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I tasted the ice cream lingering on his lips, and it turns out, I didn’t mind the blended taste of chocolate and cotton candy so long as I was tasting him. I leaned into him with a soft, low moan. His fingers tightened, digging into my neck as he implored me for more with his tongue. Mine swept against his as my hands slid up his chest and clung to the lapels of his jacket. Our bodies pressed together as the kiss lingered. I savored every second, drinking in his taste as I tried to commit it to memory.
His other arm slipped around my waist, holding me tighter as our tongues swept and danced with one another. I wanted more of this. I wanted to give myself over completely and hoped he would pick me up and claim me right here. But he didn’t. Instead, his phone broke the moment, and he sighed in frustration as he pulled away.
“Sorry, I have to take this.” He pulled it out, waving it at me before stepping toward the door and heading out onto the sidewalk.
Something about the urgency with which he turned to his phone left a knot in my stomach. My sixth sense recognized it as a red flag, but I’d always been good at talking myself out of my doubts.
When another couple rose from a bistro table, I grabbed it for us, watching Matteo through the window as he took his call. His features shifted several times as he spoke, but what caught me off-guard was how his mouth reverted to his crooked smile when he caught me looking at him.
That had to be a good sign that he liked me, right?Damn.I should’ve been wondering if he was the mobster from the phone, not if he liked me. I resisted the urge to pull out my phone and text my best friend to seek her opinion on this sudden change in my love life. My jewelry was delicate, but I was not, which was a turn-off for most guys.
Finally, the door opened, and Matteo strode toward me. “Sorry about that. Work stuff.” He folded himself into the chair, looking comically large in it compared to the other patrons. He pulled his cup toward him and scrutinized it. “Did you help yourself to this?” He looked up, an amused, almost playful look flickering in his eyes.
“What? Me? Never!” I gave him my best flirtatious grin and licked my ice cream again. “So, what do you do for work?”
“I’m in the family business.”
“Is this what you always wanted to do?”
The question surprised him as if he’d never considered it before. He methodically fiddled with his ice cream, swirling it mindlessly in the cup as he considered his answer. “I knew I would go into the family business, so everything else seemed a moot point. No sense in dwelling on something I couldn’t change, you know?” He looked up, a soft vulnerability in his eyes before they hardened again.
“And now? If you thought about it, is there something you would rather do?”
“I don’t know. Nothing else appeals to me.” He scooped some ice cream and brought it to his mouth.
The action was distracting as his mouth puckered, and my mind filled with all the other things he could be doing with those lips instead of eating ice cream. How would they feel making their way down my neck and along the curve of my shoulder? The mere thought sent shivers down my spine. I had no doubt those lips could make a girl’s toes curl. My fingers tightened instinctively around my cone, and it took a conscious effort to swallow as I forced the lustful thoughts aside to refocus on the conversation.
“Eden?”
I looked up, blinking and blushing at being caught so blatantly fantasizing about him.
If he knew what I was thinking, he didn’t let on as he repeated his question. “Did you always want to make jewelry?”
“No, not always. I also expected to go into the family business for a while, but my dad died unexpectedly a couple of months ago, and I decided it wasn’t something I wanted, so I took my side hustle and tried to go full-time with it while I had a small inheritance to support me.”
“What about your mom?”
“My mom bailed when I was younger.” I didn’t like talking about it, so I changed the topic quickly. “Do you have any siblings?”
“A few brothers and a couple of sisters.”
“If they look like you, they must be ugly,” I teased.
He laughed, and I appreciated the sound, as rare as it was. “My youngest brother is the good-looking one.”
I arched an eyebrow. If he considered his brother better-looking than him, he must be devastating. “And you’re the eldest?”
He nodded, taking a slow bite of his ice cream. “Do you have siblings?”
“Only the ones I choose. You can’t choose your family, but you can choose your friends,” I elaborated at his confused expression. “My best friend is like a sister to me.”
“Ah, I see. So, you’re all alone.”
Alarm bells rang in the back of my mind at how he said that, but I ignored them and nodded my head stupidly.
“I’ve always wondered what that was like. I’ve been surrounded by family, butlers, housekeepers, a chef, etcetera, all my life.”
“Butlers? Housekeepers? A chef? How rich are you?”
