He smirks and slides his hands to my neck before pressing his lips to mine. He’s been wanting this for a while, and I feel the hard length of him against me. I melt into the kiss, a soft moan slipping from me at the intensity. I don’t want it to end.
Leaning into him more, he moves his hands down to my waist and grips my hips. I jump up, wrapping my legs around him, and he starts walking with me clinging to him. I break the kiss only to trail my mouth along his jaw and down his neck.
He carries me into his bedroom and lowers me down onto the bed. I watch as he shrugs out of his jacket, tossing it over a chair, then rolls up his sleeves, his muscles flexing in a way that makes my stomach tighten. He comes back to me, and I haven’t moved since he set me down. I just stare, seeing the fire in his eyes, the control he’s barely holding onto.
He leans in close, locking his gaze with mine. “Vanessa, there’s so much I want to do to you right now,” he says in a low voice.
“Then do it,” I whisper, surprised by how much desire I’m giving back.
A grin curves his mouth, and he dips down to kiss me, soft and slow.
He shifts his kisses to my jaw and down my neck. Tugging at the hem of my top, he pulls it over my head and lets it fall somewhere behind us. His mouth keeps moving, brushing over my collarbone and down to my chest. One hand slides to my back, unhooking my bra before he pulls it off and tosses it aside. The heat in his eyes pulls me under, like I’m caught in something I can’t escape.
He takes one of my nipples between his teeth, tugging just enough to make me moan.
The pleasure hits so hard that the last week of playing hard to get feels pointless now. Maybe it was worth it, because this feels too good to resist. His mouth keeps drifting lower, soft kisses and wandering hands making my skin burn everywhere he touches. When he reaches my stomach, he grips my pants and yanks them down with enough force that my body shifts on the bed.
“Fuck, I’ve been wanting to do this all week,” Mateo grits out.
He moves between my thighs, his mouth findingmy soaking pussy, devouring me like it’s his last meal. I cry out, the tension in my core building so fast it’s almost unbearable.
“Let go, baby,” he murmurs against me.
Before I can even process the word baby, everything snaps. “Mateo, fuck, I’m going to come.”
“I’d expect nothing less. Come for me, baby.”
His words alone could do it, but his tongue doesn’t let up, and I come hard, too fast, my body going loose beneath him. I’m left dazed, stunned by how deeply he’s already gotten under my skin.
We spend the next few hours moving between the shower and the bed, learning each other in slow, heated ways, and the idea of being with him for the rest of my life keeps feeling better and better.
TWENTY-ONE
MATEO
The last month is the most relaxed I’ve felt in a long time. Vanessa moved into my room, and somehow we fall into the perfect rhythm of being tangled up together and falling asleep side by side. The more time I spend with her, the more I start to imagine her as the mother of my children. I know she isn’t ready for that yet, but I decide I need to start somewhere. The first step is giving us a home that actually feels like one.
That’s how we end up here today, moving into our new place right next to Gino. I’ve owned the house for a few years, saving it for when I eventually got married. It was always too big for just me. The place is massive, something most people would call a mansion. Six bedrooms and six bathrooms feel excessive, but in an Italian family you’re almost expected to plan for more kids than you think you’ll ever have.
When I tell Vanessa about it, she’s thrilled at the idea of leaving the apartment and finally having a space that feels like hers. As we step into the foyer, the formal dining room sits to the right. I picture one day hosting big family dinners here insteadof always crowding into Gino’s place. To the left is the formal living room, which she already says we’ll never use.
As I walk down the hallway, soft music drifts through the house. I’ve learned Vanessa loves slowed and reverbed songs, and hearing it already filling this place makes it feel like home.
I spend most of the day hauling boxes inside. Neither of us have much since we both lived in places a fraction of the size. The guys clear out after everything has been moved in. With everyone so close now, we decide family dinners will be a weekly thing.
For a moment, I just stop and watch her. She’s in the kitchen, sliding dishes into the cabinets. She spent the day with Juliet shopping for everything from new plates to furniture, and when she came back, it took everything in me not to grab her and take her right there in the hallway with everyone still around.
“Oh, hi,” she says, startled as she turns to me. She’s in black yoga pants and a dark red T-shirt that hugs her perfectly, her hair pulled through the back of a black baseball cap.
“Did I ever tell you how good you look today?”
“You might have,” she says with a wink. And yeah, I did. This morning I spent plenty of time telling her how beautiful she looked naked in bed.
I cross the room, cup her face, and kiss her, slow and hungry. “I’ve been wanting to do that all day.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“Gino would’ve killed me.”
