CHAPTER SIX: The Temperature Rises18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3NFzDnuwx
(Matteo’s POV)
He shouldn’t have let her book again.
That was the first rule:18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaKZG8cDLMB
Never open the door twice to someone who makes you feel.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡouwCJcYcq4
Because the second time?18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB0BQvCgVhl
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5wTAdpcNS3
Just her.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWuiC4wXUpe
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpT7v6MD4xI
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVwVGPKC6n
“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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ95YOVBeHFp
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡelrspFcVlu
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsM74r0lLfV
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…18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLDvhbB31MI
the room changed.
He started at her wrists.
Each pulse point was a soft drumbeat under his thumbs.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgSX3LbXm2a
Then her forearms. Her shoulders. Her neck.
Not with oil. Not with tools.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1cwZevXDkf
With skin.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeDI5oQrHei
With heat.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Vgwt2Knfy
With everything he wasn’t supposed to feel.
She sighed—quiet, shaky. Not performative.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrd6b062Vsh
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjpi2fGfYe2
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL6SzLws3ec
Her breath.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡITUQROd3q8
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMuLLJk4Wxb
No cleanup.
Just heat in his chest…18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTisnQZc3c
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsEThzfnBJT
He wanted her.
