Mateo held his breath, his palm pressed firmly over Sienna’s mouth. Their bodies remained rigid on the bed. Mateo’s gaze locked onto the room’s front door as it slowly slid open.
“Don’t make a sound,” Mateo whispered so quietly, almost without air, right beside Sienna’s ear.
A man in a room service uniform stepped inside, pushing a silver cart. He glanced around the dark room, then called softly, “Signor? Room service for the Penthouse Suite.”
Mateo exhaled slowly, caught between relief and irritation. He removed his hand from Sienna’s mouth, then slowly rose to his feet.
“I didn’t order anything,” Mateo said in his usual cold voice as he approached the man.
The hotel employee looked somewhat startled. “Ah, my apologies, sir. But there’s a champagne and snack order sent up from the front desk downstairs for Mr. Sterling.”
Sienna sat on the edge of the bed as well, adjusting her oversized black T-shirt while eyeing the door suspiciously. “Wait. Who sent it?”
“On behalf of hotel management, ma’am,” the employee answered nervously, setting the champagne bottle on the table before hurrying out. “Good night.”
The door closed tightly again. Sienna rubbed her chest, her heart still pounding. “My heart nearly jumped out of my chest! I thought they were Julian’s people. I mean, someone from my past breaking in.”
Mateo didn’t answer. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the champagne bottle on the table. “We need to establish some rules,” Mateo said suddenly, turning toward Sienna. “Rule number one…”
Sienna raised one eyebrow. “What other rule is there? Wasn’t the pillow fort on the bed enough?”
“This isn’t about the bed.” Mateo walked over to the table and leaned his hips against it, folding his arms across his chest. “It’s about us. You almost said a name just now.”
Sienna rolled her eyes. “It was only a first name. It was an accident.”
“That’s precisely the problem,” Mateo said firmly. “If we want to survive staying in the same room without dragging each other’s problems into it, we need a clear agreement. Anonymity Agreement.”
“Anonymity Agreement?” Sienna let out a soft chuckle, though curiosity glimmered in her eyes. “You really do sound like a lawyer. Fine. What are the terms, Mr. Arrogant?”
Mateo straightened and looked directly at Sienna. “First, you don’t need to know who I really am, and I don’t want to know who you are.”
“Deal,” Sienna replied quickly. “I’m not interested in reading your biography either.”
“Second,” Mateo continued, “no digging through social media, Google, or anything else. No questions about our jobs, our backgrounds, or why we ran away tonight.”
“Hold on,” Sienna interrupted, pulling her black T-shirt closer around herself. “So we’re just two strangers who happened to get stranded in the same room?”
“Exactly,” Mateo answered curtly. “Whatever happens in this room stays in this room. Once that door opens and the trouble outside dies down, we go back to being strangers.”
Sienna fell silent for a moment. An odd feeling weighed on her chest, but she knew the man was right. The less they knew about each other, the safer their position would be.
“All right,” Sienna finally said. “I agree. But I have an additional rule.”
“What is it?”
Sienna rose from the bed and walked toward Mateo on silent bare feet. “You have to stop looking at me like I’m a burden. And you have to smile at least once. Your face is so stiff, you look like a marble statue.”
Mateo stared at Sienna blankly, completely unaffected by the woman’s teasing. “Your rule is rejected. I have no reason to smile.”
“What a cold man,” Sienna muttered.
She was about to turn back toward the bed when the rolled-up sleeve of her shirt accidentally slipped down. The dim bedside light fell across her right wrist. On her smooth, pale skin was a bluish bruise in the shape of human fingers—a mark left by her ex-fiancé’s powerful grip before she fled Lake Como.
Mateo’s sharp eyes immediately caught sight of the bruise. Without thinking, he moved quickly and grabbed Sienna’s wrist.
“Ow! Easy!” Sienna winced, trying to pull her hand back.
“What is this?” Mateo asked, his voice suddenly deep and heavy with pressure. He didn’t release her, but loosened his grip so he wouldn’t hurt Sienna. His eyes remained fixed on the blue bruise, his expression impossible to read.
“It’s nothing,” Sienna deflected, trying to turn her face away. “I just hit it on a door.”
“A door doesn’t leave the marks of five fingers,” Mateo cut in sharply. “Who did this to you?”
Sienna stared at Mateo, startled by the change in a man who had just claimed he didn’t want to know anything about her life. A strange emotion suddenly shone in his gray eyes—something that resembled protectiveness.
“I thought we weren’t allowed to ask about each other’s backgrounds?” Sienna whispered, reminding him of the rule they had just made.
Mateo fell silent. He looked at the bruise on Sienna’s hand once more, then slowly released her. He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling like an idiot for breaking his own rule.
“Sorry,” Mateo muttered tersely, looking away. “I just don’t like seeing men use violence against women.”
Sienna drew a long breath and rubbed her own bruise. “He’s…the man I was supposed to marry the day after tomorrow. He thought he could own me and control me completely. So I ran.”
Mateo stared at Sienna for a long moment.
“He won’t touch you again while you’re in this room,” Mateo said quietly.
Sienna offered a faint smile, feeling a strange warmth seep into her chest. “Thank you, Mr. Arrogant.”
“Now go to sleep,” Mateo ordered again, trying to rebuild his walls. “It’s almost two in the morning.”
Sienna nodded. She walked back to the bed and climbed onto her side behind the pillow fort. Mateo walked to his side as well, turned off the bedside lamp, and pulled the covers over himself.
The room fell silent again. The only sound was the soft tapping of rain against the outside window. Sienna had just begun to close her eyes and let her body relax when a sharp sound shattered the darkness.
KRRRINGG! KRRRINGG!
The antique telephone on the nightstand—an internal hotel line—rang loudly.
Sienna immediately sat upright, her heart pounding again. Mateo rose quickly too, staring at the phone with a furrowed brow.
“Don’t answer it,” Sienna whispered in panic. “Who’s calling at this hour?”
Mateo didn’t listen. He reached for the black receiver and pressed it to his ear without saying a word.
A woman’s voice came through the phone’s slightly leaking speaker, so clear that Sienna, sitting beside the bed, could hear it too.
“Good evening, Mr. Sterling. I’m sorry to disturb your rest. There’s a man in the lobby downstairs claiming to be your business associate, and he wants to speak with you. He says he has a private message for you from New York.”
Mateo froze. His grip on the receiver tightened until his knuckles turned white.
Sienna held her breath, staring at Mateo’s face as it suddenly went pale in the darkness.