Aurora

"Are you sure y-you don't want to help?" she asked him for probably the tenth time.

Matteo took a sip of his coffee, shaking his head. "Positive." he replied before looking down on his phone again.

She stuck her tongue out at him as she aggressively whisked the dark brown colored cake batter in the bowl.

She had the idea of the two of them baking a cake for today for no reason or celebration but just wanting to do this for fun. He surprisingly had all the ingredients to make a chocolate cake and was excited to put all her teachings from Aunt Jocelyne into good use.

She could have asked Malinda to make the cake but she didn't want to do that. She begged Matteo to give Malinda a few days off since the poor woman had been working all day, and she thought that Malinda deserved to rest a bit. Malinda also had two children which Aurora wanted her to go home to, for her children to spend some time with their mother.

Matteo being the boring old man he was refused her offer of having them bake this cake together. His first excuse was that he couldn't get his clothes dirty which he suggested that he could change out of but that he denied. His second excuse to her second offer was that he was busy with something important which was why he kept all his attention on his phone.

She felt a bit bad for pressuring him to join her for doing a silly thing like baking and did not bother him when he focused on his business. However, the little hope she had in her that he could change his mind came forth and every few minutes she asked him just to make sure. His answer didn't change and she now gave up on wanting him to help her.

After glaring harshly at the whisk in her hand for making her arm a bit sore, she smiled brightly at the batter that was mixed now thoroughly.

"Would you like to try?" she asked him.

He looked at her, a bit confused. "It's not baked."

She giggled at him. "It's still so good."

She lifted the whisk and her index finger caught the thick liquid that dripped from the whisk. She captured it and placed it in her mouth, sucking the batter clean from her finger. She was oblivious to the heated stare that she was thrown her way by the man who sat opposite her on the bar stool.

A soft sound erupted from the back of her throat at how delicious the batter was, and it was exactly how Aunt Jocelyne had taught her to make it. She was proud of herself and gave a confident smile towards Matteo.

"Try it." she spoke loudly, wanting him to have a taste of it.

Without breaking eye contact with her, he slowly rose from his seat. Her eyes locked on him as he made his way around the counter, inching closely towards where she was standing. She wasn't able to tell what exactly the expression on his face was but it was enough to have the butterflies flutter around in stomach.

He stepped forward, stopping right in front of her. He was so close that she had to crane her neck to look up at him, her face only a few inches away from his chest. She was confused by what he was doing and why he stood so close to her.

Matteo's gaze moved down to where he placed his thumb on the corner of her mouth, gliding it along her soft skin. The feeling of his finger moving against her face caused an involuntary shiver to overtake her body, the effect of him being too much for her. Her lips parted from the sensation of his hand against her skin, basking in the feeling that only he could make her feel.

He looked deeply into her eyes as he lifted his thumb to his mouth, her eyes now fixated on it. A gasp bubbled inside of her and her core tightened as he placed his thumb against his mouth. He sucked the batter off his thumb and she blushed at the realization that he had swiped a bit of the batter that was on her face.

Holy bubblegums.

"Tastes good." he said, his voice very low.

She gulped at the way he stared at her. He was still too close to her and she found her eyes wondering down to his lips, but quickly looking back up to his eyes. He must have noticed what she had done because he smirked back at her, and her face heated up even more.

Their little moment was interrupted by a knock on the door, and Aurora snapped out of her trance. Matteo went to open the door and she continued pouring the cake batter into a cake tin to go into the oven.

She felt hot and bothered from the heavy tension that appeared between the two of them. She had never experienced anything like that with a man before, let alone see anything like that happen. She was nee to these kinds of things which involved physical touches and odd feelings that bubbled inside of her belly and caused her heart to flutter.

Her mind raced with thoughts of what could have possibly happened if they weren't interrupted or what she could have wanted to happen between them. She shook her head to rid herself from those bad thoughts of wanting him to kiss her and scold herself out for sounding desperate.

"Ciao amore mio." she heard a familiar voice say.

She smiled at the two men who stood next to Matteo. "Ciao."

"Cake?" he asked her, his eyes lighting up like a little child who got his Christmas present.

She nodded. "Would you like a slice?" she asked as she opened the oven, placing the cake inside and closing it again.

He smiled brightly. "Of course! Who am I to deny a slice of cake offered by a pretty little woman?"

She laughed softly at his flirty personality.

The tall man next to Reggie, smacked him on the back of his head. Reggie yelped and Aurora gasped at the violent nature of the dark haired man.

"No time to fool around. We came here for important matters." he said before turning around and walking out of the kitchen.

Why is he so grumpy? she thought to herself. She could see why he and Matteo were good friends, they were both so moody.

Reggie rubbed his head. "Why so violent, fratello? Where are your manners?"

He too disappeared from the kitchen, leaving Matteo and her alone.

"I'll be in the office. If you need anything make sure to knock, sì?"

She gave him a nod. "Sì." she responded.

He walked away and left Aurora alone to help herself in the kitchen. Thinking about what else she could make for the guests in the house to eat.

"Do you think t-they will enjoy this, Kitty?"

She stared at the large bowl of nachos. She wasn't sure if she should make them a snack or a heavy meal. It was late in the afternoon, only around three and she didn't want them to eat something heavy before having supper. She thought about it for a long time and came up with the idea of the men munching on some nachos.

It was one of Aunt Jocelyne's favorite snacks that she had always prepared for herself at work. She tried to be precise with the recipe, hoping that it came out the same exact way that Aunt Jocelyne made it.

The cat meowed at her and she took it as a yes. She looked in the fridge for their drinks and took three cokes. She thought back to her days of waitressing when she saw the circular board that Malinda used to carry the plates of food. She must admit she missed her old job, but she was used to staying at home in this house and she didn't want Lauren scolding her everyday for things that she didn't even do.

Balancing the bowl of nachos and three cokes on the tray, she carefully ascended the stairs making sure that she don't trip and spill all the food. That would be unforgivable and a waste of food, which is a waste of money as well.

She stopped in front of the door, hearing the male voices of the three men speaking to each other in their mother tongue. She sulked as she realized that she couldn't eavesdrop on these men since they spoke in another language that she couldn't understand.

She heard Matteo telling her to come inside when she knocked, and she made her way inside the office. The men stared at her as she walked further into the room, Kitty following right behind her.

"I made nachos?" she told them but it came out as more of a question.

She placed the food down and Reggie smiled brightly. "This looks divine. May I have your hand in marriage perhaps?"

"Come se il capo lo permettesse." Vincent snickered. (As if the boss would allow that.)

"Oh come on, that was just a little joke. Amore mio, grazie."

He must have thanked her and she smiled back at him. "You're welcome."

She turned to Matteo who never looked away from her since she had stepped inside the office.

"I hope you don't mind?"

He shook his head. "I do not. Have you made some for yourself?"

Reggie moaned a bit too loudly when he bit into his food, and began bickering with Vincent who also looked impressed when he took a bite of the nachos.

She smiled at him proudly. "Yes I did."

"Good. Anything else?"

"Would you like some cake?"

He shook his head and she felt a bit disappointed but made sure not to show it. "Not right now, bene?"

"Bene." she repeated after him, not knowing what it was that he had just said.

She excused herself to leave but Matteo called her back, and she turned around.

"Aurora. Grazie."

It was just a simple thing to say to her and even Reggie had told her the same thing, but coming from Matteo it was entirely different. It was as if it was something he never told anyone and she gave him a grateful smile before leaving the room.

"Let's go make cake, Kitty." she told the cat.

This feels so unreal. We are almost at 100k reads, GUYS. 100k??? Who would have thought that it would ever come to this many reads on my book?

Thank you guys so much. *cries*

Question for you guys. Your favorite song that you could play over and over?

Mine is Queen somebody to love.