Chapter Six

Gen stretched as she slowly came awake. Her eyes fluttered open and squinted as the soft light filtered through the window. She shot up. Gen held the sheets to her chest as her heart hammered. She glanced around the foreign room as all of the previous night flooded back to her. Had it all really happened? Had she held a strange man as he cried? Had he really not made a move on her all night?

Genevieve glanced around the room but he was nowhere to be found. She skimmed her hands down her naked torso where the only skin covered was thanks to her bra. She tried to remember when she’d taken his hoodie off. Gen walked around the room and searched for her purse and phone. Fuck. They were downstairs in his coat closet. She found her dress in the bathroom and shimmied the tight fabric up her body. She threw her hair up in a bun and groaned at her reflection. She would have to do the walk of shame to her own sister’s wedding. Jada! She didn’t even know what time it was!

“Fuck!” Gen cursed.

Gen quietly shuffled out of the room. She leaned against the wall and listened. She thought she heard the clattering of pans and carefully stepped down the stairs. She looked down the hall and smelled bacon frying. She opened the coat closet and took her coat before fishing her phone out of her purse. She had 17 missed calls and 28 text notifications. She hurriedly scanned through the texts from her sister demanding to know where she was and if she was okay.

The last text read: That’s it, Genevieve Belle Sinclair! If you aren’t here in thirty minutes I’m calling the cops!

“Shit,” Gen muttered under breath. She sent a quick text to her sister.

I’m fine! Don’t call the cops! I need to run by my hotel and I’ll be there in an hour!

She watched the bubbles appear from her sister and disappear. Thank, God! I thought he had killed you!! Get here NOW! IT’S MY EFFING WEDDING AND MALLORY IS DRIVING ME INSANE!!

Gen smiled and then glanced down the hallway. She looked to her right at the door. She could just sneak out. Wasn’t that customary for a one night stand? Was it a one night stand? She thought about what he said the night before, how he would receive a notification if the door was opened from the inside. She sighed and put herself in his shoes. Last night wasn’t a one-night-stand. She owed him a goodbye at least.

Gen made her way down the hall and realized he was humming. She stepped in the doorway to find him with his back toward her. He was wearing the hoodie she’d fallen asleep in the night before but no pants. His black boxer-briefs were snug against his thighs and butt and she tried to repress the memory of the feel of his thighs beneath her own.

“Good morning, Beautiful, how did you sleep?” Matteo asked with his back still turned.

“Uh, fine I guess, look I hate to do this but I…” Gen started.

Matteo turned and Gen sucked in a breath at the sight of his genuine smile. She had been right the night before, his smile left her knees wobbling and heart palpitating in her chest. Was this the same guy? Did he have a dimple?! He chuckled at her expression as he placed the plate of bacon on the kitchen island.

“I…”

“Have to leave?” he finished for her. She watched transfixed as he began assembling a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel sandwich. He wrapped the bagel in parchment and strode over to her. “I made you something to go.”

Gen stared down at the bagel he held out for her. She felt her brows scrunch together in confusion. “Matteo…” His smile spread to a grin and her confusion mounted at the genuine happiness shining in his eyes. “Last night, I was certain you were going to…”

“I told you I wouldn’t,” he whispered, his eyes full of understanding.

“Right, of course, I know but…” Gen shook her head. She wasn’t usually this lost for words. Of course she usually didn’t find herself standing in front of a half-naked man she’d spent the night with who didn’t even know her real name.

Matteo leaned back against the kitchen island and set the bagel beside him. “Don’t think I didn’t want to. I thought having you beside me would help me sleep but…” His green, brown eyes traveled down her body, over her breasts, lingering on the narrowest portion of her waist. His eyes flicked up and she saw the lick of desire ignite in them. “My body betrayed me when you stripped off my hoodie and started rubbing against me.”

Gen’s face flamed in embarrassment. “Oh God. So you didn’t even get to sleep?” she asked, exacerbated.

Matteo chuckled. “Watching you dream about me was far more enjoyable.”

“I wasn’t…”

“You moaned my name, Sweetheart.”

He reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out his phone. He glanced down at it and read the message. A flash of disappointment crossed his expression and he looked up at her.

“Uh, your taxi is here.”

“You called me a taxi?” she asked. He took the last few steps toward her and held the bagel out for her. “Thank you.”

He shrugged his shoulders and buried his hands in his hoodie pocket. “I’m not used to having women over but even I know it’s the gentlemanly thing to hire a cab to take you home. The wedding is only two hours from now, right?” He tentatively reached his hand out to brush some of her hair behind her shoulder. She nodded her head, still in shock. “Come on then.”

Gen followed him down the hall to the door. He held it open for her and sure enough a yellow taxi was idling by the curb behind his Range Rover. Her heart did a squeeze as she turned to face him. She didn’t know how to say goodbye to a man like him.

“Goodbye, Matteo,” Gen said, holding her hand out.

Matteo watched her hand extend, coil in on itself and retract. His eyes flicked up and he wet his lips with his tongue. “There’s one problem we still have to resolve before you leave.”

Gen’s brows scrunched together as he held a finger up to the cab driver. When his attention focused back on her, the intensity of his look made her shiver. He stepped toward her and Gen instinctively stepped back. Rather than deter him, his look turned even more predatory.

“What does your bridesmaids dress look like?” he asked, still advancing.

“Uh… navy blue?”

He smirked as she hit the wall of the foyer, nowhere else to go. He flattened a palm beside her head, caging her in.

“How far down does it go?” he asked, slowly tracing his finger from her collarbone down toward her breasts. Her breathing picked up as his finger traced a scorching path downward.

“There,” she gasped as his finger landed on the supple flesh of her breast.

His eyes flicked down and she felt his finger move side to side as if he was marking it for later. The moment his eyes lifted, he cupped her neck and his lips met hers. Matteo breathed in her shocked gasp as his lips masterfully worked against hers. Gen dropped her purse so she could fist his hoodie in her hands and pull him closer. A low growl of approval rumbled in his chest. Fuck, he was a good kisser. If she had nothing else to remember from this night, she would never forget the way his supple lips felt or how his tongue forced its way inside to tangle with hers.

He pulled away and she gasped as his lips moved to her neck. Her breathing escaped in little pants as he moved downward, then she felt his teeth. Gen bucked against him and ran her fingers through his silky hair, pulling him closer as he sucked on the sensitive skin of her chest. A moment passed before he pulled away and pinned her to the wall with his weight. They were both breathing heavily and she knew if he had kissed her the night before, there would be far more for her to digest than just having slept beside him in that bed.

His harsh breathing fanned her ear and he groaned as he pushed his erection against her hip, making her tremble. “Now, we’re done. Proof we spent the night together.”

Matteo pulled away, and as if he couldn’t help it he placed one last delicate kiss on her lips before he took a sharp step backward. A breeze blew into the foyer causing her to shiver in the thin coat she’d been wearing the night before. His brows scrunched down in concern. Before she could stop him he was pulling the hoodie over his head and practically strangling her with it as he tried to get it on her. She was immediately enveloped in the now familiar heedy scent of his tobacco and honey that was all his.

Gen opened her mouth to refuse his offering when he leaned toward her and surprised her with a gentle kiss on her cheek. His thumbs rubbed her hips beneath his hoodie.

“I wish I could see you in your dress. I’m sure you will be devastating,” he whispered against her ear. “Have fun.”

Matteo stepped back again and leaned against the doorjam in nothing but his boxers. Her face flamed as she whispered a sorrowful goodbye. She went down the steps and walked up to the taxi. She opened the door and risked one last glance back. He continued to watch her from his stoop with an expression of longing and resolve. She gave a light wave and then ducked into the taxi. As soon as the door closed she brought the hoodie to her nose and inhaled deep.

“Where to, Miss? The gentleman said he didn’t know,” the older taxi driver asked as he pulled away from the curb.

Gen kept her eyes on her mystery man who watched her from the doorway until they took a right headed downtown.

“The Four Seasons, please,” she finally answered.

Gen sat back in her seat and stuck her hands in the pocket of his hoodie. She felt a small slip of paper and pulled it out.

Matteo

555-772-9841

Gen stared down at the piece of paper. Her heart wrenched. She never told him she didn’t live in New York or that she would never see him again. She figured he would know what happened was only meant to be a one time thing. Gen let out a sigh and rolled the window down. She ripped the note in half and let it flutter out into the cold air. She closed her eyes and fell back on the seat. She knew she would never see Matteo again and she wondered why that thought hurt more than any break up ever had.