I wait patiently for Londyn’s arrival, knowing it will be any minute. She’s been early every day since I hired her. I do my best to act nonchalant as though every male hormone I have doesn’t scream the minute she is near.
I hear the clicking of heels coming closer down the tiled hall to my office and then, she’s here. She smiles and it lights up the room.
“Good morning, Professor.”
“Good morning, Miss Harper. Did you sleep well?”
“I did. You?”
Should I tell her not at all? I was too busy fantasizing about my young and talented assistant. No. I definitely should not. “Yes, thank you.”
“What’s the plan for today?” she asks.
“The usual. Meetings and such for me all day. I have the faculty lunch today to talk about next year’s budget. You can take lunch whenever you like since I won’t be around most of the day.”
“Oh, yes. I sent an email to the students last week alerting them to your absence today.”
“Of course you did.” I smile. “I have had such terrible luck with assistants and wondered if possibly I was cursed.” I chuckle. “Perhaps the curse has been lifted now that I’ve found you.”
“You have no idea how happy that makes me.”
Do I make you happy, Londyn? Maybe I still have it in me to bring joy into a woman’s life. Maybe there is some salvageable corner of my heart capable of loving. Maybe I could love her. Could she love me?
“Penny for your thoughts?” Londyn asks, bringing me back to the present.
“Nothing.”
She gives me that adorable look again that suggests she knows more about me than she lets on, but thankfully, she doesn’t press. The last thing I need is to put my guard down and give in to the urges I have. It would end with Londyn lying on my desk and me between her legs.
I’m screwed.
IT HASN’T ESCAPED ME THAT the professor is behaving oddly this morning. He seems preoccupied. Where is the highly focused, intense workhorse I’ve come to know? I wonder if last night has anything to do with it. What will tonight be like? I still haven’t been able to talk to Maddie. All I got was a text assuring me she hadn’t been abducted and she’d be home by the time I was.
I busy myself with my various tasks, all of which take me to my lunch hour. I told Ella she and Dixon could be alone. I want to lie under a tree and write about Luca whilst the leaves fall down on me. Luca. I very much enjoy the sound of his name. Saying it gives me a bit of a thrill. It’s somehow intimate to me to call him by his first name.
I remind myself that I should find a way to stop fantasizing about him. I am simply his assistant and nothing more. I need to get it in my head. But I would be lying to myself if I said I wasn’t excited to be in his home again tonight. When he’s there, he’s so relaxed. I feel like I’m seeing the real Luca and not the demanding façade he displays whilst we are here.
A shadow falls across the pages and I crane my neck to see its source. I am utterly surprised to see Luca standing above me. I scramble to sit up, and then close my boodle before he can see it.
“Am I disturbing you?” he asks, extending his hand to help me up.
“Not at all. How was your lunch?”
“Boring, but I am happy to report no major changes for my department.”
“Good news.”
“Yes.” He does that thing with his fingers coursing through his hair, driving me absolutely mad. “Are you coming back in soon?”
I look down at my watch. “Oh! Yes, I lost track of time.”
“What were you doing there?” he asks, with a teasing tone.
“Never you mind,” I say, clutching my book very closely to me.
Luca laughs. “You are building the suspense for me. I feel like a small boy trying to steal a treat from the cookie jar.”
I look up at him and grin. He could steal whatever he likes of mine. “Good! It’s healthy for you to want something you can’t have. We should all have that feeling time and again. It makes it all the sweeter when we get it.” I glance up at him and his expression has changed. I desperately want to know what he is thinking.
We walk inside and up the stairs to the office. Luca hasn’t said a word and I am not sure why. Surely, I could not have upset him with my comment. I start to walk to my corner, when he grabs my arm gently. He pulls me close, closer than I ever expected to be and gazes into my eyes, a seductive smile sliding across his yummy lips. His breath falls softly on my face, warm and smelling of mint. I am positive I stopped breathing moments ago.
“Trust me, dear girl. I am very familiar with the feeling of wanting something I cannot have.”
“So am I,” I whisper back.
We stand like this, our eyes searching each other’s, and the only thing I want is for his lips to kiss mine. All I would have to do is come up slightly on my tiptoes. Our bodies are less than inches from touching; it would only take a tiny step. The thought causes me to look away as my entire body heats up from desire. Luca releases me and clears his throat.
“I’m sorry, Londyn.”
“For what?”
“Invading your personal space.”
“You invaded nothing.” I smile to make my point. I watch sadly as he moves away from me and back to his desk. Something is happening here.
The office phone rings five minutes before we are ready to go. I answer it and hope it’s nothing important. I desperately want to be alone with the professor again. I quickly take a message and look over at Luca as he stands preparing to leave.
“Shall we go?”
“Yes.” I get my bag. “Do you want your message?”
“No. We are officially off the clock.” He smiles. “We’ll discuss it tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
We start to walk out and bump into Ella in the hallway. “Hey, Londyn! Heading out?” she asks.
“Yes. What are you up to?”
“Waiting for Dixon to get off. We’re going to a concert tonight. Wanna come? Tickets are still available.”
“Oh, thank you, but no. I have some work to do tonight.”
Ella looks up at the professor. “Tsk tsk, Professor Di Roma. Working the poor girl to death.”
Luca smiles. “I do keep my assistants busy.”
“I don’t mind,” I say. “You two have fun and tell me all about it tomorrow.”
“I will. I’m going to be dead tired tomorrow.”
“Hopefully it will be worth it.” I wink at her and giggle. “I should go now.”
“Okay, see you soon,” Ella says, waving.
Luca and I continue on our way out and I wonder what Ella thinks. Did she put it together that he was waiting for me?
“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather go with your friend?” Luca asks.
“I’m sure.” There is nowhere I would rather go than with him. “Is it okay if people know I go to your house? I mean, I’m just wondering if Ella noticed we were leaving together.”
Luca looks down at me and smiles. “I have no idea, since I’ve never done it before. But you’re not a student, so I doubt it’s a problem.”
“I won’t say anything. I was just wondering.”
“Don’t let it concern you. It’s my issue, if it is one, not yours.”
We walk down the pavement and I wish I could reach out and hold his hand. I have a mad crush on my boss. Bloody hell.
We arrive at his place and once we walk in, I head to the study straight away and sit in my new favorite chair.
“Dinner will be ready soon,” Luca says, entering the study behind me. “I prepped it this morning so it just needs to heat up in the oven.”
“You must enjoy cooking?”
“I do. Mostly because I hate eating out all the time. As a bachelor it’s either that or learn to cook.” He smiles softly. “Do you know how to cook?”
“No, I’m afraid. Maddie and I are the queens of take away.”
“Take away?”
“Um, take out, I believe.”<
br />
“Ah. Well, nothing wrong with that. You just need to find a man who cooks for you.”
Haven’t I? “Yes, well, that’s not easy to come by. Any woman who snags you is lucky.”
“I don’t know if that is true. I come with a lot of baggage.”
“Who doesn’t?”
“More than most.”
“You’re still a catch. If I may say so.”
“You may. I’m flattered.” He grins. “You don’t mind if I change clothes, do you?”
“It’s your house.”
“Yes, it is.” He winks and I about fall out of the chair. He disappears down the hall. This room is like stepping into a special world locked away from the real one. In here, Luca and I are free to be ourselves. I lean back and close my eyes.
Suddenly I feel Luca’s presence. His hands cup my face and my breath catches. I dare not open my eyes so as not to break this moment. His breath warms my neck as his lips draw closer to mine. I want this very much, so much so that I don’t care what happens afterward. I brace myself, waiting for the sweet release of his mouth on mine.
“Londyn?”
I open my eyes to see Luca standing in the doorway. He is wearing gray sweatpants and a white t-shirt and holding two glasses of wine.
“Were you daydreaming?”
Shit.
“I…er, um. No, just resting for a moment,” I say. It seemed so real, but well, now it’s obvious that it wasn’t.
“Are you tired? Do you want me to take you home?”
“No, not at all. Relaxing is a better word. I enjoy this room very much.”
“I’m glad.” He walks across the room and hands me the wine glass.
Taking a big gulp, I savor the cool liquid as it glides down my throat. I need to pull myself together. “Thank you for the wine.”
“My pleasure. Dinner will be ready in about five minutes.”
“Okay.” I take a deep breath. “So, what are we doing tonight?”
Luca gestures to the open books around the room. “We can start with these. I’ve been looking through them all and cataloguing material I think I may use.”
“Where do you want me to start?”
“Well,” he says, lifting a large book from the center of his desk. “How about you dig into this one and I’ll start on one I was reading over the weekend?”
“Okay. What am I looking for specifically?”
“I think the best way to do this is to document literary references to the topic. Once we have a list, we can put it all in chronological order.”
“I can do that.”
“Great. Please let me know whatever you need to be comfortable.”
“I will.”
Luca flashes that delicious grin of his at me and leaves to get dinner. I finally exhale. Why does he have to be so amazing?
He returns a few minutes later and hands me a steaming bowl of baked pasta. “Hope you like baked ziti. It’s my mother’s recipe.”
“I do.” I take a bite after blowing on it for a moment. “It’s very good.”
“Thank you,” he says, bowing slightly. “What were you thinking about earlier? You had the most delightful look on your face when I entered.”
“Did I?” I’m positive my cheeks are turning red as I speak.
“Yes. You know the private thoughts of Londyn Harper are intriguing to me.”
I laugh and take another sip of wine. “I rather like this mystery between us. No one has ever been interested in my private thoughts.”
“Then you haven’t found the right man.”
“That I’m sure of.” I take another bite of my pasta and then decide to be brave. “Do you date?”
Luca looks sullen for a moment. “Not regularly. I went on a blind date a few weeks ago that was a disaster. She was pretty but ridiculous. All she wants is money. I value a woman’s intelligence more than anything else. Looks are nice, but beauty fades.”
“I wish more men had your mindset. They seem to put looks first. Not easy when it’s not your strong suit.”
“You couldn’t be referring to yourself.”
“I am.”
“That’s nonsense. You are beautiful.”
I look up at him in pure shock. Did he just call me beautiful? He did. Oh my hell.
“I hope you don’t mind me saying so,” Luca adds.
“I don’t,” I say softly, “but it isn’t true. You don’t have to try to make me feel good.”
“You must know by now I don’t say things I do not mean. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and in my eyes, I find you to be very pretty.”
I sit quietly, stunned into silence. Luca thinks I’m beautiful.
“I do hope I haven’t crossed the line with you, Londyn. I just don’t want you to believe you are not beautiful just because you haven’t been made to feel it before. I haven’t made you uncomfortable, have I?”
“Not at all. I appreciate the compliment. I’m just unaccustomed to being told that by anyone other than Madeleine and Devon.”
“That’s a shame.”
“I’ll start reading this now,” I say quietly. I want to change the subject before the tears building in the back of my eyes escape.
“Yes, of course.”
I start flipping through the pages looking for material I think may be useful. I want to do a good job for him, but I can’t stop the thoughts running through my mind. Luca turns on some soft music for us. Part of me thinks I should get the bloody hell out of here and the other part thinks I should beg him to kiss me. I’m doomed.
“Listen to this, Londyn,” Luca says suddenly. I look up as he jumps out of his seat and paces in front of me. “It says here that the bathhouses in ancient Rome were a popular place for sexual hook ups.”
“Yes, I’ve read that before, but weren’t women forbidden in those places?”
“Yes. Except slave women. Although, sexuality was not as defined in ancient times as it now. People, or rather men I should say, were open with their choice of sexual partners.”
“I suppose in a way that is a good thing. A life without sexual boundaries.”
“Yes. Like the seventies in more modern times.”
“I wonder when we decided to be so uptight again. The AIDS scare of the 1980’s, perhaps.”
“Yes, I think so. Here, let me read this to you.” Luca sits on the ottoman and reads a hilarious passage to me about the sexual deviances of Roman Emperors. He does so in a dramatic voice that only adds to my amusement. I laugh the whole time.
“Can you believe it?” Luca asks, also laughing.
“No! I guess the power went to their heads.”
“In more ways than one!”
I giggle and fall forward a bit, catching myself on Luca’s chest. I look up at him, breathing hard from my laughter. The smile fades from his face as he tucks a lock of my hair behind my ear. I’m startled by the intimate gesture, but welcome it.
Luca moves back slowly and smiles. “It’s nice to be able to talk to someone when I do my work. I’m glad you’re here.”
“So am I.”
He stands and walks back to his desk, creating the space between us that I need in order to compose myself. Luca goes back to his reading and I do my best to give my attention to the book I am reading.
“Luca, I found some interesting information about the Etruscans. According to this source, public sex with multiple partners was quite common.”
“Ah, yes. The Etruscans. I definitely plan to delve into their culture. I’ve always been fascinated by it. Much is written about their, shall we call it, openness.”
“Okay, I will set about recording this section.”
“Perfect.”
We work for a few hours like this and before I know it, it’s nearly eight o’clock.
“My eyes are getting a bit tired,” I say, stretching.
“Mine as well. Shall we call it a night?”
“Yes. If you’d like, I can take this book with me and do a bit on it this w
eekend.”
“That isn’t necessary. Enjoy your down time. Maybe a few nights a week we can do this together. If you have the time.”
“I do.”
“Wonderful.” Luca flashes that amazing smile at me and I swoon. He stands and we walk out to his car again.
How did I get so lucky to get this job and meet this man? I mustn’t question it. I will just enjoy every minute of it whilst it lasts.
“What will you write in your boodle tonight, Londyn? About orgies and gay sex in ancient public bathhouses?” Luca glances over at me as he drives.
I laugh. “Hmm, not quite. I won’t tell you what I’m going to write about.” Because I would be far too embarrassed to say it will be about him calling me beautiful. Every entry has been about him since we met.
“You do enjoy teasing me, don’t you?”
“Not teasing.” I tuck my hair behind my ear. “Okay, maybe a bit.”
“I’ll work on you. One day maybe you’ll let me have a peek.”
“Perhaps.” Under no circumstances will he ever get his hands on this book of mine. I smile at him as we pull up to my flat. “Thank you for the ride. And tonight. It was fun.”
“For me as well.”
I start to exit the car when he stops me. “Londyn?”
“Yes, Luca?”
“I’m so grateful that I found you.”
“I feel the same about you. Good night.”
“Good night.”
I walk up my stairs and turn back to wave before going inside. Luca is a slice of dreamy pie. To think at one time I thought he was an ogre. Underneath it all is a warm, sensitive man. I walk inside and the house is empty. Madeleine is out once again. Fine by me. I’m going to spend the rest of the evening with my nose buried in my boodle. It’s the one place I can admit how I really feel.
Our relationship is something I never expected. I not only enjoy his company, but seek it. Desire it. Yearn for it. He is the first person I think of when I wake each morning and the last at night. If I’m not careful, I’ll fall in love with this man. Would that be such a terrible thing? My final entry takes me a moment to write, but when I read the words back, they bring a smile to my face.
Note to self: Professor Passion thinks I’m beautiful.
Londyn Falls Page 16