Page 77 of The Fall Affair

“Thank you for listening to me.”

“No problema,” Cassie said. “See? I’m already brushing up on my Italian. But now you have to pick up tomorrow when I call to complain about my mother-in-law. Even if you’re still in recovery from finally banging the Italian stallion.”

I laughed. “Bye, Cass.”

“Good luck!”

It took me an hour to get up the courage to talk to Matteo, though I tossed around texting him for most of that time. Ultimately, I decided that was taking the cowardly way out, and this was something I needed to do in person. So I showered and blew out my hair, put on some makeup, and took a deep breath before going next door.

It was only four o’clock, so his crew was still working in the field. Tomasso flashed a flirty grin when I approached.

“Ciao,” I greeted. “Do you know where Matteo is?”

He pouted playfully and put a hand over his heart. “And here I thought you were coming to see me.”

I chuckled. “Is he around?”

Tomasso gestured to the detached garage on the side of the house. “He’s-a fixing a sprinkler head.”

“Thanks.”

The walk to the garage felt a bit like walking the plank. My legs were shaky, and I had no idea what was going to happen once I took that last step. The door was open, and as I approached, the smell of burning metal permeated the air. Matteo was standing at a work bench with some sort of a mask covering his face. His shirtsleeves were rolled up, and he had a lit torch in one hand and a small object in the other. I didn’t want to interrupt while he was literally playing with fire, so I waited. When he finished what he was doing, he looked up. Removing the mask from his face, he brushed his messy dark hair from his forehead and offered a small, surprised smile. “Ciao”

“Ciao.” I took a few more steps, and whatever I’d planned to say on the walk over suddenly disappeared from my mind. For a moment, neither of us spoke. My heart raced so fast, I wasn’t sure how to steady it. Eventually, I decided maybe I’d relax after I got this over with, so I was better off just ripping off the Band-Aid.

“I—I wanted to apologize again for the other day.”

Matteo studied me before grabbing a rag and wiping his hands. “That’s not necessary. You should never apologize for being honest.”

I looked down and shook my head. “The thing is, I wasn’t completely honest with you.” I paused. “Or myself.”

“Okay…”

I took a deep breath and raised my eyes. “You scare me, Matteo.”

He smiled, then closed the distance between us. I was a ball of nerves, but the minute he stroked my hair, my entire body let it go. No massage had ever worked that well.

Matteo slipped two fingers under my chin and lifted my face until our eyes met. “I’ve missed you like crazy.”

My heart melted. “I missed you, too.”

“Have dinner with me tonight?”

I loved that all I had to do was tell him I was scared, and he immediately picked up where we’d left off. I smiled. “Okay.”

“Go out or stay in?”

After four days away from him, I didn’t want to share him with anyone. “Let’s stay in.”

He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I’ll cook, yes?”

And just like that, the world shifted, and everything was level again. Jesus, why hadn’t I come over four days ago? “Thank you for not making me grovel.”

His eyes sparkled. “You’re welcome. Though I have to admit, I might enjoy making you beg in the future.”

I laughed, a little breathless and more than a little turned on. “What time?”

“How about eight? Looks like I’m going to have to take a drive after the picking day ends. The part I was trying to fix can’t be repaired.”