Chapter 9 Mateo
MATEO
What the hell have I walked into?
There, Tomas and Zoe are sitting on the couch wrapped up in each other. Have I stepped into some parallel universe? And are they watching my TV show? And Zoe is in a bikini, and Tomas is just in board shorts. They are practically naked!
“Hey, you’re home,” Zoe greets me with slurred words. Is she drunk?
I eye the bottle of tequila and champagne on the coffee table.
Why the hell would Tomas think it’s a good idea to get Zoe drunk?
“Looks like you’ve started a party without me.”
Staring at Tomas whose cheeks are flushed pink. How much has he had to drink? Zoe subtly moves away from Tomas, and I watch as his hand falls from her bare thigh.
What the hell has been happening? And should I be jealous?
Tomas must pick up on my jealousy even through his foggy mind as he tries to explain why they are drunk. “She started crying. She’s always crying.”
“Hey, I’ve been through a lot. It’s not my fault,” Zoe says, slapping his bare chest with her hand playfully.
Tomas looks up at her and smiles, his whole face lighting up as he stares at her with a stupid grin on his face as his hand reaches out and closes around hers, keeping it held against his chest. Zoe stares at his hand wrapped around her, and I notice the way her fingers flex against his bare chest before pulling her hand away from him.
Oh, hell no, now I’m jealous.
“Zoe remembered something about herself,” Tomas adds with a mumble.
Completely oblivious to the jealousy he is causing in me.
My temper relents upon hearing that good news.
Why the hell did they not say that sooner.
My eyes flick to where Zoe is sitting, and she nods.
I rush over to her, pick her up off the sofa, and swing her around in my arms excitedly. This is brilliant.
She squeals with delight at my enthusiasm.
Eventually, I put her down, and as she slides along my body, my dick twitches to life. What the hell. Down, boy, get the fuck down. This is not the time nor the place for this kind of thing. I quickly step away from her in case I embarrass myself and make Zoe feel uncomfortable.
“What did you remember?” I ask her, wanting to change the subject so I can get my dick under control. I promised myself no matter how attractive I found her, I would never stoop to the level of being a creeper by getting a hard-on around her. And here I am almost breaking my promise.
“That I went to school in Spain sometime in March this year.”
Can’t be that many Australians studying in Spain, can there?
“Also, I think my boyfriend was cheating on me as I remember crying over something a boy did and I was angry about it. I could also see blood, but that was all before it faded away,” she explains.
Blood?
“You don’t think I killed him, do you?” Zoe asks suddenly freaking out.
“You may have felt like killing the cheating asshole, but I don’t think you’re a killer,” I reassure her.
“Who knows, maybe that’s why I can’t remember.”
“You didn’t kill anyone, it would have come up in the search Enrique did at some point,” Tomas adds.
“Who’s Enrique?” Zoe asks.
“My cousin, he works for the police. We called him when we found you,” Tomas explains.
Zoe looks over at Tomas and gives him a small smile which he returns.
“Can you ask him if there were any campus deaths that might have been fueled by passion? I would hate to think that I did something to hurt another.”
“I can. But I know he won’t find anything like that connected to you,” Tomas tells her as he reaches out and squeezes her hand.
I cannot get over the level of intimacy these two have created in such a short time.
Today it seems the barriers between them have come down.
Maybe we needed tequila earlier today for these two.
No, because then you wouldn’t have had all this alone time with Zoe like you did.
Now I’m confused over who I am jealous of.
I guess I should be happy that Tomas sees the fantastic woman that is Zoe now, but I’m not sure.
“Guess good news calls for a celebration. I’ll go grab another bottle of champagne,” I say to them both as I head toward the kitchen.
“Sounds like a plan,” Tomas says with a lopsided grin.
“I might go have a shower and put some clothes on then, I don’t need another drunken nip slip.” Zoe chuckles as she gets up out of the chair.
Tomas’s attention is pulled in Zoe’s direction as she walks out of the living room. Her peachy little ass in her bikini is mesmerizing him. I’m seconds away from throwing this bottle at his head, but I reel myself in.
Walking back into the living room, I take a seat beside Tomas and pour everyone a new glass of champagne. Then I hand one to my lover, and I take the other for myself.
“You two looked rather cozy when I walked in,” I say, arching a brow in his direction.
“She had a rough day. I couldn’t get her to stop crying. She feels so isolated because her mind is blank. I can’t imagine what that must feel like.”
Can’t imagine what that would be like. I would never want to have my mind erased and never remember Tomas. Just the thought makes my stomach somersault.
“And you thought tequila and champagne was the remedy?”
“Thought it might help unlock some part of her brain that being sober couldn’t.”
Solid logic, I guess.
“You never told her who you were?” Tomas asks.
“No. I wanted her to like me for me, not for what I do or who I am in the public eye. It’s the first time in a long time that someone didn’t know who I was. I knew it would eventually come out, but ….”
Tomas moves closer, taking my hand in his, the alcohol relaxing him as he gives me a small smile. “I get it.”
“You also get now why I think she’s great?”
Tomas rolls his eyes before letting out a heavy breath. “Yes, I get it now,” he says unable to look at me.
“Hey,” I say, putting my finger under his chin, getting his attention. “What is it?”
“Um …” His cheeks turn pink like he’s blushing.
Then I burst out laughing which earns a scowl from him. “You think she’s hot.”
“No,” he answers too quickly.
“Did anything happen today while I was out?”
“Of course, nothing happened. Why would you ask such a question?”
Defensive much? “I came home with the two of you looking cozy. Your hand was lazily draped over her bare thighs, private jokes, and the way you couldn’t stop checking out her ass as she walked out of the room.”
Tomas opens his mouth to argue but then closes it again knowing I’ve busted him.
“If it makes you feel any better, I think she is hot too, and I have checked out her ass as well. But I do not want to be a creep, so I’ve stopped myself from doing that. You need to too.”
“It hasn’t been half obvious you have a crush on her since day one.” He huffs.
“Jealous?” I tease him.
“You want something to happen with her?” he asks honestly, those hazel eyes narrowing on me and I’m not sure if he’s angry or turned on.
“I remember, I remember!” Zoe screams, running into the living room.
Tomas and I look up and are shocked to see her all wet, droplets of water cascading down her near-naked body, which is hidden under the tiniest scrap of a towel. My dick groans in appreciation, but I stamp it down and hide it deep into the recesses of my mind.
“I lived in Barcelona and have a sister called Sophie.”
This is huge.
I jump up off the sofa and rush over to where Zoe is. In her excitement, she lets go of the towel as she launches herself into my arms.
Fuck.
I can feel her luscious tits against my body as she hugs me tightly.
Zoe screams as she tries to disentangle herself from me. She grabs her towel and rushes out of the living room not before giving Tomas and me a look at that gorgeous peachy ass.
“You’re so fucked.” Tomas chuckles.
I turn and shoot my lover a glare which makes him laugh harder.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Tomas states before turning back to the table, grabbing his glass of champagne, and throwing it back in one large gulp.
“I don’t think Zoe’s coming back tonight. I’m going for a swim to sober up before bed,” Tomas says, getting up off the sofa before leaning over and kissing me.
“Let me clean up then I’ll come join you,” I tell him as he walks out of the room.
I grab the empty champagne bottles, take them over to the recycling bin, and place them inside.
Then I collect the empty glasses and place them in the dishwasher when I hear something behind me.
Turning around, I see Zoe standing there, her cheeks a bright pink and her hands twisting nervously together.
“I’m so sorry.” Her words rush out of her mouth before her hands come up to cover her face.
Moving toward her, I stop in front of her, I reach out and pry her hands from her face, but she resists.
“Please look at me, Zoe.”
“I can’t. I’m mortified,” she mumbles behind her hands.
“Look at me, Zoe,” I say again this time as a command.
And she does. She drops her hands from her face and looks up at me. Those sapphire blue eyes widen with worry as if I might be upset with her.
“You have nothing to be sorry for.”
“You and Tomas have been nothing but kind to me, and I go and throw myself at you naked. That isn’t the kind of girl that I am.”
I stare down at this blonde angel standing before me, and my fingers begin to twitch with the need to paint her.
Her beauty is breathtaking, and in this moment, images of her spread across my bed like the famous artwork, ‘The Nightmare’ by Henry Fuseli enter my mind.
The painting depicts a near-naked woman, dressed in sheer cloth, lying across her bed with demons around her.
It reminds me of Zoe, the beautiful woman plagued by nightmares of demons past that she has no memories of.
Unfortunately, the images in my mind have her naked and accepting of the demons, maybe that’s what I am, the demon who is fantasying about a woman that is under your roof for your protection.
“I know you are not like that, Zoe.”
Relief falls across her face at my words.
“Please don’t feel embarrassed around Tomas and me, Zoe. It was an accident.”
She gives me a small nod as an answer.
“I would like to paint you.” The words tumble out of my mouth before my brain has time to catch up, the champagne giving me a looser tongue than I’d anticipated.
Zoe’s jaw drops at my request.
What was I thinking?
“You paint?”
“The night we found you, I had my first art showing at the DuPont Gallery in town.”
Zoe’s eyes widen with curiosity.
“It was a sellout.”
Her brows rise high on her face.
“You are a very beautiful woman, Zoe. You would be a perfect model.”
“I’m no model, Mateo,” she says softly.
“I think you’re perfect.”
Zoe shakes her head. “You want to paint, me?”
“I do.”
Zoe frowns as she twists her hands together with uncertainty.
“Let me show you my studio,” I ask, holding my hand out for her.
She hesitates for a moment before taking my hand in hers. We entwine our fingers, and I let my thumb rub over her soft skin. The tiniest of shivers lace her body at my touch. Maybe she isn’t as unaffected by Tomas and me as she makes out. You still can’t have her.
We head out past the pool where Tomas is doing laps.
He stops and watches us walk by, his brows pinching together as he notices our linked hands.
He gives his head a shake then continues his swimming.
We move past the day bed and down toward the backyard.
It’s dark except for solar lights that follow the path to my studio which is hidden away in our gardens.
We reach the white wooden hut, and I push open the door.
This is where I come to spew forth my innermost thoughts.
It’s my private oasis from the world. Not many people have been inside my studio.
“Mateo,” Zoe gasps as she takes in the walls lined with my work.
I release her hand and let her explore.
“These were the works that didn’t make the exhibition.”
“I’m sorry I ruined that night for you,” she says as she runs her hands over the canvas.
“You didn’t ruin anything. I’m thankful you were found at our gate that night and not someone else’s. Someone was looking out for you that night.”
She gives me a small smile. “These are amazing, Mateo. You are so talented.” She waves her arm at the paintings I have hanging around the room.
“Then let me paint you, please,” I ask, giving her my best puppy-dog eyes, which makes her giggle.
“I don’t know.”
“I’ve already seen you naked,” I tease.
“Ugh, don’t remind me,” she says, covering her face again.
“Hey, don’t hide, I mean it, Zoe. I think you are incredibly beautiful. I would be so honored to paint you.”
She looks around the studio. “Let me think about it, okay?”
“That is all I ask. Gracias. Come, let’s join Tomas in the pool. I need a cool down.”