Page 63 of Matteo

He picked up on the first ring.

“How are you doing it?” I hissed into the phone, as people walked by on the busy street in front of me.

“Doing what?” Matteo asked and I could tell he was grinning.

“You’re in my head,” I groaned. “Tell me how in the hell you could be in my head all the time. Day and night.”

His voice turned husky and deep. “Maybe you just want me, Stizzy. You know I haven’t forgotten what you taste like…”

“Agent Zacharra,” I looked around, my core already feeling tingly.

“I know you’ve seen the news,” he said. “Technically, not an agent at the moment.”

I laughed then, because I had caught bits and pieces of it. Something about him killing some man in cold blood and I knew before Nora ever said it wasn’t Matteo that it hadn’t been him. “I know it’s not true.”

His voice remained husky and deep, letting me know he was getting off on this in some weird ass way and in truth, I was enjoying it too. “Oh yeah?”

“You’re Captain America,” I shrugged, looking back into the shop. “From where I was standing, I could see Isabella flipping through a magazine. “You’re the good guy.”

A small pause filled the air for just a moment and then he spoke again. “Maybe that’s why I’m in your head, Stizzy.”

Curiosity killed the cat, Rain,I thought.

“Why?”

Matteo’s laugh was deep and husky rolling down my spine leaving my cheeks flushed. The effect this man was having on me was out of control. “Because I’m a good guy,” he whispered. “But I can be bad when I need to be.”

On the sidewalk, in front of my business and strangers passing by, I got hot and bothered clenching my legs together. Had he cast a spell on me?

“Still there?” Matteo asked.

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“Come see me before I go,” he whispered.

“What?”

“Say you’ll come first,” he chuckled.

“Maybe,” I replied.

“You sound scared, Stizzy,” he replied.

“Never,” I squared my shoulders.

“Then come and see me tonight,” he replied.

“I really can’t,” I offered. “I have a family dinner tonight. My sister and your brother are even going to be in attendance…”

It was quiet again and I figured Matteo had given up. “Probably for the best. No one is supposed to know where I’m at anyway. I’ll talk you again soon, Stizzy.”

He ended the call, and I could hear the hurt in his voice. Matteo Zacharra really wanted something from me that I couldn’t give him.

My heart and it was better if I stayed away from him.

The rest of the day passed without incident, and by the time I got home, exhaustion was creeping into nearly every fiber of my being. More than anything I wanted to collapse onto my couch and turn on an old movie and sleep.

My cellphone pinged the second I sat it down with a message from Nora.

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