CHAPTER SIX: The Temperature Rises17Please respect copyright.PENANA5uLl351E90
(Matteo’s POV)
He shouldn’t have let her book again.
That was the first rule:17Please respect copyright.PENANASTfpIsKcDA
Never open the door twice to someone who makes you feel.17Please respect copyright.PENANADXdQ7YHzKw
Because the second time?17Please respect copyright.PENANAqFxYNtz1Hl
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.17Please respect copyright.PENANAmQJaySw4o7
Just her.17Please respect copyright.PENANA9FdLQ3phKf
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.17Please respect copyright.PENANA3x9eXdmyhX
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.17Please respect copyright.PENANANIfi3JwnGB
“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.17Please respect copyright.PENANARLtJJeSXYZ
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.17Please respect copyright.PENANAjjurToZjTy
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.17Please respect copyright.PENANAN32Pqft7bR
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…17Please respect copyright.PENANAbYQoYs3HoM
the room changed.
He started at her wrists.
Each pulse point was a soft drumbeat under his thumbs.17Please respect copyright.PENANAJQ9YvMbfvN
Then her forearms. Her shoulders. Her neck.
Not with oil. Not with tools.17Please respect copyright.PENANAAA4vL0dJkX
With skin.17Please respect copyright.PENANAkcYVtiAi94
With heat.17Please respect copyright.PENANAkISoQXlEbY
With everything he wasn’t supposed to feel.
She sighed—quiet, shaky. Not performative.17Please respect copyright.PENANA0kuXJw3t7r
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.17Please respect copyright.PENANAHGvE6Mrkb0
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.17Please respect copyright.PENANAKNBn9XvQnQ
Her breath.17Please respect copyright.PENANAozYv1Pshis
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.17Please respect copyright.PENANAYoDqG6c6Qk
No cleanup.
Just heat in his chest…17Please respect copyright.PENANAPMAufTST0O
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.17Please respect copyright.PENANAJnxjkb6KvE
He wanted her.