Sheena looped her arm in his without question and he guided her up the stairs.
Tonight had been a lot of work. Once they were away from the staff and halfway up the steps, he asked, “Sheena, were you in love with Charles?”
She pursed her lips, then sighed. “I thought so, but I was wrong. Did you ever think you were in love?”
Hmm. His mind replayed that sigh. She might still be, though she was polite enough to not say.
His skin had an itch to it as he warned himself to protect his heart. “No.”
“No?” Her eyes widened.
For this he needed to be clear. His heart believed that there was one love for each of them.
“The women in my past were never important. I stayed far away from women like you.”
“Like me?” They made the top of the stairs and turned toward the bedroom.
Goosebumps rose on his arms. He brushed against her shoulder and nodded. “The kind that can rip a man’s heart out and leave him broken.”
She narrowed her gaze and stared at him like he’d said something she didn’t believe. “Don’t be silly, Matteo. That’s not me at all.”
He opened the bedroom door for them as he asked, “It’s not?”
“Absolutely not.” She rushed into the bedroom.
They both took off their shoes and placed them in the shoe closet.
As she massaged her calf, his body hardened.
How he wanted to claim her and show her physically that she was his, but as he unbuttoned his suit jacket and loosened his tie he asked, “Then why did Charles declare his love for you publicly at our party?”
She turned to let him unzip her dress. “I don’t know. I can’t speak for him. I certainly didn’t invite him.”
He unzipped her dress and she breathed out in a loose exhale. His chest was tight. “But you let him in.”
Her entire face, chest and neck all turned red as she said, “I didn’t know he’d do any of that.”
Matteo knew he wasn’t being fair. He knew he had no rights to her past, but he needed to be sure the past didn’t interfere with the future. He unbuttoned his shirt and tugged it off as he said, “But you knew you’d broken his heart.”
She didn’t drop her dress but held the loosened garment around her as her eyes widened. “Wait. What? He was the one that left me.”
She went into the closet, avoiding his gaze, and took out cotton pajamas rather than sleep nude. “Let’s forget this and go to bed.”
He dropped his pants on the ground. She changed in the bathroom as she added, “My feet hurt.”
So had his, but now his body was hard. Again. Sheena might not love him, but they were together for life.
He wanted to show her physically that they matched. As she came out of the bathroom, he stood proudly at full attention. “Sheena, I want you.”
Her face softened as she came toward him. As she stood in front of him, she brushed her hand against his chin and asked, “Again? At the party we snuck away. I thought you’d be tired.”
He reached for her waist and tugged up her shirt. “Never for you. Let’s get this off.”
She lifted her arms to let him strip off her cotton shirt to reveal her naked body. “Okay, Matteo.”
His body was focused on her. He tugged her pants down and guided her toward the bed as he stroked her backside. “I want to hear you scream my name tonight.”
“Now this sounds like a promising end to the evening,” she said.
