“I do,” I say. “I can’t wait to see them.”
“Last room at the end of the hallway. I’ll unlock the vault on my way out. Feel free to take a peek if I’m slow getting back.”
My eyes go wide and I twist to face him. “I won’t dare touch them. You know that. I need you to do that.”
“Touch me. I’ll touch them. That works. But you can give them a quick look and you know you want to. The paperwork for the auctions when I bought them both are in the display case. Be back soon.” He winks and disappears.
I laugh at his touch me comment and then quickly finish my makeup before dressing in faded jeans, a black T-shirt, and a pair of Guess sneakers. Finally, eagerly, I head down the hallway and walk into an incredible room, surrounded by windows and water with Kace’s awards lining one wall. It’s a simple room that is not simple, with several stools and music stands in the center of the space. There is also a desk in one cut out nook of an area.
The massive vault is next to the desk and I head in that direction. Nervous and excited I enter the open door to find the violins sitting on top of a display table, each on a stand. I walk toward them and immediately know neither were my father’s. This comes as a relief that I can’t quite name. I mean, Kace could have bought my father’s instruments at an auction if they hit the market. It just feels better that he didn’t.
I pull my phone from my pocket where I’ve placed it, and with my flashlight, inspect the violins. One is a darker wood than the other, and the woodwork is magnificent. I’m not surprised to find the watermark remarkably quickly. My second Stradivarius in days. I’m walking on that water outside the windows. I move on to the second instrument, but find no obvious mark, and I’m not lifting the instrument. Not without Kace present.
I pull out the drawer to read the paperwork, and catch my hand on a jutted piece of wood. I yank back with a yelp as I slice my palm wide open. I’m gushing blood. Turning away from the violins that I do not want to damage, I hurry to the desk and sit down, looking for a tissue. I end up holding a piece of paper over the cut, to stop it from dripping on the desk. I open drawers to no avail, and then freeze when I find a folder that reads Aria and Gio Stradivari.
My real name. Gio’s real name. There’s also a napkin, which I grab and wrap around my hand. I’m shaking now. I’m shaking because there is no way Kace hasn’t betrayed me. He knows who I am. He must have always known.
I grab the folder, and bleed on it and I don’t even care. I probably need stitches but I don’t care about that, either. I open the folder and suck in air as I find a full bio of my family and written speculation that the family is now in New York City. And we are. And he knew. I’m suddenly remembering how Kace seemed to assume I’d been to Italy in the past. He didn’t assume. He knew I was born there. I shut the folder and stand up. He’s after the formula to make the Stradivarius. He seduced me to get it and I let it happen. Anger and pain collide, and I’m all but running through the music room. I enter the bathroom and grab my purse because I just need something with me that feels like mine. And it has my cards and keys in it. I need to be home. I need to be there now.
I have to get out of here before he gets back. I run downstairs to the front door and I stare at the folder in my hand. I could take it, but why? I know all about my family. I was falling in love with Kace. I was falling hard. I am such an idiot. I fling the damn folder across the room and papers fly everywhere. If he wants to know why I’m gone, now he knows. Because I know what a fraud I’ve been sleeping with. I open the door and exit, skipping the elevator, rushing to the stairs and starting the long walk down, making darn sure I don’t run into Kace August. Not now, not ever again.
The End…FOR NOW
***
Readers,
As always, I hope you’ll forgive me for the cliffhanger! Hopefully, by now, you know I’m quite fond of them. The good news is I’m hard at work with books two and three in the Brilliance Trilogy, and you won’t have long to wait for the remaining installments of Kace and Aria’s story!
Book two, A WICKED SONG, is out on August 18th, and book three, A SINFUL ENCORE, is out on September 22nd! You can pre-order both books now!
https://www.lisareneejones.com/brilliance-trilogy.html
***
Did you enjoy Mark and Crystal & Chris and Sara? You can read both couples’ story in my INSIDE OUT series which is in development for TV/movies! All of the books are available now, so no need to wait it out.
HERE’S A SEXY MINI EXCERPT FROM BOOK ONE OF THE INSIDE OUT SERIES, IF I WERE YOU
“Hands over your head,” he orders, pressing my palms to the glass above me, his body shadowing mine. “Stay like that.”
My pulse jumps wildly and adrenaline surges. I’ve been ordered around during sex, but in a clinical, bend over and give me what I want kind of way I tried to convince myself was hot. It wasn’t. I hated every second, every instance, and I’d endured it. This is different though, erotic in a way I’ve never experienced, enticingly full of promise. My body is sensitized, pulsing with arousal. I am hot where Chris is touching me and cold where he isn’t.
When he seems satisfied I’ll comply with his orders, Chris slowly caresses a path down my arms, and then up and down my sides, brushing the curves of my breasts. He’s in no hurry, but I am. I am literally quivering by the time his hands cover my breasts, welcoming the way he squeezes them roughly, before tugging on my nipples. I gasp with the pinching sensation he repeats over and over, creating waves of pleasure verging on pain, and the music is fading away, and so is the past. There is pleasure in pain. The words come back to me, and this time they resonate.
His hands are suddenly gone, and I pant in desperation, trying to pull them back.
Chris captures my hands and forces them back to the glass above me, his breath warm by my ear, his hard body framing mine. “Move them again and I’ll stop what I’m doing, no matter how good it might feel.”
I quiver inside at the erotic command, surprised again by how enticed I am by this game we are playing. “Just remember,” I warn, still panting, still burning for his touch. “Payback is Hell.”
His teeth scrape my shoulder. “Looking forward to it, baby,” he rasps. “More than you can possibly know.”