Our gazes meet through the glass. My breath catches as Matteo’s eyes hold mine. His gaze rakes down the length of my body as I slowly push open the door, swallowing hard.
He’s wearing a pair of jeans, a dark shirt beneath his normal bomber jacket, and a pair of white sneakers. His hair’s tousled in loose waves, brushed away from his face. I step through the doorway, welcoming the brisk air as it chases away the heat that encapsulates my body.
February has a tendency of being just as brutal as January, although we’ve been lucky lately with warm air coming from the coast.
However warm that air might be, it’s not the cause of the fire spreading through my veins.
It’s Matteo Ford and the way those steel gray eyes drink me in.
“Hey,” he says softly as I stop in front of him. He pushes away from the side of the SUV, his body towering above mine.
I smile. “Hey yourself.”
He shifts to the left, bending at the waist as he pulls open the car door. Those damn eyes meet mine once more, a ghost of a smile dancing on his lips.
“After you, Sunny.”
“Thank you.” I bob my head, half curtseying before climbing into the SUV. The dark red interior is lush and elegant. It smells like him and leather. Matteo waits until I’m seated before shutting the door and walking around to the other side. “Where are we going?” I ask as he gets in behind the steering wheel.
He puts the car in drive, the engine purring quietly as he pulls away from the curb. “To get dinner.” He looks at me fromthe corner of his eye. “You have a track record of forgetting to eat, so it’s only right for me to make sure you do.”
“I thought we were celebrating?”
“Two birds, one stone.” The corner of his mouth twitches. His voice lowers. “I’m an efficient man, Jade.”
I inhale sharply, my stomach fluttering as his quiet chuckle fills the air around us. Why do I keep ending up in close quarters with this man? It’s impossible to escape him when we’re in such close proximity to one another.
His scent, his sound. He’s everywhere.
He’s temporary.
“Did you do anything to celebrate yet?”
His question catches me off guard, but effectively pulls me out of my own thoughts.
“No,” I admit, shaking my head. “I haven’t been doing much other than writing.”
“Is it hard?”
“It depends on the day. I have a tendency of overthinking things, so sometimes it takes me all day to write a single chapter.” I sigh. “I really do enjoy it, but some days, it’s so taxing.”
“I’m sure it’s hard to stay in a creative state if you get interrupted or have to take a break when you’re not ready to.”
I nod and chance a look at him. “It really is. Most people don’t understand it.”
“I won’t pretend like I do,” he says with a soft laugh, turning the car down another street. “It just seems like it would be.”
“Well, your assessment isn’t wrong.” I glance out the window, my eyebrows tugging closer together. We’re still in Hillford, only a ten-minute drive from my apartment building, but I’ve never ventured over this way before. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see in a second,” he says with a wink. “We’re almost there.”
We drive to the end of the street, and he takes a left, pulling up in front of a massive brick building on the right side of the street. My brow furrows and I look at Matteo as he puts the car in park but leaves the engine running.
“We’re here,” he says, unbuckling his seatbelt. “Valet will park the car.”
“Where the hell are we?”
Matteo chuckles again but doesn’t comment as he climbs out of the SUV. I stare at him as he strides around the front of the car, confidence radiating off him. A man I didn’t notice before greets him on the sidewalk. They shake hands, exchanging a few brief words before Matteo walks over to my side.
