A symphony of passion and desire…
Aubrey Irving has music in her heart. Once a violin prodigy at the prestigious Juilliard, family issues and money problems forced her to give up her dreams. Now she struggles to care for her mother, and makes a living as an audio engineer for a hot new video game developer.
Then she met Paul…
Handsome, gifted, wealthy…At twenty-eight years old, Paul Crane seems to have it all. He’s made a fortune as a modern commercial composer. But he longs to show the world that there’s more to his music than trendy, disposable tunes.
When Paul accepts an assignment to work with Aubrey on the soundtrack of a new video game, an impromptu audition of her music awakens a yearning deep inside his heart. But just as the sparks begin to fly, they both find themselves pulling away…
Aubrey has a dark and troubled past. Paul has a history of crossing the line with his clients. The last thing either of them wants is another temptation.
Can these two artistic souls unlock their hearts, and compose a symphony of passion? Or will their love song fade out before it even begins…
Ysaÿe Sonata No. 3 in D minor Ballade
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64
Tchaikovsky Op. 40, No. 6 Song Without Words
Bach Partita No.2 Chaconne
Beethoven’s Spring Sonata, Op. 24 Allegro
Beethoven Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61
Beethoven Moonlight Sonata
Dvořák Serenade for Strings in E Major, Op. 22
Dvořák Romance for piano and violin, Op. 11
The Beatles Something
John Lennon Watching the Wheels
Cardi B and Bruno Mars Please Me
Exile Kiss You All Over
David Lambert Outlaws
Thompson Twins If You Were Here
Hoagy Carmichael Heart and Soul
For a beautiful, witty woman that chats books in the middle of a hurricane
Aubrey
When life handed me a golden egg, it was usually covered in butter and too slippery to grab. I didn’t know how to hold on to opportunities, but I did know something had to change.
That was what came to mind after I spent my lunch hour interviewing with Prima Games, one of the top gaming companies in the world. I had gone all out in preparation and had expertly answered every question by Prima’s Human Resources Manager, Sue, only to have her say at the end, “I’ll be in touch soon, Angela.”
Calling me Angela would have been okay if that had been my name. If she’d been listening as carefully as I had, or even looked at my application once, she would have heard or seen that my name is Aubrey.
What had I done to make her overlook me? Had I misread her enthusiastic nodding as genuine interest, but hadn’t given her the answers she was looking for? Or had she already reached interview fatigue? I could’ve come up with several reasons the interview had ended the way it did, but I was due back at the job I already had as an audio engineer technician at Emono Games.
Correction… a contracted audio engineer tech with only five months left on an eighteen-month contract. If that wasn’t bad enough, Sue absently—or asininely—placed her Bento lunchbox on top of my résumé. Though, right before closing the office door, I did witness her upgrading my résumé from lunch-spill protection to her in-box tray. Yay me.
I hurried outside. It took a few blocks to find a ladies’ room to change back into the clothes I wore to work. After buying a cookie, I was granted the key to go inside.
I peeled off the uncomfortable Spanx and control-top nylons and threw them in my bag, sighing in pleasure as I put my cargo pants back on, and a jean jacket over my free Emono Games company T-shirt. Once I replaced my contacts with my glasses and my pointy-toed stilettos with my white Old Skool Vans, I was back to my normal invisible self, ready to join the countless other people moving through New York City.
The city housed 8.6 million people, and all of them vied for the same jobs. The clichés about living in the city turned out to be true. Sidewalks moved like freeways and held as much traffic as the gridlocked streets. I learned over the nearly four years I’d been there to adopt a New Yorker state of mind, and that included thinking ahead about work. I would return late. It didn’t matter that I was ahead in my work on Emono’s current game project, Absolution, the third installment from their “Passage of Arms” series. I wasn’t where, as my boss, Ryan, often put it, they paid me to be.
With that in mind, I fished inside my backpack for my phone and turned it on to see if anyone from my department had tried to contact me. Sure enough, I had two text messages from Ryan, one of two bosses in audio who liked to interrupt employees—mostly me—on their lunch breaks.
11:31 A.M. WHERE IS THE EXPLOSION AUDIO FOR THE SALVATION SCENE?
12:25 P.M. IT’S DUE TODAY AND YOU’RE NOT IN YOUR OFFICE. WHERE ARE YOU?
All caps. It was typical of him, but I grimaced anyway, because he’d sent the first message one minute after I’d left for lunch. I replied.
1:11 P.M. It’s where I put it a week ago. In the Salvation-Audio folder on the F-Drive.
Must I send a link? My annoyance at Ryan stayed with me as I moved with urgency along the heavily crowded platform to wait for the train that was filling up with more people by the minute. The hustle of returning to work didn’t mask the letdown that came from not having done as well as I’d hoped on the interview. Landing a permanent job at Prima Games would have given me much needed stability. Not to mention, a helpful boost to reestablish my life.
The permanent job wasn’t just for me. I knew Mom had a utility bill due soon, and she would have no opportunity to pay it without my help. She and my sister counted on me to keep their home and stay afloat. After everything my parents had done for me, it was the very least I could do in return.
I headed to the Union Square subway station to take the Jersey City PATH train back to Emono Games. Finding a spot to grab on one of the metal poles, I let my eyes travel over the other commuters to the exit doors, planning the easiest path out of the train for when my stop came.
That was when I saw him, standing on the opposite side of the aisle from me.
I didn’t know who he was, but after just a glimpse, he had my full attention. His face was a masterwork of male perfection. High, prominent cheekbones, a long, thin nose, and a square jaw with a short, neatly trimmed beard. Flawless, tanned skin. This guy was insanely hot. Even after I turned away from him, my eyes ended up drifting over to him for another look. I couldn’t stop watching him.
His dark, stylish curls fell long across his forehead. He occasionally swept them back without once removing his gaze from the book he was reading. When he moved his arm higher on the pole, the sleeve of his jacket lowered to reveal a subtle high-end watch that was probably worth more than I made in a year. The rest of his outfit consisted of a simple white T-shirt under a one-button tailored blazer and dark denim fitted jeans that encased his long, lean frame. On his feet was the pièce de résistance: Warwick leather sneakers. Not only that, but he was reading a copy of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams—one of my favorite books. Swoon.