Chapter 15 #2
He gave a soft, knowing huff. “Well, that’s it. You burned out, baby.”
I froze.
His hand tightened the smallest fraction on me with awareness.
Slowly, like my body moved on its own, I looked up at him. His eyes widened a fraction as the realization of what he’d said hit him. He cleared his throat, a little rougher this time.
Matteo Di’Ablo just called me baby.
“I’m sorry – I… Didn’t mean to…”
“It’s okay,” I breathed out before he could finish.
The night settled around us again. The ocean whispered against the shore. A warm gust of wind curled between us, carrying the scent of the sea.
We stood there in silence, just looking at each other – no games, no defenses. Just us, under the moonlight, somewhere between everything we were and everything we hadn’t dared to be yet.
“I think it’s more than that,” I said softly, my voice almost swallowed by the sound of the waves.
Matteo tilted his head, eyes narrowing slightly – not in suspicion, but in that way he did when he was paying attention.
Really paying attention. The breeze lifted the hem of my white nightgown, wrapping it lightly around my legs.
The moon hung low over the ocean, a silver coin spilled across the sky.
“Then tell me,” he said gently. “What’s going on in that sharp, complicated head of yours?”
A laugh almost escaped me, but it came out as a breath instead. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“Start anywhere.” He took a slow step closer, not crowding me, just… there. Solid.
I stared out at the horizon, where the black ocean met the night sky. “I’ve lived in New York my entire life. Everything I’ve ever worked for is there. My family, the business, my future. It’s all mapped out, like someone drew the road for me before I was even born.”
He stayed quiet, letting me unravel my thoughts.
“And for the first time,” I whispered, “The idea of going back doesn’t make me feel strong. It makes me feel… Trapped.”
The word hung between us, fragile but true.
Matteo exhaled through his nose, slowly. “You think maybe that road isn’t yours,” he said. Not a question – an observation.
I glanced at him then, at the way the moonlight touched the gold in his hair and turned his skin to warm bronze. His linen shirt fluttered slightly against the wind, and he looked like he belonged here – free, untamed, alive.
“I don’t know what’s mine anymore,” I admitted. The confession surprised me as much as it did him. “I thought I did. I thought becoming Underboss was the next logical step. That it’s what I wanted. What I had to want. But lately…”
“Lately,” he echoed, taking another careful step toward me.
“Lately I’ve been wondering if I even want that life,” I said, looking back out at the water. “If I want to keep living in New York. If I want to be part of something I didn’t really choose, just… inherited. I don’t know.”
The admission felt like tearing something open inside me, raw and real.
Matteo was quiet for a long time. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and certain. “You know, it’s okay not to have it all figured out.”
I blinked at him. “You sound way too calm about this.”
He smirked slightly, that crooked, devastating smirk. “I’ve lived long enough to know that pretending you’ve got it all figured out is a trap. And you? You’ve been carrying everyone else’s expectations for so long, you forgot to ask yourself what you actually want.”
The truth of it landed like a soft punch to my chest. I wrapped my arms loosely around myself, more out of instinct than cold.
“What if I don’t know what that is?” I asked quietly. “What if I can’t figure it out?”
Matteo stepped close enough now that I could feel his body heat cut through the cool night air.
His voice softened, almost like he was letting me in on a secret.
“Then you take your time. You explore. You let yourself breathe for once. You stop living like every decision has to be final and perfect.”
I looked up at him, the night sky reflected in his eyes. “You make it sound so simple.”
“It’s not,” he admitted. “But it’s worth it.”
Something in my chest loosened then, like the knot I’d been carrying all week finally slipped. For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t performing, or strategizing, or playing a part. I was just… me.
The moonlight washed over the beach, and the waves whispered at our feet. Matteo stood beside me – not as the boss, not as the flirt, but as someone who, unexpectedly, understood.
And for that moment, under the stars, it was enough.
“Let’s go swim.”
The suggestion caught me completely off guard.
I blinked at him, that mischievous glint sparking in his eyes under the moonlight. I smirked. “Matteo… I’m scared of the ocean.”
Something shifted in his expression – so fleeting I almost missed it. A flicker of recognition. Maybe even understanding. Then his usual teasing mask slid back into place.
“So, clowns, the cold, and the ocean,” he said, counting on his fingers as if making a list. “Anything else I should know?”
I didn’t rise to the bait, too distracted by the slow pound of my heart against my ribs.
His teasing softened into something gentler. “I’ll keep you safe,” he said quietly.
I arched a brow. “From sharks and water snakes?”
Matteo chuckled, low and warm. “From all discovered and undiscovered water creatures.”
A silence settled between us, carried by the salty wind. I looked up at him, the moonlight silvering the sharp lines of his face, and found his gaze waiting for mine – steady, unwavering.
“I promise,” he said, and it wasn’t a tease this time. His voice was somber, certain.
Before I could overthink it, Matteo turned, dropped his shoes into the sand, and in one fluid motion peeled off his white linen shirt.
The moon caught the gold chain resting against his chest before it disappeared into the pile with his trousers.
He stood there in nothing but black boxers, broad shoulders gleaming faintly from the night air, then strode toward the water.
He didn’t look back to see if I’d follow. He just trusted I would.
My pulse thrummed like the ocean itself.
“You’re insane!” I shouted after him, even as my fingers found the straps of my nightdress, and he laughed.
I tugged it over my head, the soft fabric whispering against my skin before it pooled at my feet.
The night air brushed over me, cool against my breasts and the white Brazilian-cut panties I’d worn to sleep.
For a moment, I stood there barefoot on the sand, staring at the dark water ahead. It was pitch black – the kind of darkness that could swallow you whole. But Matteo’s silhouette was already waist-deep, glancing back at me, that boyish, daring grin tugging at his mouth.
“I’m waiting for you, princesa!” he called.
I inhaled sharply and stepped forward. The sand gave way beneath my feet, cool and soft, then the first lick of water met my ankles. A shiver raced up my spine. Step by step, I waded in deeper until the ocean wrapped itself around me like silk, cold and endless.
When I reached him, Matteo was already swimming, cutting through the dark water with easy strength. Overhead, the stars sprawled across the sky like spilled diamonds.
I pushed forward, tentative at first. My heart beat wildly, but the water held me, lifted me. Matteo slowed, circling closer, and suddenly splashed a wave straight at me.
“Hey!” I shrieked, laughing despite myself.
His grin widened, wicked and beautiful. “You looked too serious.”
Before I could retaliate, Matteo darted forward, his arms snaking around my waist. He picked me up effortlessly, the water gliding around us as he spun me in a playful circle.
My hair stuck wet to my face, and the sound that left me wasn’t a scream – it was laughter, as he threw me in the water like a bomb. Real, bubbling, unstoppable laughter.
“Matteo!” I gasped between giggles.
He only laughed back, a deep, rich sound that mingled with mine and the rhythm of the waves, as he swam back to me.
The world narrowed down to the feel of cool water against my skin, the stars above, and Matteo’s hands steadying me. My cheeks hurt from smiling, and for the first time that night, the melancholy that had wrapped itself around me like fog finally lifted.
Out there, under the midnight sky, I felt wild and alive.
The ocean cradled us in its inky arms, the gentle push and pull of the tide rocking my body closer against Matteo’s. At some point during the splashing and laughing, we’d drifted into deeper water – where my toes no longer grazed the sand below.
Matteo didn’t seem worried. He slipped his hands to my waist, steadying me with effortless strength.
My legs instinctively hooked around his hips, clinging to him in the dark water.
The movement brought us chest-to-chest, breath-to-breath.
His hands splayed against the small of my back, holding me up as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
My nipples hardened from the cold and the feel of his muscular chest against mine, and I knew he could feel it. I could feel him feel me, hard against the fire burning between my legs. Liquid fire pulsed through my veins.
The world had gone silent except for the soft lapping of the waves and my heartbeat hammering in my ears.
Above us, the moon burned bright and round, its reflection shattered into rippling silver across the surface of the water.
His face was half-lit by that pale light, turning his honey-brown eyes into molten bronze.
I couldn’t breathe.
His gaze dropped to my mouth. Slowly. Deliberately.
Every nerve in my body seemed to light up at once. My fingers tightened against the back of his neck, slick from the seawater. I felt delirious from the way he held me, from the salt on my tongue, from the way the moonlight turned this moment into something out of a dream.
Fuck it.
For once, I didn’t care about pride or control or whatever dangerous game this was. I wanted to kiss him.