He motioned for them to turn right and she said, “Okay, please continue. I want to hear your life plans.”
Adrenaline coursed through him as they passed the bedroom. He was tempted to detour except she didn’t seem interested. Matteo led her to the next door to show the family quarters. As he opened the doors, he said, “They aren’t plans.”
“Goals, then.” She slipped into the living quarters.
Her hands traced the fabric of the new cream-colored couch. His staff changed out furniture according to some schedule he wasn’t aware of, but everything they replaced fit as if meant to be there.
He closed the door behind them and said, “Goals. I’d like a dependable wife that I can get along with.”
Her eyebrows perked as her lips curved into a smile. “I hope that’s me.”
“You’ll be better than Patrice ever would have been.” He hugged her from behind as they stood in front of the side table near the door.
Matteo couldn’t imagine anyone else right here, right now. He gently tugged her backward toward the couch as goosebumps rose on his arms from her simple contact with his bare skin. Sheena patted his arm, followed but asked him, “Then why did you ask her?”
She meant, why hadn’t he asked Sheena until the last moment. He noticed the space between her shirt and her skirt and slipped his fingers between the two articles so he could feel her bare skin. She hummed as he said, “The clock was ticking. I needed to marry. I’ve never been poor.”
“I can see that.” She didn’t object as he tasted her mouth for a kiss, wrapping her into him where their bodies were almost touching except for their clothes.
She was sweeter than cream. His lips craved hers and he turned her around while keeping her in his arms. “I wish I’d had the sense to find you and ask you to marry me before yesterday.”
Her lower lip trembled as she stared at his mouth. “We weren’t exactly friends in school.”
“We weren’t enemies,” he whispered and claimed her mouth.
Her hands ran through his coarse hair and every part of him stood at attention.
Sheena in his arms now was better than any dream life he’d fantasized about. Her hands curled around his neck and shoulders. He ended the kiss so he could show her the bedroom, but she said, “I wouldn’t be on your radar because we didn’t run in the same circles.”
“That’s not why.” She was skirting the truth. He held her close but walked with her to the adjoining room as he said, “You weren’t on the radar because I avoided good girls.”
He opened the door and she stopped in the frame with her gaze locked on the bed. “But youwantto be married to only one and offer your children a life you never had.”
Since divorce was impossible, he hoped for an alternative that he’d only heard about on television or from neighbors. He closed the door behind her the moment she stepped in and said, “Yes, but I thought I had all the time in the world to find a lady.”
She walked toward the white sheets like she was walking the plank on some pirate ship. “When did you find out you had to marry by the time you turned thirty?”
He stripped off his shirt—was his wife scared? He’d show her that everything would be fine. He tossed his shirt on the floor and hugged her waist. “It didn’t click in my head though, until I was twenty-eight. By then good girls like you, weren’t around. I hadn’t seen you in years. And even if I would have thought of you, I would have assumed you were married and possibly had children by now. So whyaren’tyou married already?”
He tugged on her shirt and she held her hands up to help him lift it off her as she said, “I never had the right offer. Most of the guys I dated never quite got me.”
Lucky for him. She was now his and he would never share her with anyone. He licked her skin and she shivered. Before she bolted for the door he asked, “Later, are you ready to go outside and learn to skateboard?”
Her eyes widened but she nodded. “Yes. I’ll need fun.”
“This is fun.” He claimed her lips while back-stepping her toward the bed. With her bra and pants still on, he recalled his earlier thought on the color of her nipples, and if she tasted like cream everywhere—were all parts of her soft, and most important, what was she like after she was satisfied? If she was any sweeter, he might have really won the lottery.
His hard body was ready to find out.
Chapter 7
Sheena’s body still pulsated from making love with Matteo. She’d never, ever enjoyed herself like this in bed, ever.
She’d never exercised these muscles—or any muscles.
She stayed skinny by being too busy to eat more than she needed. Sometimes her alcohol at auctions counted as much needed calories in her day, not that she drank more than wine or champagne, and if she was lucky, a handful of pretzels. When her night wasn’t spent at an art auction, she was at a different benefit or planning upcoming art functions. Her business required being social.
Not one man had ever made her feel likethis.
