Page 33 of The Lies We Tell

He looked up at her, but she was already moving away, collecting her book where she’d discarded it on the couch cushions and her glass of wine from the table.

“Piccola,” he called to draw her attention. “Wait for me in my room. I won’t be long.” Her eyes darkened, and she smiled before rounding the corner into the hallway.

Matteo accepted the call and pressed the phone to his ear. He needed Alexei to make it quick. For the first time in a long time, he had something better to do than worry about work.

Chapter Thirteen

Matteo was already seated at the breakfast table when she came down the next morning, and she stopped short in the doorway to the family dining room. Usually he was gone at this hour. The man didn’t really seem to take a day off.

She’d hoped to avoid him after falling asleep in his bed the night before and then sneaking out in the early hours of the morning. Getting up and going back to her own room had been the plan after he fucked her brainless, but his body had been so warm and his fingers combing through her hair so soothing, she’d fallen asleep before she even knew what was happening.

Sneaking out just before sunrise had taken more effort than she wanted to admit. And not just because she was trying not to wake him.

Nibbling her bottom lip, Tessa debated whether she should skip breakfast and this awkward conversation or push through and pretend it wasn’t weird that she kept leaving his bed for her own. It shouldn’t be weird, but it shouldn’t be so difficult either.

Matteo spotted her as he reached for his cappuccino, smiling at her over the rim of his mug. He gestured to her usual spot on his right with a tilt of his head, and she crossed to the chair, sinking into it when the butler held it out.

A maid set a latte and a cornetto filled with what looked like raspberry jam in front of her and stepped back into the corner of the room. The silence felt heavy, oppressive. She twisted her fingers in her lap.

“Did you sleep well last night?”

“I…” She didn’t know quite how to answer. After she’d left his room, she’d tossed and turned until the sun came up. But he didn’t need to know that. “I did. Thanks. You?”

“Moderately well. A little cold.”

His eyes swept over her outfit. The same one she’d been wearing when she asked him to take her from Syracuse. She was stuck rotating her clothes as best she could. It was becoming tiresome.

“Would you like to go shopping today?”

She paused in her reach for her coffee and blinked at him. “Shopping?”

“I noticed you didn’t have many clothes.”

Cheeks heating, she glanced down at the navy blue top and white pants. She could use more…everything in her wardrobe. But she only knew of one shop on the island that carried her size in clothes that were actually fashionable, and it was a little too close to home for comfort.

“I don’t have enough left over from what you gave me the other day to get much. But I could use a few things.”

He sipped slowly, his eyes again taking her in from head to toe. “I didn’t ask if you had money. I asked if you needed clothes.”

“Technically you asked if I wanted to go shopping.”

Expecting him to be angry for pointing out his slip, she was surprised when Matteo barked out a laugh, taking another sip of his cappuccino.

“Do you need clothes, Tessa? Pants, tops, underwear?” A smirk played at the corner of his mouth. “You don’t wear any.”

“One less thing for you to take off,” she said before she could stop herself.

“Maybe I like to unwrap you. But if you need clothes, I can arrange a trip.”

“With the guy from the other day?” He was nice enough, but she didn’t know if he’d indulge a few hours of shopping in quite the same way.

“No, I’ll take you.” He almost seemed to regret his offer, but he recovered quickly and took a deep breath. “I have some work to do, but if you can wait an hour, I’ll take you wherever you’d like to go.”

“There’s really only one place I can shop in Sicily. That carries…my size.”

“Okay.”

“It’s forty minutes outside Syracuse.”

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