“They say if lovers affix a padlock to the bridge and throw the key into the Arno that their love will last forever,” he continued.
She was lightheaded with wanting him, unable to focus on his words when his perfect plush lips were so close. She exhaled a laugh. “So did you bring a padlock?” she asked.Did I say that out loud?She bit her lip.
Dr. Jacobs turned her in his arms so they faced each other, the back of her legs scraping against the wall behind her. She read it all in his eyes – the longing, the torment, the internal struggle between what he wanted and what he thought was right. She knew that struggle intimately, had made it her bedfellow that last long year. She swallowed hard, wishing she hadn’t said anything.
“Never mind,” she mumbled. “I didn’t mean to imply –”
His grip on her arms tightened. “Don’t. Not with me.”
His eyes flickered to her lips, and then lower to the rise and fall of her chest, before meeting her eyes again. He let one hand slide down her arm and snake around her waist beneath the blazer, fitting her against him more fully. She melted against him, terrified he was going to kiss her. Even more terrified that he wouldn’t.
He angled his head slightly, his breath ghosting over her lips. She felt drunk, completely intoxicated by his nearness.
“Is that what you want from me, contessa?” he whispered. “A padlock?”
“Not just a padlock,” she said, fisting her hands in his t-shirt.
He growled low in his throat, a possessive sound so purely male her knees went weak.God, I want him. More than I’ve ever wanted anything.
A stream of shouted Italian broke across them, shaking them from their spell. Min looked up to meet the eyes of a very angry bouncer standing in the doorway that led back down into the club. Keeping his hand on her waist, Dr. Jacobs held her against his side and walked towards the door, offering apologies in Italian to the bouncer who maintained his scowl as they slipped past him.
They descended the staircase quickly, their feet barely touching the ground, and re-emerged into the crowded club. The smell of sweat and bad cologne, the heat of too many bodies too close together, the pounding of the house music overwhelmed her senses and pulled her out of the fantasy they’d left behind the roof.It’s for the best,she told herself.Temporary madness. This doesn’t change anything.
But Dr. Jacobs didn’t slow down once they were inside the club. With singular focus, he walked straight for the exit, still holding her against his side, closer now, his thumb hooked through her belt loop and his palm resting on her hip. Like he owned her.Because he does, she thought.
She remembered the feeling of being in his possession, the dominating way he commanded her body with his. Maybe she’d get to feel it again. If they could just get out of there before his walls went back up, before something reminded themwhythey’d stayed apart all those long months…
Before they reached the door, Bobby stepped into their path. “Are you leaving already?” he shouted.
“It’s getting late,” Dr. Jacobs answered, a gruffness to his voice she hadn’t heard before. His hand at her hip pulled her even closer, heat radiating from his touch and settling between her thighs in an insistent pulse.
Dr. Jacobs made to step around Bobby, but the tenor threw his arm over Min’s free shoulder. The alcohol on his breath was so thick that the air between them must have been damn near flammable when he attempted to whisper. Bobby spoke in an incomprehensible mix of Italian and English. “What?” she asked repeatedly, but each time his speech became more slurred, the languages mixed with his drunken laughter and the weight of his arm across her shoulder growing heavier.
With each slurred word, Dr. Jacobs seemed to come back to himself. As his blood cooled, the animal he’d nearly unleashed on the roof went back into its cage. It was like watching her heart’s desire disappear into the waves, floating farther and farther away until she couldn’t reach it anymore. What if she could never reach it again? It was only a moment before his professional mask was firmly back in place.
“Come on,” Dr. Jacobs sighed. “Time to go home.”
He dropped his arm from Min’s waist and moved to the other side of Bobby, holding him up and gesturing for her to do the same. She ground her teeth together, swallowing the frustrated scream before complying.
Chapter Nine
Out in the fresh air, Bobby seemed to realize he only needed one language at a time. He staggered, causing the trio to zigzag across the sidewalk.
“Are you going home with me?” the drunk tenor asked Min.
Dr. Jacobs stiffened at the question and tugged Bobby along a little more roughly than necessary.
“We’re taking you home. There’s a difference,” she ground out.
Bobby laughed. “I’m going home with Melynda,” he sing-songed, elongating her name. “Haven’t donethatin a while,” he snorted. “Shhhh. Don’t tell Phoebe. Or Jeff.”
Min avoided Dr. Jacobs’ questioning eyebrow raise, but not before noticing his jaw clenched in the way he did when he was angry. That was not a conversation she wanted to have. Not when mere moments ago they’d been so close to… she wasn’t sure what, butsomething. It wasn’t a conversation she wanted to haveeverif she could avoid it.
“Shut up and walk,” she said through clenched teeth.
They walked the rest of the way in silence punctuated by Bobby occasionally singing a line of an aria or humming the tune to a car commercial. Finally, they arrived at the boarding house. Bobby leaned sloppily on her shoulder as Dr. Jacobs dug in his pocket for his keys.
Together, Dr. Jacobs and Min helped Bobby climb the winding flight of stairs to the third-floor residence. They led Bobby into his room and helped him into bed, removing his shoes and placing a waste basket and bottle of water at his side. As they turned to go, Bobby grabbed Min’s arm, pulling her down onto the bed beside her.