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But Abby wanted more than a part-time lover as her first and he respected that.
Matteo didn’t like it but, yes, given that she had waited so long, he understood that she might want a little more than the occasional phone call, or the promise of more when he arrived in Monte Carlo.
The easiest thing now would be to turn off the alarm, cancel the jet, kiss her awake and let her team start to work on dismantling the car, as he set to work on the walls that came between them.
Yet he lay there, staring up at the ceiling and remembering the promise he had made a very long time ago.
Oh, Matteo loved a gamble but as he looked over to where she was waking he knew that the stakes were too high.
He wasn’t going to risk hurting an already damaged heart.
‘You have to go?’ Abby said.
She had woken to the pensive air and guessed he was wondering how to politely kiss and leave.
‘I do,’ Matteo said. ‘And you’ve got a car to dismantle.’
Abby lay listening to Matteo in the shower and she knew she’d been right to hold back.
She didn’t regret what had happened, but it did change things irrevocably.
There was an unfamiliar hollow feeling inside her because what had taken place last night felt very different this morning. There was little closene
ss now as Matteo came into the bedroom and quickly dressed.
‘If you need anything for Monte Carlo...’
‘We’re pretty much sorted,’ she said.
‘Good,’ he said. ‘Well, if Pedro wants...’
‘He’s going to Rome with Bernadette for a few days,’ Abby interrupted. ‘The team will all be together again five days before the race.’
‘I might not be able to get there until the day or so before.’
‘Or an hour or so before,’ Abby said.
‘I didn’t say that.’
‘You didn’t have to.’
‘I’ll just see what happens with work.’
It was a horrible end to a blissful night. He went to kiss her but she just turned her face away and, in truth, he was relieved she did.
He simply couldn’t go through the motions with Abby, even in that.
Matteo was glad she’d insisted on no sex last night. He’d promised to sleep with her, no strings attached.
For the first time, Matteo wondered if he’d be able to.
It was surely better to stay back.
* * *
He didn’t call.
Abby knew that he wouldn’t. Matteo was a master at setting his boundaries, and that he wouldn’t do relationships was his big one.
