CHAPTER SIX: The Temperature Rises20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtHTm1kqKeK
(Matteo’s POV)
He shouldn’t have let her book again.
That was the first rule:20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlSrEsQErB8
Never open the door twice to someone who makes you feel.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNaIUcH0szD
Because the second time?20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4R97q1CSwY
That’s when you start forgetting who you are.
She arrived five minutes early.
That was new.
She didn’t bring a handbag. No coat. No jewelry.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzCFn71Se68
Just her.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0diM0CGRhp
Clean. Raw. Bare.
Like she had no intention of pretending today.
Matteo inhaled slowly, setting down the lavender oil. His pulse was steady—on the outside.
“Welcome back,” he said, smiling just enough.
She smiled back. Not with her mouth. With her eyes.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfcijz46P8X
Eyes that weren’t shy anymore.
“I wasn’t sure you’d still see me,” she said.
He tilted his head. “And why wouldn’t I?”
She shrugged. “I kissed you.”
Matteo stepped forward. Close enough to feel her heat, but far enough to pretend it didn’t affect him.
“No,” he said quietly.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqeBOPuBQHk
“We kissed.”
That broke something.
The silence shifted from thick… to loaded.
She sat on the chaise slowly, as if lowering herself into temptation.
He moved around her. Pulled gloves on. Changed them halfway. A nervous habit.
He was stalling.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc6ZLM6wi5d
He never stalled.
“I want you to touch me again,” she said.
Matteo blinked.
But she wasn’t finished.
“Not just… there.” She placed a hand on her chest, near her heart. “Everywhere I’ve gone cold.”
His jaw tightened.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5DMoBTxFiK
His fingers curled.
“You understand what that kind of request does to a man like me?” he asked.
She leaned forward, voice steady. “I hope it ruins you.”
He didn’t reply. Didn’t move.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRqAkwYJlp6
For five full seconds, they just breathed.
And then he crossed the room.
Slow. Controlled. Dangerous.
“Lie back,” he murmured.
She obeyed.
Matteo knelt beside the chaise, his hands hovering above her bare arms. He hadn’t even touched her yet, but she was already reacting—lips parted, chest rising.
When his fingers made contact…20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKcNN2eqPK6
the room changed.
He started at her wrists.
Each pulse point was a soft drumbeat under his thumbs.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Lg2U5eLp7
Then her forearms. Her shoulders. Her neck.
Not with oil. Not with tools.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPWNHFolVld
With skin.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9H3NXEovPT
With heat.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtMgong8PuW
With everything he wasn’t supposed to feel.
She sighed—quiet, shaky. Not performative.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0s1OtOIWBQ
Real.
“Tell me what you feel,” he said, voice lower now.
“I feel like I’m not allowed to want this much,” she whispered.
“And yet you do,” Matteo said, eyes on her lips.
He trailed his hands down her arms, along her ribs, stopping just above her waist.
She gasped softly.
His hands stilled.
“Permission?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He touched her there. Not roughly. Not hungrily.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWWhR5TxRlE
Tenderly. Like a man who knew he was unwrapping something sacred.
And somewhere between that first gasp and the next silence...
Matteo forgot this was a session.
He forgot her file. Her intake form. Her age.
He only remembered her mouth.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj67yexpdHh
Her breath.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKarOcd1NBe
The way her body bloomed under his fingertips like she’d been waiting her whole life to be worshipped.
When it was over, they didn’t speak.
She sat up slowly. Looked at him.
“You look tired,” she said.
Matteo smiled faintly. “You’re not easy to forget.”
She placed a hand on his chest. Over his heart.
“Neither are you.”
After she left, Matteo sat in the dark.
No notes.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtL2HMS4dRG
No cleanup.
Just heat in his chest…20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡThe0aL4t0R
and the taste of her silence still clinging to his skin.
And for the first time since opening the clinic...
he didn’t want another client.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbgNwjeweQD
He wanted her.
