“With all due respect, maybe she knows she can’t mentally handle it, and maybe you should listen to her.”
“I want to like you, Matteo, but that shit right there—”
“Is difficult to accept.”
Anger evident, he stands up. “You’re not listening to me, kid, and I’m listening just fucking fine! This tantrum was sprung on by the fact that some Italian tabloid has a story about a woman who said you broke an engagement with! This tantrum was about how I have to let her stay.”
“The engagement never came to fruition. I fell in love, and she accepts me for who I am.”
“A man who was engaged then fell in love with a beautiful and talented seventeen-year-old?”
The door is opened, and Tris storms in, holding up a key card. “New trick.”
I can’t help but smile, but it falls when she yells at her father, “Don’t draw lines, Dad. You won’t like which side I stand on.”
“I have until November, young lady.”
“Yeah, well, good luck getting me on a plane with no passport. I tossed it in the garbage.” She throws her hands in the air. “Now what?”
“Well, Tris, I didn’t just hop on the parenting wagon. I have another. So, back at ya, kid.”
“What are you gonna do? Drag me kicking and—”
“Whatever it takes. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
I didn’t want to do this so soon, but apparently, it is necessary.
“If I could request that you and Mrs. Steel attend a meeting tomorrow in Rome with my attorney, I think …” I pause as my head begins to feel light.
“Matteo?”
I hold up a finger, stopping her, and then I walk back and sit down.
“Are you okay?”
“Of course.” I smile and look at her father. “I’d like the two of you to sign an NDA—”
“They don’t have to know!” Tris yells … at me.
“They do. It’s only right.”
“The fuck is going on?” Zandor snarls.
“The marriage to Gabrielle would have been one of convenience. And I’ll explain once you’ve met with Carlos.”
“Matteo, no.”
“Tris, there will be no lines, and there will be no lies.” I stand up. “I’m going to lie down for a bit. Tris, would you mind postponing our date until later?”
“We’re leaving tomorrow,” Zandor snaps.
“I’d like you to wait until after we’ve had our discussion.”
“Let’s have it now, then,” he insists.
“I apologize, but things must be done properly.”
“My fucking word is—”
“Dad! He asked for one day. One.”
He gives her a hard look.
“My and Brisa can fly back with everyone else. One day, Dad, please.”
“Fine.”
“Now, can you just go?”
“You expect me to leave you in a hotel—”
“Yes. As a matter-of-fact, I insist. Because, unlike Matteo, I’m not caving to you.”
“Tris, it’s fine.”
“No, Matteo, it’s not. You took care of me yesterday, and I’m gonna do the same.”
“Tris, what—”
“My God, Dad, can you just trust me? For once, can you just look at me and see I am okay?”
“You have an hour.” He turns and walks to the door then opens it.
“Hey,” she calls after him, hurrying to him. She holds out the key card. “If I fall asleep, or if my phone dies, use this. But stop freaking out, okay?”
He takes it, turns, and opens the door.
“And, Dad?”
He looks back at her.
“I love you, and I swear I’m fine. Getting better every day.”
He turns and grabs her up. “Love you, Tris.”
The way he hugs her is beautiful.
First Date
Tris
“Best first date ever.” I laugh as I close the app after my emergency session with Marley.
Smiling, he feeds me a spoonful of the cherry dessert.
“The Italian ice or the therapy?”
Holding my hand in front of my mouth so I can speak without showing him its contents, I answer, “The Italian ice, a five out of five. The therapy? Ask me after we talk to Dad and Mom.”
“It will be fine.”
“I just hope they understand that I don’t care if we have two years or a hundred and two.” I have told him this a dozen times today, because that’s the reality of the situation.
“Make a wish.” He chuckles. “Are you sure she can be trusted? Have you seen her certificate?”
I start to answer, and he shoves another scoopful in my mouth. “No fair.”
“Is this degree from a reputable institution?”
I shrug as I swallow the spoonful and lean back.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“You’re not playing fair.”
“All is fair in love is it not?” he pulls me closer than before and holds the spoon up.
I lean back. “I think you’re trying to fatten me up.”
“The reality is much simpler than that.”
“Is that so?”
“I love putting things in your mouth.”
My jaw drops, because every time I have even attempted to make sexual innuendos previously, he blocked them like a professional defense player.
He places the spoon on my tongue and rubs it back and forth slowly.
“Your mouth is stunning. Your lips are like pillows, tongue so … seductive. You make me want again, mi corazón.”
I lean back. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t ever be. Just know that, if you ever decide you’d like to be intimate with me—”
“I understand that you can’t and accept—”
He sets down the Italian ice and spoon, leans forward, pushes my hair away from my face, and looks me in the eyes. “I can be. I just need to visit the physician and have things changed a bit.”
“Is that safe?”
He smiles as he runs his thumb across my lips, and then he licks the pad. “Just a couple weeks of adjusting to things and making sure.”
“Wait—what does that mean? Making sure?”
“Medication switches, some downtime to adjust to them.”
“Okay, explain.”
“Like any medication, at first, they can make you not feel well.”
“Sex is that important that you would make yourself physically ill?”
He smiles, and its insanely … sexy.
“You say that because you’ve yet to have it with me.”
“Wow, that good, huh? Modest, too.” I say this in a sarcastic manner. However, deep down, I would love to feel him everywhere.
“I also want you to make sure that you truly are ready for intimacy on that level again. I want nothing we experience together to burden your soul.”
“I like sex.”
Liar, you’re a fiend.
He smiles. “Your eyes tell me so.”
“Yeah, well …” I shrug.