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“How are you feeling?” Janus turned to me. Behind him, Brian was on hands and knees at the edge of the water peering into the canal like he might catch a glimpse of his phone.
“Me?” I asked, surprised. “I’m fine. Why?”
He nodded down at my stomach. “I just thought all the excitement might have—”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I know you are not insinuating that I’m some fainting lily. Women have been birthing babies since the beginning of time and then getting right back into the fields.”
Janus stepped into my space and bent down so that his face was an inch from mine. “No woman of mine works in a field.”
I pretended to be offended. “That’s classist and—”
Janus pulled me to his chest and kissed me.
And kissed me and kissed me. I melted into his hardness. And forgot where we were. I forgot everything except the feel of Janus claiming me.
When he finally pulled back, thankfully still holding me in the frame of his arms because I wasn’t sure how steady my jelly legs would be at the moment, he called to Brian and anyone else who might care, “I’m taking lunch. Be back in an hour.”
Brian looked up at us and swore but the gondola instructor just smiled and nodded.
My cheeks flushed with heated embarrassment, but also pride.
Janus curled an arm around my shoulder and started leading me towards the opposite corner of the courtyard that Leander left from.
It made me feel like a queen every time Janus claimed me as his in public. I knew it wasn’t Leander’s fault, and as a publicist I understood better than anyone why he couldn’t be seen to be romantically involved with me—especially after what happened with their last publicist.
But being able to be myself and show my love with Janus no matter where we were or who was watching?
Well, it was nice to not be someone’s secret.
“Shouldn’t you be hanging around and proving to them why they hired you?” I asked.
Janus just smirked at me. “I’m proving exactly how much we’re both worth. And everyone deserves a lunch break.”
“You’re taking me to lunch?” I arched an eyebrow.
He just smiled. “You worry too much, anyone ever told you that? Life is here for living. Not to spend so much time worrying.”
His arm slid off my shoulder as we reached a narrow alley between tall buildings. Above us, damp white tablecloths fluttered on laundry lines slung between buildings. He took my hand instead.
“You’re in one of the most romantic cities in the world with one of the most handsome men in the world.” He winked at me.
I laughed at his arrogance, even if he only spoke the truth. “Where are we going?”
But he just put a finger over his mouth with his other hand. “It’s a secret.”
He pulled me through a low archway, then around a corner and—
“Oh!” I cried when we came upon another canal. Thankfully, there was a railing but still. This insane city.
“Here we are.”
“Where?” I asked, looking around. It looked like a dead end of a canal. Much of Venice that I’d seen so far was scenic and beautiful, but this was a back alley if I’d ever seen one.
“Here,” Janus said, his voice deeper. He opened a little gate and stepped down a step and out onto a waiting gondola I hadn’t even noticed. It was sitting low on the water. I looked around, scandalized even though no one was there.
“What are you doing? Get off. What if the owner comes back?”
“What was I just saying?” Janus grinned at me impishly. “Live a little. And they won’t. I promise.” He winked.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Do you trust me?” He held a hand out.
Dammit, it was the same question his twin had asked me once, before inviting me to do something similarly reckless and dangerous.
But these boys. They’d put a spell over me. Because I gave in just as eagerly this time as I had then.
How could I not, with that look of boyish excitement on his face?
So I stepped onto the gondola and he immediately gestured for me to sit down.
When I did, I noticed several fluffy quilts laid out that created a lovely cushioning.
Janus sat down opposite me and grabbed the oar. But he didn’t push out into the canal and give me my own private gondola ride like I thought he was going to do. Instead, he moved the oars in the water the opposite direction so that we—
…we slid underneath an archway cut into the building overhead.
It was cool and shadowed away from the sun.
“Finally,” Janus breathed out. He was serious now as he sat forward and put a hand on my face. “I’ve been waiting forever to get you alone.”
NINE
HOPE
“Now that you have me alone, what will you do with me?” I giggled, still looking around to make sure no one could see us. It was private on the gondola, hidden underneath the archway of the building above us. And yet still public, because anyone could pass by the canal and see.
