The Twelve Vitali Ch. 05

"Good, I'm glad that's settled. It took me a while to get used to all of this too," Peri said conspiratorially. "My mother and I used to live from pay cheque to pay cheque, and I never would have dreamed of being here before love found me and dragged me into this world," she indicated her surroundings. "If you'll just sign here and here to say you have accepted the commission, we can get to work," Peri grinned.

Cat hadn't actually accepted anything but the invitation to meet and observe the twelve men, but she had nothing to lose, and this was why she was here after all. If Matteo were serious about the partnership he had offered, then he would have to understand that she wouldn't just give up a great opportunity like this because he had other plans. She would need her own life and career, such as it was, as well if he wanted his family to believe she wasn't in it for the money. Especially after a failed relationship with one of his brothers already.

*****

After a brief conversation with Cat to discover that Peri had wanted her to do some preliminary tasks that afternoon, Matteo had given her the address of the apartment he had found for her and promised to have her belongings delivered there. He had also told her that a set of keys would be available from the desk in the lobby. He had a commitment that evening that he had hoped she would be available to attend with him, but she had declined for the same reasons she had declined his lunch offer. He had felt an unexpected disappointment.

Matteo got back to the apartment that afternoon and found no trace of Cat or that she had ever been there. It was as if he had dreamt up the woman who had been in his thoughts all day. He hated to admit it, even to himself, but he was disappointed that he wasn't going to see her this evening for the New Years Eve party. He had felt the first stirrings of that disappointment when Dante had assured him that he was welcome to the apartment for the duration and that he wouldn't have his personal space invaded again. Now that he had asked for her belongings to be taken to a studio apartment he had found with an art studio attached, it was like a wet blanket had been put over his mood, and he was glad he was going out with Dante and the rest of the Donatis' this evening. The apartment seemed empty without her energy and restlessness pervading the space.

He had to stop thinking about her. Maybe he should have offered to deliver the keys to her personally. He hoped she hadn't changed her mind about the trial week she had suggested, and had begun avoiding him rather than tell him up front. She sounded happy on the phone, but he had no idea how her meeting truly went today, and for all he knew she could be on her way back to god knows where in Melbourne tonight.

Dejected and believing that she probably had changed her mind and left him without any desire to revisit the proposal, he went back to his original plan of trying to find an actress to play the role he required. He had a few hours to confirm the actress he had originally chosen to play his fiancé and meet her for cocktails before the party, so he picked up his tablet and walked into the kitchen to grab a cold drink. If Cat had changed her mind, he needed a backup plan. He could call her, of course, but what would he say? He'd left the ball firmly in her court. He would go and see her early tomorrow morning before she had the excuse of work to keep him at arm's length.

He swore as he saw the message pop up from the talent agency. "Mrs. Perkins is unwell and unable to make a meeting this evening. We would ask about the duration of the intended booking as she has disclosed she is pregnant and that may interfere with her playing the role longer than six months. Regards..."

Matteo went back to the talent pages and began swiping through profiles. The girl next door type could make a reasonable future fiancé, but her eyes were brown, not the blue he found he now preferred, the fresh-faced country girl with cute freckles scattered over her nose, the dark-haired femme fatale took his attention for the moment. None seemed right, and their only real flaw was that they weren't Catriona Leone, he finally admitted. He wondered how she would feel about a late night visit rather than waiting until the morning to see her again.

He could encourage her further by offering her art installations in some of the more prestigious construction projects he was involved with, as well as a good remuneration package for her work. He went to her website as he carried his can of soda back through to the living room and took a seat on the couch.

Was he an idiot? He asked himself. He'd barely spent more than a couple of hours with her, and she was already under his skin. Why would he want to put himself in harm's way again? He needed a non-emotional relationship, and he didn't want to compromise on that. If she wasn't ready to commit to his proposal, then he could live with that if he had to, but she had to give him an answer one way or another. Maybe he'd meet someone at this party tonight that would fit the bill. Maybe, maybe, maybe, he sighed and tossed the tablet to his side, leaning back and shutting his eyes for a moment. The fact that she had invaded his thoughts at all was enough to cause him a restless dream-filled sleep last night. He hated that she had gotten under his skin, then just disappeared. The short, disappointing phone call to decline his lunch and dinner invitations seemed... 'Seemed what?' He asked himself. 'She didn't owe you anything. She's changed her mind, move on,' he told himself.

He groaned and stood up to go have a shower and change for the party. No use sitting around here and wondering about a girl who clearly hadn't given him a second thought today. He ran the water and stripped off before stepping under the steaming hot jets.

Steam was rising in the shower, clouding the glass walls, the water was too hot. Matteo turned the dial back just a little and waited for the temperature to adjust. He stepped in. The water poured down, the heat hit his feet first, then his torso, then finally he brought his head forward. As the falling water splashed in his eyes, Matteo blinked. The image of a rain-soaked Cat showering here to warm herself last night entered his mind and woke his sleeping cock. It jumped at first, then rose slowly. Matteo took it in his hand and began to work it up and down. His eyes already closed, the images in his head began to appear with increasing clarity. God, how long had it been since he had indulged in mindless, loveless fucking for the sake of it.

A room was materialised on the inside of Matteo's eyelids. White walls, no windows. Air conditioning on high making his skin goose bumped as he waited patiently. His mind's eye walked across the room, and a girl appeared. She was a tall, dark-haired beauty with high flaring cheekbones, wide-set crystal blue eyes and long, toned limbs. Everything about her bespoke sensuality, and it was apparent that she had no idea how she affected men like him. Her breasts were ample, not large, but neither small. He saw her long, slender, perfectly proportioned legs; they naturally led his mind's eye upward. In an instant his heart was beating faster as he imagined the girl's well-manicured pussy right before him.

Matteo was getting hot now. The images in his head were vivid. His cock was fully awake now; the feeling of his hand moving up and down the shaft was doing its job.

The girl had not spoken. She knew not to break the silence of this room, his room. The image of her eyes expressed perfectly the hunger he wanted her to feel. She stared down at his hand moving along his shaft. Matteo saw her lower herself to her knees and open her mouth in offering. She was hesitant at first, but showed increasing depth and skill with each bob of her head. The vision slowly changed and he saw her forehead collide with his hard pelvis. She had taken the full length of his member down her throat. Though he had imagined her skill, he could not help feeling impressed by her. As she came up for air, she let her tongue slide along the head of his cock, causing him a moment of pure pleasure.

Pulling her mouth free from his cock, Matteo saw her smile. Her perfect white teeth centred between pale full lips. Her dark hair cascaded down in thick, soft waves, framing her face. She stood. A wide padded bench appeared in the white room and she turned to bend over it without a word passing between them. Gently she relaxed herself down, at first jumping slightly at the touch of the cold leather, but as it warmed she let her breasts make contact, then her elbows. Her pussy was neatly tucked in between her perfect ass cheeks. It was wet, warm, inviting. He wanted to taste her, but mental images could only go so far.

White leather bands circled her wrists and upper arms, and, as his gaze slid lower, he saw them circle her thighs and ankles in the same way, rendering her immobile. "Perfect," he groaned, his fist working harder on his cock.

His fantasy self placed a hand on the small of her back as a small signal and thrust his cock home, deep inside her. He started off slowly, but she opened her mouth in a silent moan that begged him to fuck her harder. As he picked up the pace, he felt the sensation he had been missing for a while now, the warmth spreading from his stomach to his chest, neck and face. His pace quickened. His climax was quick to follow. It hit hard, long spurts of cum erupting from the tip of his cock. They fell onto the floor of the shower being washed away by the steaming cleansing water.

Matteo groaned. His cock was raw from how hard he had jerked off. He straightened his back and opened his eyes. He could faintly make out his reflection in the slick glass surface. His face was red. His breath was ragged. He shook his head and washed and rinsed himself again before he stepped out of the shower. The tile felt warm on his feet as he towelled off and wiped his hand over the mirror. He viewed himself dispassionately. "You're an idiot," he chided himself, and vowed to bury all those feelings when he saw Cat next and approach her on a strictly business level.

By the time he emerged from the bathroom after shaving, he had done enough self-talk that he felt back on track again. Cat was a pleasant diversion for a couple of hours one rainy night, nothing more than an aberration in an otherwise perfectly controlled life. He wrapped a towel around his waist and walked into the bedroom and froze. There, propped up on the pillows, was a single white sheet of paper with a sketch of a dark-haired girl with blue tribal paint on her face. He smiled as he read the hastily scrawled words beneath it.

"Thank you for being so chivalrous in the face of being invaded. The bed is all yours tonight. Cat," there was a small child-like drawing of a Cat's face at the end of her name, and he smiled. Just when he thought he had cleared her from his mind for good, she came flooding back. The image of an adorable, wet and bedraggled girl with a paint smear across her face stumbling into the apartment showed clearly in his mind.

"Don't be stupid," he scolded himself out loud. In the bathroom he had come to the conclusion that Cat was a girl that said what she wanted when she wanted, and therefore could never pull of a hoax like he was planning. It would be far too dangerous. He needed to forget her. He knew he should crumple up the sketch and throw it away, just as he was trying to rid himself of his thoughts about her, but he couldn't. He looked at the sketch and laughed. She really was like no other woman he had ever met, and there was a small chance that she hadn't changed her mind about the trial, he just had to find her and talk to her to find out.

He was still smiling as he left the apartment and slid into the car he'd ordered next to the driver. "Take me down to the House of Lorraine and wait for me there, please," he said, hoping to catch Dante before he left for the party. Even Peri's influence hadn't truly affected Dante's disregard for black tie events. He went because it was required, mostly, and he was never in a hurry to get there, so Matteo knew he would be back at his desk working until the close of business. He wasn't there though, and being at a loose end he decided to go and visit Peri to see if Cat had gotten the commission.

It felt silly allowing the driver to take him halfway around the large block, but he wanted the car there in case he had missed seeing Peri there too. It was getting later, and they have left for the party already because they were the hosts. He'd only been here once before, but he knew that the penthouse was his destination. He gave the doorman his name, the doorman then called the apartment, and he was given a key to the elevator and allowed to go up. There was a lot of security around this family, not that he blamed them, but it was sometimes tough for outsiders to deal with.

He entered the apartment and Josh looked up from where he sat with his phone, dealing with last-minute hiccups and details. He waved Matteo into the room with a smile.

"D.'s down in the nursey," he whispered, barely moving the phone from his ear and led the way to the internal stairs and pointed. Matteo nodded and followed the staircase down.

"Here's your Uncle Matt-ay-oh!" Dante exclaimed, as he threw a tiny, giggling girl into the air and then flew her like an aeroplane to where Matteo stood chuckling as the two little boys scrambled around his feet to be next to be thrown into the air. "Here, hold this for me," he passed the pretty little girl to Matteo and bent over, swooping the wriggling boys into his arms.

"This is Blayze," he tilted his head to one side, "This is Cruze," he indicated the other child, "and you are holding the very regal Princess Eden," Dante said like a proud father.

"Pirate, Papa," Eden frowned at Dante.

"Okay, how about a princess pirate?" Dante said, as if he made this negotiation with the little girl all the time."

"No princess," she said adamantly, and turned to look at the man holding her. "Pirate!" she stated emphatically.

"You are the prettiest pirate I have ever seen," Matteo grinned at her. "Are you sure you're not a princess?"

"Eden can be a pirate if she wants," Peri rolled her eyes at the men. "We are all about gender equality in the nursery, and I don't see you calling either of them a little princess," she fixed her eyes on her sons and smiled widely.

"Are you kidding! These little rough nuts could never be princesses," Dante was mortified at the thought. "Your Dada, on the other hand, is pretty enough to be a princess," Dante winked at Matteo.

"I heard that," Josh said, coming down the stairs.

"I meant you too, you were always the pretty one, just like Princess Eden," he teased.

"No princess," Eden shook her head again and reached out for Josh. "No princess, Dada."

"No princess," he agreed, and she wrapped her little arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. "Hey, Matteo, sorry, I was on the phone when you arrived."

"That's okay, I came to see Peri anyway. I saw enough of both of you today," he chuckled.

"I'm sorry about the confusion last night," Peri said, taking Blayze from Dante's arms and kissing his cheek.

"No drama, she has somewhere else to stay now. So I assume I'm good to stay there?" he asked. "They've asked me to hang around for a bit, and I'll admit I can find a distraction or two here to occupy my time."

"Of course, and, honestly, if our construction guys were as good as yours the overlap would never have happened. It's just with so much family coming into town early for the annual Donati family gathering it's been a bit of a squeeze. It's all sorted out now though," she smiled. As she continued kissing the children and handing them off to their nannies.

"How did the meeting go?" he asked casually. "Did you hire Catriona Leone to do a commissioned piece?" he continued his line of inquiry, wondering if she was still in town or if she had gone back to Melbourne.

"I did," she nodded absently. "Cat will be at the party tonight, you can ask her about it yourself if you like."

"Okay," he ground out the word. He was equally as thrilled with the prospect of seeing Cat again as he was pissed that she had turned down his invitation to accompany him to this event. "I wouldn't have thought black tie and Ball gowns was her thing," Matteo admitted, considering her wardrobe from the night before.

"It's not my thing either, but I still have to go," Dante grumbled after farewelling the children.

"I'll ride with Matteo," Dante said. "There are a couple more questions I want to ask him. Plus, it's a given that Josh is stressed, and I will probably do something to make him want to punch me," he grinned. Dante loved his life, he was happy at home and at work, and it made him more inclined to be relaxed and have fun, often at Josh's expense, as he became even more of a control freak, trying to keep on top of everything instead of trusting everyone to do their jobs. He was a heart attack waiting to happen, and Dante knew he needed to find a way to make his brother relax. He teased and made fun of him, though, when he was too over the top, like tonight. It was important that everything went well, but Josh was determined that this evening would be perfect. Having become the leader of such a huge family with little guidance or preparation before his father died had made him work twice as hard to prove he was up to the task.

"What's up?" Matteo asked as he climbed into the car next to Dante.

"That story I told you yesterday," he glanced meaningfully at the driver and said no more until he saw the comprehension stiffen Matteo's features, and a small nod occured. "Well, a lot of elements of that story went into the novel we're launching in a few days. A complete work of fiction," he said, his voice grave underlining that Matteo would find more truth than fiction between the lines. Only people who knew the family would read anything but the fictional story, but after yesterday it was only fair that Dante warn Matteo. He hadn't realised how much Nik's betrayal had hurt people outside their family, as well as those closest to her. "I just thought you should know she may get mentioned in the montage tonight, better forewarned, you know."

"Our chat yesterday gave me all the closure I needed," Mateo said, and genuinely meant it. "I just needed to know the truth to move on," he said in a hushed voice.

"Good, I'm glad I said something though, best not to get any nasty surprises if you're hanging around for a week or two," he grinned. Dante felt like a weight had been lifted from him. He'd been becoming more in tune with his inner feelings and trusting his gut a lot more since becoming the Oracle, and he looked at his cousin and narrowed his eyes. "So, you and the painter chick, huh?" he grinned.

"No! Nothing happened. She is interesting though," he admitted, and was suddenly unwilling to say any more about her. "I'm glad she got the commission from Peri. I have a feeling she needed it," he said thoughtfully, remembering that she said she couldn't afford to go to a hotel and that everything she owned was in those two ratty bags she had brought with her.

"Well, in that case, I'm glad too, but don't think you're fooling me for one minute. You forget I'm an oracle now," Dante leaned back in the seat and relaxed. "Nothing might have happened last night, but I can tell you'd like it to tonight."

"I somehow doubt she will be there tonight. I can't imagine that a girl with paint permanently staining her hands is going to be comfortable hobnobbing with the rich and powerful while wearing a ball gown," he chuckled.

"She might surprise you," Dante offered. He'd done the research for Peri on the girl, with the help of Ben, and he had helped her to put together a package that would practically ensure she would stay and keep any family secrets she found out about them along the way to herself. "Speaking of which, she has a brother that works for one of your construction companies. Putting in a good word for him might go a long way to getting you a date. If that's what you want, of course."