12.

M ATTEO

I felt Bella stir right before I heard her stomach growl. When she shifted against me and ran her hand across my stomach to get comfortable, I had to resist the urge to pull her body over mine and wake her up in the best way. We’d fallen asleep in the wee hours this morning after enjoying each other’s bodies for hours between spurts of laughter and conversation, and I found that I enjoyed all of those activities almost equally.

I’d never met a woman I could be so comfortable with, who didn’t seem to care what my last name was or what I did for a living. Instead, she gave me shit like I was just a regular guy from her small hometown and didn’t even seem to consider the difference in our situations.

From everything Bella had described, she came from the average American family - a mom, a dad, a few brothers and a sister, the family dog who wasn’t supposed to eat human food but laid under the table and greedily ate everything they snuck to him, and a cat with one ear that their father rescued at a construction site as a kitten who now acted like he was royalty.

I came from a not-so-average family. Yeah, we had the mom and dad along with the brothers and sister. We even had a dog and a cat with a swing set in the backyard. But we also had the Russo name hanging over our head and our position in the hierarchy of the family to plan for, something not many regular people had to consider. My younger years also differed from the average kid seeing how, as teenagers, my brother and I planned the murder of our uncle to wrest the power he had stolen after our birth father’s incarceration. By the time we were twenty, we were in a position of power that rivaled the old gangster of lore.

Bella didn’t know all of that, but I thought that even if she did, she wouldn’t treat me any differently. Not once had she mentioned my lavish penthouse suite and how much it must cost to maintain it. She had brought up the room where Cydney was staying and the one that I’d had prepared for her and insisted that I let them pay me back for the effort and the cost of the rooms for the weekend.

We laughingly argued about it for a while, but then got sidetracked when I pulled her nipple into my mouth. However, when we were relaxing together in front of the television later, I heard her gasp and saw that she had looked up the cost of the suites. I laughed when she started to list out a detailed payment plan to repay me and then offered to let her take it out in trade.

Luckily, she didn’t take offense to that at all and blew my mind in more ways than one, which made me announce that her debt was paid in full. She argued and insisted she wasn’t finished, and by the time we were both sweating and breathless, I was offering her friend a permanent residence in the hotel and had to resist asking her to move into the penthouse with me.

Bella’s stomach growled again, and she wriggled her body against mine as a look of discomfort marred her sleeping face. I slowly slipped my arm from beneath her and got out of bed, grabbing a pair of basketball shorts out of the dresser on my way into the bathroom. I brushed my teeth, pulled on my shorts, and then padded silently across the room to the door. Once I was outside with the door shut behind me, I started a pot of coffee and got to work making breakfast.

I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to prove to her that I wasn’t just some useless rich guy who expected to have everything given to him on a silver platter, but that was exactly what I was doing. I pulled out the ingredients to make her a magnificent breakfast.

I was about to plate her omelet next to the toast I’d just buttered when I heard the bedroom door open and looked up to find Bella at the mouth of the hallway wearing my shirt. It was just a plain white button up - a staple in my wardrobe, but half-buttoned with the cuffs rolled up and barely covering her lower half, it suddenly became my favorite piece of clothing.

I knew that she’d taken a few minutes after she woke up since her hair was bundled up in a messy knot on top of her head, and as I got closer, I could see that her face was damp from a recent wash. When I leaned down to kiss her, I smelled toothpaste and her fascinating scent - warm skin with just a hint of my body wash that she’d used when we showered together barely a few hours ago.

“Good morning, Twang,” I said after I’d kissed her hello.

“Mornin’,” she grumbled before she sniffed the air. Her eyes lit up, and she asked, “Coffee and food?”

As I answered, I heard her stomach grumble again, so I took her hand and pulled her behind me into the kitchen and then held the stool while she hopped up to take a seat. I could feel her eyes on me as I poured her a mug of coffee and laughed when I saw she wasn’t sure what to devour first.

“Cream or sugar?”

“Is there any chocolate syrup left?” she asked with a grin.

“We emptied the bottle, but I think I have more in the pantry,” I said as I walked toward the panel that camouflaged the pantry door. Once I swung it open, the light automatically came on and I heard Bella gasp. I glanced at her over my shoulder and asked, “What?”

“There’s another room in this place?”

I grabbed the syrup and walked out before I said, “That’s the pantry. It’s connected to the laundry room on the other side.”

In the few seconds while I was in the pantry, Bella had hopped off her stool and come around the island toward me. As I walked out, she brushed past me. But she didn’t go all the way inside. Instead, she examined the pantry door for a few seconds, tilting her head as she looked at the sunken hardware that held it in place, and then walked in and studied the ceiling as she ran her hand along the wall.

I heard her knocking here and there, and then she abruptly stopped at the back of the pantry and stared at the shelves before she walked through the doorway into the laundry room. I was curious about her behavior, so I followed her and smiled when she stopped in front of the washing machine and stared at the wall. She reached up and knocked on it and then tilted her head and knocked again. It didn’t take long for her to figure out how to open the hidden panel, and I chuckled when she yelled, “A-ha!” as if she’d just found a treasure.

“This is a safe room,” she said as she shut the panel and then ran her hand over the front of it. “Where does that elevator take you?”

“To a storage room next to the security hub on the ground floor.”

“Hmm,” she said, looking pensive. She smiled at me before she said, “Makes sense.”

She reached out and took the chocolate syrup from my hand before she gave me a quick peck on the lips and then breezed past me to the kitchen. I watched her go, stunned at her discovery, with at least a dozen questions running through my head.

I walked into the kitchen to find her fixing up her coffee in front of the open refrigerator door, before she turned and smiled brightly. “I can’t believe you made breakfast.”

“Yeah,” I said as I nudged her back toward her stool. “I heard your stomach growling while you were sleeping and knew you’d be starving when you woke up.”

“Thank you!” Bella said cheerfully before she took a sip of her coffee. She closed her eyes and purred. After her second sip, she opened her eyes and smiled. “I wondered if you could cook.”

“My mom and dad didn’t treat us any differently than other kids, so we had all the usual household chores and were expected to help in the kitchen almost every day,” I explained. Once I slid her plate across the counter, I turned back to the refrigerator to find some jam for her to use. “How did you know there was an elevator in the laundry room?”

“My grandparents started a construction business, and all of their children were raised working on job sites from the time they were old enough to fit into a hard hat. My cousins and I were raised the same way. We started out cleaning up the job sites and gradually moved up to different positions as we learned new skills until we were working right alongside all the other employees. They gave us the choice to be whatever we wanted to be in life and skills that we could always fall back on if we needed to. I majored in architectural design with a minor in business, but I realized how much I enjoyed event planning and went that direction instead of into the family business.”

“You worked in construction?”

“Almost every Saturday and six days a week during the summer.”

“I learn something new about you every time we talk.”

“That’s a good thing, right?” Bella asked as she cut a piece off her omelet. Once she’d chewed and swallowed, she said, “For instance, I learned that you can cook a better omelet than I can, so from now on, you’ll be in charge of breakfast.”

“From now on, huh?”

She looked alarmed for a few seconds before she stammered, “Well . . . as long as . . . I mean if we . . . When we’re . . . um . . .”

“When we’re able to get together, I will always make breakfast for you,” I interrupted.

“Speaking of that, there’s something I need to talk to you about, but I’m not quite sure how to approach it.”

“Sounds serious,” I mused before I took a bite of my own omelet. I looked over at her and smiled before I said, “Are you sure that you want to use what little time we have together to talk about serious things?”

“I think I have to. I’ve barely been able to think about anything else, so I want to get it off my chest.”

She was so serious that it worried me a little bit. What if she’d been lying to me about something major? Did she have a boyfriend at home or, God forbid, a husband? I was usually better at reading people than that, but I’d been blindsided before - not to that extent, but it could happen. What if . . .

“I’ve accepted a new job that’s going to require me to uproot my life and move, but I want you to know that it’s a sound business decision that will help fulfill some dreams I’ve had since I was very young. I really hope it doesn’t affect what we’ve started together.”

I narrowed my eyes and asked, “Did you get that passport we talked about?”

Bella laughed as she shook her head. “Not yet, but it’s in the works. They said it would take a while for it to go through. The position I’ve accepted is here in the States.”

“How will it affect what we’ve started together?” I asked. I laughed softly as I picked up another bite of omelet and said, “I think that’s such a funny way to describe what we’ve got going on.”

“What do we have going on, Matteo?”

I looked over at Bella in shock and asked, “You don’t feel it, Twang?”

“I asked you first.”

I smiled and said, “I wake up in the morning eager to talk to you, and the last thing I want to hear before I go to sleep at night is your voice. Every minute I’ve spent with you so far has been better than any I’ve experienced before, and I want more of them. I crave more time with you, and I’m dreading tomorrow because I know I have to say goodbye to you again when you go home.”

She smiled at me before she said, “It seems like we’re on the same page then.”

I laughed and said, “I’ve never experienced such word vomit in my life, and all you have to say in answer to it is that we’re on the same page?”

“Do you want the flowery, gushing, giggling version of what I’m thinking, or do you want my honest opinion?”

“Always honest, Twang. Always.”

“I hold onto my phone like it’s a lifeline and feel like I can’t breathe until the next time I see that I have a message from you. When it rings and I know I get to hear your voice, my heart starts to race. When I see that it’s a video call, my stomach flips like I’m at the peak of a roller coaster about to freefall. It hurts when I have to say goodbye and hang up, but then the anticipation starts all over while I wait to talk to you again.”

“What are we going to do about it? You live in Texas . . . or wherever this new job is that you’ve yet to tell me about, and I can’t leave New York. Right now, the long-distance thing is working, but with the way I feel already, I know that won’t be sustainable for very long, Twang. That worries me because I don’t want to pressure you into doing something you’re not ready for, but I don’t want to lose you either.”

“I want you to know that I considered this . . . thing we have between us . . . before I accepted my new position, but it’s completely separate from our situation.”

“Okay?” I said, not at all sure of what she was trying to get across exactly.

“If whatever this is doesn’t work out, I don’t want it to affect my job. I signed a six-month contract yesterday, and I start as soon as I can get moved, but before I accepted, I had a long discussion with my new boss. She assured me that our relationship won’t affect my job security.”

“Why would it?” I asked in confusion.

“Because I’m going to be moving to New York to work for your stepmother.”

I felt my mouth drop open in shock. It took a few seconds before I was able to close it and then form a half-way coherent sentence to ask, “You’re coming to New York?”

“Yes.”

Bella was laughing as I rushed around the counter to get to her, but that stopped the second I had my arms around her and my mouth on hers for a kiss filled with promise and anticipation of what was to come.

When I ended the kiss, I looked down at her and asked, “Why didn’t you say something before?”

“Because I wondered if you might think I was some weird stalker or something.”

I laughed before I asked, “Are you?”

Bella cringed dramatically before she whispered, “Dammit! He’s on to me.” When I laughed, she said, “I wanted to get things clear between me and Bernadette before I said anything to you because I was still going to be moving to your neck of the woods for at least six months whether or not we officially began a relationship.”

“That means I’ve got six months to convince you to stay.”

As Bella wrapped her arms around my neck, she said, “I don’t think it will take anywhere near that long.”

◆◆◆

BELLA

“Is there a reason you’re blocking my sun?” Cydney asked without opening her eyes.

I laughed as I sat down on the lounge chair beside her and asked, “How did you know it was me?”

She opened one eye and frowned at me before she said, “I didn’t know it was you, I was just pissed that someone was in my way.”

“You do realize that there are a million things to do here besides lay by the pool, right?” I looked down at the T-shirt I was wearing and then back at my friend who was in a bikini and laughed. “I feel overdressed, Squid.”

“It’s hot as balls. You’ve got too many clothes on.”

“I know it’s hot. Why are you outside?”

“I have a plan.”

“Do tell,” I said sarcastically.

“I’m going to lay out here by the pool until I get too warm and then go upstairs and crank down the AC before I shower so it’s blowing snowballs when I lay down wet and naked like a starfish in the middle of the living room.” I realized that the man seated at the table behind us could hear what we were saying when he burst out laughing.

When I turned around to look at him, he said, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but that one just jumped out at me.”

“Can you think of something more descriptive?” Cydney asked without turning around.

“I think you covered it,” he answered before he looked back down at the notebook on the table in front of him. I watched as he put an earbud in his ear and effectively shut out the world around him as he said, “Very descriptive.”

“Why are you here?” Cydney asked.

“You do realize that we came together, right?” I asked.

“We may have arrived together, but I’d like to hope that you came more than a few times since we got here, whereas I have not come a single time.”

I giggled and saw the man sitting at the table put his hand over his mouth and squeeze his eyes shut.

“You are just feeling yourself this afternoon, aren’t you?”

“Obviously, I’m gonna have to since there’s not exactly anyone standing in line to do it for me!”

The tattooed man at the table thrust his hand in the air and yelled, “I volunteer as tribute!”

I chuckled as Cydney rolled over so that she could lay on her stomach and look at the man who had made himself a part of our conversation.

“Well, I guess I don’t have to worry about you being lonely,” I mumbled as I stood up and walked toward the table where the man was sitting. I happened to notice Rocco, one of Matteo’s guards, sitting at a table some distance away, and when I smiled at him, he just nodded in acknowledgement. Apparently, I really didn’t have to worry about Cydney being alone after all. I listened to the two of them banter back and forth for a second before I extended my closed fist toward Cydney. We bumped knuckles before I said, “Let me help y’all out. Squid, this is . . .”

“Squid?” he asked instead of giving me his name.

“Cydney,” my friend corrected. “Only my friends and family call me Squid.”

“In that case, my name is Kenny.”

“Cydney, Kenny. Kenny, this is Cydney. You two play nice, now.”

“What’s the fun in that?” Cydney asked sassily.

“Do you want to go exploring later or not?” I asked her.

“All you want to explore is Mr. Mobster, so being the wonderful bestie that I am, I won’t interrupt your opportunity.”

“What are you going to do all evening then?”

Cydney shrugged, and Kenny said, “I’ll entertain her.”

“I thought you were working,” Cydney reminded him.

“I can take the night off to play tour guide. What do you want to see?” Kenny asked.

“Matteo offered to take us to dinner.”

“Why don’t you and Matteo go on an official date, and I’ll hang out with Kenny and see the sights,” Cydney said with a grin.

“You’re not worried about taking off with a stranger? Don’t you watch the news?”

Cydney looked over at Rocco and smiled before she said, “I have a feeling that I’ll probably be the safest tourist in Vegas.”

I laughed as I walked off, but over my shoulder, I called out, “You kids be good and don’t stay out too late. We’ve got a flight to catch tomorrow evening, and I can’t miss it.”

“Yes, Mom!” Cydney and Kenny yelled at the same time.

I was still laughing as I walked back into the hotel, sure that my friend would be safe and even entertained while I spent the evening with Matteo. He had offered to take me out on the town, but I was content to stay in his suite and spend time alone with him, especially since I wasn’t sure when I’d get to see him again.

I had a lot to get accomplished before I could move and needed to make a list of things to do when I got home so I could get started. Now that my secret was out and Matteo and I were on the same page, it felt like things were falling into place.

However, I wasn’t a patient woman and wanted them to fall faster. Much faster. Because I could feel myself falling at warp speed. I didn’t dare hope that Matteo was going at the same rate, but I wanted to.

I wanted to very badly.