Claiming My Bride of Convenience by Kate Hewitt

Author:Kate Hewitt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2019-07-10T12:27:18+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

I LAY IN THE DARK, staring up at the ceiling, feeling entirely out of sorts. I’d known it would be strange...coming here, being with Matteo...but I hadn’t been prepared for how strange—or, more alarmingly, how the yearning in me would feel like an empty well that desperately needed filling.

This afternoon in the sunshine felt like a very long time ago, rather than just a few hours. Coming to this sterile, stately apartment had reminded me just how much of a blank slate Matteo was—a deliberately blank state, with him not wanting to be known, never mind loved. And of course I didn’t love him. Because I couldn’t even get to know him.

And yet I still yearned. I saw glimpses of his kindness, felt the sun-warmed kiss of his approval, and my heart turned right over as my hopes started to soar. Those glimpses were so little, and yet somehow they almost seemed enough, and that scared me. I’d always known I wanted love. I’d felt that hunger and I’d made it a hope, a happiness.

One day...

Accepting Matteo’s proposal three years ago had put that hope on hold, naturally, but it hadn’t killed it. Even though life had done its best to beat it out of me, I’d held on to it all along. Against all odds. Against all reason.

One day...

And now here I was, letting that treacherous little seedling unfurl inside me and start to grow, even though I knew it shouldn’t. It absolutely shouldn’t. Because Matteo Dias, husband or not, was just about the last person who would ever love me. And more fool me if I loved him anyway, or tried to, simply because he paid me some scant attention.

I sighed heavily, turning over on my side, knowing sleep would be a long time coming as my thoughts continued their crazy dance of no, you shouldn’t and if only he did, with no answers in sight except the obvious one.

Be sensible, Daisy. Keep your head squarely on your shoulders for two weeks and then walk away!

Or rather, run.

I tensed as I heard the door click open, and then the quiet, slithery sound of clothes being shed as Matteo came into the room and began to undress. First the clink of his belt buckle and then the purr of his zipper, as loud as a car engine in the thick silence of the darkened room.

My heart lurched into my throat and my whole body tingled. Not with fear or nervousness, but with what I knew—much to my shame as well as my excitement—was anticipation. Electric, erotic anticipation.

I remained entirely still, determined to act as if I were asleep, even as tension twanged through every muscle and sinew and my nerve endings sizzled. The bed had to be at least five feet wide. As Matteo had said, there was plenty of space for both of us...which was more disappointment than not.

And yet...a bed. A bed that we were sharing. I’d never shared a bed with anyone but my grandmother before.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.