Chapter 28
Present
Upper-East Side, New York City
I WAS ON THE COUCH, home alone, sad and watching bad TV. I’d been alone for hours. Matteo hadn’t come back since our fight at three in the afternoon, and it was past midnight now.
I was just about to start rewatching the Twilight Saga when I heard the ding finally announcing Matteo’s arrival.
I’d planned what I was going to say – or scream – at him for hours. But when it came down to it… I shut the TV off and ran off to my room before he could see me.
We’d been sleeping in the same bed for a couple days, but it was obvious that wasn’t going to happen tonight.
I was back in my old bedroom, in the dark and under the covers, as I listened to Matteo make his way up the stairs and down the hall, past my door. A breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding, escaped me. However, that didn’t last.
Because once he opened the door to his bedroom – our bedroom – and saw I was not already asleep in his bed…
I listened to his footsteps come back to my door.
I hadn’t locked the door.
Matteo entered with a soft click – without knocking of course – and stopped at the foot of the bed.
I kept my eyes closed, but the silence was not fooling anyone.
“It’s one in the morning,” He murmured. “You’re still awake?”
“Yes,” I sighed, but didn’t turn to him. “And I can smell the… Perfume.”
A breath of amusement. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous.”
“I have no reason to be.”
“How come?”
I bit down on my cheek hard, tasting blood.
“Because I knew me and you could never work.”
My whisper boomed in the dark quiet of the penthouse like a reality shattering the dream we’d been roleplaying for the past few days.
One moment I was clutching my duvet to my chest, urging myself not to break. The next, Matteo wrapped his hand around my ankle like a vice and pulled me down the mattress.
A scream of frustration escaped me as he flipped me on my back. “What are you, crazy?! Let go!”
He straddled me, towering over me as he pressed my body into the mattress with his weight. “God, you always got something to say…”
“Have I ever been wrong?”
Matteo didn’t answer.
That was all I needed.
I looked away, trying to get out from underneath him.
“I’m going back to sleep. Here. Alone.” I moved to get around him but he pushed my thighs back down on the edge of the bed and hunched down between my legs. “Matteo–”
“For you.”
I dropped my eyes to the small luxurious bag he placed on my lap. Curiosity got the better of me – I was weak when it came to gifts – and what I saw inside made my lips part.
“I went to drink at Renato, but then to a Vintage store on Fifth Avenue to get you this. You said you wanted it, but it was some sold out special edition.”
“Yeah.” I slowly looked back up to Matteo. “From the two-thousands! How did you get these?” I marveled at the two sleek, sealed boxes of the perfume I’d been trying to get for longer than I would’ve liked to admit.
“I had some of my guys look around for it. They sent me the location earlier today when they found it.”
A small smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. “You had six-foot, two-hundred-pounds men with gang tattoos walk from vintage store to vintage store looking for this?”
“Not like they had anything better to do,” He waved it off.
“And what did you tell them it was for?”
His eyes met mine, amber and somber.
“A gift for my wife.”
I blushed. “Fake wife.”
“Legally-tied-to-me wife.”
“Temporarily.”
“For the foreseeable future.” He switched topics before I could fight him. “Still don’t know why you’d want this expired one when I could get you anything you wanted.”
I smirked, looking better at the two boxes, and mumbled, “Perfume doesn’t expire. I don’t care.”
“Good thing it’s not expired then. I contacted the company and had it specifically made for you.”
“You did?”
“I just thought you would like to have both.”
I looked at Matteo’s eyes and felt my own soften.
He looked at me the same way he had that night in Hawaii when we said goodnight at my door. It hurt me in the chest.
Clearing my throat, I put the gift bag down. “This doesn’t change how I feel.”
Matteo nodded. “Thought you’d say that.”
Without hesitation, he pulled out his phone and turned it to me. I frowned, watching some type of security footage. Then, realized it was of when I came at his club and saw…
I watched myself in the video leave. A mere moment later, the woman walked over to Antonio, my younger brother who I hadn’t even realized was there this morning, and kissed his neck.
Another blush crept up my neck, but this one was from embarrassment. Maybe I’d overreacted…
Shyly, I glanced back up at Matteo as he put his phone away.
“She’s the manager at the club. And she’s hooking up with Tony.” His face was serious. “I have never – would never – look at anyone else, baby.”
“Why?” I looked up at him through my lashes. “We’re just fake married.”
Matteo’s eyes softened as he shook his head. “Baby, there’s nothing fake about this.”
“There’s not?”
He chuckled. “You, Francesca DeMone, are a girlfriend.”
“I am?”
“Mine.” Matteo brought my hand to his mouth and kissed my knuckles. “I’m sorry I didn’t make my intentions clearer. I thought making you my wife would be obvious enough.”
I laughed at that, shaking my head. He could always put a positive spin on anything. Even this fake marriage.
Taking a deep breath, I looked into his eyes.
He really was nice. Thoughtful and kind too. Protective and soft spoken. Never raised his voice or insulted others. Could be so sweet and lovable when he wanted to.
And I’d hurt him intentionally for no reason.
I bit my cheek hard, to stop myself from reacting.
Matteo frowned, noticing immediately, and cupped my face in his hand. “Don’t do that.”
I bit my cheek harder, but a soft sob escaped me, nonetheless. Followed by many more tears.
Matteo’s arms were around me within moments, pulling me into him and holding me tight, one hand cupping the back of my head.
“Mi amor, what’s wrong?” His voice was full of concern.
“I’m sorry. What I said. It’s not true. I didn’t mean it.”
A pause. Then, he pulled me closer.
“It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay. What I said… It was horrible.”
“It’s okay.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I always do that.”
He sighed. “Listen… You were right. Zach can barely be around me these days. And even that is thanks to Maria talking him into it. Not me. I’m not a good brother.”
“Matteo, don’t say that…” I sobbed harder.
“It’s true. I never do the right thing. I never know what to say.”
“That is not true!” I pulled back, speaking passionately.
A small smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. “Okay.”
I wiped at my face, only making Matteo grab hold of my face in his hands and wipe the tears away for me.
“See,” I sniffed. “You always know what to do…”
Matteo smiled, pulling me in a hug that felt like Heaven – soft, safe, warm. I wrapped myself around him, needing his closeness.
“It’s alright, baby. Just let it out. I got you, I promise.”
I sighed. “And say…”
He chuckled, lifting me off the bed and carrying me in his arms to our room.
“Awfully presumptuous of you,” I teased him, my face nuzzled in his neck.
“Funny of you to think I’d let you sleep anywhere else, but in my arms.”
I breathed him in and sighed.
“You couldn’t sleep without me, could you?” I could basically hear his smile.
I scoffed. “Yeah, right.”
“Admit it, Donna. You need me.”
“I don’t need a man.”
“I know. But you’re the only woman I need. And I’m the only man you want.” Matteo smirked, throwing me down on his bed and making me bounce on the mattress, along with my breasts. His heated gaze touched me there, my cleavage close to popping out of the pink laced Cami top.
“I don’t want a man that depends on me,” I challenged him, leaning back as he leaned in.
Matteo smirked, climbing over me. “I want you so bad, I need you. That’s it, baby.”
I met him with parted lips when he pressed his mouth to mine, his tongue pushing past my lips and kissing me deep.
I groaned in protest when he pulled away.
“I’ll be back.”
“Where are you going?”
“Change out of my suit and take a shower?”
I blushed hard. “Right…”
Looking away, I ran a hand through my hair, flipping it.
“Francesca?”
“Yes?”
I turned to see Matteo in the doorway to the bathroom, already looking at me.
His eyes were true, along with his words.
“You’re all I think about.”
My cheekbones burned when he smiled at me.
And then he was gone, closing the door behind.
I fell back into the duvet, pushing my face into the pillow with a scream.
What was I going to do?
I stirred awake when the mattress dipped, followed by the heavy weight of a strong arm pulling me tight to him.
“Go back to sleep, baby. It’s just me.”
“I know,” I mumbled sleepily, twisting around to face him and sink into his arms.
A masculine groan of satisfaction left his chest as his hand – which huge bicep I was sleeping on – went into my hair, keeping me close. As I wrapped my leg around him, his hand slipped from my waist to my ass, grabbing me possessively and pulling me impossibly close.
When I glanced up, Matteo was already looking at me, something I couldn’t decipher in his eyes.
I reached up, lightly touching the soft ends of Matteo’s hair – soft and golden like sunshine. Blushing, I stopped myself.
“Is this okay?”
“It’s more than okay, mi amor.”
Matteo caught my bottom lip between his, kissing me soft and with a sweet pull. I sighed into the kiss, melting into him – mind, body and soul.
We fell asleep together.
In the same bed.
With his hand in my hair, and my face in his chest.
The next morning, I changed his contact’s name in my phone back to Matteo <3.