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He pulled the car into a secluded little area beneath a tree. It wasn’t a parking lot—in fact, she hadn’t even noticed the turnoff from the road.
“What is this place?” Amy asked.
“I found it a few years ago,” he said. “It’s one of my favorite places to come and just relax.” He glanced at the cell phone in Amy’s hand. “You won’t get service here,” he said. “It’s a blind spot for the satellites, so you might as well leave your phone in the car.”
“That’s relaxing for you? Not being able to use your phone?”
“Well, not at first.” He grinned. “It’s always a little stressful for the first few minutes. But then it gets easier. I start to forget about the things I was worried about, the calls I wanted to make and the messages I wanted to check. It’s easier to think after a while. Don’t you ever do that—force yourself to unplug for a little while?”
“Probably not enough,” Amy admitted. “During my yoga classes, I suppose.”
“I didn’t know you did yoga.”
“No real reason you would.” They hadn’t discussed their personal lives that much—or rather, they hadn’t discussedherpersonal life that much. It probably wasn’t fair to suggest that she didn’t know any personal details about his life.
He got out of the car. She watched as he walked across the grass to a large, flat rock beside the water. He sat down, looking out over the lake.
He didn’t look back, but Amy knew he was waiting for her to follow.
So many things over the past few weeks had felt like moments she should walk away from if she was smart. This moment, more than any she’d faced so far, smacked of danger. There was no professional reason for her to go to him now. There was no reason to sit beside one of her patients and look at a beautiful lake in Italy. They weren’t going to talk about surrogates—he’d left the folder at home. And they definitely weren’t going to talk about treatment for Barks-Howard’s. She knew he wasn’t ready for that to begin.
Whatever he had brought her out here for, it wasn’t medical. It wasn’t professional.
It was personal.
She should just wait in the car for him to change his mind about this, or to get done looking out at the water, and then they could go. That would be the smart thing to do.
Amy opened the car door and got out.
She walked over and sat beside him on the rock. “It’s a nice place,” she said quietly. “I can see how you’d get a lot of thinking done here.”
He nodded. “Sometimes this feels like the only place in the world where things slow down enough for me to think at all,” he said.
Then he turned and looked at her.
Those dark eyes of his made her feel like she was drowning. It was hard to breathe, and suddenly she didn’t know which way was up anymore.
“It’s been good having you here,” he said quietly. “I know things have been difficult. And I know that’s my fault. What happened between the two of us the night we met…”
“It shouldn’t have happened,” she agreed.
Adriano sighed. “I wish I could tell you honestly that I felt the same way,” he said. “I wish I could say I regretted it. I know that’s what you want me to say.”
Amy’s heart hammered.
Did she want him to say that?
Sheshouldwant him to say that. But if she was really honest with herself, she thought it would hurt too much to hear. After all this time, after all her insistence that it shouldn’t have happened, she found she didn’t want him to feel that way.
She didn’t feel that way herself.
It had been a mistake—but it was a mistake she wouldn’t take back if she could.
Now he was reaching out, his fingers stroking her cheek so gently, and it felt like every inch of her body was lighting up. This was such a secluded spot that it felt like anything could happen here. It felt like there was no reason to resist. In the same way as leaving their phones in the car had cut them off from the real world, being out here felt like a break from the reality in which she had to keep her distance from him.
“I’ve never brought anyone here before,” Adriano said, his voice low and husky.
Amy couldn’t think. He was much too close. He was going to kiss her any moment. She could count his eyelashes.
