Page 134 of My Italian Love Affair

"You looked pretty comfortable up here tonight, too. Like you belong in there."

"I do belong here," I tell him, though my own tone is playful as I continue. "The fact that I have to deal withyouis just anadded bonus."

His laugh is rich and easy, and it makes something inside me soften despite myself.

"Ah, you're too kind."

The silence that follows is more comfortable than I expected, though the tension between us lingers like an unspoken challenge.

Matteo's eyes flicker toward the door to the press box.

"So, are you going to fetch your charger, or…?"

"Ah - yeah, I’ll just… You know. Grab it."

I pull a face at my own awkwardness as I raise my palm to the door and push against it.

"I can walk you back to your car again,” he says. “Make sure you don’t forget anything else."

I give him a side-eye at the suggestion.

This isveryunusual territory for us.

I don’t know what’s gotten into him tonight, and I don’t know how I feel about it, either.

“I’m sure you’d love that. Let me guess, you just want to make sure I don’t trip over my own feet, right?”

“Maybe,” he says, voice dipping a little lower, his grin turning a touch more mischievous. "I’d catch you, I’m sure. As you’ve witnessed first-hand, my reflexes areexcellent.”

I scoff.

"You're unbelievable, you know that?"

"What?” he says, widening those big brown eyes and feigning innocence. “I’m just trying to be helpful."

"Yeah, I’m sure,” I snort, glancing back at him as I push openthe door to the press box. “You know, you really do have a knack for making simple things unnecessarily complicated.”

I slowly move inside, and he follows.

“Only when it’s fun,” he replies. “Admit it - you’re never bored around me.”

“You’re unpredictable, that’s for certain.”

“Ah. That’s a good thing,” he says smoothly. “It means I keep you on your toes.”

“If it’s all the same to you, I think I’d rather be in control of my own toes for the time being.”

“A wise choice,” he responds, propping the door open and hovering in the doorway as I make my way across the box.

My eyes narrow as they land on my charger. I can feel the heat of his gaze on me as I make my way across the room and bend at the waist in order to unplug it, his eyes practically burning into the back of my head.

I wrap the cord tightly in my hands, trying to ignore the way Matteo’s presence fills the space around me.

It’s like he’s a magnet, and I’m just caught in his pull, even though I know I should be focused on anything else.

I stand up, pretending to be absorbed in the process of getting my things together, but I can’t quite shake the feeling of his dark eyes still on me.

He steps further into the press box, the door falling to a close behind him as he places his hands into the pockets of his tracksuit and gazes out at the pitch from the glass viewpoint.

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