Sitting in the coffee shop not far from the counter, I kept glancing at Matteo’s umbrella and jacket.
They lay on the chair, and I stared at them as if they were a venomous snake that could bite at any moment.
Or as if they were something far worse.
Every time I crossed paths with Matteo, I hoped it wouldn’t happen again—yet by now I had accumulated too many of his things.
The umbrella, the jacket, and that bracelet he’d left in my bedroom.
I still couldn’t tell whether it was real gold or just nice costume jewelry, but either way I needed to return all of it.
My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out.
Because of the downpour, there were no customers at all.
I had already washed every dish, polished the glasses, and arranged the syrups in perfect order.
I deeply regretted not bringing my textbooks and no longer knew what to do with myself, though I would have been glad to text someone.
Looking at the screen, I saw a message from Dante.
A smile appeared on my lips of its own accord, and a pleasant, sharp warmth spread through my body.
Against my will, memories flared of a couple of days ago when I had gone into the storeroom for empty boxes and Dante had followed me in.
He’d closed the door.
We both knew we only had a few minutes before we had to return to the shop, but in the complete darkness his kisses—first on my lips, then on my neck—burned.
His hands gripping my ass and waist drove me crazy.
“Did you get soaked?
There’s a hell of a downpour outside.” I shifted on the chair and threw another quick glance at the jacket and umbrella.
Then I deliberately turned away from them, though for some reason a heavy, ugly feeling settled in my chest.
I tapped my index finger on the counter and typed a reply: “No.
I’m in the coffee shop almost the whole time.” Should I tell Dante about Matteo?
Absolutely.
If I were in Dante’s place, I would want to know what was going on in my partner’s life.
But damn it, I was afraid.
Dante was tall and had a solid build—after all, he was captain of the basketball team and spent a lot of time in the gym—but Matteo was in a completely different power class.
He clearly had a hundred kilos of pure muscle.
No wonder Cesare had hired him as his bodyguard.
It wasn’t even about who was physically stronger, though.
Matteo came from the criminal world, and those people were all cruel and unhinged.
And whoever he was in his clan—even if he was just a bodyguard—he was still part of his mafia “family.” If one of them didn’t like you, none of them did.
I didn’t want to drag Dante into anything like that.
“Let me pick you up after your shift and take you home.” I shifted on the chair again.
How badly I wanted to say yes—but for now it really was better if we limited our contact.
“You shouldn’t, but thanks for the offer.” “And why are you refusing?
Think I’ll get under your clothes in the back seat of my car?
Because that’s exactly what I was planning to do.” I bit hard on the tip of my tongue.
I wouldn’t say the thought of intimacy didn’t scare me a little.
After all, it was something new and unfamiliar for me, and naturally a bit frightening.
But damn it, I was a young woman with a gorgeous boyfriend.
Of course desire arose.
And it was sharp enough that I really wouldn’t have minded ending up with Dante in the back seat of his car somewhere deserted.
Kisses, heated touches.
I was sure I would like it.
But damn it again—because of Matteo, I had to deny myself that.
I exhaled noisily, almost sadly, then typed a reply, “Sounds tempting, but sorry—I already promised a friend we’d meet right after my shift.
Unfortunately she’s already on her way here, and I can’t cancel.” A lie.
Another goddamn lie.
How unpleasant it felt to use one on someone close to me.
It was as if the lie itself made me dirty.
We texted a little longer, then I went to mop the floors.
My shift was almost over.
Soon I’d have to close the coffee shop.
But before I picked up the mop, I looked at the umbrella and jacket again.
I exhaled heavily, carefully folded them, and put them into my cloth bag.
No matter how I felt about Matteo and his things, leaving them hadn’t been a hostile gesture on his part.
So I needed to return them carefully—and try once more to talk to him, so he would finally leave me alone.