Her eyes lifted away from Paolo to Julian.
“What happened?” He tried to stay calm, but wanted to scream the question.
“My scooter got clipped by a truck. A small truck.”
Paolo started babbling in half-English, half-Italian about a truck driver on his phone who hadn’t seen her slowing down. His tan face tensed as he explained how the truck didn’t even stop to help them out and he had been too upset to even get a license plate number.
The need to be right taunted Julian, making him want to shout reminders of why he hadn’t wanted her to go. Instead, he asked, “How do you feel?”
“I’ll be fine,” Mamie said, even though her white cheeks suggested she lied.
Julian raised a brow. “Are you sure about that?”
She didn’t answer right away. Her gaze trailed along his body, going from his sleeveless tank top to his Adidas running shorts. Her cheeks flushed pink as she looked at his face. “Yes. Don’t gloat about being right.”
“I’m not—”
“Here I am!” Joel rushed to Mamie, Tina right behind him carrying shopping bags. Both Julian and Paolo stepped aside and Joel kneeled at her side. “What happened?”
Julian couldn’t take his eyes off her as she retold the details. Why hadn’t he stopped her? Why should he even care this much?
“What hurts?” Joel asked.
“I’ve just got a few cuts.”
“Mamie...” Paolo shook his head, frowning at her. “Tell him everything.”
“My ankle hurts, but only a little.”
Julian had to give Paolo some credit. He seemed to have more control over Mamie than Julian did.
Joel systematically checked Mamie, lifting her arms, rotating her wrists, and examining the cut on her arm. “We’ll have to clean that cut and bandage it.” He moved onto her legs.
Julian stood at the end of the couch, willing her to glance his way. An accident like this couldn’t happen again, and they had many days of this trip ahead of them.
When she finally looked his way, he raised his brows.
Right away, she turned her head and avoided his eyes.
Nobody liked saying I told you so, but at some point, she needed to hear it. Easier to do than giving into a deeply buried urge to hold her in his arms and point out how doing crazy things not only could hurt her...it could hurt people who cared about her.
The admission struck him like a bolt of lightning.
On the day his parents died, he vowed never to let himself be hurt by losing a loved one again. On that day, he held in his tears. They’d bottled up inside his throat and chest, strangling him, making it hard to breathe. Then slowly his breath had returned, but only after he mentally squashed the vulnerability threatening to own him. One leaving a wide gap in his heart. A painful gap. Since that day, he’d never reached out for that feeling again. He couldn’t, for too much was at risk.
Almost every relationship Julian ever had with a woman ended when he couldn’t commit to the idea of love.
How have I not seen this before?
“Julian? What do you think?” Beppe’s quiet voice fell near his ear.
He shook off the uncomfortable realization. “I’m sorry. What?”
“Should we call Claudia?”
“No.” Shit. Claudia. “Not yet.”
Joel examined Mamie, running his hands over her long legs, the movement showing the preciseness of a doctor who knew what to search for.
“Was there a tearing sensation? Or a popping or snapping sound?”
“No, it just hurts.”
He drew her legs together and examined the ankles side by side.
“Tell me when it hurts.” Joel moved his hands around her foot. As he neared the ankle area, she flinched.
“There.”
Her pained expression made the rest of Julian’s anger wither. He tried to shut out what he’d realized about his own feelings, but vulnerability owned him.
Joel put out his hand. “I’m going to ask you to try to stand on it.”
Mamie nodded, lifting her chin. Yup. She was a brave soldier, of that Julian felt certain. She came here alone and with problems, yet despite them her determination glowed.
She took Joel’s hand, carefully balanced herself while lowering the foot. She stood, a bit unsteady, but soon rested her weight on it.
“Okay. So it’s not horrible.” She shifted. “I can put some weight on it without it hurting.” She tried a step and grimaced, working quickly to hide her pain. “I think I can walk.”
Joel watched her as she took two uneasy steps. “It’s a grade-one sprain. Let’s find you some ice. You should stay off this the rest of today. By tomorrow, you could try some walking. But don’t overwork yourself.”
She dropped back down to the sofa, worry lines clouding her face. “Really? Isn’t there something we can do? Maybe wrap it? I don’t want to miss anything on our schedule.”
“I wouldn’t overdo it or you’ll hurt it more.” He glanced to Julian. “Is there a pharmacy around here? Where we could buy a support wrap and some ibuprofen?”
Beppe offered to go buy what they needed.
Joel glanced between Paolo and Julian. “If someone can help to her into bed, I’ll find ice and be right up.”
Julian nodded, although a quick image of getting her into bed did something unexpected to him below the belt. Not his usual needs of a purely sexual nature, but an awareness inside his heart and head offering the promise of more.
Julian shook off the thoughts, aware she’d been watching him. Before he could take a step, Paolo moved to Mamie’s side.
He slipped an arm around her waist. “Il mio amore, let me help you up.”
My love? Jesus, women didn’t fall for that kind of...
Mamie’s expression softened as Paolo helped her up from the seat. A foreign heaviness pooled in Julian’s chest. Jealousy? Again? What the…
“I will help you into bed,” Paolo crooned, helping her step away.
“I’ll join you.” Julian fell into line with their footsteps. “Mamie and I need to have a chat.”
She glanced his way with a worried expression. “I know what you’re going to say.”
Paolo’s cell phone rang. He hesitated.
“I’m fine, Paolo,” Mamie said, even though her tired eyes suggested she was anything but fine. “Go ahead and take the call.”
They stopped and Paolo pulled the phone from his pocket. While he spoke to someone in Italian, Julian listened, but Paolo’s responses were vague.
He hung up. “Work emergency,” he said to Mamie. “I need to return soon.”
“I’ll help you upstairs,” Julian said, hearing the eagerness in his own voice and wishing he sounded less like it mattered.
She glanced at Julian with some reservation, then turned her smiling face to Paolo. “Thank you for today. I mean, it was fun before this happened.”
Paolo flashed a charming grin and winked. “I will call later.” He hurried from the lobby.
Julian looped his arm around her waist. She stiffened, and a second later reluctantly put her hand on his shoulder. “You really don’t have to help me. I can do this on my own.”
“I’ll bet you can.” He eased her toward the elevator, wishing she’d relax. Had he been so horrible she didn’t even like him? He smiled. “Now I’ve got you where I want you...”
She drew in a breath and her eyes widened. “What do you mean?”
He gave a sinister laugh and grinned. “You’re unable to move while we talk about my tour, the rules, and safety.”
She frowned. “You win. Sounds like I’m about to hear a lecture.”
“I’m afraid so.” He reached up and wiped a little bit of dirt off her cheek. “But let’s get you cleaned up first.”
She leaned into him a
s he guided her to the elevator. Close enough a sweet floral fragrance drifted from her hair and clothes, reminding him he hadn’t been with a woman in a while.
Beppe’s question about reporting this to Claudia reeled inside his head. In short, he simply didn’t want to tell her now. If she found out, she’d insist Mamie leave the tour. A notion that left him with more unease than the idea of her staying.
* * * *
Mamie’s ankle throbbed as she pulled on a pair of light blue, elephant-patterned cotton pajama pants. Julian’s muted voice carried from the other side of the locked bathroom door. He spoke on his cell phone in Italian, and the only part she got was when he said Beppe’s name.
A minute later, someone knocked at the room door.
After she heard it open, Joel started talking. She had taken her time changing rather than be alone with Julian. Not out of fear. Rather the gentle way he’d touched her cheek to wipe off some dirt. And the way he watched her at times. Both left her feeling exposed, though why, she wasn’t quite sure.
After pulling off her dirty polo shirt, she rinsed the spots under cold water and hung it on the shower rod to dry. Standing in front of the mirror, she slipped a white tank top over her bra and assessed her clean up. Dirt still smudged her cheek, so she washed it off then removed her hairband, letting her hair drop to her shoulders.
She stepped out and smiled at the two men. “Sorry to make you wait.” Walking toward them, she tried to act as if her ankle wasn’t pulsing with pain and her hip discomfort worse than usual.
Julian quickly propped up a few pillows near the headboard and patted the mattress. “Better get off that foot.”
So much for her acting. She did as he asked, while Joel waited for her to get comfortable.
“Your treatment for this is easy,” said Joel, his tone confident. “We call it RICE: rest, ice, compression, elevation.”
He went into detail about each one, speaking in layman’s terms, then got quiet for a second. “What happened to your hip?”
The question surprised Mamie, but why would she think people wouldn’t notice? “A dislocated joint damaged some blood vessels.”
He nodded. “Avascular necrosis. How?”
“A car accident.” Mamie’s face warmed and she avoided looking at Julian, but sensed him watching and listening.
Joel frowned. “A replacement of the injured bone can help with that.”
She knew. Avoidance played a part in never having had it done. A fact she didn’t want to discuss right now. “Yes. I’ve been told.”
Joel patted her leg gently. “Rest. I’ll check back after we return.” He smiled, and something told Mamie he was the kind of doctor people stayed with for a lifetime.
Julian walked him to the door, the two whispering on their way over. About what, she could only imagine. The door clicked shut and he returned to the foot of her bed.
He ran a hand through his damp curls, a beam of sun from outside the window brightening the cinnamon tones in the light brown mess. He shifted his large frame and crossed his slightly freckled forearms in front of his sleeveless running shirt, making him a forbidding presence. A tightness in his jaw suggested his thoughts weren’t sympathetic. Couldn’t blame him, really. He had tried to warn her.
“Houston, we’ve got a problem,” he finally said.
“Oh-oh. Lecture time.” She reached for a bottle of hand lotion while smiling at him, hoping he might take it easy on her.
He shook his head and kept a serious expression. “I was straight with you when I let you on the bus. Did you forget about that?”
“No.” She smoothed some lotion up her arm while thinking about her next words. She felt like a heel. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
He moved closer, bringing with him the scent of sweat and man, an irresistible aroma. “And my problem right now is that all accidents must be reported to corporate.”
“But I fell off the tour, at least technically. Surely they don’t mean those types of accidents.”
He frowned, clearly annoyed. “As long as you are part of this group, any problems must be reported. What can I tell you?” He shrugged. “My boss makes up the rules. I just follow.”
“That’s ridiculous. I have things to do on my vacation and what I do away from this ...” She stopped because he was shaking his head. “What?”
“You promised me if I let you join us, you’d make sure I didn’t end up in trouble. Now I feel like you’re hell-bent on getting me into trouble. Care to tell me what’s so important that you’d violate that promise?”
She twirled a loose thread on her pant leg. “I guess I did promise. But...” She sighed. The list done in Ted’s memory had filled her with more hope than she’d had in a long time. But now, she risked getting a decent man in trouble because of her personal goals. “You’re right. I’ll stop and behave. I just—never mind. You’re right.”
“I’m not trying to be right. I’m doing what I’m told by my employer. Oh, and since we’re on the subject of safety, please be careful with guys like Paolo.”
“You’re joking.”
“Do I look like I am?”
She studied his stern face, but something behind his eyes gave away that this was about something more. “Strangely enough, you don’t.”
“Listen, I know Italian men.”
She grinned. “Well, good for you for coming out.”
He frowned. “Ha-ha. Cute. You know what I mean. I’ve spent a lot of time in this country. Tourists, especially pretty ones, are perfect targets to men looking for a one-night stand.”
This morning, he’d called her beautiful and now pretty? Still, his remark was annoying. “What makes you think a grown woman can’t want that, too?”
He stared at her long enough she almost wished she hadn’t said something so provocative. Julian’s voice softened. “You should be careful.”
Not once had she considered her safety. Paolo was charming, handsome, and very attentive. Amazing what a man’s attention did to a woman, especially one who’d lived a near-hermit existence for five years.
He tilted his head and scrutinized her. “Why didn’t you take a more adventurous tour?”
“Because, this is one my uncle gave me. Remember?”
“Oh, right.” His jaw tensed and he walked over to her window.
Were the things she wanted to do silly? The activities she’d written down started to slip away. The same way Ted was yanked from her life without warning. She wanted to grab onto the stupid piece of paper and hold on for dear life. Panic squeezed her chest. Suddenly the idea of doing the things in her husband’s honor mattered more than anything.
“Please,” she said softly, hoping he’d hear the torment associated with her request. “I realize I said I’d give up the things I want to do but...”
He turned around, his expression serious. “But what?”
“I need to do them.”
He arched a brow. “Care to explain?”
“This trip...it’s more than a vacation. It’s a second chance for me.”
“How so?”
“I haven’t been living life the way I should.”
“Why not?”
She lifted the pillow at her side and hugged it against her chest. “Does it matter why? What matters is I’ve been handed an opportunity to change what I ignored.” Her throat thickened unexpectedly and her eyes welled. She blinked away the blurriness. “I want to return home with no regrets. So I created a list.”
“Of things you want to do?”
She nodded.
Julian reached up and scratched his beard. Sadness flittered inside his eyes then he quietly asked, “Why?”
The truth peeked around the corner, in the form of Ted and Zoe. Sharing with anybody about the angels on her shoulder was something she wouldn’t do. Telling him would toss her back int
o a world where people pitied her. Hiding her problems had been a welcome change. The lump in her throat returned.
She shifted her body and the pillow under her foot fell to the floor.
He picked it up and came to her side. “Scoot over a little.”
She inched further to the bed’s center. He sat down on the edge and helped elevate her foot back in place. He rested his hand on the pillow, too.
“What’s so important only a list can cure it?”
She blew out a breath. “I told you. It’s my second chance.”
“Then let me try to explain. This job, it would be my second chance. I did something. Totally fuc—screwed up my life. And here’s a little truth. I’ve always broken the rules. Pushed the envelope further than most people would. Until one day...” His face hardened and eyes glistened. “One day I went too far.” He tore his pain-filled gaze away from hers and stared straight ahead. “This job...these restrictions...I need to follow them.”
Sadness hung between them like a cloud ready to burst. Whatever ghosts haunted Julian they seemed like fresh wounds, like a cut that hadn’t yet healed. She felt horrible, adding to his problems. But his focus seemed to come from an inner place. Not only his boss.
An idea struck hard and fast, one so bizarre she almost nixed it right away. Only it wouldn’t leave. Julian needed help. Coaxing him to break whatever held him back might help him face his demons. Doing so might help her, too, by allowing her to honor Ted without going behind Julian’s back.
With her uninjured foot, she stretched her leg and poked his hip with her toe. He looked up and she smiled. “So, you broke some rules. Everyone does. The trick is to break them for the right reasons.”
“Is there such a thing?”
“Sure there is.” The wheels inside her head churned with a way to sell this half-thought-out plan. “I’ve got an idea, but I’m not sure you’re going to like it.”
“Why do you think that?”
“I just do. But hear me out first. By breaking a rule, maybe you can save a rule.”
He chuckled. “I have no idea what the hell you’re saying, but you’ve got me curious.”
The Sweet Life Page 7