Chapter 28

**Lily**

“Please stay.”, he said softly. It wasn’t so much a question, but it did feel like one.

“For dinner?”, I asked him, as he guided me into the bathroom to clean up. He pulled me into his arms and smelled my hair. “Forever.”, he answered.

I decided to ignore his answer, but I wiggled myself out of his arms to take a washcloth to clean up his sperm running down my legs. He took the washcloth out of my hands and got on his knees to clean me up. Softly, he washed my inner thighs clean. The way he acted now was a complete 180 to the way he fucked me earlier. Oddly, I liked this combination. I heard him chuckle.

“Strangely, I like to see my sperm running down your thighs. Like I claimed you.”, he explained. “Like you are mine.”, he added. He stood back up and kissed me softly on my lips.

I wanted to tell him that I was his. It felt like I was his, but for some reason I could not form the words with my mouth. The feeling that he gave me did scare me. A lot.

“Let’s go down for dinner.”, he said, and he took my hand to guide me downstairs. The vulnerability he showed earlier disappeared, and it seemed as if a mask slid over his face.

We went back to the place where Guilia and I sat before, but the table was now set for dinner. Some of the people that I met over lunch were there as well, and some new people.

“Lily, please meet Vita and Ennio, my sister and brother. This is Valeria, Ennio’s wife, Vico, Renzo, and Guilia you know of course.”, Matteo introduced the people that were already waiting for us to join. I sat down next to Guilia and Renzo because there were no two chairs empty next to each other.

It was clear that these people knew each other extremely well. I guessed they needed to if they lived together on the same property. Somewhere, it sounded a bit odd to me though. Brothers and sisters living so incredibly close together, even though Vita and Ennio were married. I didn’t have any siblings, but even I felt this close might hurt my privacy. But whatever floats their boat, I wasn’t going to judge this.

“So, Lily, what’s your story?”, the man introduced as Renzo asked me. Another tall, dark, and handsome man, though he seemed younger than Matteo. And definitely flirtier than Matteo.

“Not much of a story, really.”, I spoke coyly. “I grew up with my mom, who was a single parent. I have no siblings and I have never known my dad. Mom and I were a tight unit together. I got my university degree in business.”, I summed up for them. I didn’t feel right sharing more details of my life. Not when I was in the process of figuring out that everything, I thought I knew turned out to be false.

“You and your mom were? As in past tense?”, Vita asked sympathetically. I nodded.

“Yes, she died a few months ago. They said it was an aneurysm, it happened suddenly.”, I elaborated. I looked down at my food, not wanting to face any of them and see the pity on their faces. Not even Matteo’s.

“I’m sorry.”, Vita said. I smiled quickly in appreciation, but I kept my eyes down on my plate.

“Okay…”, Renzo tried to lighten the mood, which I appreciated a lot. I didn’t mean to bring it down in the first place. “So, what have you and Matteo been up to?”, he asked with a devilish smirk on his lips. So, that’s the other subject I didn’t like talking about.

“I don’t kiss and tell.”, I answered back. When I looked over at Matteo, I saw his mouth open as if he wanted to say something, but I had beaten him to it. He didn’t look angry though, so I must have said the right thing.

“Oh, come on! Not another one of those!”, Renzo complained. “You can tell me though, is he any good in the sack?”, he whispered loudly, pretending he was whispering in my ear. It was clearly supposed to be heard by Matteo, though. I grinned at his antics, realizing that he wasn’t trying to embarrass me, but that he wanted to get a reaction out of Matteo.

I pretended to zip my mouth closed, and Renzo laughed. He patted my shoulder. “I figured as much; the guy has had a dry spell for a long time. I bet he can’t get it up anymore, right?”, he asked me connivingly.

I nearly spit the wine out of my mouth at the shock of him daring to say that. I mean, I get that they are close, but Matteo is still the head of the company. So, either you have an extremely good relationship with him, or Renzo just stirred the beast.

Judging by the look on Matteo’s face, it was the latter.

“It’s okay though. If you need relief in that sense, come and find me.”, Renzo added with a wink. Though, he wasn’t looking at me. There was a taunting look in his eyes towards Matteo. The others were deterring to laugh or to just stay silent, waiting for Matteo’s reaction.

“Renzo, you’re in trouble.”, Matteo stated with a deadly calm voice. There was a menacing quality to it, and it made me shiver. I had no idea what Matteo meant by it, but I think everyone else did, because there were some hisses from around the table. I guess something bad will come Renzo’s way.

I looked over at Renzo, and his face was pale like he had just seen a ghost. I didn’t feel sorry for him though, he brought this to himself without me doing anything. I think he had hoped for a different reaction from Matteo though.

“Here, your tea.”, Vita said as she handed me my mug of tea. She placed herself with her back against the railing of the porch. I was leaning on that railing, looking at the amazing view. It had gotten a bit chillier, so the heat of the tea was welcome. We stood there silently for a few minutes.

Immediately after dinner, Matteo dragged Renzo over to somewhere inside the house. Probably handing him the trouble he got himself into.

“It is beautiful out here.”, I said dreamily. Vita turned around to look at the view as well.

“Yes. The estate was a present to my mom from my dad when they got married.”, she shared. It was probably the most intimate detail that any of the group had shared with me during the day. The conversation was nice, but not very informative.

“She must have loved it!”, I replied. Vita nodded.

“Yes, she did. They both passed away a couple of years ago.”, she said.

“I’m sorry. Guilia told me earlier”, I said weakly. Vita literally waved it away.

Vita stood there, staring out to the property. “It was hard on all of us. But I had Luciano, and Ennio had Valeria to lean on. Matteo…”, she didn’t finish her sentence. It was like she wanted to tell me something, but I could tell something was holding her back.

“Guilia mentioned you all live on the estate.”, I started my question. I was too curious not to ask. Vita nodded. “It seems like an invasion of privacy to me, to be honest.”

Vita grinned. “I’m sure Matteo feels like that as well.”, she chuckled. “We have always been close, we grew up together. For us it makes sense. We have some unwritten rules though.”, she explained seriously.

Vita’s phone buzzed, and she checked it immediately. “Matteo is preoccupied, so let me call you a driver to bring you back home.”, she said. I felt a twinge of disappointment, but I nodded anyways. Somewhere I didn’t want to seem too eager when it came to spending time with Matteo. Not to play hard to get, but to protect my own heart. He was saying some sweet things today, but it might just be a spur of the moment kind of thing.

I leaned back in the car seat while someone drove me home, letting the day pass through my mind. My feelings were all over the place, and I struggled to make sense of them. If I really wanted to be honest to myself, there was this extra thing I felt when I was around Matteo that wasn’t there with Tommaso. I just didn’t know whether I was ready to be honest with myself.

*‘Let’s go dancing this weekend!’*, I sent to Emma and Norah. Apart from going running, dancing was the only other thing that could help me sort out my thoughts.