CHAPTER SIX: The Temperature Rises29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX4bH7JPNBj
(Matteo’s POV)
He shouldn’t have let her book again.
That was the first rule:29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGZ4vIBojlb
Never open the door twice to someone who makes you feel.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvWkasNSKjQ
Because the second time?29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxLJJaHYVWw
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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhP4TjxvUJJ
Just her.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6i639Lb87L
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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHrPUVZ5YlO
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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ02dZBESDfx
“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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzWVUjd8maj
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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCh8r8OXuVT
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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrCuiYz01RF
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…29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMaZ2glHyvE
the room changed.
He started at her wrists.
Each pulse point was a soft drumbeat under his thumbs.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡupqoYUu2Mo
Then her forearms. Her shoulders. Her neck.
Not with oil. Not with tools.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡExOG6tzmxa
With skin.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5iCEKMy7j9
With heat.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlvQH8Eegbi
With everything he wasn’t supposed to feel.
She sighed—quiet, shaky. Not performative.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTzQyXLMBjx
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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4EICgpwcSS
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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoBugIWEoK7
Her breath.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ55a8VHfOhK
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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMDRrx8QYZw
No cleanup.
Just heat in his chest…29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpDG1I3gPY2
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.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPr29jrABDG
He wanted her.
