What the hell did he mean, “so”? “You touched my body. You wanted to use my body and -“
“She’s my fiancée, Sophia. She’s the woman I’m going to marry and the future mother of my children.” His eyes narrowed. “I’m sorry. Did you think I was here with you every time we fucked?” A sarcastic chuckle left his lips, but it might as well have been a knife twisting in my heart. “Come on, Sophia, you were just a warm, wet pussy I could sink into because my future bride is a good, sweet girl. I can’t touch her until the wedding. So I used you to relieve some stress. But it was always her I was thinking about. Always her that I was imagining.”
I moved without thinking. Swinging my arm back, I slapped him hard across the cheek. “You don’t mean that,” I whispered. My hand was stinging from the force of the slap, but not as much as my eyes were from trying not to cry.
“Don’t I?” This time, his lips did curve upward. His smile wasn’t happy. It was cruel. “Now who is living in the past, Sophia?” He shook his head. “I moved on.” He used my own words against me. “It’s about time you did the same. I’m going to be married, Sophia. I’m going to put a baby in her belly as soon as I can. You know, the one thing you could never give me.”
I ran, my feet moving as fast as they could. I needed to get away from him. Because after everything he had done and said in the past, this was the night he completely broke me.
Heading toward the guest bedroom at the end of the hall, I locked the door quickly and fell into bed. Crying felt weak, but I couldn’t help myself.
He was in love with this other woman. This girl who was so perfect for him that he had called me by her name.
He would marry her and have a family with her and he was excited about it.
There was no hope for me and him. There probably never had been, but now any hope I had foolishly had was dead and gone.
He had killed it the moment he moaned her name in my ear.
“Sophia.” Matteo’s voice came from the other side of the door. His fist rapped against the wood. “Unlock the door.”
Ignoring him, I pulled the thick quilt over my head to muffle my sobs.
He called out again, more frantic, and I ignored that as well. I didn’t want to see him. Or hear his voice.
In my entire life, I had never wanted to be away from Matteo, but I did now.
I never wanted to see him or talk to him ever again.
He was right. It was time I moved on, but how could I do that when I was here? And even if I could find my way back home to my daughter, how could I move on when every time I looked at her I saw him?
Hiding my face in the pillows, I let the sadness take over, tears wetting my face and then soaking my pillow. I cried and cried until I couldn’t cry anymore because I was totally and utterly spent.
It was only then that the exhaustion of the last few hours took over, and I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
I came awake suddenly, and instantly, I was on edge. When I had crawled into this bed to cry alone, I had made sure the door was locked.
But now it was open. I could see the faint light from a lamp through it and feel Matteo’s warm, hard chest against my back.
His arm was flung haphazardly around my waist, and his hot breath tickled the back of my neck.
Sometime between me falling asleep, sobbing my heart out, and now, he had unlocked the door and crept into my bed.
He had purposely sought me out. Not to fight or to talk or even to have sex.
He had crept into this room just so he could sleep next to me.
That wasn’t the actions of a man who hated me. It wasn’t what a man who wanted to be with another woman did.
The fact that he was here next to me was confusing as hell. It didn’t answer any questions I had. It multiplied them.
From the bedside table a loud buzzing sound filled my ears. His phone was going off as a message came through.
Who was contacting him at this time of night?
I knew it was probably work-related. Some business venture thatneeded his attention. Just like I knew I should wake him up. Or even leave the room and sleep somewhere else.
But my gut was telling me something else.
