I Locked My Professor's Office Door, and Left Belonging to Three Men novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: Leaf-Fall

"Two years," I said, with my back against an oak and Marcello's coat spread under my knees. "You wrote me for two years."

The leaves were coming down around us in the Arboretum, gold and red and brown, on a Sunday at dusk.

The path was a hundred feet away.

A jogger had gone by ten minutes ago, and the next would not come for a while.

Nathan sat with his back against the trunk and his legs out in front of him.

I knelt over his lap with my sweater pushed up and my jeans open.

His hands were warm on my bare waist.

Marcello stood over us in the falling light.

"Say it," Marcello said quietly. "Say all of it."

"You wrote 'Yes.' You wrote 'Go on.' You wrote 'This is the sentence.'"

My voice shook.

"I read those notes at two in the morning and fell in love with the handwriting."

I swallowed.

"And in the hall you said 'Good morning, Ms. Eberhardt.'"

"Hannah," Marcello said.

"You never said my name. Not once. Not above the weather."

I made myself finish.

"I'd stand in front of you and you'd look at a point over my shoulder."

Nathan's thumbs stroked my ribs.

"That's the grievance," he said softly. "She's been saving it up."

"I have."

Marcello went down on his knees in the wet leaves.

He took my face in his hands, and his brown eyes were bright and stricken in the dusk.

"I didn't dare," he said. "If I said it aloud, I would have said all of it."

His voice cracked.

"I'm fifty-four years old with a wife and a department, and I was afraid of your name in my own mouth."

"And now?" I asked.

"Now I'm kneeling in the Arboretum."

I laughed, and it came out cracked.

He kissed me.

It was a long, slow, open kiss, with leaves landing in my hair, and I felt Nathan's hands slide to my hips and tighten.

"You can have the whole grievance," Marcello murmured against my lips. "Every day. I'll sit here until the snow."

"Not yet," I said. "Right now I want you to touch me."

"Where?"

"Everywhere. Both of you."

Nathan gave a sound that was almost a laugh.

"She's very specific," he said.

"I like it," said Marcello.

He pushed my sweater up and over my head, and the cold air hit my skin.

← Chapter 7 · All chapters · Chapter 9 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend