“Fuck right off, DeLuca,” I said, trying to hold back a laugh.
“If there wasn’t a child sleeping in the next room, I’d do just that,” he smirked. I pushed him back with my foot and he let himself fall back, now on the opposite side of the couch. “Your loss.”
“You are so fucking annoying,” I rolled my eyes again.
“Hmm, that doesn’t sound so convincing anymore,” he teased. I opened my mouth to reply, but we heard footsteps and the key card beeped at the front door to the villa. Alexander and Lucia entered, Alexander holding Lucia’s heels as she walked in barefoot and smiling.
“Hey!” she greeted us, “How’d she do?”
“Perfect as always,” Matteo replied easily, getting up and greeting them both.
“And you two behaved?” she asked, raising an eyebrow to me. I mocked a gasp.
“We can be civil adults,” I said.
“One of us can be,” Matteo added, crossing his arms.
“Shut up.”
“Thank you for watching Gia,” Alexander added and smiled down at Lucia, leaning in and kissing her head. “We had a lovely night.”
“Gross,” Matteo gagged and I smirked at my friend. We said our goodbyes, and I whispered to Lucia that she owed me an update. We walked down the hall to our own shared suite.
“I think Alex really loves her,” Matteo said as we reached our door.
“I think she really loves him too,” I replied.
“I was worried for so long she wouldn’t let herself be loved again, after everything she went through with Gianna’s dad,” Matteo said quietly. I took in the confession. It was so obvious how protective Matteo was of his sister and Gianna. How much he just wanted them to be happy, how he wanted to give them the whole world.
“It’s hard to accept love after loss,” I said into the dark room as we walked in. Like a confession into the night.
“You say it like you know that feeling,” he said without turning on any lights.
“Something like that,” I replied.
We got ready for bed, and I sat in my thoughts as I showered off the day. Slipping into a satin pajama set, I was feeling rather cute. Anticipating how Matteo would react to the outfit gave me an onslaught of butterflies. But when I left the bathroom, I spotted Matteo knocked out on the bed. And while I had other plans in mind, I couldn’t help but smile at it. I slipped under the covers after flipping off the bedside lamp. As soon as my head hit the pillow, Matteo shifted, his arm wrapping around my stomach and pulling me into him. Stupid butterflies erupted in my stomach as a result. His cheek was smashed against the top of my head, and he let out a sigh.
“You faking being asleep right now?” I asked, not even really caring.
“No,” he replied too clearly to be asleep.
“Liar,” I silently laughed, “I hope I snore extra loud and you don’t sleep.”
He only squeezed his arm around me once and muttered, “You don’t actually snore.”
“What?” I gasped and flipped around, facing him. His eyes were sleepy but open and I swore there was a twinkle under the moonlight coming through the window.
“It’s just so easy.”
“What is?”
“Annoying you.”
“You infuriate me, DeLuca.”
“Keep telling yourself that, Moretti,” he whispered back leaning forward, brushing his lips to my forehead and leaving a light kiss. Then he pulled me into his chest. “Go to sleep, trouble.”
I went to argue—I really, truly meant to argue—but it was so warm and comfortable there and only a grumbled response came out of me, because I was fast asleep before I could make out the words he said next.
