Chapter Twenty-Three
Genevieve gasped when the banging started. She glanced over at her clock which read 12:30. She quickly put her vibrator on her bedside table and fixed the tank top she’d managed to tangle about her shoulders. She grabbed the bat sitting by her bedroom door and walked cautiously down the hall toward the main living area where she could see the door.
Whoever it was knocked again, this time even louder. Who could be knocking this late? One reason why she chose this apartment was it had state-of-the-art security. She’d gotten the full walk through from the security man at the front door. He’d shown her how to use the alarm system in the apartment while explaining no one could get into the building without express permission from one of the tenants. Even then the tenant had to come down themselves to let the guest in. By the end of his spiel, she’d felt safer than ever before. Yet…
The banging came again and she ran across the room on the balls of her feet to keep as quiet as possible. She gulped before standing on her toes to look out the peephole. Gen’s eyes narrowed. There was no way. She flipped the night latch dead bolt, turned over the flip lock, undid the slide lock, unlocked the deadbolt and disarmed the security system. She opened the door and Matteo looked up.
When his eyes flicked up, she dropped the bat. The fantasies she’d just been acting out paled in comparison to the real thing standing before her. His dark brown hair was disheveled. His chest heaved as if he’d just been through some kind of battle. The muscles of his arms strained as he gripped the doorjam for dear life. His eyes blazed and tracked over her body as if he knew exactly what she’d just been doing and exactly who she’d imagined doing it to her. He flashed her a smile that spelled a predatory promise and Gen took a step back.
“Mr. Accardi, what…”
“Come now, you know my name,” he whispered, his voice clogged with lust. He shoved off the door jam and started towards her. Gen stepped back. “Let’s hear it, Genevieve. Say it like you mean it.”
Genevieve halted her retreat when she realized what he was wearing… or rather what he was not wearing. He flung the door back so it slammed shut.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, more firmly.
“I got the feeling you needed some help,” Matteo informed her with a knowing smirk.
Her face flamed. He didn’t know. He couldn’t know… unless. “Did you bug my apartment?!”
The accusation brought him up short. He stood straighter and his forehead creased. “I wouldn’t violate your privacy like that.”
“But you’d invite yourself in? How did you get in the building? Where are your clothes?”
Gen finally felt her sanity returning. She turned on her heel. No longer faced with his magnetic, practically naked body, her mind was able to start turning again. She stalked down the hall toward her bedroom. She rifled through the miscellaneous boxes she’d yet to unpack until she found an oversized t-shirt. She pivoted back around only to jump when she saw him standing just a few feet away. His focus though was not on her, but on her nightstand. Gen glanced in that direction and her face burned. She took a large step sideways, blocking his view of her vibrator. His hot glare focused in on her.
“Move,” he ordered.
“No. Put some clothes on,” she said, extending the shirt.
He ripped it from her hands and examined it with a scrutinizing gaze. His glare turned even hotter. He held the shirt up. “Whose shirt is this?”
She shrugged. “An ex’s.”
Matteo’s mouth turned into a snarl. He balled the shirt up and tossed it to the side. “I don’t need clothes. Let’s discuss what you need,” he said with a pointed look toward the bed.
“It’s late,” she whispered, half-heartedly. “You need to leave.”
“No.”
“Matteo. Leave,” she said sternly, pointing toward the door.
Matteo leaned forward. “Make. Me.”
Genevieve huffed and strode away from him. She could feel him on her heels. She picked up her pace. By the time she got to the door she was practically running. His hand landed hard on the door just as she reached down for the bat. She swung around, brandishing the bat above her head. She brought it down with all of her strength. She closed her eyes just before she felt the impact.
Slowly, her eyes opened to find his free hand gripping the bat. Her breathing turned rapid as her eyes ticked toward his. A smile graced his lips as he suddenly pulled the bat toward himself, bringing her with it. She gasped as she landed hard against his chest. Just as she was about to get her bearings, he spun her around and shoved her against the door. She felt his hot bare skin along her back and arms.
“First you try to hand me a different man’s shirt and then you try to attack me with another man’s bat?” Matteo asked. He clicked his tongue in disapproval.
“It’s Leo’s.”
“I know who the fuck’s it is,” Matteo admonished her, chucking the bat to the side.
“I don’t need a bodyguard, Matteo,” she argued, hoping if she were to distract him, he would loosen his hold and she could move away.
“I don’t care. You’ll have one. No one will touch you. No one but me. Understood?”
“We signed a contract and…”
“Enough,” he interjected hoarsely.
He pushed her further against the door and she stifled a moan. This rough treatment was supposed to scare her, not turn her on. Yet as his lips brushed across her bare shoulder she couldn’t ignore the fact that just a few minutes earlier she’d imagined him doing the same thing as she’d pressed her vibrator to her clit. His teeth sank into the soft skin of her shoulder and she couldn’t hold back the whimper that escaped her lips nor the wobbling of her knees. A low chuckle vibrated through his entire body and up against her.
“I need to get some sleep,” she begged, knowing if he were to keep going all of her resolve would melt just as the slickness between her legs now pooled in her panties. She spoke rapidly as she felt his hand skimming up her front, “I only have one day to settle before going into the office.”
His hand covered her mouth, silencing any further arguments ricocheting around her mind. “I’ll leave,” he whispered beside her ear, causing her to shiver. She could practically feel his grin against her skin before his tongue flicked out to run down the slope of her neck. “But not before I give you some inspiration for later.”
Genevieve gasped behind his palm as his free hand shot down over her stomach and into her panties. His middle finger glided through her wet folds and he groaned behind her while rocking his erection against her ass. He ran his finger to her entrance and dipped it inside with ease.
“You feel that?” he whispered as he inserted a second finger. Genevieve shook. “You were so close, weren’t you?” Again she wondered how he could possibly know… His fingers pumped into her and her hips betrayed her as she rocked against him. “Your body is craving me, Ladruncola. When you’re ready to listen to it, I’ll be waiting.”
Just as quickly as he’d invaded her, he pulled away. His hand left her mouth. She spun around on the door to face him just as he put the fingers that had been inside her between his lips. Her breathing shallowed out as she watched him lick his fingers clean. He smirked and reached around her. Her breathing stalled but all he did was turn the doorknob.
“You can’t go out like that,” Genevieve said, her voice gruff and hard to hear. He raised a brow in question. “You can’t walk home half-naked.”
He leaned toward her again and she held her breath. “It’s a short walk.”
Matteo pulled away with a chuckle and strode out of the door. She watched, still plastered against the door as he walked across the hall to the other apartment on the floor. He walked up to the door and opened it. He turned with his hand still on the door and gave her his breathtaking smile.
“No,” she breathed out. “You live on the other side of the city.”
“It was nice meeting you, neighbor,” Matteo said with a flirty wave.
“You son of a bitch!” Geneveive yelled as he closed the door.
Gen slammed the door to her own apartment, a hundred questions rolling through her mind. She stomped back toward her room, deciding the first course of action was to finish what she’d started before he’d come knocking while the feel of his fingers still lingered within her.