A shudder runs down my spine at his words, fueling the fire inside me.
What might have been an innocent spell the first time we met feels like more of a curse now. Doing this with him, allowing him to touch me at all, is forbidden, and we both know it. So then why does it feel so good . . . so right?
The pressure lifts off my neck, but Matteo keeps his hand in place. “Let’s try this again, shall we? Do you know who I am?”
This time I can swallow, and I have to do so several times before I can talk. “I know your name.”
He contemplates that for a moment, his eyes boring into mine. “Did Alessandra just tell you?”
My stomach tightens at the mention of my cousin’s name, but I push the strange feeling aside. “Yes.”
I don’t tell him that I heard whispers at the reception about a Matteo Santarossa being seen at my wedding, or the fact I googled him later that night. I didn’t find a lot of information anyway, just a name and photo of him and his father at some social event a while ago, but it allowed me to put a name to his face. I also made sure he wasn’t a serial killer or something else crazy, at least not that the public knew about.
He nods at my answer. “She’s a couple years older than you, so she probably remembers me from before I left.”
“Left?”
“Yes.”
I huff out a breath at his refusal to elaborate. “Where did you go?”
His teeth bite into his bottom lip as if my irritation is amusing to him but he’s trying not to show it. “Nowhere and everywhere.”
My gaze is fixated on his lips, my mind replaying the way he just bit into it.
I shuffle my feet and shake my fist at myself—only in my head, of course.
Figures that the first man I’m attracted to is a cryptic stranger I know almost nothing about.
“Stop looking at me like that, passerotta.” The words come out clipped, but even that’s not enough to snap me out of my daze.
This inner sex goddess he’s awakened is out and ready to play. She makes me want to rub myself all over this mountain of a man, no matter how wrong or dirty that is.
The more I think about it, the better the idea sounds.
Apparently, all common sense has left my brain because I lean in and stare him straight in the eye. “Or what?”
I see the exact instant something snaps inside him. His eyes flare with so much heat they might burn me alive, but I’m here for it.
And I’m ready.
My mouth opens right before his lips crash on mine. He devours me, there’s no other way to describe it. He moves my head until it’s tilted exactly the way he wants it, and his lips move against mine with so much skill, I moan into his mouth. His tongue tangles with mine in such an erotic way that I know my panties are already damp.
The groan he makes reverberates through my whole body, and I reach out with my hands to steady myself. How I go from wanting to balance myself to my fingers tangled deeply into the hair at the back of his head, is a bit of a mystery.
What I’m finally understanding is how people can be obsessed with kissing. Ally has told me before how much she loves it, but since both kisses I’d had weren’t memorable, I thought it might not be my thing.
But one thing’s for sure, I will never forget the way Matteo kisses me, not in this life or the next. It’s imprinted into my veins and will continue to live there forever.
He pulls back, our heavy breaths filling the air around us. “You taste just as good as I remembered.”
What is someone supposed to say to that?
I tighten my hands in his hair, the ache in my core growing to monumental heights.
So I do what any self-respecting woman who’s been accosted by the same handsome stranger for a second time would do: I grind against him, frustrated that my dress won’t allow me to alleviate this blazing need inside me.
A growl escapes his mouth. “My control is only so strong. I’m trying to be a gentleman and to not fuck you up against the wall right now.”