Page 147 of Ache for You (Slow Burn 3)
“Oh,” I say faintly, my heart doing somersaults inside my chest. “That sounds like a win-win.”
Matteo and I gaze at each other, Brad does this weird little dance of glee, and Jenner rises from his chair and herds Brad and Gio out of the room, closing the door softly behind them.
Matteo gently clasps my hand, leans over the bed, and kisses me on the forehead. “I thought you’d gone back to Brad,” he murmurs tenderly. “I thought you’d decided you didn’t want me.”
“Oh, Brad’s gay,” I say happily, hoping I’ll remember all this when I’m out of my drug coma.
He chuckles. “Yes, I got that. You enjoyed watching me get jealous over him, didn’t you?”
“Yes! Boy, that was fun. Your show was gorgeous. The roses, God. Must’ve cost a fortune. Was it a success?”
Matteo’s forehead creases. He looks faintly alarmed by my cheerful babbling. “The press is calling it my best show yet. Everyone is raving about my collaboration with the electrifying new American designer.”
Me, he means. He’s talking about me. I grin at him, so joyful I could levitate.
“Did you guess the theme?”
“Um . . . roses are red?”
He kisses me softly on the mouth. “True romance,” he whispers, gazing at me with his heart in his eyes. “After us.”
“I don’t know, we’ve had a pretty busted-up love story so far, Count.”
He kisses me again, making my lips tingle in a wonderful way. “I’d spank you for calling me Count, but given your current condition, I’ll take a rain check.”
“Spanking.” I sigh blissfully.
“You’re as high as a kite, aren’t you?”
“Yes. How come you told me you wouldn’t use my designs but then you did?”
“I said I wouldn’t use them and not give you credit. That’s very different. Your name was on the program, in all the promotional materials, everything. I was going to make this whole speech at the end about how love inspired the new collection and the collaboration, but there was an empty seat in the front row, and I was so depressed I dropped it.” His voice grows rough. “Are you angry with me?”
I consider it. “Normally I don’t like surprises, but this one seems pretty good. Maybe you should tell me everything, starting from the beginning.”
He kisses me again, sits on the edge of the bed, and tells me the whole story as he holds my hand, all about how he was trying to get me to fall in love with him from the start by challenging me. Something about appealing to my infamous competitive nature. He never wanted to take over my father’s business, or use my designs without giving me credit—he only wanted to aggravate me into falling in love with him and make me famous in the process.
I’m fuzzy on the details, but I think that’s the gist of it.
“I can’t believe it worked,” I say, grinning at him. “I am so predictable.”
He smiles. “Not exactly. More than once I thought you were going to castrate me.”
“How did you find out I was here? Jenner?”
He shakes his head. “Brad called me and told me what happened. He told me you were in love with me but were too scared to admit it because of what he’d done. Then he told me he was gay, and a lot of other things suddenly made sense.”
“Whose idea was it to hide you behind the curtain so yo
u could hear my teary confession of love?”
Matteo tucks a lock of hair behind my ear, smiling down at me, so handsome it hurts. “You have him to thank for that, too. He’s more clever than I would’ve given him credit for.”
Son of a gun. Brad played cupid with Matteo and me.
Guess he really did want to make it up to me after all.
“Honey,” I say, hit by a strong new wash of happy warmth. “I think you sat on my drug button.”
