ENCORE PERFORMANCE (THE MATCHMAKER TRILOGY)

by Marie, Bernadette

  “I knew this was one of your favorites.” He handed the bottle to Sophia.

  “Thomas, this is wonderful. I’ll put it in the fridge to get a chill on it.” She kissed him on the cheek as Carissa slid past him to find her sister. She saw the extended table set in the living room.

  “Oh, looks like we’re having a few more for dinner,” Carissa commented.

  “Mary Alice, Jeremy, and the boys. They’ll be along in a bit.”

  “All of the boys?”

  “Parker and William are home for the weekend. Elijah thought bringing his three boys would be too much. But we thought this would be fun.”

  Hope was busy folding napkins and laying them next to each plate. “Grandma showed me how once,” she explained. “I thought I’d give it a try.”

  “Okay, show me.” Carissa sat down next to her sister and let her instruct her on the finer art of napkin folding.

  She sat down at the table and Hope explained how to fold each napkin so that it would stand in the center of the plate. Carissa paid attention to every detail, but she was fully aware that when her mother had moved to answer the front door Thomas stayed, leaning up against the doorjamb and watching them. It sent a surge through her, kicking her heart rate up again.

  She was beginning to despise that he could do that to her.

  Carissa looked up from the table and met his eyes.

  “You should learn how to do this.”

  “C’mon, Thomas, I’ll teach you,” Hope offered.

  “Can’t pass that up, can I?” He walked to the table and sat down next to Hope.

  Thomas stood as Sophia entered the room carrying the wine he had brought for dinner. Her smile thanked him as she pointed to her guests and gave them a specific seat around the table.

  “Thomas has brought us my most favorite wine straight from Italy.”

  Thomas quickly stood and reached for the bottle. “Here, let me pour.”

  Mary Alice took a sip. “Oh, this is wonderful.”

  “Only the best for Sophia.” Thomas felt the sting David’s eyes on him.

  Sophia assessed the table as he continued pouring the wine.

  “You forgot your glass.”

  “Oh, I’m saving the last drop for you.” He topped off Sophia’s glass then sat down next to Carissa, who looked up at him with smiling eyes over the rim of her wineglass.

  Thomas couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a family dinner that included friends. Sure, in Italy eight years ago, the family was Sophia, Pablo, Pierre, Sandra, and himself. They ate together, rehearsed together, traveled together, and often lived communally. However, it was nothing like sitting at the dinner table with the family he was quickly falling in love with, and their dearest friends.

  Jeremy leaned back in his chair and patted his stomach when he’d finished his second helping. “Sophia, you absolutely make the best lasagna. I swear I gain three pounds each time I eat it.”

  David laughed at his friend. “At least she can cook. I just get indigestion when we eat at your house. I mean seriously, how many years does it take one man to learn to cook a steak?”

  “He’ll never learn,” Parker piped in. “That’s why I had to have you teach me.”

  David lifted his glass of fine Italian wine in a toast. “And that’s why my godson loves me best.”

  Jeremy threw his napkin across the table at David.

  David smiled broadly. “I’d say dinner next week should be at your house, then, and we’ll let Parker cook.”

  “Can’t do it. I’ll be in Vegas.” Parker raised his eyebrows playfully.

  “Vegas? Why?”

  “Got a girl. She wants to go.” He looked around the table. “Do I have to go on?”

  Mary Alice covered her ears with her hands. “Please don’t.” She shook her head and laughed. Then she turned toward Carissa. “Let’s talk about this school of yours. Tell me about it.”

  “Well . . .” She wiped her mouth with her napkin and replaced it in her lap. “Dad, Jeremy, and Thomas have all the walls framed. The electrical contractor comes Tuesday and after inspection, we can drywall. After that it's flooring, painting, and the finishing touches.”

  “And students,” Sophia added.

  “Yes, and students.” Carissa’s eyes dipped down to her plate.

  Mary Alice shifted her arms to rest on the table. “You’re worried about that part?” “Of course I am. I’m worried that I won’t have enough students the moment I open the doors. I’ve done the number crunching and it scares me. But if I didn’t think it was possible, I wouldn’t have bought the building.”

  Thomas shifted in his chair. “I was giving that some thought. You have a few students of your own and I know your schedule is full for after school. But we have the untapped market of adults too. And I was thinking if we moved the piano out of the study I could start taking on students too. Two students at one time is better than one. What if parents took piano lessons while their child took cello lessons? There’s no reason we should wait to build.” He sucked in a breath. “Or maybe you could teach the physical playing and I can handle the theory.”

  David gave an approving nod and gestured in his direction, stopping him from the rant he felt coming. “He’s got a point.”

  Sophia began to gather plates.

  “So, we should do some advertising and get flyers into the schools now.”

  Carissa smiled as she listened to everyone’s excited ideas.

  “I think it’s a good idea to take on multiple students.” Her eyes settled on Thomas’s, but she hadn’t accepted his proposal of theory, yet again.

  Carissa sat quietly at the table while David, Jeremy, and the boys escaped to the patio for a beer.

  She waited as Thomas gathered her notebook full of ideas and notes for the school and then waited for him, her mother, and Mary Alice to join her at the table.

  “We need a detailed list of the instruments we need to purchase. For now we’ll have to keep them in house until we begin to turn a profit, and then we can rent them out long term.”

  “We need to make sure to talk to the insurance company about that too. We’ll need that in the policy for replacement,” Thomas added, and Carissa wrote it down on her list.

  “Where are you getting the instruments?” Mary Alice asked.

  “I’ll have to go to Chicago. I’ve been working with a dealer there and he has the best prices for what we need. I plan on going out before Christmas.”

  Thomas sat forward on the edge of his seat.

  “What about theory? Do you have a beginning theory book picked out?”

  “I have a basic one that will go with my lessons.”

  “I think theory should be the first thing you teach before they touch anything.”

  Carissa set her eyes on him and noticed how his jaw had set when he spoke. She’d hoped he’d forget about his damn theory room and teaching it. She did teach theory, but she didn’t see the need to cut into student playing time with it. It was part of the hands-on teaching.

  Thomas shifted, resting his clasped hands on the table and keeping his stare on her.

  “Half the problem with students is they start to fool around on the instrument and never learn the music properly. They try to pick out songs by ear and then you can’t go backward and make them do it right. If they aren’t sat down and taught what’s what first, then the lessons don’t mean much.”

  “But if you don’t let them touch the instrument and fall in love with it, theory is useless.”

  “Fact remains you can’t run until you walk. You have to learn how to read music and then touch the instrument.”

  “It’s open for interpretation.” Her voice was low and resonated her irritation.

  “Not in my classes.” He sat back and folded his arms over his chest. “No finger touches a key until they know how to read the music I’m going to put before them.”

  Carissa narrowed her eyes on him. Was he really sitting in her mother’s house tellin
g her how he was going to run a class? Wasn’t he the employee?

  “You’re going to bore them to death first?”

  “I don’t think theory is boring. Not if it’s done properly.”

  “Well then you really don’t understand young minds, do you?” Carissa too sat back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest.

  He wasn’t going to win this argument. It was her school.

  Sophia stood. “I think I’ll get us some coffee. Mary Alice gathered plates and followed her. “Oh, is this our first lover’s spat?”

  “Looks that way.” Sophia tried to listen as she started

  the coffee brewing. The tones from the other room became softer but more heated. It took straining on a trained ear to catch the conversation, but when Carissa stood with a huff and the front door slammed shut, Sophia knew the argument had finished and neither side had won.

  “Well, did you get that worked out?” she asked Carissa who had her head on her arms against the table.

  “He’s so stubborn!” She flung her hands in the air. “He’s got those stupid things in his head and then spins them all around. Every time we’re in the damn school he mentions a theory room. Theory this. Theory that. Dammit, it’s my school.”

  Sophia poured a cup of coffee and set it in front of her daughter.

  “Did you at least say you’d consider thinking about it?”

  “You’re going to side with him?” She shook her head. “This is my school. I’ll run things the way I see fit. I can’t believe you’re just going to side with him.”

  “I see valid points on both sides.”

  “Of course you would. Wouldn’t want to ruffle the feathers, would you?”

  Carissa knew the words she was using were hurtful, though she hadn’t meant them to be.

  Her mother set down the coffeepot. “Well, I see we’re in a nasty mood. I think I’ll go sit with the boys out back.” She stepped out onto the porch.

  Carissa sat at the empty table with only Hope looking on at her in disgust. She’d have plenty to say to her too if she didn’t look like Carissa had just crushed her world by fighting with Thomas. She decided it was better to say good night and head back home. Besides, it was dark and she only could assume he knew his way back to the house on foot. God, she’d been an idiot, and her stomach was churning because of it.

  She poked her head outside and found her mother, seated on her father’s lap. Her sad eyes looking back at her.

  “I’m going to go. Thank you for everything.” Sophia stood and walked toward her.

  “I love you.” She cupped Carissa’s face in her hands and kissed her cheek.

  “I know. I’m so sorry.”

  Sophia pulled her into her arms and held her.

  Carissa kissed her sister good-bye and gathered her notebook and purse. Maybe she had been too hard on him and it would be worth listening to his side. Maybe.

  Carissa let the door slam behind her has she headed home. Why couldn’t it just all work out the way she planned it to? Was she really wrong about her approach?

  CHAPTER SIX Carissa could hear Thomas moving about his room when she opened the front door. Light gleamed under his bedroom door, but as she climbed up the steps, it blinked out. Deliberately, she supposed.

  Well, she couldn’t blame him. They’d asked him to move to Kansas City, give up everything else in his life, and then she wouldn’t even listen to him when he offered suggestions. They were good suggestions too. She’d been a fool. Now she cursed herself.

  She stood outside his door and thought about knocking, but she refrained. They would talk in the morning when they’d both calmed down. She would hear him out. Theory was a good idea and it was of course included in everything she taught, but she’d never thought of teaching it exclusively as a class. He’d obviously given it a lot of thought and he was the true professional when she thought about it.

  Carissa walked to her room and shut the door. Thomas leaned his head against the door as he heard hers close. He’d almost flung it open and given her a piece of his mind. Oh, she was stubborn. Then he let out a laugh. Sophia might not have been her biological mother, but they sure as hell made quite a match.

  The thought washed over him. Stubborn, that might have been too mild for Sophia. What went beyond stubborn? After all, she’d left the man she loved and stayed away from ten years. Not once did she even contact him to hear his side of the story. Well, by God, Carissa was going to listen to his side. If she wanted him to work with her, she was going to listen.

  He pulled his shirt off, exchanged his slacks for a pair of sweatpants, and climbed into his bed. He ran his fingers through his hair then laced them behind his head. God, if she was this crazy about her music education, what was going to happen when he took her to bed?

  He wanted that more now than he wanted to work side by side with her. No, he needed to get over it. He wasn’t the kind of man Carissa needed. She needed stability. She needed a family man. He wasn’t that.

  He took his pillow and pounded it into place. He closed his eyes.

  A smile crossed over his lips as he thought of the kiss he and Carissa had shared earlier that morning. She walked up to him out of the darkness and kissed him again. This time, however, the phone didn’t ring. Nothing stopped him from touching her, caressing her, and he started to undress her.

  The buttons on her blouse released with ease and her skirt pooled to the ground. She moaned his name and began to undress him.

  The room went black. He was alone.

  Huddled in the closet, he was no longer a man of thirty-three, but a young man of sixteen. The same closet had found him cowering most of his life.

  He twisted, trying to break out of the closet. His face throbbed, his head pounded and his hands . . . oh the pain in his hands.

  “Sara!” he called out, but his voice didn’t register. “Sara!” Again and again, he cried out but there was no sound.

  He could hear her scream. He could hear his mother’s screams. He could vividly hear his father’s shouts, his slaps, his fists on skin, and then there was silence.

  Hands were on him. He batted them away.

  Carissa was out of breath. She’d run down the hall. She’d tried to force his locked door open. Then she’d gone through the bathroom and to his side. He was twisted in his sheets, pushing at her, flailing his arms about . . . protecting himself.

  “Help her!” “Thomas, help who? Wake up.” She tried to touch him again, but he batted her touch away. “Oh, baby, wake up.”

  He sat straight up in bed. His eyes flew open. She watched as they settled from terror in his sleep to alertness.

  “I’m here. I’m here.” She wanted to touch him again but didn’t dare.

  His hair was damp from sweat. He held his hands up and looked them over.

  Carissa stood. “I’ll get you some water.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

  “No, please don’t go.”

  His hand, damp and hot, trembled against her skin. She covered it with hers. “Are you all right? I heard you screaming from my room.”

  “What time is it?”

  “Three o’clock.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, catching his breath and moving back from her. “I have nightmares sometimes. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “You were hurt. Someone was hurting you.” She reached for his face and he jerked back before he let her hand settle on his cheek.

  “Not me. Someone else.”

  “Oh, Thomas.” She pulled him into her arms and held him there. All the anger she’d had for him when she’d thrown herself into her bed was gone. She just wanted to hold him and be there for him.

  His breath began to settle as Carissa’s hand stroked the back of his neck. Her cheek pressed up against his and it was soft. Her scent was filling his senses and he lifted his hands to her arms and ran them softly from her shoulder to her hands until she pulled back slowly.

  Their eyes locked. He raised his hand and c
upped the back of her neck. Her chest rose in anticipation as he lowered his mouth to hers. He tried to be gentle, tried to take it slow, but he couldn’t resist. He parted her lips with his tongue and took. He pulled her closer and felt her respond as he felt his own rise.

  He pulled her down on top of him. Her body molded to his. His hands slid up her back, gathering her tank top and pulling it over her head. She shook back her head. Her hair fell over her shoulders, over him like satin on his skin. Thomas looked down between them. Her ripe breasts pressed against his chest. Her heart beat against his.

  In a fluid movement, her rolled her onto her back and drank in the beauty that was beneath him. His hand skimmed over her satin skin, cupping her breasts in his hands. Carissa arched her back and closed her eyes. Her body welcomed him.

  He lowered his mouth to her neck as she ran her hands over his back.

  “Thomas.” Her voice was breathless. He pulled back and let himself sink into her eyes. “I want you to make love to me.”

  There was now nothing more on his mind. He rose and shoved his pants from his legs. He ravaged her shoulders, her neck, and her mouth as he pulled the boxers she’d worn to bed from her body.

  It seemed like there wasn’t time to explore. Her legs spread under his weight and he plunged. She arched and rode with him as he rocked into her.

  She nipped at his mouth as he whispered her name against her lips. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She’d been touched, kissed, and taken over the edge enough to know no one had ever made her feel like he was making her feel. Every muscle in her body quivered as he moved his body over hers. In hers. The racing of her heart, which beat in perfect time with his, only fueled the moment. Never in her life has she wanted a man more than she wanted Thomas.

  His eyes met hers as she climbed with him. Their bodies tensed. Every note she’d ever played drummed in her ears as they spilled over together in a crescendo.

  He buried his face in her neck. His breath was heavy in her ear as she pulled his shuddering body against her.

  When he became still she held him tighter. She didn’t want the moment to end, ever. Greed had taken over. She wanted more of those moments.

  Thomas lifted his face to look into hers. He touched her hair and shifted just enough to lessen his weight on her. Carissa watched him as his breath returned to normal. She reached for his hand and laced their fingers together.