Page 21

You’re being reckless, Jordyn.

I know this could very well be another heedless decision on my part. Matteo is my sister’s stepson. By marriage that makes me his aunt, if you squint and ignore how completely wrong it feels to even think of it that way.

And yet, standing here, breathless and aching under the weight of his heated gaze, the technicalities seem a million miles away. Because, right here, in this moment, I don’t feel like his aunt. I feel like a girl clinging to anything that might stop her from crumbling into a thousand jagged pieces.

Matteo moves around me, stopping just behind me. I feel the heat of his body, the way the water laps against my thighs as he draws nearer. He leans in closer, his mouth brushing the shell of my ear, his breath hot against my damp skin.

“Thoughts of you and the things I want to do to you keep me up most nights, Fossette.” he murmurs, his voice a low, sinful whisper that skates down my spine like a caress.

A shiver rips through me, not from the cool night air, but from the dangerous intimacy of his words. My eyes squeeze shut for a heartbeat as I steady myself against the onslaught of emotions tightening inside my chest. God, what am I doing? I shouldn’t want this. I shouldn’t want him.

But right now, drowning under the weight of too many hurts, too many loses, the temptation to lose myself in something or someone who actually wants me feels almost impossible to resist.

I tilt my head slightly, feeling the whisper of his lips just above my skin, feeling the way he waits, perfectly still, perfectly patient, for me to either close the distance.

.. or move away. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?” he murmurs, his voice thick with restraint.

“How hard it is to have you this close and not be able to touch you the way I want to? To taste you, to make you mine?” His breath brushes my neck, hot and shattering.

“Ti voglio così tanto.” I want you so much .

The words slide over my skin, seeping into my bones, and with them, the last of my shaky self-control crumbles.

Matteo’s chest brushes lightly against my back, the heat of his body searing into my damp skin.

His hand slides around my waist, fingers splaying across my stomach with a touch so slow, so deliberate, it leaves a trail of goosebumps in its wake.

I draw in a sharp breath, my heart hammering violently against my ribs as he pulls me closer until there’s no space left between us.

“I know it’s wrong to want you the way I do,” he murmurs, his voice a low rasp that scrapes across my nerves.

His nose nuzzles behind my ear, sending a shudder skittering down my spine.

“But I can’t stop, Fossette.” His lips ghost along the shell of my ear, teasing and warm.

Then, I feel the scrape of his teeth. A playful, wicked nip that makes my knees shake.

I bite down on a whimper as he trails his mouth lower, his tongue flicking lightly against the sensitive spot just beneath my ear before he drags it slowly along the column of my neck.

His hand, still resting against my stomach, slips lower, tracing slow, lazy circles just above the waistband of my soaked underwear.

Every brush of his fingers, every heated whisper against my skin, unravels me a little more.

“I think about you when I shouldn’t,” Matteo breathes against my throat, the tip of his tongue stroking a slow line up to my jaw. “Late at night. In the shower. In my bed. Ti sogno, Jordyn. I dream about the sounds you’d make for me... the way you’d come apart in my hands.”

A soft, desperate moan breaks free from my lips before I can stop it. My head tips back instinctively against his shoulder, baring my throat in silent surrender. He chuckles, low, dark, satisfied and I feel the vibration of it rumble through his chest into my back.

“Ogni parte di te è sacra, dolcezza mia,” Every part of you is sacred, my sweetness . He murmurs, lips brushing my ear. “Let me worship you the way you deserve.”

His hand glides higher, skimming over the curve of my hip, the side of my ribs, inching closer to my breast. I turn my head slightly, catching a glimpse of his face, the heat in his eyes, the wildness.

It’s too much. Too treacherous .

When he leans forward to claim my mouth, I find the last thread of control I have. I reach up and press my fingers lightly against his lips, stopping him an inch away from mine.

“No kissing,” I whisper, breathless but firm, my heart pounding so hard I’m sure he can feel it through my back. “I told you, I’m not like the other girls you’re used to. As cliché as it sounds, you want me, you’re going to have to earn the pleasure, Matty.”

For a second, he freezes, his hazel eyes burning into mine. And then he smiles, slow and wicked, the kind of smile that promises he’s just accepted a challenge he fully intends to win.

“Earn you? Va bene, Fossette,” he murmurs against my fingertips.

“I can do that. Hell, I can wait for as long as you need me to.” Matteo pulls my fingers from his lips and inches closer until our lips are a breath apart.

“I know you’re worth the wait, but how am I supposed to keep my hands off you when you look and smell this good ? ”

Oh my God, my pulse spikes at the mere thought of revealing such a sacred part of myself to him. I’ve never allowed anyone to go that far before.

My head tips back and I brush my lips along his jaw slowly until I reach his ear. My tongue lightly trails the shell of his ear before I bite and tug his lobe teasingly, “I never said you couldn’t touch me , Matteo.” I feel Matteo stiffen behind me and I hear a low throaty groan. “I’m just...”

“You’re just...”

I sigh when he peppers soft kisses along my jaw. Now is probably a good time to tell him that I’m a virgin. At least then he won’t think I’m just being a cock tease. “A... virgin.”

Matteo freezes. Like, actually freezes.

His lips hover against my jaw, warm breath ghosting over my skin, but the soft kisses are gone. His hands don’t move. His body goes still behind me, except for the rapid rise and fall of his chest.

And then he pulls back slowly, and I turn around to face him. His eyes lock on mine like he’s not sure he heard right.

“Wait. What?”

I nod, cheeks burning. “I’ve never...”

There’s a beat of silence, and then. “No, fucking way.”

I flinch. “You don’t have to say it like that?—”

“No, Cazzo . I just…” He shakes his head, blinking like I’ve just short-circuited his entire system. “You’re joking, right?”

I cross my arms over my chest. “Do I look like I’m joking?”

Matteo stares at me. Stares . Like I’ve just told him the sky is green, and he’s lived his whole life blind. His dark brows pull together, hazel eyes darting across my face like he’s trying to find the lie.

“ How ?” he blurts. “How is that possible? How the hell hasn’t anyone... I mean—” He gestures at me wildly. “Have you seen yourself? Like, are guys blind where you’re from?”

I laugh despite myself, half mortified, half amused. “Wow. Thanks, I guess?”

He runs a hand down his face, pacing a small, agitated circle in the water.

“Jordyn, come on. I mean, you’re so fucking beautiful.

I just… I had this whole idea of you in my head, you know?

Like, confident, dangerous, untouchable.

You walk into a room and own it, Fossette.

And now—” He stops, eyes narrowing. “Wait...is that why you said no kissing? Fossette, have you never been kissed?”

I chew my bottom lip and shake my head once.

God, my face feels like it’s on fire. I know it’s nothing to be ashamed of and I’m not ashamed of it, but.

..I still feel a little embarrassed by it.

All my friends back home lost their virginities before they hit sixteen.

And the stories they all told me about how awful it was and how much they all regretted not waiting, it just made me want to wait.

“Wow.” Matteo utters with a shake of his head.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t him stepping forward, closing the space between us, gently cupping my face and looking into my eyes.

“You’re absolutely right about one thing.

” he adds, his forehead pressing against mine.

“You’re nothing like any other girl I have ever met. Fuck, how are you even real?”

I smile, “I’m just a virgin, Matteo, not some whimsical fairy from an alternate universe.”

Matteo shakes his head, his thumb brushing along my jaw. “Are you kidding me? You may as well be. Do you have any idea how rarely a girl like you comes around, mia cara? ” I stare up at him, not really knowing what to say in that moment. “Why me?”

I blink. “What do you mean?”

“Why did you let me touch you like that, kiss you like that, if you’ve never even…” He trails off, jaw clenched, a flicker of something raw behind the cocky front.

I lift my hands and place him on his muscular chest, water swaying around us. “Because with you, I forget to be afraid.”

His throat bobs. “Jordyn…” His voice is tight now. Less teasing. Less wild. “You can’t say stuff like that and expect me to just float here and behave.”

My fingers skim his chest. “Then don’t.”

He doesn’t say anything.

Just closes the space between us with slow, deliberate steps until my back hits the edge of the pool. His hands find my hips under the water, firm and possessive, thumbs grazing skin just beneath the fabric of my underwear.

“I need you to guide me here, Fossette,” Matteo whispers, eyes dark, voice frayed at the edges. “I need you to tell me what you want. Because if you don’t, I’ll lose control and I don’t want to fuck this up or pressure you into anything you’re not ready to do.”

Matteo doesn’t move.