CHAPTER SIX: The Temperature Rises24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl0BMyJCSR6
(Matteo’s POV)
He shouldn’t have let her book again.
That was the first rule:24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMUyjqx83gs
Never open the door twice to someone who makes you feel.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbiUlboHW0H
Because the second time?24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfO4yMSKT2K
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjtm1YHLJd5
Just her.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMBVqifkO2w
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQnubAlqlqG
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRUOBF4bxm
“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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH2H4QkQNTN
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXuP4twnNZh
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzdO4pWfQe8
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…24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeKowuQpf7H
the room changed.
He started at her wrists.
Each pulse point was a soft drumbeat under his thumbs.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf0pxvIlsHX
Then her forearms. Her shoulders. Her neck.
Not with oil. Not with tools.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2bHspuQmGa
With skin.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEpxkXTePaz
With heat.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1t5rg7CLrI
With everything he wasn’t supposed to feel.
She sighed—quiet, shaky. Not performative.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq43zl3ufKE
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTPFUVuQn78
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8jV3F8eYHS
Her breath.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBaw5Q41heb
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Y5XP5B2Hb
No cleanup.
Just heat in his chest…24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2unPVJPiKc
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡumQUktcQ2x
He wanted her.
