Page 16 of Ice To Meet You

I swallowed my butterflies and gripped the door handle.

It was time to put my game face on. Be smart, be sensible. I didn’t need the chaos Matteo could bring. Or the uncertainty. I’d built myself a good life. A quiet life with order and regularity. I knew who I was, where I was going, and with Gio’s investment, I knew how I’d get there.

With a sigh, I twisted the handle and pulled.

Each morning, the newspaper delivery boy left a copy ofLe Mondeon my step. I completed the crossword before work. I considered it meditation—a centring ritual to start the day. But today, there’d be no serenity or silence.

Instead of my newspaper laying on the path, Matteo Romano stood with it tucked under his arm.

He leaned against the wall, his peacoat buttoned tight against the chilly wind. A coffee tray with two cups lay at his feet. In his arms, alongside my newspaper, was my little white cat, Claudette. I swear Matteo’s eyes lit up when he saw me, and something skittered through my belly in response.

“Delivery,” he said.

The softest of smiles crept across his lips and a warmth spread through my chest. I looked out into the square behind him, checking for customers or companions, but he was alone.

“How long have you been here? Did you sleep on a bench?” It was a silly question. He looked far too polished, far too handsome to have slept rough for the night.

“No. I just wanted to make a good impression on my firstproper day. Earn some extra credit with the boss. Start as I mean to go on.”

I eyed the coffee at his feet. I’d only had one cup so far this morning. “Well, if hot coffee is the way you mean to continue, then come inside.”

Claudette gave a tiny meow and Matteo leaned down to kiss the top of her head. “And,” he said, “I found this little one on the step. It looks like she needs to warm up.”

A shiver ran through my body. She wasn’t the only one.

“Can we come in?” he asked, hugging my cat tighter to his chest.

“Oh, sorry, yes. But don’t take it personally if Claudette leaves.”

I held the door open. Matteo picked up the coffee tray with his free hand and stepped inside, feline onboard.

“What do you mean leave?”

I pulled the newspaper from under his arm and walked to my desk, heels clicking on the floorboards. “She’s not really my cat.”

He tipped his head to one side. “Have you stolen her? Will the police charge me as an accomplice? I could have my passport confiscated.”

Despite the lack of caffeine in my veins, I chuckled and put the paper down on my desk. “Claudette is a stray. She showed up on my welcome mat during a snowstorm two months ago. She comes and goes—mostly goes—but she’s sweet.” I tickled the top of her head as she lay snuggled in his arms.

“Very much her own woman, then?” he said. “Independent. Must take after her not-really-owner.”

The soft glow in his eyes made my tummy flip, and I turned my head for a moment in case he noticed the warmth in my cheeks.

Matteo gently put Claudette down on my desk, then sat on its tidy top alongside her. Instead of her usual disappearing actunder a chair or out the door, she weaved around his body, purring like a sports car.

I pulled my brows together. “How did you do that?”

“What?”

“Hypnotise my cat? She hates people—barely tolerates me. She detests Maurice. Climbed up his leg once, all the way to his … well, you know. We had to send him for a rabies vaccination.”

He chuckled, then shrugged, crossing one of his legs in front of the other like a shield. “What can I say? Maybe I have a way with tough women.”

His lips bowed in the cheeky grin I remembered from the chairlift. The hairs on the back of my neck raised, and I tucked a non-existent strand of hair behind my ear.

He shifted on the desk. “According to my grandmother, babies and animals love me because I have large eyes. It’s a trust thing, apparently.”

I studied him through my own slightly narrowed eyes. He handed me a cup from the coffee tray and a waft of exquisitely roasted beans swept over me.

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