at his affection.

"Mia regina (my queen), mia bellezza (my beauty), mia amata (my love), mia bambina (my baby)," Leonardo enticingly dotted on her with his husky voice between kisses, earning a few giggles from Maria. She swooned, lovingly kissing him, her arms wrapping around the back of his neck, accepting the fact that she might be a little late for her interview.

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~ Author's Note ~

Awww they are so cute when they're together! Another spark has been added between the two of them.

That Greek heat is really starting to get to them. . .

Leonardo seems to have plans for Dream. Keep reading to see Maria's reaction.

As for Javier's wife, will she prove to be a threat?

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