“Spin d’Elle.”
He paused, losing his place in the music to consider that.
“The two of you get on well.” His mother hedged. “She’s a musician, you know.”
“I do know.” Zhi picked the melody back up. The song picked up speed as they held their conversation.
“It’s nice to have things in common with someone.”
“What are you on about, mǔqīn?”
“I am glad one of your friends is willing to help our family out with our … difficulties. It frees you to follow your heart.”
Zhi tripped on the keys, missing a beat. His mother’s playing didn’t falter. She changed the song, playing a solo tune now that his fingers were frozen.
“The king is marrying a girl for love,” she said. “The prince too. Both women aren’t noble. That widens the field for you to find someone you truly care about.”
Instead of setting his mother straight, Zhi swallowed past the lump in his throat. She had the right of it. Just the wrong woman.
“You know that I love your father …”
Zhi gritted his teeth and focused on regaining feeling in his hands. He flexed and closed his fingers, trying to pump life back into them.
“Your father’s sense of duty was bigger than his heart. That was always fine. I had enough love for both of us. But I’d like my son to experience love over duty.”
Zhi didn’t answer. He felt his mother’s eyes on him. He knew if he looked at her, she would see the truth. He wasn’t going to have a love match. Like father, like son, his duty would trump his heart. The difference would be that he would make his wife feel loved, unlike his father had done with his wife.
With the feeling back in his fingers, he joined his mother once more at the keys. They made it so joining the opposite ends of the keys made a new harmony. Much like he’d done with Spin the other day.
As they came to the finish, his mother’s part in the song trailed off until he played the resounding last note. The silence lasted for only a second before applause sounded from the door. Zhi looked up to find Spin holding her phone in one hand while clapping her wrist with the other.
“I hope you don’t mind, I recorded that.”
Zhi’s breath caught in his throat. Recorded it? How much of it?
But one glance at Spin settled his fears. Her eyes shone bright like they had when they’d played together. She’d only heard the music.
“It was beautiful,” she said coming into the room, her gaze focused on the duchess. “May I have your permission to use it in a song?”
Nian’s eyes lit up. “How flattering. Of course, my dear. Do you know, I have a recording of one of my performances.”
“I didn’t know that you performed,” said Spin.
“It wasn’t in public. It was in a recording studio. I fear I was too shy to play while others watched.”
Nian pulled a record from the shelf of music. She moved to the ancient record player in the corner. Spin went to the device with awe. The needle dropped, and a hauntingly beautiful sound began.
Spin’s eyes lit with recognition. “It’s Bach.”
Both Zhi and Nian looked at her in surprise.
“Concerto Number Five?”
Nian nodded, clearly impressed. Zhi had to admit he was too. This woman kept surprising him and throwing his assumptions about her back on their heels.
Spin closed her eyes. “It’s beautiful.”
Zhi couldn’t take his eyes off her. Her joy of the music would forever be ingrained in his mind. He was having trouble reconciling this woman who liked to play harsh, electronic notes with the woman enthralled by his mother’s playing.
“Zhi Wen, dance with her.”
Spin’s eyes slammed open. “Oh, no. I’m not one for waltzing.”
“It’s simple. Show her, darling boy.”
Ever the dutiful son, Zhi stepped up to Spin. He held out his arms. At first, he didn’t think she’d take his offer. But after a moment, Spin put away her phone and held up her hand. He clasped her fingers into his grasp. Electricity zinged into the center of his palm and spread like a storm through his blood.
With his other hand, he placed his fingertips on her waist and felt the same sparks. Spin gasped as he pulled her close. And then they began to move.
It had been so long since Zhi had danced like this. It had been forever since he’d felt like this. All his cares were swept away as he moved her around the floor. He forgot about the pipes. He forgot about his finances. He just took a moment and joyed in moving in synch with the woman in his arms.
Chapter Twenty
Spin had never been swept off her feet. She’d never wanted to be. Couldn’t understand why any woman would. She couldn’t run if her feet weren’t on the ground.
As a little girl, she had steered clear of the fairy stories and myths. Reality was too vivid and loud in her world. But twirling around in the arms of the Duke of Mondego, she let the scars of her childhood fall away.
For just one moment, she imagined what it would have been like had her life been different. What if her prince had come? What if a knight had swooped in to rescue her and her mom out of the dragon’s claws?
She might’ve danced as a young girl instead of escaping into music. She might’ve dined on fancy dishes every night with different things to eat instead of Oodles of Noodles. She might have met a man like Zhi and been content to stay in his arms forever.
But that wasn’t her life. Not then and not now. So when the beautiful song his mother had captured with her fingers ended, Spin let Zhi’s hand go.
However, it wasn’t that easy. Their fingers had become entwined at some point in the dance. So though she yanked, she had to wait for him to loosen his grip on her. Before he could loosen his grip, he had to release her from his intense gaze. Before he could release her from his gaze, she had to stop staring at his mouth.
“Oh, that was lovely,” said the duchess. “You move so beautifully, my dear, like you were born on a ballroom dance floor.”
“I wasn’t.”
Spin jerked her gaze away. She yanked her fingers from his grasp, causing them both to wince. She took a large step back putting distance between their bodies.
“I was born in my mom’s bed because we were too poor to afford a doctor.”
Spin stared at the floor in the silence. She never told any details about her life. She rarely brought up her mother. In less than twenty-four hours, these two people knew more about her than anyone else alive.
She supposed it was fair. She knew their secrets. Which meant neither would say anything about the other. Mutually assured destruction it was called.
“And anyway,” Spin lifted her gaze, a grin replacing the lost look in her eyes, “that’s not how we dance in the clubs. We shuffle.”
“Shuffle?” asked the duchess. “Like the 70’s dance?”
“Something like that.”
Spin pulled out her phone. Her thumb flicked through her playlist. A hard, electronic beat sounded from the device’s speakers.
Nian winced and frowned at the song. Zhi lifted a brow, his frown mirroring his mother’s expression. Spin began the simple steps of the club dance. The shuffle was comprised of moves that even the rhythmically challenged could accomplish. She made a motion for Zhi to follow her. After a moment he fell in line.
The duchess sat back watching them. A slow smile spread across her face. Spin had seen that look before. It was the look of a meddling mama who liked the match she saw.
Recognizing that she’d stepped into a trap, Spin tripped. Zhi caught her. She’d tried to get away from the possibility of a pairing, but there she was in his arms again.
The music cut when her phone beeped an alert. Spin stepped away from Zhi to tend to her phone. It was a message from Instagram. She tapped it to see Parker’s face come up.
“Is everything all right dear?” asked the duchess.
“A friend of mine and Zhi’s has invited me out to dinner before th
e club.” Spin held up her phone so that Zhi would see Parker’s profile.
That snapped them both out of the moment they’d shuffled into. Zhi reached into his back pocket for his phone.
Spin watched as his thumb swiped and swiped. His frown increased. Clearly, he didn’t get an invite.
It was becoming clearer and clearer that Parker wasn’t that interested in the duke. But seeing as Spin couldn’t have the duke take too much of an interest in her, she began to tap on the keys of her own phone.
Hanging with Z right now. Having a great time.
Parker typed back: Bring him.
Spin’s thumb slid down from the top of her phone which announced its half battery life and typed: Can you send him the invite. Phone about to die.
A moment later, she heard a chirp from Zhi’s phone. She cast a glance up at him. He wasn’t grinning as though he’d won the dating lottery. But he did look relieved.
Good. She’d get the two of them together in one room. She doubted it would lead anywhere, but it’s what she promised. And then she’d be taking off. Starting a new life. In someplace new.
“I see you two are headed out to do young people things,” said Nian.
“Yes, we are, mother. Don’t wait up.”
Zhi went over and kissed his mother’s head. She brought him down for a hug.
Then she looked at Spin. Nian opened her arms. Spin hesitated. But she’d been raised to mind adults.
Spin walked over to the older woman on unsteady feet. She bent down to be enveloped in the duchess’ small arms. But the hug went all through her, reminding Spin of her own mother.
Nian held her tight, and then tighter for another second that Spin hadn’t realized she needed.
“I’m so happy you came to stay, my dear.”
Spin was too choked up to say anything. So, she just nodded. Then made a quick exit. She went back to her room.
Lark was outside somewhere with Mathis showing him a few magic tricks. Spin pulled out her suitcase. She hadn’t unpacked. She never did. Everything was set for her to go. And she would be doing that later tonight. Best to just slip out without saying goodbye to anyone.
Chapter Twenty-One
After three wardrobe changes, the two women and Zhi made it out of the house. The women had been ready in only fifteen minutes. It was Zhi who'd had to perform the outfit changes.
Spin had vetoed the suit and tie he'd initially put on. He'd argued that it was a designer brand. She'd cocked an eyebrow and told him that unless it was Supreme or Bape, he wasn't leaving the house with it on.
Zhi didn't know who either of the designers were. But he'd dutifully gone and changed. Next, he'd come out in jeans and a starched t-shirt. He hadn't missed the feminine smile of approval on Spin's face. Even though she'd wiped it off to shake her head in the negative to tell him that he was trying too hard to look cool.
His next venture out was a happy medium. He'd put back on the slacks and kept the t-shirt. He did a turn for Spin, feeling oddly warm at the thought of her eyes on him. He'd been on display before. He was a catch in the upper echelon circles of Cordoba, though no one knew of his financial straits.
Spin wasn't after him for the money he didn't have. She wasn't after him at all. She was simply helping him because ...
"Why are you helping me?"
Her gaze traveled up the length of him. Under her perusal, Zhi felt the ridiculous need to flex. He could tell she appreciated what she saw. He didn't quite understand his pull to this woman.
She had a rough exterior. But he'd seen past it to the soft refinement of the insides of her. Her arms around his mother and the soft way she spoke to her rang in his ears. The feel of her in his arms as they waltzed. Then the feel of the music they’d made rushing through his veins filled him.
Spin shrugged, not quite meeting his gaze. "It's my good deed for the day."
"You've helped me for more than a day."
"So, my cup runneth over. And … you'll do."
Before she could turn to walk away, Zhi put out a hand to stop her. He felt a tingle in his palm where he'd capped her shoulder. Spin tensed in his hold. He wanted to knead her shoulder and remove the tension. He wanted to pull her back in his arms and waltz with her again but with his front to her back this time. He wanted to sit beside her, shoulder to shoulder, thigh touching thigh, at the piano and make more music.
"Thank you,” was all he said.
Spin looked back over her shoulder at his fingers resting so close to her collar bone. Her lips parted and closed. Her tongue snuck out and moistened her lower lip, but still, she said nothing. Still, he didn't let her go.
"Thank you for all of it," he said. "For helping me, for helping my mother. But especially for making polka palatable."
She breathed a laugh through her nose. Her lips quirked up in a smirk. And then they flattened.
"You're a good guy," she said finally. "Parker's going to be a lucky woman."
She stepped away from him then. Zhi's palm itched at the empty feeling. He flexed his fingers, but he didn't reach for her again.
They didn't speak again as they joined Lark. They climbed into Zhi's sports car. Spin dove into the back, leaving Lark in the passenger seat.
Lark chatted amiably with Zhi. She was a great conversationalist. Zhi saw why Spin kept her around. The woman easily filled the silences that Spin seemed to prefer.
Zhi was happy to let Lark talk while he pondered the contradiction of DJ Spin d’Elle.
Elle. It was a pretty name. He wondered if it was hers. It didn’t suit her.
He knew so little about the woman. But again, she didn't know the whole truth about him. Still, he felt like she knew him best in the world at the moment.
In the rearview mirror, their silent communication continued. Spin rolled her eyes at one particular story of Lark's. Zhi raised his brow at another story that was particularly incriminating about the two women. Spin narrowed her gaze as though to say she'd neither confirm or deny the tale.
"When are you two headed back?" he said. “Not that I’m kicking you out. You’re welcome to stay as long as you like.”
"I need to get back by Wednesday,” Lark answered. “I have a show Thursday.”
"So, you'll stay another night?" Zhi asked.
"We can't impose on you," said Spin.
"It's no imposition at all. We all love having you, especially my mother. She doesn't get out much with ... my father being ill."
Zhi’s gaze darted to Lark. There was a question on her brow, but she didn’t ask it. So, Spin had kept his secret, even from her closest friend. He felt humbled that he’d gained her loyalty in such a short time.
"We're here," said Spin, her gaze out the window.
Even though it wasn’t’t technically open yet, there was a line snaked around the corner of Omar's club. Zhi turned his car over to the valet. Before he could reach for the back door, Spin had already alighted from the car. He narrowed his eyes at her, but she shrugged and moved past him. Zhi went around and handed Lark out.
"Don't mind her," said Lark. "She thinks chivalry is an 80's band."
Zhi chuckled and offered his arm for Lark. She took it gratefully. They came up to Spin in the line.
"You're welcome to wait in the line,” he said to her. “Or you can take my arm and go inside."
Spin huffed out a breath and crossed her arms. Zhi shrugged and turned on his heel with Lark. As they approached the front of the line, he felt Spin's hand on his arm. Again, his body went alive at her touch.
"This is total elitism," she muttered.
They entered the club. Strobe lights nearly blinded Zhi. The base pulsed through him. But it didn't cause an immediate headache. He was able to pick out the various parts of the beat this time, all because of his time making music with the woman at his right arm.
Looking down at Spin, he saw that light in her eyes. The one where she was clearly enjoying the music. Already getting lost in it. He wanted to go there with her, but so
meone came into his view.
"You guys made it."
Zhi tore his gaze away from Spin to find Parker coming toward them. Parker pulled everyone in for a hug, starting with Spin. When she opened her arms for Zhi, he went to her. Parker was thin in his arms, and warm, but there was no fire of electricity. At least not at the moment.
"Isn't this amazing?" Parker said when she pulled away.
"Yeah, it's pretty lit." Zhi snuck a sideways glance at Spin.
She gave him one of her half smiles of approval.
"It's PLUR all over the place here,” he went on.
An elbow to his ribs shut his mouth. The look on Spin’s face clearly told him that he was now overdoing it. So, he shut his pie hole.
"You're looking pretty fly there, your dukeness.” Parker ran a hand down his shirt sleeve.
"Thank you," he said. "You're looking pretty dope yourself."
“Come join us. We're over here."
Lark walked beside Parker toward her table. Zhi set to follow them until he noticed Spin wasn't beside him. He turned back to her. "You coming?"
She shook her head. "I'm gonna hit the dance floor."
Zhi stepped up to her so that she could hear him over the music. "What if I need you?"
Something sparked in her eyes at his comment. He felt his own cheeks heat at his needy admission. He hadn’t meant it that way. Had he.
"You won’t,” she said after a long moment.
He didn't like how final that sounded. He wanted to protest. He wanted her at his side, like a security blanket on his first day of school.
"She's digging you now," said Spin. "Don't pretend anymore. Just be you. If she doesn't see how cool you are, then it's her loss."
If only it were that simple. Zhi desperately wanted to explain his predicament to Spin then. He wanted her to understand the dire straits he was in. But she turned from him and got lost in the crowd. Zhi felt lost standing without her.
Duty tugged at him. He turned and headed to Parker's table. Once there, Parker scooted over and made space for him. Zhi took the seat.
The Duke and the DJ: a Sweet Royal Romance (The Rebel Royals Series Book 3) Page 10