by Lucy Monroe
“My father used to say the same thing.” Right before forcing her onto a stage where she had to lose herself in the music or lose her sanity, or so it felt to her.
She could remember the sea of faces that would confront her at each sold-out concert for the child prodigy pianist. And that memory still had the power to send a cold sweat down her spine. For as far back as she could remember, her music had always been a deeply personal thing for Cass. She used it to hide from the reality of her mother’s illness and her father’s often angry helplessness in the face of it.
How Cass had hated sharing her music with crowds of strangers, too many of whom wanted to meet the young pianist, after what had always been for her a soul-exhausting concert.
Something moved in Neo’s green eyes. “You will tell me about that later, but realize I am not your father.”
“No.” The feelings she experienced in Neo’s presence were far from familial. And he was not cajoling her to perform in a packed auditorium. She took a deep breath and let it out. “Okay. We can show him the house.”
“Let’s do this,” Neo said to Cole.
The security consultant simply nodded, without giving Cass any of the strange looks she was used to receiving when her limitations got in the way of normal social interaction.
Gratitude washed over her and she gave him a genuine, if small, smile.
Then, despite the fact the man had gone past the music room and the hall only once before and that was yesterday, Neo led them on a flawless tour of her house. It was uncanny. He never once opened a closet door expecting a room, or missed a door that led to the outside. Although her house was small, there were four doors of that nature—the front door, the kitchen door, and French doors in both the master bedroom and dining room. Those in her room led out to a raised deck and the ones in the dining room opened onto the patio below that deck.
“Ideally, we would replace these doors with ones made of reinforced metal and shatterproof glass,” Cole said, eyeing the bedroom’s French doors with disfavor.
Cass gripped Neo’s suit jacket without thought. “Neo,” she pleaded. “Is that really necessary?”
“You will spend the day with me when the renovations are being done.”
That was not what she had asked, nor should it have made her feel any better. After all, Neo was really just a student, not a friend or a protector, but he made her feel safer than she had in years. Maybe ever.
And wasn’t that thought just a tad overwhelming. Neo would walk out of her life without a backward glance in less than a year’s time. His lessons would be over and he would move on, but Cass did not think he would leave her unchanged.
And maybe that was okay.
It had been too long since she let anyone inside, but even if it led to pain and loss down the road, it might well be worth it.
“I’m sure your personal assistant will love that. She doesn’t like me,” she said to cover her nearly overwhelming relief at his offer.
Cass could not imagine spending the day trailing after the high-energy billionaire. But for the first time in years, just because she couldn’t imagine it, did not mean she refused to try it.
“Miss Park? She is a very efficient personal assistant. I do not pay her to like or dislike people.”
“Just because you don’t pay for it, doesn’t mean you don’t get it.” Did the man really think people worked that way?
“I have acted somewhat out of character in my dealings with you. No doubt that surprises her.”
“Really?” Cass let go of his jacket and smoothed the expensive fabric. “I guess that doesn’t surprise me. Even I realized you offering to come this morning was not the norm.”
“No, but here I am.”
“Why is that?” she asked. Was it possible he felt the same almost primal connection she did? And what would she do if he did?
No way would a dynamic man like Neo Stamos tolerate the cramp in his style a relationship with her would cause.
“I believe I am making a new friend for the first time in more years than I care to count.”
“Oh.” Of course he hadn’t felt the same amazing attraction. Neo was surrounded by gorgeous, fully socially functional women. Cass wouldn’t even register a blip on his female companionship radar, but friendship wasn’t something to dismiss lightly. Not for her anyway. She didn’t have so many she could or would want to dismiss his offer. “I think I’m honored.”
“As am I, by your trust.”
“I do trust you.”
“I noticed.”
Cole cleared his throat. “I’ve seen enough to write my preliminary report.”
Neo’s face twitched just enough to let her know that like her, he’d forgotten the other man was there.
“Good. I’ll expect it on my desk by afternoon.”
“For the rates you’re paying, I can make that happen.” Cole smiled as if he didn’t mind rich clients throwing money at a problem they expected him to fix.
It was a good attitude to take, she was sure. If you wanted to keep working for said rich clients.
“I’d like to see the report as well,” she said.
Cole’s smile warmed up a couple of degrees as he turned it on her. “No problem.”
“Naturally,” Neo said at the same time.
And then like the whirlwind he was, Neo Stamos was gone, his security consultant along with him.
CHAPTER FOUR
CASS read the security report, her heart sinking further with each recommendation.
No way was all of this going to be done in one day, or even two. Despite most of the security upgrades being offered with options that made them as unobtrusive to her current lifestyle as possible, they were far too extensive for a single-day implementation. Looking at the report, she had visions of workmen coming and going, invading each and every room of her sanctuary, for a week at the least.
She appreciated Cole’s efforts to keep the changes in the background, she really did. Just as she was grateful he had brought the report personally, instead of sending a messenger as he told her he had done for Neo.
However, no amount of understanding on the part of the security expert could alter the fact that he was recommending several anxiety-producing modifications to her home. Not least of which was a state-of-the-art alarm system that governed every window and door in her house.
Should she accidentally set the alarm off, a hundred-plus decibel noise would assault her ears and those of her neighbors. Not only that, but the system would be hooked into his private security company for twenty-four-hour monitoring. Someone there would have access to duplicate keys to all her outdoor locks. Even though Cole called the system typical in its implementation for residential security, Cass felt like it was all too cloak-and-dagger for words.
Cole had also recommended replacing all of her doors and windows with more secure models. He wanted to install biometric locks as well. She knew biometric referred to locks opened with retinal or fingerprint scanners, which almost sounded intriguing, if a little redolent of science fiction. She might actually like that upgrade.
But by far, the worst elements to the proposal, and the ones given the least explanation, were those recommended for the outside of her home. Cole wanted to cut back the lilac bushes her mother had planted the year Cass’s parents had moved into the house. And that was only the beginning of the landscape changes he wanted to make outside.
There was nothing for it. If Neo’s privacy and safety were the reasons for the upgrades, Neo would simply have to have his lessons in the studio. Which is what she told him when she called him a few moments later.
“We have already discussed that option and I do not find it acceptable.”
“Then we’ll have the lessons at your penthouse.” Why hadn’t she thought of that before? “You’re planning to get a piano anyway. It would be beneficial to have your lessons on the instrument you use for practice.”
“What is the problem here?” he asked without a sign of i
mpatience, which rather surprised her. “I have looked at the report and I thought Cole Geary did a fair job of minimizing the impact of the improved safety measures.”
She rolled her eyes, though of course he couldn’t see. “For someone like you maybe.”
“Someone like me would require an armed guard on the premises at all times.”
“Sucks to be you.” The words just slipped out, but she meant them. With every fiber of her being. She could not imagine spending her days under constant observation.
A surprised bark of laughter sounded. “I’ve got to admit that is the very first time in my adult life that particular phrase has been directed at me. What is even more astonishing is that I can tell you mean it.”
“The life of a high-profile businessman is not for me,” she said, amusement making the first tiny cracks in the wall of anxiety that had been building since she had agreed to have the security consultant come over yesterday.
“It’s a good thing you are just my friend, not my business partner.” He sounded like he was smiling, if not laughing outright.
“I’m sure Zephyr Nikos is grateful for that as well,” she said dryly.
“I don’t know. I can push too hard at times, but then so can he.”
It amazed her how humble the tycoon could sound after all that he had accomplished in his thirty-five years. She couldn’t afford to get sidetracked by admiration though. “I, on the other hand, may not be pushy, but I am also not a pushover.”
“I never thought you were. It takes determination to refuse the lucrative life of a concert performer.”
“My manager calls it bullheaded stubbornness.”
“Naturally, the more money you make, the more he does.”
“That’s one way to look at life.”
“Are you saying you don’t think he does?”
“Honestly? I don’t know. When my father died, I clung to Bob because he was someone familiar. I assumed he had my best interests at heart, and mostly, I think he does.”
“But he is motivated by a desire for financial success like so many of us.”
“Oh, I don’t think it’s mere money that motivates you. I get the feeling you like being a rich man, but you enjoy being a powerful one even more.”
“You think so?”
“I do. You wear the mantle of control with complete comfort.”
“This is true, but what makes you say so?” His tone couldn’t be mistaken for anything but genuine curiosity, no defensiveness there.
She laughed. She couldn’t help herself. And then she laughed some more. When she finally got her mirth under control, she was met by silence at the other end of the phone.
“Are you still there?”
“Yes. Are you finished laughing?”
“Um…I think so.”
“It is another first for me.”
“What?”
“Being laughed at. Even Zephyr would not dare.”
“Oh, come on. You trip and fall and your best friend would not laugh?”
“I would never trip and fall.”
“I suppose you never spill sauce on your shirt at a restaurant, either.”
“No.”
“Hmm…you never mistake someone’s identity in an embarrassing and amusing-to-your-friends way?”
“I do not make mistakes.”
“You sound like you mean that.”
“I also do not say things I do not mean.” Wow, such arrogance.
“Even when you are negotiating a real estate deal?”
“I never bluff.”
“Oh.” For some reason that was just a little nerve-wracking to know.
“Should I apologize for finding you funny?” she wondered out loud.
“Not necessary, but I would appreciate you sharing the joke.”
“You.”
“I am the joke?” he asked in an odd voice.
“Um…yes.”
“Explain.”
“Neo, you have done nothing but boss me around since the moment I met you. Your control issues are hardly a deeply-seated psychological secret.”
“I do not have issues with control,” he replied with clear affront.
She almost laughed again, but she managed to stop herself with a judicious bite to her lower lip. It hurt, but it was effective. “No, you just insist on being the one who has it.”
“I cede control when necessary.”
“Which I’m sure isn’t often.”
“True, but there is nothing wrong with that.” His tone was almost defensive this time.
She couldn’t quite stifle the grin that caused, but she tried very hard not to let it show in her voice. “If you can handle the stress of so much responsibility, maybe not, but your insistence on changing my home to suit your whim is taking it a bit far. If you don’t mind my saying so.”
“We have discussed this. Concern for your safety is hardly a whim.”
“I thought we were implementing these changes for your safety.”
“Yesterday was disturbing for both of us. And I have bodyguards.”
“I see.” She’d thought as much, but when he had been so insistent, she’d been unable to comprehend him being that way for her sake rather than his own. “I don’t want to change my house for me.”
She didn’t want to change it at all, but particularly if the reason for doing so was some spurious need to increase her personal safety. She had lived her whole life in that house and was doing just fine. Even alone, like she had been since her father’s death.
“Consider, if the ruthlessly forward reporter that climbed your back deck had broken one of the glass panes on the French doors to your bedroom. Which he could have done all too easily. He could have gotten inside. Even if his intention was not to harm you, such an action would cause you grave distress.”
“There’s no reason to believe there will be a repeat of yesterday anytime soon, if ever.”
“You are a celebrity. You may be a shy one that does not court the spotlight, but with the increase in sales on each new album, you build a wider and wider fan base. An incident just like yesterday’s could indeed happen again, and soon.”
She shivered, feeling slightly nauseated at the prospect. Still, she had stopped being a public performer years ago. “Even though I have reasonable success with my music, I’m hardly at risk like a pop star.”
“But you are at risk.”
“Why are you so insistent?” she asked almost plaintively.
“It is what is best for you. I am used to doing what is best for the people who rely on me.”
“I am not one of your employees.”
“It does not matter.” He sighed, as if exasperated. “I have already arranged for payment if that is what concerns you.”
“You know it’s not.”
“Cassandra—”
“I’ll see you next week. Let me know if you wish to meet at the studio or your penthouse.”
He said her name again, but she simply said, “Goodbye,” at the same time.
She hung the phone up without another word.
Cass wished she was surprised when the doorbell rang the next morning before she’d even had her first cup of coffee, but she wasn’t. She was even less surprised to look out the window in the bedroom that overlooked the drive and see Neo’s Mercedes parked there.
He was not the type of man to let someone else set terms. Besides, no matter what she thought, he was convinced she needed to upgrade her house’s security.
She was less than halfway down the stairs when the doorbell rang. Impatient and quick, Neo didn’t linger on the doorstop dithering about whether or not to bother her so early in the morning as she would have done. She didn’t even consider trying to ignore the bell, or the man ringing it.
Neo would not be deterred by a mere refusal to answer the door. Besides, as much as she hated confrontation, she did not hide from it when necessary. And it was necessary to make Neo understand she wasn’t transforming her home on his whim.
All words along that vein and any others dried up when she swung the door wide to be confronted by the man in person. He was so darn gorgeous in today’s business suit, each dark hair perfectly in place, his green gaze locked on her with laserlike intensity.
She went hot all over and stopped breathing. For just a few seconds, but it was enough to remind her how out of control she felt in his presence.
Why did he affect her this way?
It was like the anxiety she felt at being in a crowd of strangers, only not. Because as unsettling as this feeling was, she liked it. She liked him.
Even when he was trying to boss her around.
He’d opened his mouth to speak, but shut it when he saw her. “What are you wearing?” he demanded after several seconds of silence.
Not sure what had him so confused, she looked down at herself. Yes, she had remembered to don her robe. The teal blue silk covered her from neck to ankle in more than adequate modesty. Her feet were bare, but she was in her own home, surely that wasn’t a crime?
She lifted her head and met his bright blue gaze, which was fixed on her with far too much intensity for this early in the morning.
“It’s not polite to stare.” Especially when the look felt so much like a physical touch. It just wasn’t right. “I haven’t even had my morning caffeine yet,” she grumbled.
He seemed less than impressed. “I have been up for two hours.”
“Good for you.” So, he’d gotten up at five-thirty? What a masochist. “Only, normal people wait to visit others, especially when they neglect to call ahead, until after eight, sometimes even nine.”
His brow quirked in that sexy way he had. “We have already established I am no average man.”
“Being extraordinary in no way gives you leave to be rude.” But she had to admit that this man would probably get away with a lot more than she would allow anyone else in her life.
And that did not bode well for the outcome of the discussion coming.
“This from the woman who hung up on me yesterday.”
“I said goodbye.”
“You refused to discuss Cole’s proposal in any way resembling a rational manner.”