Page 64 of Matteo

Slowly, reluctantly, I pull my hand away and reach for the door, my gaze lingering on his mouth for a few more reckless seconds. I'm either going to do something stupid or—

“Your neighbor's curtains are twitching.” He lowers his head, and looks up beyond my shoulder.

Arthur.

“I'm going.” I open the door and pause before I get out. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

I rush to get inside but he doesn't drive off. He waits until I'm safely inside.

Chapter 17

MATTEO

My father hiring Elizabeth to work for me, then getting her to report to me, is turning out to be far more complicated than I expected.

I had to jerk myself off last night and the night before that just to get some sleep. I can't stop thinking about how dinner turned out, a few nights ago. I shouldn't have suggested that we get a bite to eat, together, but she was hungry, and so was I.

It made sense.

The problem is, whenever I'm around her, my professionalism goes out of the window. I wonder if it's because of how we met, trapped in the elevator. I wonder if things would have been different had that not happened.

Not that I'd have it any other way.

I like having her around, but going to that wine bar? Risky. Foolish, even, and yet I don’t regret it. After that it feels like things have changed a little between us. The pull seems stronger.

I knew she was checking out my arms when I was driving. Could feel her gaze from my periphery, but when she touched my tattoos, stroking my skin gently, I wondered what it would be like to have her silky little hands running all over my chest and my back. How it would feel to have her touch my hard length.

Cup my balls.

And suck.

I shake my head, trying to dislodge these thoughts, but they come thick and fast. No wonder I've had so many sleepless nights since then.

I’ve tried to avoid her. She also hasn't come to see me. I'm sure she's avoiding me, too. I've had no meetings, and have shuttered myself away in my office. I figure that if she has anything to tell me, she can come and find me. I have a lot to do anyway, because I've been looking into doing my own little research, looking through the server logs, looking at people who have worked here in the past, people who were let go, such as the intern and the contractor. I've not been able to find anything suspicious.

Alex knocks on my half open door and walks in. He was off yesterday.

“Everything okay?” I ask as he slides into the empty chair opposite me. His forehead creases, and he seems a little troubled, which isn’t like him. He's always calm and steady. An asset to the company.

“Yeah.” He nods, like he's trying to convince himself more than he's convincing me.

“If you need to take some more time off—”

“No. It's good. My niece hasn't been well, so I went to see her.”

“This is Sara, right?”

“Zara,” he corrects.

“Sorry. Zara.” I vaguely remember her. Alex asked if he could bring her in for one of those bring-your-child-to-work days. He doesn’t have any children, and he asked me if he could bring his niece. I’d just started working there, and of course I let him.

She must have been about five or six years old, sitting at an empty workstation wearing oversized headphones that kept slipping down over her eyes. She spent half the afternoon drawing dragons on printer paper and asking endless questions about computers. Every time Alex looked at her, his entire face changed.

“I'm sorry to hear that. Is she better?”

He presses his lips together, head bobbing like he's uncertain. “Maybe. Let’s see.”