And slapped him across the face with the thin contract.
Paper smacked against skin with a satisfying sound before I dropped it onto the desk in front of him.
His head tilted slightly, his eyes cutting up at me, sharp and lethal. A look that could kill. One thathad.
“That,” I said evenly, setting my hands on his desk and leaning down over him. “Is for making me chase you through half this palace when you could’ve signed five minutes ago.”
Silence stretched, thick as smoke. His gaze locked with mine, unblinking, dragging me deeper into its gravity. For a second, it felt as if the entire city outside had gone still.
For a second, my heart stood still.
Expectant.
Wondering what he was going to do.
A slow smile pulled on the corner of Matteo’s mouth. He ran a hand over his cheek where the paper had stung him, slow and deliberate, before lowering his eyes to the contract.
I braced for him to scrawl his name without even looking, the arrogant, reckless type of man I assumed he was. But instead, he began to read. Page by page. Line by line.Word. By. Word.
My annoyance faltered, replaced with a flicker of surprise. He wasn’t skimming. He wasn’t pretending. He wasstudyingevery word, every clause, his focus absolute.
I hadn’t expected that.
I realized, uncomfortably, that there was more steel beneath his surface than he had previously let me see.
And maybe, slapping the only ex-leader of a Cartel to ever walk away alive, hadn’t been the smartest thing I’d done tonight.
Finally, after what felt like hours but could only have been minutes, he signed with a smooth, sharp flick of his wrist. He slid the folder back across the desk, his eyes meeting mine as though he knew exactly what I was thinking.
I tucked it into my Fendi bag, triumphant, but the moment I looked up, he was already standing.
Too close.
My traitorous gaze flickered down, just once, before I could stop myself – over the hard ridges of his abdomen, still gleaming faintly, though there were no more droplets from his shower.
I snapped my eyes away, heat searing my cheeks – lucky that he hadn’t caught me this time.
Matteo walked me back through the suite, his presence heavy at my side, until we reached the private elevator. He pressed the button with one hand, the other holding lazily into the knot of his towel as though this was all a big joke to him, before backing away.
When the doors slid open, I was about to step in, keeping my head high, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing me flustered.
“Oh, and Francesca?”
I glanced at him over my shoulder, catchingthose eyes.
“You looked good even before you stepped in the elevator.”
Pushing my hand into the cup of my plunge-push-up bra, I cupped my breast and moved it so it sat higher, before doing the same with the other side. Finally, I used the reflection of the elevator wall and re-adjusted thecollar of my deep V-neck so the black lace of my bra was slightly visible.
Though my face remained blank, I felt the horror wash over me. He’dstalkedme through the elevator’s hidden camera on the way up here.Asshole.
I felt my cheekbonesheat.
Matteo winked. Then, he walked away, holding loosely onto his towel.
Chapter 4
Sixteen years old
