Page 40 of Ache for You (Slow Burn 3)
So, samesies.
“I’m so sorry to hear that.” Dominic sounds rattled. He’s followed me in from the other room and stands in the doorway, looking disturbed. “Do you want to talk about it?”
I shake my head and leave it at that.
He opens his mouth to say something else, but we’re interrupted by loud knocking from the front room. Someone’s at the door.
Not just anyone, I see as I move past Dominic into the front room.
Him.
I jerk open the door and glare at Matteo. “What’re you doing here?”
He smiles, looking me over with hungry eyes like I’m a cupcake on display in a bakery case and he’d like to lick off all my icing. “I was in the neighborhood and saw the lights on.”
“Liar.”
His smile deepens, dimpling his cheeks. “You know what they say. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
“They also say you don’t have to be a cactus expert to know a prick when you see one.”
His eyes flash. “Is it just my dick you’re obsessed with, or dicks in general?”
“Don’t flatter yourself. And while you’re busy not flattering yourself, leave.”
He purses his lips, as if he’s considering it. Then he says casually, “No,” and strolls past me into the shop.
I slam the door and turn to him with my arms crossed over my chest. “Oh, I get it. On the lookout for more designs to steal, is that it?” I smile sweetly at his withering look.
“You seem to have a mental block about the facts, so let me remind you that you gave me that sketch pad, bella.”
I hate the way goose bumps form over my arms when he calls me that. There’s something so intimate about it. A note of secret knowledge hums in it, an undertone of sensuality, as if he knows how I sound when I come.
“I’m not going over this with you again. Get out.”
“Oh. Ciao.” Ignoring my request, Matteo addresses Dominic, standing in the doorway to the back room.
Dominic looks back and forth between us with his brows drawn together. I can’t tell exactly what his expression is, but I’m sure it’s not happiness.
“Ciao.” Dominic’s tone is curt. I guess he likes my ex-stepbrother as much as he likes my ex-stepmother.
The two men size each other up for a beat, until Matteo says darkly, “A pleasure to see you again.”
It’s both a lie and a dismissal. Dominic can tell, too, because he bristles like a cat. He says something sharply in Italian. Matteo snaps a response. Then they stand there glaring at each other like two pistoleros about to whip out their guns and shoot.
“Well, this has been fun. Glad to see I’m not the only person you annoy. Bye!”
Matteo’s eyes cut to me. They’re brilliant, blistering blue, two lightsabers slicing the air with a whiz. It’s all I can do not to step back from the electric force of their impact.
He says stiffly, “You really should learn to speak Italian.”
Intrigued, I glance at Dominic, who’s scowling. “I will. I mean, I am. Soon.” Shut up, Kimber! I straighten my shoulders and pretend nonchalance, while Matteo watches me with his crackling light-beam eyes. After only a moment under his scrutiny, I want to jump out of my skin.
Making a show of solidarity with Dominic, I walk over to him, then stand shoulder to shoulder with him as I coolly regard Matteo. “Was there something in particular you wanted? Because I’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Matteo roasts me with his look. I’m a pig turning over hot coals, getting a nice crackly crunch to my skin. “Yes,” he says, holding my gaze. “There is something I want. And you know exactly what it is.”
Quivering, I think the word is. Yes, that’s what my vagina is doing right now. Quivering.
