Page 148 of Vicious Intentions
“Good night, wife. Maybe you’ll give me a different answer in my dreams.”
Chapter 31
Annamaria
“You can stop pretending to be asleep now, wife. I know you’re awake.”
Damn it. And here I thought I was doing a pretty good job pretending while Matteo got ready for the day.
“How do you know?” I grumble, frustrated that he caught me. “You don’t know that,” I mutter, cracking one eye open just enough to see he’s already showered and dressed in pressed dark gray trousers and a crisp white shirt, both fitting him far too well for my liking.
“You have a tell.” He smirks.
“What tell?”
“Do you really want me to tell you?” he teases, his lips curling at the corners, only making him look even more strikingly beautiful.
No, no, no. Not beautiful. Monsters arenotbeautiful. They are grotesque and hideous.
Ugh.
Not mine, apparently. Mine looks…
“Tell me then. I’m dying to know,” I say, refusing to let my mind go there as I push myself up against the headboard.
“You’re not going to like it,” he says, fixing his cufflinks.
“Believe me, there is plenty I don’t like already about this morning. What’s one more thing?”
Matteo’s smile fades, even if only slightly, but it’s enough for me to notice.
“You snore.”
I blink hard, suddenly wide awake.
“Excuse you? I what?!”
He grabs his suit jacket and slips it on. “I said you snore, wife. But it’s cute. Almost whimsical, those little sounds you make.”
“Dear God, I must have been a heinous person in my past life to deserve this,” I mumble, more to myself than to him.
“We’re Catholic, wife, which means this life is all we’ve got.”
“And what kind of life am I expected to live, confined to this penthouse? Or are you saying I can leave it?”
“That depends on you.”
“How so?” I arch a brow, surprised by his response, folding my arms across my chest.
“When I can trust that you won’t leave me, then you’re free to go whenever and wherever you please. As long as you’re always accompanied by two of my most trusted soldiers, I see no reason you can’t get to know your new home. Who knows? You might even like it. New York has a way of charming everyone it meets.”
I tap my head back against the headboard and frown.
Great. More bodyguards. I guess some things never change.
When I go quiet, Matteo moves toward me. My body goes rigid the second he sits at the edge of the bed, just inches away. His cologne reaches me first, earthy and warm, grounding in a way I don’t want to like. It lingers, pulls, makes it harder to think straight.
Maybe it’s not the cologne at all. Maybe it’s just him.
