Authors note: Hello everyone. Thank you everyone for the positive feedback and comments they mean the world to me and have brightened my days. I hope you enjoy this series despite its differences to the original story. Thank you once again to Paul who continues to be my second set of eyes. ~ellie.
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The booming of a door slamming announced someone else was in the townhouse and had slammed the door to make sure the couple cocooned upstairs knew of their arrival. Matteo smiled crookedly and rolled from the bed, pulling on his pants from the night before.
"Leave me the shirt, please, unless you want me to wear that dress again," she pointed to the puddle of blue fabric on the floor.
"I guess he's not ready to see you walk around the house naked," Matteo shrugged and left the shirt on the bed. "It could be cruel to do that to him."
"I understand everything you said, but I am going to need more time to accept that this is the way it has to be before we can joke about it," she said seriously.
"Sorry, humour seemed to be my go to when I think about what it all means at the moment. He's been going through a lot himself lately, and the possibility that you could forgive him and care about him again is the one bright spark in a pretty bleak outlook at the moment," Matteo explained as he had during the night. "There's no rush to do anything, not from him, and definitely not from me." He kissed her and moved out of room
They had stayed awake all night talking about everything that had happened to them over the weeks they had been apart. She had been thrilled for him that his fathers' had told him he would inherit the Vitali Chair. She wasn't sure how she felt about what that meant for her and, in turn, Ricco, who would be his Oracle, not to mention the fact that Ricco had already practically moved into Matteo's apartment and bedroom. Matteo had admitted he wasn't sure how he would feel once it became a reality, but he seemed quite accepting of the situation and the fact that she would need to have an intimate relationship with his brother eventually.
After having the conversation with Roberto, and again with Matteo before she had come here, she had let her mind wander to Ricco often over the last two weeks. Her feelings for him mixed and tumbled in her head as she struggled with the idea of being intimate with him again. She had loved him, but knew at the time that he didn't love her in the same way. There was so much she did like about him, and now that she understood why he had held back in their relationship she could forgive and look at him with the same eyes that had seen so much good in him so long ago. Her attraction to him was still real; he had the same colouring and similar features to Matteo, but was leaner and not quite as tall. She'd imagined what it would be like to sleep with both of them, and each time she had become anxious about Matteo and how he would accept it if she came to love his brother again the way she loved him.
Cat was craving coffee, so she got up and decided to test out how both brothers would react to the situation they would find themselves in once they returned home. She found her underwear from the night before and turned up her nose at the lace panties, wishing she had access to fresh clothes. She found Matteo's boxers and donned his white tuxedo shirt. She looked in the mirror and ran her fingers through her hair, taking a deep breath. This was as good as it was going to get, so she stamped down on her anxiousness and made her way downstairs. She wandered casually through the lounge room where the two brothers sat talking quietly nursing large mugs of coffee on her way to the kitchen.
"Good morning," she said cheerily as she padded barefoot toward the kitchen.
"My morning just got infinitely better," Ricco said with a chuckle, looking at the mix of emotions crossing his brother's face.
"Do you have to?" Matteo scowled at Ricco.
"Oh, come on. I would have to be dead not to appreciate a girl wearing that shirt with bedroom hair and eyes. The fact that it's Cat, you can't expect me to ignore her!" Ricco shook his head, holding his chuckle.
"There's a housekeeper in there," Cat said, surprise in her voice as she exited the kitchen with a full cup of coffee. "Do you think you could call Marcus and get him to send over some clothes for me? Your boxers aren't a particularly good fit," she chatted casually as if everything was normal between them and took a seat beside Matteo on the couch.
"The dress you wore last night was stunning. Don't tell me he ruined it!" Ricco said in mock horror.
"Not at all, but I can't be seen wearing the same dress two days in a row! I am the fiancé of Matteo Vitali, after all. Or I will be once he proposes properly, if he proposes properly, I should say. He might have changed his mind in the last few weeks. A lot has happened, I understand?" she tilted her head as she asked the question, making Matteo groan.
"I wouldn't worry; he'll get around to it. Unless, of course, you'd accept my proposal, you have choices, you know," he smirked at the look his brother levelled at him. If looks could kill, he would have been six feet under.
"Don't go to any trouble. As you said, I'm sure he'll get around to it," she returned his smirk.
"If you two are quite finished," Matteo grumbled. "Ricco brought your belongings from the facility. You won't be going back there again. You can get out of my underwear and into your own whenever you like."
"Right now works for me!" Ricco said, enjoying himself. He'd been awake all night talking with Marcus and Bruno about what had occurred to upset Matteo and Cat, as well as the outcome of her trial and their recommendations to spend time getting to know the other mothers, starting with Peri and Marina.
"The trial is definitely over?" she asked, unsure of what he had meant by not returning to the facility.
