Читать книгу The Billionaires Collection - Оливия Гейтс - Страница 17
ОглавлениеMATTEO DID EXACTLY as he had said he would and was completely hands off.
Abby was the recipient of several emails from some virtual assistant with flight itineraries and suchlike.
The contract was signed and countersigned.
Sheikh Kedah wanted to sponsor them too, but of all the amazing things that were happening, the one that had Abby reeling the most was that she was ankles in stirrups and having a pelvic exam and that she left the clinic with six shiny packets of contraceptive pills.
She still didn’t know what would happen between them.
And that wasn’t Abby being coy or naive. She was seriously crazy about Matteo but she was also seriously crazy about her work. Yes, the contract might be watertight but sniping at her sponsor she didn’t need.
And Abby would snipe.
Oh, the giddy high of being with Matteo would be wonderful, Abby knew, but she’d been clearly warned that it would only be temporary.
Abby was a sore loser; it was the reason she’d got as far as she had in the racing world.
Losing Matteo, or rather the flirting and friendship and fun of them...well, it was something she treasured and Abby wasn’t completely sure she wanted to mess with what they had.
And he was reckless.
The more she knew him, the more she read about him, the more debauched Matteo’s lifestyle appeared.
Still, it was bliss to know that the flights were covered, and with that weight off her mind the race ahead had never had greater attention.
Abby even found the time for coffee with her friend Bella one morning, while Matteo took Pedro out for that shopping spree. Given that Bella was an engineer on the Carter team they had a very strict no-inside-info rule, but it was lovely to catch up.
‘Are you still walking on air after Dubai?’ Bella grinned.
‘I think we’re all just trying to get our head in the game for Milan, but yes,’ Abby admitted. ‘It still feels brilliant.’
‘And how on earth did you land a Di Sione as a sponsor?’ Bella couldn’t help but pry. ‘I’m not sharing details but you must surely know that everyone is put out? Who wouldn’t want a Di Sione sponsor? Even one as wild as Matteo.’
Abby smiled. ‘Just luck. I think he likes taking risks and, given our new status, we’re the biggest risk of them all.’
‘I think he’s the risk rather than you,’ Bella said and rolled her eyes. ‘Front page again.’
Abby frowned and Bella groaned. ‘Sorry, I thought you would have already seen the news. It’s everywhere,’ Bella said and handed Abby her phone.
There was Matteo, staring at the camera, but instead of his regular suit or slightly bleary-eyed look as he came out of a casino, this image told her that he came in just under the six-foot-three line.
It was a mug shot.
Abby briefly scanned the article and found out that Matteo had been arrested last night after a fight in a very exclusive restaurant broke out and management had had no choice but to call the police.
Patrons were shocked and distressed.
‘That’s Matteo.’ Abby shrugged and handed back the phone, and she managed a wry smile and a roll of her eyes while on the inside her heart sunk.
He was supposed to be picking up Pedro now and her young driver had been looking forward to the day with Matteo so much.
It wasn’t just that he had let down Pedro that upset her. Matteo created chaos; a night in wasn’t enough for him, nor a nice meal by the looks of things. It had to be drama; it had to end on a dangerous high.
That was the man she was considering sleeping with!
Well, not any more.
Abby truly didn’t know what to say. She could hardly tell Bella how crazy she was about him, nor how disappointed she was in him too.
Instead she called Pedro but, unable to get hold of him, she gave up and Abby did her best to forget about Matteo and whatever the latest trouble he found himself in. They chatted about some of the other teams, leaving their own out, and Bella also told her that she was serious about someone.
‘In the racing world?’ Abby asked.
‘Oh, no!’ Bella shook her head. ‘I had to change the battery in his car.’ She laughed. ‘He hasn’t a clue and that suits me fine. I’m keeping romance well away from work—I’ve had my fingers burnt way too many times in the past.’
It would serve her well to remember that, Abby thought as she drove home.
Tomorrow they flew to Milan. Once there, the car, which had been pulled apart and shipped after the Dubai race, would be meticulously put back together again and training would begin in earnest—fine-tuning the car and ensuring it was perfect for the practice race, and then she would make the final modifications for the race itself.
Now though, there was one brief night to relax.
Not that she could.
Damn you, Matteo, Abby thought as she turned on the news and sure enough the first thing she saw was his mug shot.
Abby switched it off and, when the doorbell rang, she hauled herself from the sofa and there at the door stood Pedro.
A very different-looking Pedro.
His hair had been cropped and he was wearing a sharp suit and, judging by the set of keys he was waving, he was the new owner of a car fit for a soon-to-be racing legend.
‘Matteo made it to take you out?’ Abby put her own anger aside and smiled as she let Pedro in. ‘How was it?’
‘It was brilliant.’
‘I tried to call you,’ Abby said.
‘I left my phone at Bernadette’s. I’m just on my way there now.’
‘So what happened with Matteo?’ Abby couldn’t stop herself from asking. ‘I saw on the news that he’d been arrested...’
‘And released without charge.’ Pedro shrugged as he walked into her lounge. ‘Some guy was arguing with his wife and got heavy. Matteo stepped in and the guy took his mood out on him. Hey, Abby...’ Pedro said to his very distracted manager, who was blowing out a guilty breath at her own presumption. ‘I wanted to ask you something—can Bernadette come to Milan?’
Abby guessed Matteo had suggested that Pedro ask her.
Pedro had wanted to bring Bernadette last time but things had been so incredibly tight that there had been no room for wives and girlfriends.
Things were different now.
‘Sure.’ Abby nodded.
She wanted Pedro to linger, to tell her all about his day, or rather anything else Matteo had even loosely mentioned, but he was soon heading off to show Bernadette his new clothes and car and to tell her the news. Abby spent the rest of the night wondering if Matteo would call.
He didn’t.
And so, by the time the team were due to fly to Milan, Abby was in a state of high anticipation at seeing him.
She felt a bit like a schoolmistress at an all-male school as they boarded the Di Sione jet. Everyone was in high spirits, everyone except Abby, because there was no sign of Matteo.
Abby sat in a plush leather seat and rolled her eyes as Pedro looked around the jet.
‘Who gets the suite?’
‘You do!’ The attendant smiled.
It was then, Abby knew, Matteo wasn’t joining them.
* * *
Milan she glimpsed from the inside of a luxurious coach that took them from the airport to the hotel.
Abby knew the hotel the Lachance team stayed at and she had chosen another one, as she always did, which gave her one less thing to worry about.
Everyone was checked in but Abby lingered till they had all headed off to their rooms and then she asked the receptionist if there were any messages for her.
There weren’t.
‘Is Matteo Di Sione here yet?’ Abby made herself ask.
‘No.’
‘Do you know when he’s arriving?’
‘We can’t give out that sort of information.’
‘I’m a colleague,’ Abby attempted but she was no match for the tight security around the Di Sione name. ‘A close colleague.’
‘Then ask him.’ The receptionist’s smile did not waver. ‘Is there anything else that I can help you with?’
It was a busy week with little waking time to dwell on Matteo and when and if he would arrive.
Despite their amazing win, Abby did know it was unlikely to be replicated.
Pedro had raced the Dubai course but never Milan and, though they went over and over it and watched endless recordings of previous races, she could feel Pedro’s tension.
‘I shouldn’t have brought Bernadette,’ he admitted to Abby before he put on his helmet for the practice run. ‘She’s going to see me place last.’
‘Don’t think about that,’ Abby said.
‘I just got a text from Matteo, wishing me luck...’
It was more than she’d had.
‘I’ve a feeling I shan’t be getting his jet for a week.’
‘Listen,’ Abby said to Pedro. ‘You won last month. Nothing can take that away.’
‘Yeah, but I’ve got a whole lot more to prove now. Hunter reckons it was a fluke—he was talking in Reception loud enough for me to hear.’
Abby took a steadying breath. Apparently there had been a problem with the Lachance team’s hotel security and yesterday they had moved to the one Abby’s team were staying at.
Still, her own nervousness as to that wasn’t the issue now.
‘Don’t listen to anything Hunter says.’ Abby spoke firmly. ‘Don’t even look at him. Just give him the finger in your head any time you pass him. Maybe not today, but any time in your career that you pass him, then that’s what you’ll do.’
And so, too, would she.
The practice run didn’t go particularly well and Abby spent ages trying to soothe Pedro, who was seriously rattled, but finally at six he headed back to the hotel for an early dinner and then bed. Abby worked till late making modifications to the car.
By the time she got back to the hotel Abby was hungry, tired and certainly not looking the way she would want Matteo to see her, but there he was checking in at Reception.
Abby kept walking.
A month of no contact and she didn’t know where they were at and so she made her way to the elevator and pressed the button and stood.
‘Don’t you say hello?’ Matteo asked and she turned and smiled as he came and stood beside her.
‘I didn’t know if you’d just wanted to go up to your suite and crash,’ Abby admitted.
‘I do.’ Matteo yawned. It had been a very long day. ‘So, how’s the race preparation going?’ he asked as their elevator arrived and they stepped in.
‘It hasn’t been the best day.’ Abby sighed. ‘Pedro’s convinced that he’s peaked too soon, though he seems a bit calmer now.’
‘Yes, I saw the press conference,’ Matteo said. ‘He looked like he was about to throw up. What have you been doing?’
‘I’ve been working on the car.’ The elevator stopped at her floor. ‘Do you want to get dinner?’ Abby suggested.
‘I’m just going to get room service,’ Matteo said. ‘Do you want to come up...?’ He stopped. ‘Sorry, that was thoughtless of me.’ It had just seemed a natural solution—he was tired and hungry and he guessed, given the late hour, that Abby felt the same. He just didn’t want the bother of going down to the restaurant.
He thought she’d be offended but Abby just smiled at his discomfort.
‘Matteo, it’s fine,’ she said. ‘Room service sounds great. I’m starving.’
It was actually the nicest thing that he could have said to her, Abby thought—part of the difficulty of revealing such sensitive secrets was the aftermath.
She had been worried that he might look at her differently or think of her in different ways, but clearly it wasn’t at the top of his mind and that suited Abby.
They went straight up to his floor and to his suite and everything was better in Matteo’s world. Abby had thought she’d ordered the best suite for Pedro but clearly there were others tucked away for the likes of the Di Siones.
It was huge, more like a stately home than a hotel suite. The shutters were open to a stunning view of Milan at night but Matteo went straight over and closed them. ‘I’m sick of views,’ he said.
Matteo’s cases had already been brought up and the butler was putting his stuff away but stopped what he was doing and asked if he could get Matteo a drink.
‘Please.’ Matteo nodded.
Unlike the bar fridge in Abby’s room, here there was a crystal decanter, presumably filled with Matteo’s preferred cognac, but Abby shook her head when offered one. ‘I’d love a cola.’
‘And me,’ Matteo said, and before too long they had been served their drinks and were alone, Abby with a lovely iced cola, Matteo with both of his favourite brews. He drained the cola and then took the cognac more slowly as he asked about the practice run.
‘I have to say I’m not expecting a repeat of Dubai.’
‘Pedro knew that track,’ Matteo said and Abby gave a relieved nod, glad that he understood.
‘I am worried though. Now that we’ve had a win there’s so much expectation...’
‘Not from me,’ Matteo said. ‘I just called Pedro before and said he’s got the jet for a week whatever happens on Sunday. I suggested that he tell Bernadette that after the race, wherever he places.’
Matteo took off his jacket and kicked off his shoes.
‘You look tired,’ Abby commented.
‘I am. It’s been one hell of a week.’ Matteo yawned. ‘Family stuff.’
‘As well as getting arrested. How was lockup?’
‘Same old.’ Matteo shrugged.
He didn’t want to think about that night. Not the arrest, but the fight that he’d been privy to as he’d gone to the restroom.
Would he have turned away, if Abby hadn’t told him what had happened to her?
No.
He might have called management or...
Matteo didn’t know. All he did know was that he had seen red and pulled an angry man off his partner and told him to take his temper out on someone who stood a chance.
The bastard had taken him up on the offer.
Still it wasn’t just the other night and his family that were on Matteo’s mind though—even with an arrest and many nights out it had been a very long month.
A very tame month.
On many occasions he had wanted to pick up the phone and call Abby or step on a plane. He was walking a very fine line because sex was the easy part for Matteo.
Business he had taken care of through his lawyer and the contract was watertight.
It was the feelings he didn’t know how to handle. It was Abby he couldn’t get off his mind, Abby who he wanted to spend time with. Matteo knew his own reputation though, and he didn’t want to give mixed messages—such as how much he’d missed her, how she stayed on his mind.
Instead he stood up and flicked through the restaurant menu but looked up when Abby, who was wandering around the suite, caught sight of her reflection in a mirror and let out a little yelp—her face was streaked in oil.
‘I think I should go have a bath and get changed before dinner,’ Abby said.
‘Have a bath here...’ Matteo said and then grimaced. God, every time he said something it came out wrong. ‘I meant...’
‘I know,’ Abby said. ‘And I know, given all I’ve told you, that being in your hotel room should be awkward, but honestly, Matteo—’ she gave a tight shrug, unsure just how to voice it ‘—it isn’t.’
She just didn’t feel nervous around him. It was during times apart that she did.
‘Matteo?’ Abby checked because he really was behaving oddly. ‘Is everything okay?’
‘No,’ he admitted and came over to her. ‘This is how I wanted to say hello.’ He put his arms around her and it was the nicest place to be and he kissed her, a slow gentle kiss, the type that chased the day away. ‘I’ve missed you.’
‘You could have called.’
‘I thought you said that you wanted a hands-off sponsor.’
He was very hands on now—they were resting on her waist and she could feel the weight of them and the heat of his palms.
‘You don’t just have to call about the team.’
‘I know that,’ Matteo said, ‘but then I’m not really big on the “how was your day” type of phone call.’ He was as honest as he could be about something he didn’t really understand, because he’d never really felt the need to be in touch with another, for no reason other than to be in touch. ‘And then if I call one week and then don’t the next...’ He gave a tense shrug. ‘I don’t do all that.’
And therein was the difference, Abby thought. Matteo was struggling to commit to a call a week! Their heads were in completely different spaces. The way Abby felt, a call an hour would barely do.
‘You’ve got oil on your face now,’ Abby said and they peeled apart enough to see the mess she had made of his shirt.
‘Have a bath,’ he said, because hell, he wasn’t letting that bastard change how he spoke to her or the things that he did. ‘Either go down and have one, or have one here, but I’m wrecked and I’m having dinner in bed, or rather on top of it, and you’re not getting on covered in oil.’
‘Didn’t you sleep on the plane?’
‘No,’ Matteo said. ‘I had some work to catch up on.’
He let her go and picked up the menu and read through it.
‘Sometimes all you need is a good steak,’ Matteo said.
‘Sounds great,’ Abby said. ‘I’ll have mine well done.’
‘Philistine.’
He rang and ordered as Abby headed off to the bathroom and, yes, it was so nice to peel off filthy clothes and step into a deep, fragrant bath and know that dinner was on the way and that Matteo was here.
Abby lay there, eyes closed, just enjoying the sensation of the water and the low sound of Matteo chatting on the phone on the other side of the door.
Then she heard a knock on the door to his suite and from the sound of it dinner had arrived. Abby hauled herself out of the bath.
It had done its magic.
She was clean and scented and all the tension of the day seemed to have gone, Abby thought as she pulled on a robe and opened up one of the hotel combs and ran it through her hair.
She came out of the bathroom and saw that he wasn’t in the lounge but it didn’t take long to find him. There was Matteo lying on the top of the bed with a large silver trolley by its side and he’d taken his shirt off.
‘It had oil on it,’ Matteo said as she tried not to look at his naked top half. ‘And,’ he added, ‘I have to sleep in this bed tonight—you don’t.’
‘I’m very used to the smell of oil,’ Abby said and, as he’d more or less told her that it would be closing time in the Di Sione suite soon, she relaxed. Dinner smelled amazing and she handed him his rare steak and she couldn’t help but look at his chest. He was slender but muscular and her eyes were drawn to his ribcage and she saw an old yellowing bruise there, she presumed from the fight the other night.
God, that body took a battering.
‘How’s the shoulder?’ Abby asked.
‘I have near-full range of movement,’ Matteo said.
Even that sounded suggestive as she took her plate to the other side of the bed and climbed on.
‘I love having dinner in bed,’ Matteo said, showering his steak in pepper.
‘I don’t think I’ve ever had it.’ Abby thought for a moment. ‘Well, unless I’ve been sick.’
‘You know that full feeling when you just want to lie down?’ he asked. ‘I was going to open a restaurant once, just beds. Dante and Dario talked me out of it.’
‘Your brothers?’ Abby checked.
‘They’re far more savvy than me. They started Libertine?’
‘The app for the wealthy?’ Abby had heard of it. His family really was everywhere!
‘Yes, it provides anything for anyone, just so long as you can afford it. Anyway, I accepted their advice that my bedside restaurant chain wasn’t the best idea, though I still think it could work.’
‘Nobody would ever leave.’ Abby smiled.
She didn’t want to leave.
‘What about...’ Matteo had been about to ask about her sister but he kept having to remind himself of what Abby had told him and what her father had. ‘What about you?’ he asked instead. ‘Any brothers or sisters?’
‘An older sister,’ Abby said. ‘Annabel. We’ve never really got on.’
‘Because?’
‘Because I make things complicated apparently. She’s married to my father.’ Abby rolled her eyes. ‘Well, not my father exactly but...’
‘I get the picture.’
‘She’s pregnant,’ Abby said. ‘With her first. At the end of October I’ll be an aunt and I haven’t seen my sister in years.’
‘At all?’
Abby shook her head. ‘We talk on the phone at Christmas and things but I haven’t been home for a long time.’
‘Years?’
She nodded but didn’t elaborate.
Abby didn’t want to spoil this night with people who weren’t them.
It was just so nice to eat and then to lie there side by side and to talk.
And because it was so nice and they were both so relaxed Matteo tried to tell her some of what was on his mind.
The Origins of Them, as he called it.
‘Hey, you know your necklace...’
‘It’s not actually mine,’ Abby said. ‘It’s my father’s.’
‘Yes, but...’ He hesitated for a beat too long and Abby continued speaking.
‘My mother left it to him. He’s got a big do in July and has told me that he wants me there, looking presentable and wearing the necklace.’
Matteo swallowed.
‘I’m not going to go though.’
He breathed out a sigh of relief. ‘How come?’
‘We don’t really talk. Well, not since...’ She didn’t want to discuss it again and so she changed the subject a little. ‘There’s a huge party in LA on the same night. Anyone who placed in the Henley Cup will be there and so now I’ve got a legitimate reason not to go to my father’s function.’ She looked at him. ‘You should come.’
‘Why?’
‘You’re our sponsor...’
‘And?’
The relief that she wasn’t going to her father’s function, just the little rush of being let off the hook, had Matteo stop worrying about the problems that beset them, and he moved a little closer and started playing with the tie to her robe.
Yes, Matteo decided, he’d tell her about her father and the necklace but at a better time.
After the race, maybe?
‘Have you thought about what I said about us two?’
‘I have.’ Abby answered him as casually as she could—as if she hadn’t spent way too many hours poring over his words. Now was the time to say no, that it was perhaps the most stupid of ideas, yet, side-on facing each other, his fingers found the swell of her nipple, even through the thick robe, and he stroked it, just not enough for Abby.
‘And?’ Matteo asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Abby admitted.
‘Better than a no,’ Matteo said. ‘At least it’s something to work on.’
Which he was. She could feel his fingers at the very tip of her breast but as his lips found hers, Matteo’s hand flattened and the pressure of his warm palm was divine. It was a different kiss to the one they’d shared earlier; this was a sexy kiss and his naked torso she now explored beneath her hands and he let her. Odd that at twenty-seven it was more than she’d done with a man. His leg came over hers and then Matteo’s fingers were at the tie of her robe, but he held back from peeling it open.
Abby wanted him to.
God, she loathed that she tied double knots.
His lips moved from her mouth and to her neck and Abby’s hands drifted down, feeling his toned stomach right to the edge of his belt, and she wanted so much to move her hand farther down but resisted.
Matteo had endless patience but that didn’t make him blind to need and if she so much as moved to halt him, then he would, but instead they just carried on kissing as he made light work of her robe.
Now he peeled it open and so their chests were naked and touching, just enough to ensure it was not enough.
‘Don’t rush me,’ Abby said, which was contrary to how she felt.
‘I’m kicking you out in five minutes,’ Matteo said and then he took her hand and placed it where she wanted it to be. His tongue caressed hers and she explored him through the fabric, hard and straining, and she ached to set him free but opened her eyes and met his gaze.
Oh, she wanted.
But she wanted more too.
More than Matteo would ever give.
‘I don’t want to lead you on,’ Abby said, ‘if I don’t...’
‘You can lead me on any time.’
‘I’m going to go down,’ Abby said, her hand still on him and his smile made her smile. ‘I meant to my room.’
‘I know,’ Matteo said. ‘A guy can dream.’
He made her feel sexy, so much so that she wanted to do just what the suggestive air called.
He could actually feel her reluctance as Abby got off the bed and it felt like a win to Matteo. He’d never really got the saying “it’s worth the wait.” Matteo waited for no one, impulse never lasted that long and he went with them at whim.
She would be worth the wait though.
As Abby went into the en suite to retrieve her clothes Matteo called her back.
‘You can’t put those back on.’
‘Well, I’m not going down in my robe.’
‘Send the butler to get you a change of clothes, then,’ Matteo said and went to reach for the phone but Abby halted him.
‘No, he’ll think...’
‘Who cares what he thinks?’
‘I care.’
‘God, you’re a prude,’ Matteo said but not nastily. ‘I’ll go and get something for you to wear.’ He really was nice like that, Abby thought as he got out of bed and put on a fresh shirt. ‘I can have a little rummage through your underwear drawer while I’m there!’
She handed over her room card and Matteo headed out to the elevators.
He wanted her to stay, yet he didn’t want to push, Matteo thought as he pressed the button for the tenth floor.
And then, as the elevator stopped at the eighteenth floor and Hunter stepped in, Matteo changed his mind.
He wanted Abby in his room and the thought that she might be here, in this elevator dressed in her robe and alone with Hunter right now, had Matteo holding his breath.
He leaned back on the brass rail of the elevator as Hunter stared ahead and Matteo’s eyes never left his face.
Yes, Hunter knew who he was, Matteo knew, because he could see a muscle flickering in his cheek and the tension was near boiling point.
He could take him here now, Matteo thought.
Wipe him out of any chance of racing tomorrow, but Abby would hate that, he knew.
She wanted to beat him herself, in her own way.
The elevator stopped at the tenth floor, only Matteo didn’t get out; he didn’t want Hunter to even have a hint that this was Abby’s floor.
The doors closed again and it was then that Hunter spoke.
‘Problem?’ Hunter asked because Matteo’s stare could blister paint.
‘Just the smell,’ Matteo answered and then, as the elevator opened, when Matteo knew he should just let Hunter go, instead he offered a very choice word.
Hunter stiffened but he didn’t turn around; instead he carried on walking but there was a dangerous, unchecked energy between them and Matteo could feel his heart thumping as he pressed floors five through to twelve and the elevator started moving again.
Matteo got to Abby’s room.
The turn-down service had been and there was a chocolate on her pillow and it was all calm but his heart still thumped in his chest and so he poured a glass of water and took a drink.
Abby had told him that they always stayed at different hotels.
He closed his eyes and tried to tell himself to calm down. They were in the same profession, Matteo said to himself. Of course their paths would cross.
The self-talk didn’t reassure.
Matteo went to the wardrobe and pulled out a top and a skirt and then he went to her underwear drawer. Next he went over to the bed and wrote a silly note and left it on her pillow, then back up to his suite he went.
One look at his face and Abby knew something was wrong.
‘Here.’ He handed her her clothes; he was about to suggest that she get changed and then he would walk her down, or maybe that it wasn’t such a good idea for her to be staying at this hotel and that they could switch, but the long sentence sort of shrunk into three words.
‘Stay here tonight.’
‘Matteo?’
‘Hunter’s here.’
‘There was a problem with security and so they...’
‘No, no...’ Matteo wasn’t buying it for a moment. ‘Did you really think he was just going to let you take him down without a fight, Abby? Did you think, when you were hatching your master plan, that Hunter was just going to sit back and let you beat him?’
‘It’s not going to happen again,’ Abby said.
‘I’m not saying that it is,’ Matteo said. ‘But you’ve stirred up a hornet’s nest and he’s angry.’
‘Did you say anything?’ Abby demanded.
‘He knows that I know what happened.’
‘What did you say to him?’ Abby shouted. ‘Matteo, you didn’t do...’
‘I didn’t do anything,’ he snapped. ‘He already thought I knew at the press conference. I just let him know tonight that I did. Abby, that guy swaggers around... I swear that he’s going to do whatever it takes to mess with your head.’
‘He’s already messed with Pedro’s,’ she admitted.
Matteo was right, Abby realised—it was no accident that Hunter was here.
‘Stay,’ Matteo said. ‘I’m not going to try anything.’ And then he shouted, nicely if that was possible, ‘I just want you in my bed with me!’
‘Matteo, you’re not always going to be around,’ Abby pointed out.
But he was the master of instant fixes. ‘Let’s just get through tonight.’
Matteo was shaken, in a way that he never had been about another.
Sex really was the last thing on his mind tonight.
It wasn’t anything to do with that.
In fact, for Matteo, it was more concerning than that, because when he stripped off and got into bed, he just needed her skin beside his.
Abby stood there as Matteo stripped off.
Completely.
She guessed it wouldn’t enter his head to get into bed any other way.
She could ask for pillows between them, or get into bed, her robe tied and her reluctance evident, only she wasn’t reluctant.
It was her feelings for Matteo that scared her.
Not him.
She took off her robe and got in beside him and he switched off the light and just rolled into her.
He kissed her shoulder, the back of her hair and he ran a hand the length of her thigh and to her waist and then the thump, thump of his heart slowed and Abby lay there, listening to him sleeping with his hand resting on her stomach.
Abby slowly acclimatised to the feeling of sharing a bed with someone. She kept waiting for his hand to move, or for Matteo to change his mind about not trying anything. But Matteo was sleeping the sleep of the dead and so she found out what it was like to be held naked through the night with no expectation.
It was possibly the nicest gift of all and in that moment her world was the nicest place.
In the dark, next to him.
