It breaks me sweetly every single time. We carry her to bed, well Matteo does. His long body is careful in the narrow hall, Noreen already pretending not to be misty-eyed in the kitchen, and I hum while we smooth down the covers. Livia insists on sleeping sideways so she can keep a hand on her stuffed goat’s ear. We let her.
“’Night, Mammy. ’Night,Papà.”
We stand in the doorway until she falls asleep, enjoying every second we missed out on.
“I think she’s finally out,” Matteo whispers minutes later, nudging me in the side.
I nod, sneak one final peek at the sleeping angel and follow him back to the kitchen. My phone lies face-down on the table. Matteo’s buzzes instead. He glances at the screen, then lifts the cell to his ear and leans against the counter.
“Leo,” he says quietly.
I rinse cups and listen without listening, reading his mouth as much as his words.
“Capito… yes, tomorrow morning is fine… notarized by noon? … I’ll come into town early.” His gaze flicks to me, checking. “No, just me. You stay with them. Bring the papers. And, Leo,grazie.”
He ends the call and rubs the back of his neck. “Gemini Corp business,” he admits, grimacing. “They need signatures and a notary stamp on a few filings to lock down the New York dockside restoration Ale is coordinating. Leo’s driving out at first light to take me into town for an hour or two.”
My spine prickles at the word Gemini like it always will, but the country life has taught me to count to three before I answer. “It’s fine.” I mean it, mostly. At least this is part of the legitimate side of the business. “We need that stamp.”
“We do,” he agrees, then his mouth curves. “Andweneed bedtime.”
Noreen appears again, then shoos us with a flap of her dish towel, eyes soft, but voice sharp. “Off with you. The walls in this house are older than both of you put together but they’ve survived worse.” The dish towel points at him. “Dawn for you, Mr. Rossi. I’ll have scones waiting so you don’t faint from starvation on your drive into town.”
The woman may be nearing eighty, but she has ears like a bat.
“Yes, ma’am,” Matteo replies, mock-solemn, before kissing her cheek. She harrumphs and pretends not to like it.
Our room at the front of the cottage is small, square and perfect, the window cracked to the sound of rain walking across the fields. When the door clicks shut, quiet swells. Matteo comes to me like a tide coming home.
“Hi.” He grins at me like we didn’t spend the entire day within arm’s reach.
“Hi,” I reply, like I didn’t count the minutes to this moment.
He touches my cheek as if he’s asking permission, and when I lean into his palm, all the fight leaks out of both of us. His lips meet mine, soft and gentle before his tongue sweeps in. The kiss is not the kind pulled out of storms and fear. It’s a careful thing, slow as honey. Now, he tastes like tea and the word forever.
Then he backs me toward the bed and holds my hand before stretching me across it. He undresses me slowly, leisurely, as if we have all the time in the world. A devious smile parts his lips as that heated gaze rakes over me once I’m bare before him.
“I want to worship you tonight,amore.”
My heart skips a beat at the word.My love. He drops to his knees, hands clutching my thighs and spreads my legs. Fiery heat races through my veins as he pulls my panties aside and dips his mouth to my throbbing core, those emerald eyes fixed on me. His tongue darts across my clit, and my entire body lights up, a moan squeezing past my lips.
“Mmm,” he murmurs against the swollen bundle of nerves. My back arches against him. “You taste like sweet lemons and sunshine, Kitty Cat.” He licks his lips, savoring me. “Just like I remembered, just like home.”
His tongue slips through my wet folds, sucking, nibbling, until the world narrows to him, to his mouth, to this moment.“Matteo,” I groan, eyes squeezed tight as the heat builds, each sweep of his tongue already pushing me closer to the precipice.
“Look at me, Kitty Cat,” he whispers against my pulsing flesh.
I force my eyes to meet his over the smattering of auburn curls at my apex. The depth of emotion surging beneath the jeweled green steals my breath.
“I’m here,amore. It’s me. It’ll always be me from now on.” Then his tongue continues its lavishing, but his eyes never deviate from mine. Every devastating stroke is a promise, a vow.
“I’m going to come…” I rasp out before long, reaching for his hair, burying my fingers in the soft waves.
“Come for me, Cat, only for me,amore.” The vibrations of his tongue against my sensitive skin send me tumbling over the edge. Raw pleasure rushes through every inch of my being, my entire body trembling in pleasure. He rides out every tremor, hot mouth drawing out the spine-tingling aftershocks.
I’m weightless, panting and smiling like I never forgot how.
He climbs over me, his clothes already shed and a wicked grin on his handsome face. “I could feast on your pussy, Kitty Cat, for the rest of my life and never have enough.”
