“Yeah,” she lied, “just a little car sick.”
“Want me to pull over?”
“No, I’ll be fine. Let’s just go home.”
She didn’t hear most of the rest of the gossip Jeff had to share with her – something about Maria getting an awful haircut, and Lucy and Phoebe starting a book club as an excuse to drink more wine on weeknights. All she could think about was what would have happened if someone from the university had walked into that garden on their last night in Italy. How much being with Dr. Jacobs could cost her – and him. And how much she wanted him anyway.
∞∞∞
Liam felt like a coward.
And an asshole.
He’d left Min alone in that garden, throwing his things into his suitcase and walking to the train station in the middle of the night, leaving only a hasty message behind for the other coaches that he’d decided to leave earlier than originally planned. He couldn’t stay under the same roof as her for another second, not when it had taken all of his restraint to walk away. Not when every inch of his skin was tingling, begging him to give in to whatever magic pulsed between them.
He needed distance – space and time to get his shit together and remember that she was his student, for Christ’s sake, and fucking off limits. He couldn’t afford to be sidetracked by this infatuation.
But he also couldn’t face the Dietrichs. He wasn’t sure what exactly had happened between Aidan and Min, but if he came face to face with the little prick, he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t beat the shit out of him without knowing the rest of the story. Aidan had hurt her. He’d made her fall apart on Liam’s stage. That would be reason enough.
So instead, he snuck away like some kind of felon and headed to Lucca for a few days, leaving a vague message with Mr. Dietrich’s assistant that there was a family emergency, and he would have to put off their meeting until they were both back in New York. Hopefully by then he could get Min to tell him what the hell had happened.
That’s what he told himself when he lay in bed in his hotel room in Lucca and stroked himself near raw thinking about the way Min’s nipples pebbled through that silk top, her moans when he tugged on her hair, how she’d rubbed herself against his cock.
When he got back to New York, he made himself a promise – he would no longer indulge the fantasies. He would no longer jerk off while thinking of his student.
By the second week of classes, rehearsals would begin for opera workshop and coachings would start. He would have to face her three times a week. Three times a week staring down the object of his obsession, the only woman he’d ever wanted and couldn’t have.
When the Friday afternoon of the first week of classes rolled around and he had yet to run into her on campus, Liam began to think he was in the clear and he wouldn’t have to face Min until the following week’s rehearsals. That he would get a few more days to lock up his feelings and tamp down his desire. Then he saw her.
She stood at the end of the hallway, leaning against the door to her voice teacher’s studio and shoving scores in her bag. Liam froze, the breath knocked out of him. Her hair fell in her face, one tendril slipping into her cleavage. He imagined brushing that lock of hair behind her ear, letting his hand curl around her jaw, running his teeth over the shell of her ear.Fuck.
Min looked up and saw him, her eyes going wide. His heart pounded in his chest, blood rushing in his ears. One look and he was dying to touch her.How am I going to survive another year of this?
It was difficult enough before – but something had changed over the summer. Spending every day with her, learning what made her smile and what gave her that far off look in her eyes, talking about books on their morning walks, and kissing her again, this time knowing full well how forbidden she was… it all made it so much harder to stay away.
The rational part of his brain finally caught up to the moment, shaking him from the filthy fantasies playing behind his eyes. He blinked and forced a smile, knowing it was only a shadow of what it should be. Taking a deep breath, he continued walking down the hall. He just had to get back to his office, just past the voice studio she currently stood outside of like a sentry.The sexiest fucking sentry known to man.
His steps slowed as he got closer to her. When he was standing shoulder to shoulder with her, he couldn’t help himself. He turned his face towards her, meeting her eyes.
“It’s good to see you, contessa,” he said, his voice too husky for standing in the middle of the music building hallway under those fluorescent lights.
Why had he gone and called her that? Why couldn’t he leave well enough alone?
He needed to touch her. He was sure he’d die if he didn’t feel her skin on his. He would allow himself that one indulgence, just one last time, to drag his knuckles over her forearm. Her breath hitched – God, that sound went straight to his cock. He wanted to hear it again and again and again. He wanted to bury himself inside her and find exactly the right spot to make her gasp over and over.
“I missed you,” she whispered.
Get the fuck out of there.He clenched his jaw, grunting an acknowledgment and then forcing himself to walk away.Don’t look back. Don’t look back.
It wasn’t until he was standing right in front of his office door, fumbling with the lock, that he noticed Noah standing at the end of the hallway. His lips were pressed together in a flat line and his eyes were narrowed, but he didn’t say anything until they were safely inside Liam’s office. As the door closed, Liam cleared his throat, trying to dispel the last of the desire from his voice.
“You okay?” he asked his friend.
“Are you?” Noah replied, his tone icy. He paced the length of the office, shaking his head, and almost laughing to himself, but there was no mirth in the sound, only disbelief.
“I’m fine. What’s going on?”
Noah stilled then, turning on Liam. “Tell me you’re not sleeping with her,” he said.
