Was she acting now? Was she yet again using me for some unknown reason, and I was a fool falling for it?
Again.
Shaking my head, I slipped in next to her and lay there, staring at the ceiling high above me.
Why did things have to be this way between us? With so many secrets and lies.
And so much doubt.
Was the woman sleeping next to me using me again? I couldn’t help but think she was.
“Matteo.”
My head snapped around to stare in the darkness at her face, and my heart slammed into my chest. She had called my name out.
“Matteo…” she said again, and this time, I could see the line deepen between her eyebrows. She was frowning in her sleep.
Was she having a nightmare?
Reaching for her, I had barely touched her when she called my name again.
“I’m here.”
Sophia’s sigh was loud. Rolling over, she curled herself into my side, and her face relaxed.
I stared down at her for several seconds before wrapping her up in my arms.
Yeah, she was having a nightmare, but not about me. I was the thing that drove those bad dreams away.
That had to mean something.
Relaxing, I closed my eyes and just held her.
I don’t know how long I lay like that, with her in my arms and my eyes glued to her face, but it seemed like a long time, and there was no chance of any sleep.
Not when I didn’t know the truth.
Finally, some time just before dawn, I slipped from the bed. “I’ll be back,” I whispered even though she was too asleep to hear me, and then, dressing quickly, I headed to the elevator and down to the city street.
Even at this time in the morning, there was life on the New York City streets, but in a way that was a good thing. Jogging and running had always been a way for me to gather my thoughts, but it was even better like this, with a whole city’s chatter floating around me.
I took off toward the park, weaving in and out of people and ignoring every single one of them,
I didn’t even register their faces, which was stupid, because attacks could happen at any time to a man in my position.
No, the only face in my mind was hers.
The way she looked just before I left, the way her lips tilted up in a smile that made every hard, cold part of me melt.
She was the perfect woman.
She was perfect for me in every way, and yet I knew she was hiding something from me. I just didn’t know what it was, and every check I'd run on her had come back blank.
She had a job in a bakery, and a roommate called Natalia, who everyone called Nat. Nat worked in her family’s business.
There was nothing I had found that should make me suspicious.
But I was. I couldn’t help it.
