“Are you serious?” I interrupted feeling my own anger bubbling up to the surface.
“Deadly,” he grunted.
“You’re unbelievable.” I shook my head, not believing the words coming out of his mouth. “Aida called and asked if I would come for dinner and to bring the kids.” I pulled in a breath. “She said it was Lorenzo’s idea.” Stepping forward, I continued, “And I somehow thought it would be a bad idea to tell a Mafia boss no.” I was fuming, not able to curtail my emotions. “And those kids may be your brother and sister, but unless you forgot, we’re married.” I held my hand up as proof, noting that he was still wearing his ring. He may have been sleeping on the sofa, but he hadn’t taken the gold band off his finger. “I love them. You fuckin’ know that.”
He cracked his neck and stretched his hands at his sides, making fists then loosening them again. “You should have checked with me first.”
“No. I shouldn’t have. If you can’t trust me then…” I trailed off, not sure what else to say. He needed to trust me. He needed to realize that I would never put Cardo or Chiara in harms way. “I did the right thing, Mateo. And you goddamn know it.” I let my head drop back. “I’m so sick of your mood swings. One minute you’re looking at me like you want me, and the next…” I licked my lips and met his stare head on. “The next, it’s as if you wished you’d never met me.”
His eyes darkened, but his lips didn’t move. I wasn’t sure what I wanted him to say, but I needed to hear something. Anything to reassure me that I wasn’t losing my mind.
“Luna—”
“Don’t you fuckin’ walk away from me, Sofia!”
We both whipped our heads around to where the man’s voice came from. I’d never heard it before.
“If you don’t stop right now,” the man warned, his voice closer now.
I tried to see where it was coming from, but I couldn’t place it. I turned to ask Mateo what was going on, but he wasn’t looking around, he was solely focused on me. I hadn’t heard that in my head, right?
“Sofia,” the man growled, even closer now, and the sound of it snapped Mateo’s body forward. He grabbed me around the waist, hauled me against him, then backed us up into the brush of the trees.
His chest heaved against my back, his breaths fanning over my neck as he whispered, “Don’t say or do anything.”
I grabbed his hand where it lay flat on my stomach, my nerves spiking. What the hell was going on.
“Fuck you, Christian!” a new female voice screamed. The little bricks on the driveway crunched under her feet, and just as she got a couple of feet past where we’d just been standing, a hand grabbed her.
“Stop,” he growled, but she didn’t. She pulled, trying to get out of his grip.
“That’s Christian,” Mateo whispered in my ear. I shivered, biting down on my bottom lip. When he was this close to me—holding me—I lost all sense of…well…everything.
“Get your hands off of me, Christian.” I gulped as she turned, facing him. “You made your fuckin’ choice.”
“Dammit, Sof. Why don’t you let me explain?”
She laughed. “Explain?” Her hair shook around her, the long strands catching in the sunlight. “What is there to explain?” She pressed against him, going up onto her tiptoes. And for a moment, I felt like we were intruding. “I gave you a choice. Tell him about us, or we’re done.” She paused, her lips centimeters from his.
I clenched my thighs together as the sensation of Mateo’s front against my back, and hand on my stomach mixed with watching Christian and Sofia.
“And you didn’t.” She licked her lips. “You didn’t tell him. So, you and I?” She slowly lowered, her hand moving between the two of them. “We. Are. Done.”
She took her opportunity and snapped her arm out of his grasp, and within seconds she was gone, as if she’d snapped her fingers and flown away.
“Fuck!” Christian shouted.
I jerked at how loud it was. Mateo’s arm banded tighter around me. He didn’t let go, not even when Christian stormed off back toward the mansion. We were hidden. I didn’t want this moment to end, and when he didn’t make a move, I figured neither did he.
“Why—” My voice came out a mere rasp, so I cleared my throat. “Why have you been sleeping on the sofa?” It was the only question I wanted to ask. The only one that would give me the answer to everything happening between us. There was tension, and I had no idea how to fix it, how to move past it.
“Dammit,” he murmured. “I…” He huffed out a breath and goose bumps prickled at my skin. “I’m scared.” I tried to turn in his hold, but he kept his arm firmly in place, not letting me look at him. “I’m scared that if I get into bed with you, I won’t be able to not touch you.” His hand slid down my stomach, his fingers slipping between the waistband of my jeans. “And if I touch you…” He pushed his erection against me at the same time his finger slid through my slit. “In my bed…” He flicked the bundle of nerves and every part of my body lit on fire. “I know I won’t be able to stop.”
“Mateo,” I whispered, not sure why I was saying his name, but he seemed to know because he moved his finger faster, playing me expertly like a first chair musician.
“And if I can’t stop,” he continued. “I’ll never let you go.”
“I don’t want you to let go,” I told him, my voice unwavering. My stomach burned, the impending orgasm threatening to ruin every part of me.