Tempted and Taken, page 27
As always, her gaze held his, his indomitable woman holding her own. The last time he’d seen her, he’d hurt her badly. Yet, here she stood, looking him straight in the eye. And for the first time in days, he managed to take a deep breath. Because she wasn’t looking at him with anger or sadness or that fucking resignation he hated.
Instead, he saw hope. Hope, he could work with.
“I wasn’t sure you’d come,” she said.
“Liza,” he said, reaching for her hand, grateful when she placed hers in his. He lifted it to his lips, kissing her palm. It was a bold move, but the fact she hadn’t ripped it away from him sparked confidence, as did her flushing cheeks and heavy eyelids. “You look beautiful tonight.”
Someone started playing a slow song, so Matt kept hold of her hand. “Dance with me.”
She nodded, and he walked her to the dance floor, pulling her closer as he bent his head until their faces were mere inches apart. They began to sway slowly to Forest Blakk’s “I Choose You.”
“I’m sorry,” he breathed. “So fucking sorry. I was wrong.”
“Matt—” she began.
“No, please. Let me say this. I’ve done nothing but hurt you since this whole thing started, pushing you away, giving you mixed signals.”
“Why did you do that?” she asked, without an ounce of hostility or anger in her tone. Instead, she sounded genuinely curious. God bless her, she was giving him a chance to explain his actions.
“I’ve done too many things in my past that I’m not proud of, things that proved to me that you deserved better.”
She opened her mouth to speak again, but he shook his head, cut her off.
“No, wait. Liza, for so long, I’ve held myself apart, letting my regrets, my mistakes, and my fears rule me, convinced monsters were meant to live in the dark, away from people. Then you came along and suddenly, I hated the cave. I wanted to bask in your sunshine, your warmth, and I knew—all the way to the depths of my soul—that I wanted to be a man worthy of you and your love.”
“You are worthy,” she insisted.
He smiled, pressing his forehead against hers. “Even after all the crap I put you through…you really believe that, don’t you?”
“Of course I do.”
“If you’ll let me, I want to show you who I am—all the parts of me—the good, the bad, the ugly. I thought I could hide the horrible stuff, bury it so deep it wouldn’t hurt us, but I know now that’s not how love works.”
“Love?”
He took her face in his hands, tilting it up so that she could see his eyes, could read the truth in them. “I’ve never been in love before, so I screwed up, offered you only bits and pieces of me, thinking that would be enough to keep you. I was wrong.”
“Can you trust me enough to show me who you are? Because I’m not afraid, Matt. I’m not worried.”
“I don’t have any choice but to show you. I can’t live without you. You’re as essential to my life as the air I breathe. I love you, Liza. So damn much.”
Tears wet her lashes. “My heart recognized yours almost from the start. Every time I looked at you, it felt as if you were the only person in the world who understood me, who truly saw me. Somehow I knew you were meant just for me.”
“I felt the same,” he confessed.
Then because she was Liza, she added, “Even though I didn’t want you to be the one.”
“A Russo and a Moretti,” he said with a grin. “Quite the scandal.”
She drew one hand down the center of his chest suggestively. “I like being scandalous with you.”
Matt growled, her words hitting him below the belt in a way that wasn’t appropriate, considering they were standing in the middle of a room, surrounded by her grandparents, parents, and approximately four hundred other relatives.
“Behave,” he murmured, loving the way her body softened, shifted even closer.
“I missed you,” she whispered.
“I’m so sorry, Liza,” he said again.
“I know. It’s okay.”
“Will you come home with me tonight? Give me a chance to explain, to show you who I am? Deep inside.” Now that Matt held her close, he wasn’t sure he could let her go again. He needed this woman in his life, his home, his bed, but she deserved to know everything. So he was going to put his heart on the line and come clean, and then he was going to pray she stayed.
She nodded. “Of course I will.”
He kissed her gently, a quick one to seal his vow.
“Liza,” he said, releasing her hand, the sounds of talking and forks clattering against plates and laughter that he’d reduced to white noise coming back into focus. A quick glance around the room proved there were quite a few people casting curious glances their way as they danced.
Being here, surrounded by Morettis, felt almost surreal.
Surreal and yet, somehow right.
Then he realized…
“This song,” he murmured.
She smiled. “I wondered if you would remember. It’s the same one we danced to the night of the Snowflake Gala. Aldo’s serving as deejay tonight, so I asked him to play it.”
They listened to the words, locked in each other’s arms.
“This is our song,” he declared. “Because I’m always going to choose you.”
She cupped his cheek, and he bent his head to hers, giving her a long, slow kiss.
“Kitten,” he murmured.
“Hmm?”
“Introduce me to your family.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Liza followed Matt into his penthouse, and she was amazed by the feeling of coming home. The two of them hadn’t spent more than two nights here together, yet as she walked into the living room, she was aware that this place felt as much like home as her own apartment. Simply because they were together.
“Wine?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I had a couple of glasses at the party. I probably shouldn’t have any more.”
Matt had been all smiles at the party, working hard to win over her family. Her mom, Nonna, and aunts had been charmed by him, while the males—hardheaded to a fault—had been much tougher nuts to crack. Matt still had his work cut out for him with her dad, uncles, and Nonno, but Tony had already opened the door, accepting Matt’s apology for past sins. She noticed her cousins and brothers had been less arms crossed and scowling than the older generation of men, making a genuine effort to get to know Matt better…for her.
Now that they were here, she sensed his good mood dimming, nervousness creeping in. He’d promised to tell her why he kept pushing her away, and whatever it was, it must be pretty fucking terrible in his mind if it was the reason he’d lived such a solitary life for so many years.
He led her to the couch, the two of them sitting down next to each other. She toed off her shoes, tucking one foot under her opposite leg as she turned to face him.
Matt assumed a similar position, reaching for her hands. His hands had been on her the entire night, his arm wrapped around her waist or shoulders, his fingers tangling in her hair or clasped with hers.
He released a long, slow breath, and then he gave her what he’d promised—the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Liza listened as Matt talked about his childhood, about his love of art. He took her through what he now considered the dark years, when he’d become the worst version of himself. She noticed Matt didn’t blame his father for his actions, for his cruelty and coldness. Matt took ownership of all of it, claiming he’d been weak and easily led, and while she wanted to argue he’d been young, she also respected that it was those years that had molded him into this man. One who was strong with a powerful sense of responsibility and compassion.
She cried as he talked about the night his mother committed suicide. Cried hard enough that Matt had pulled her onto his lap as if she was the one who needed soothing, not the other way around. She hated that for so many years, he’d carried his guilt around, letting it eat away at him like cancer.
The two of them talked for nearly two hours as Matt opened up about everything, even showing her his sketchbook. She’d been blown away by his talent, and so incredibly moved by the drawings he’d done of her. The idea that when he looked at her, he saw someone so beautiful, had her crying again. Happy tears this time.
With every revelation, every secret, she fell even more in love with him.
“Can I ask you something?” There was something Liza had been struggling to understand for the past two weeks. “Why did you send that marker to Tony?”
That was the part that didn’t add up. Because how could Matt know she’d confront him with Luca and Tony? How could he know they’d even tell her about it? If she hadn’t been at Aunt Berta’s, she wouldn’t have known. Even now, most of the family didn’t. Primarily because, like Aunt Berta, she, Tony, and Luca hadn’t wanted to diminish anyone’s memories of Uncle Renzo.
“I didn’t send it. The copy Tony had was from Edgewood Casinos. Which is owned by—”
“The Eddingtons,” Liza interjected. “Patricia?”
Matt nodded. “She stopped by my office shortly before having that marker delivered to Tony, to give me an ultimatum.”
“Ultimatum? To what end?”
“She hoped to burn shit down.”
Liza frowned. “Shit between you and Tony was burned down years ago.”
Matt didn’t respond, and she got the feeling he was waiting until…
The light went on.
“Because of me?”
“I told you she hoped to marry me. Originally, her intention was to increase her own wealth and fame. Patricia loves the limelight, and merging the Russo and Eddington names would certainly catapult her into a stratosphere very few ever reach in terms of wealth.”
“You said originally. Her intentions changed?” Liza was still trying to make sense of it all.
“You changed them. Jealousy is a powerful motivator for a woman as vain as Patricia. I had the audacity to choose you over her. Combine that with the fact I kept saying no to an extremely spoiled woman, and it was a recipe for disaster.”
“So she sent that marker hoping to drive us apart.”
Matt sighed. “I almost let her plan work. I thought…I was certain once you learned what I’d done to your uncle, how I’d plotted to destroy your family, you’d walk away.”
“I thought about it,” she confessed. “Thought about what you’d put Aunt Berta and Uncle Renzo through. I know he dug the hole…”
“But I handed him the shovel.”
“You were young,” she said.
“I was an asshole,” he clarified.
Liza was still on Matt’s lap, the two of them unable to be so close to each other and not touching. “You pushed me away.”
“While I was waiting for Tony to show up and confront me over the marker, a shit ton of guilt crashed down on my head, and I decided you deserved better than me.”
She hated that he believed that, that he couldn’t see the compassionate, wonderful man he’d become. “I’m sorry you felt that way.”
“Gage pointed out a few days ago that the only person’s forgiveness I needed was my own.”
“He’s a smart man.”
“Never tell him that,” Matt joked. “But you’re right. He is. I’ve spent the last three days alone in this penthouse trying to find a way to do just that.”
“Have you succeeded?”
Matt shook his head. “Not completely, no. I don’t think it’s something I can do on my own. So I’ve called a therapist and I’m going to start counseling.”
“That’s a wonderful idea.”
“Regardless of that, I was coming to see you to beg for your forgiveness. Gage forced my hand with tonight’s party, but I had already decided I couldn’t go another day without talking to you, without trying to make things right. If he hadn’t thrown that party, you still would have found me on your doorstep.”
“I’m glad.” Liza placed a soft kiss on Matt’s cheek. “So…is that all of it?”
He nodded.
“I’m still here,” she whispered, her heart doing flip-flops when Matt gave her the biggest smile she’d ever seen, pressing his forehead to hers.
“I promise you right now, I’ll never cause you another second of pain. I’ll spend every minute of the rest of my life making you happy, giving you the world.”
“You’re my world,” she replied. “All I want is you.”
“I hope you really mean that because…” Matt eased Liza to the cushion next to him, rising from the couch. Walking over to where they’d shed their coats, he dug through his pocket, pulling out a small rectangular box before returning to her.
Liza struggled to draw air into her lungs when he dropped down to one knee in front of her.
“Matt,” she said breathlessly.
“I’m thirty-seven years old, Liza. I’ve spent a lifetime trying to convince myself that I was content with the life I’d chosen. Then you showed up and tossed everything I’d always believed I wanted right out the window. I tried to stay away from you, but I couldn’t. The pull was too strong. I’ll be honest with you. I’m not a romantic. I don’t believe in stuff like love at first sight or soul mates.”
“What do you believe in?” she whispered.
“You. I believe in you.”
He opened the box, and Liza gasped at the most beautiful engagement ring she’d ever seen. It was a large ruby surrounded by diamonds. “You couldn’t find anything bigger?” she asked, her soft laugh laced with a happy sob.
Matt chuckled. “I know this is fast, and while I’d like to say we can have a long engagement, the truth is, I don’t want to wait. I want you as my wife. I want that big family you described, three, four kids, maybe a dog or a cat. A house. A white picket fence. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”
She nodded, aware there were tears streaming down her face. “Yes. God, yes!”
Matt slid the ring on her finger and tugged her toward him, kissing her as if they’d been apart for years.
“I love you,” he said, his lips still pressed against hers. “I’ve never said that to anyone before and now, I can’t seem to stop.”
She laughed softly. “If you’re expecting me to complain about that, you’re destined for disappointment.” Then her gaze drifted down to the ring. “I can’t believe this,” she whispered.
Liza had never experienced such a dream-come-true moment, a small part of her losing hope this would ever happen. That she could find the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, that he would be so incredible, so…
“I love you,” she said, giving him the words back.
Matt kissed her again, his tongue stroking inside her mouth. Lifting his hands to her hair, he gripped it as the kiss grew hotter, hungrier, more passionate.
Liza twisted her head, searching for air, but Matt growled, pulling her right back.
“I need you.” Every night they’d been apart, she had lain in her bed, replaying every single thing they’d ever done together. A few nights ago, she’d broken down and pulled out her vibrator, but it had failed to get her there, something she’d never experienced before.
That “he ruined me for all men” comment had always felt like utter bullshit to her. Until Matt. Because he hadn’t just ruined her for men, but for her damn toys as well.
Matt came up for air, his hands stroking her face, gripping her shoulders, sliding down her arms to her waist. Once there, he grasped the hem of her sweater, pulling it over her head.
His eyes heated when he saw the ruby necklace he’d given her was tucked beneath. She hadn’t taken it off, couldn’t. She needed some part of him touching her, and if the necklace was all she could have, she’d been prepared to wear it for the rest of her life.
Matt touched the ruby, his fingertip brushing it before running along the top of her bra. He studied her so long and intensely, she wondered if he was making a mental note so that he could draw this later.
Liza ran her hand along his jaw, loving the roughness of his beard, the way it tickled when he went down on her.
Matt’s gaze lifted to hers. “I feel like a kid in a candy store, kitten. I want to do everything with you—to you. There are so many options, I can’t decide. Should I strip you out of your clothes right here? Bend you over the couch and fuck you from behind? Or should I carry you upstairs to my bedroom? Tie you to my bed and drive you to orgasm after orgasm until you’re begging me for mercy? Or should I fill the Jacuzzi in my bathroom where you can ride me until we’ve flooded the entire penthouse?”
“Yes,” she whispered, aware that wasn’t exactly an answer, but equally aware she couldn’t choose.
Matt chuckled, the deep timbre of it sending a rush of arousal to her pussy. “Such a greedy kitten. Did you play with yourself when we were apart?”
Liza nodded.
“Vibrator or dildo?”
Her body began to tremble, her need so great. “Vibrator.”
“Were you thinking of me?”
“Yes,” she replied.
“Tell me how I was taking you. Tell me which fantasy made that tight pussy of yours clench around that vibrator.”
“I… I couldn’t.”
Matt clearly hadn’t expected that answer. “What?”
“It wasn’t you. I couldn’t get myself there because it wasn’t you.”
He froze for just a moment, his eyes wide, then he kissed her again, this one rough, his lips bruising hers. “That’s so fucking hot, kitten. Jesus! You are mine. Just mine.”
She whimpered when he reached behind her, unfastening her bra, his fingers quickly finding her nipples, pinching them the way she loved. Liza tried to squeeze her legs together, seeking some sort of relief, friction, but Matt was wedged between her thighs, holding her open.
Lowering his head, he sucked her tight nipple into his mouth, licking and biting it until her head flew back, her fists clenched in his hair too tightly.
