CHAPTER SIX: The Temperature Rises16Please respect copyright.PENANAAIvk9z6pjt
(Matteo’s POV)
He shouldn’t have let her book again.
That was the first rule:16Please respect copyright.PENANAdoocChlXEt
Never open the door twice to someone who makes you feel.16Please respect copyright.PENANAKWcwCRpKv2
Because the second time?16Please respect copyright.PENANA2mLU5joyLA
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.16Please respect copyright.PENANA744e52pHhL
Just her.16Please respect copyright.PENANA3gISQfCup3
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.16Please respect copyright.PENANAph6dxwRoEz
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.16Please respect copyright.PENANApRKYFCqfv7
“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.16Please respect copyright.PENANAoapzBNpFIA
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.16Please respect copyright.PENANAzcPrWaQick
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.16Please respect copyright.PENANAmbWPolWUnB
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…16Please respect copyright.PENANAtE2UQDQZ2T
the room changed.
He started at her wrists.
Each pulse point was a soft drumbeat under his thumbs.16Please respect copyright.PENANAVX3IGuWhSu
Then her forearms. Her shoulders. Her neck.
Not with oil. Not with tools.16Please respect copyright.PENANA6CuehsGIxP
With skin.16Please respect copyright.PENANAf3HigRbyqB
With heat.16Please respect copyright.PENANASSPynVDGkc
With everything he wasn’t supposed to feel.
She sighed—quiet, shaky. Not performative.16Please respect copyright.PENANAcVOKdyfCCf
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.16Please respect copyright.PENANAfje60zpwpL
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.16Please respect copyright.PENANAfdGhFTW2wU
Her breath.16Please respect copyright.PENANAeDWH3Zmh4n
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.16Please respect copyright.PENANAfLzGtC6BhQ
No cleanup.
Just heat in his chest…16Please respect copyright.PENANA2mv33qKRJD
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.16Please respect copyright.PENANAFN4gw73OQu
He wanted her.