the past, and settles me firmly right here in this room with him. “There’s nothing to critique.”
“There’s always something to critique. Your father told me that, by the way.”
And now I’m back in the past. “What else did he tell you?”
“That you would one day teach me a few lessons about the violin.”
I blink in surprise. “He said that?”
“He did. Obviously, you wanted to play.”
“I did,” I admit. “but that was then and this is now. I listen to you play and I don’t feel any urge to play at all. I feel the urge to relish in the beautiful man and the music the violin creates. In some ways, I feel like I’m discovering myself again, through you.”
His hand slides under my hair to rest warmly on my neck and he presses his forehead to mine. “I still think you can teach me a few things. You already have.”
“I doubt that.”
“Then you would be wrong, Aria Stradivari.” He stands up and offers me his hand. Oh how quickly times have changed because I don’t even hesitate. Any question he could ask me with that action is a sure “yes.”
A few minutes later at my request, he’s playing Tchaikovsky’s “Concerto No. 1” beautifully and I’m thinking about more than his music. I’d expected a man who is dominant, who wants to spank me, to tell me to trust him. Instead, he’s showed me the depth of his character that is not all about power, control, and success, certainly not about a world that revolves around himself. He’s stunned me by telling me to do what no one else has, and what I have never done in my life: trust myself.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Hours later, Kace pulls me into his bed and his arms.
I settle into the hard lines of his body, and I don’t remember a time in my life before this when a day drifted into a sense of belonging and peace. I don’t even remember falling asleep. There is just a blink of twilight that wakes me up. Now, I’m on my side, with Kace wrapped around me from behind. A smile touches my lips and I close my eyes, but somehow the impending meeting with Walker Security pierces my mind. I will it away, and while slumber begins to seduce me, so does a memory. I’m suddenly back in time, back to the months before Gio disappeared, at least this time—
My coffee steams in a cup next to me, while the soft leather of my favorite brown chair in the store hugs me. A book sits in my lap, guiding me through the ins and outs of the most expensive comic books in the world, for a client meeting. A client I’m trying to win and to do so, I need to impress them with my knowledge and convince him that I’m the one to help him complete his massive comic collection. That means understanding a value which can be quite pricy. A Superman “Action Comics” #1 sold for three-point-two million dollars. I’ve decided I like Superman much more than Batman, and not because of the three-point-two million dollars. Batman’s bad attitude and disappearing act remind me of my brother. He’s been gone for three days. He’s not taking my calls and while sure he’s played the Invisible Man a few times in the past, he’s never cut off communication in the process. I can’t help but worry but then, it’s probably a new woman. There’s always a new woman. Or maybe there are several or a mix of old and new. A player’s gonna play and all that stuff.
I sip my coffee and part of me thinks he’s smarter than me. He avoids commitment by the necessity of our family name, but at least he does so in a way that doesn’t leave him alone and cold in bed. I, on the other hand, am always alone and cold, no matter the heat of summer. In fact, I think I should buy a new mattress. It’s my only companion. It should be a top-notch one. I glance at my watch, almost eleven. I was up at five AM to prepare for a breakfast meeting and that cold, lonely bed is calling me. I’ve just set my cup back down when the locks on the security system buzz. I straighten, certain this is Gio finally coming home. Either that or I’m about to be robbed by someone who knows the security code. I set the book down and