by Reina Torres
He’d covered well with her clothing by having Natale create and buy an entire new wardrobe. If he could just keep the horrible details to himself until after her debut concert, he would handle the trouble then. She deserved to have a life that wasn’t steeped in misery.
And he was going to give it to her, even if it meant keeping things from her for a few days.
Pushing open the door to their bedroom, Valerio let his eyes adjust to the darkness.
He worked his shirt buttons loose after setting his coat aside and reached for the button on his trousers. Being this close to Allegra, and having been apart from her for more than a day, his need for her bore down on him like a rockslide, the weight crushing at his chest.
Drawing down the zipper of his pants, he hissed when he was finally able to gather his thoughts. He wanted to touch her, be inside of her, but he wanted to care for her first. He crossed through the bedroom and into the bathroom, quietly closing the door behind him so that Allegra could continue to sleep.
Stepping into the spray he lifted his face into it and let it rush over his body for a few minutes before he reached for the soap.
The bathroom door clicked open and he turned, the water rushing over his scalp and down over his eyes, but he could still see Allegra.
Standing in the doorway, her hand on the frame, he could feel the tension rolling off of her in waves.
“Allegra?”
“I,” she hesitated, and her tongue swept over her bottom lip, “I wish I could see you.” She laughed a little. “It’s really strange, you know? The way that I am… I would never have thought… someone like you… someone like me.” She turned her head away and started to move back toward the bed.
“Allegra?” He tried to keep his tone even, to make her feel comfortable, but both sides of him wanted more than just to comfort her. “Don’t go.”
He watched her hesitate and he moved through the spray slowly, watching her. He saw other signs in the way she held her body. The pinch between her shoulder blades. The tightness in her cheeks, her jaw. The way she swallowed over and over.
Valerio shut off the water and reached for a towel. “I’m coming out to you.”
She took a step back, a hand waving him off. “Don’t. I’m okay. Take your shower. I’m… I’m just going to go back to sleep.”
He saw the signs. She was too upset to sleep.
“Let me talk to you.”
He saw her hesitation again, the shift of her jaw as she ground her teeth together. And then the subtle shake of her head. “I don’t want to interrupt your shower.”
“You’re not.” Valerio stepped outside and swept the towel over his hair. “I was about to come to bed. I’ve missed you.”
“I missed you, too.”
She looked like the admission hurt and that worried him. He let the towel slip from his fingers as he crossed the room and braced his hands on the doorframe. “Allegra?”
She shook, perhaps a little startled and by the scent he inhaled into his lungs, more than a little aroused. “Hmm... yeah?”
He leaned closer, brushing his cheek against hers until his lips closed over her sensitive earlobe. “Put your hands on me. Please put your hands on me.”
Her mouth opened on a moan and the scent of her arousal filled him, pushed more blood through his veins. He was harder than he’d ever been and desperately in need of her, but only when she was ready.
She reached for him, trailing her fingers over his chest.
And then she hesitated.
“Allegra? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” The answer came too quickly. Her tone a little harsh. “Nothing.”
He lowered his hands and bent to pick up the towel.
She drew in a breath. “Stop, don’t go.”
He stood but didn’t try to reach for her. “I’m not going anywhere, Allegra. Tell me what’s wrong.”
“Did you go and see his parents?”
He hesitated and then answered her. “Yes.”
“And then you went to court to get his information.”
“Yes.”
“And…”
He could feel her frustration, but before he could ask her about it, she continued.
“And then you and your brother went all the way to Geneva?”
“‘Berto will remain to watch him. Make sure he stays put until we figure out who is trying to hurt you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She lifted her hands and slipped her fingers through her hair, yanking through the tangles. “Why did I have to find out through-” she stopped suddenly, hesitating again. “Why did I have to find out from Salvatore?”
“Once we found out I had to make arrangements and get on the plane. Allegra, I didn’t want to upset you.”
“And Lance? You found him?”
“He’s there in Geneva.” He couldn’t help the growl in his voice. “And he’s going to stay there.”
“Yeah,” she swallowed, “I’m sure he will, but I doubt Uberto is happy about being away from home.”
He touched her shoulder and froze when she pulled away. “What’s wrong?”
“I,” she stepped back and stumbled a bit, warding off his help, “I don’t know.”
She turned and made her way back to the bed, using her fingertips to walk along the edge before she came to the night stand and picked up her purse.
Valerio paused just a few feet away, his heart hammering in his chest, his bear pacing in erratic circles inside of his mind.
She set her purse back down and turned in a little half circle, orienting herself. Moving to the closet she reached in and grabbed her coat, pulling it from the hanger. She crossed the room and reached for her phone turning it on. The automated assistant answered her verbal command.
HOW MAY I HELP YOU?
“Allegra, wait.” He hated doing it, but he pulled the phone from her hand and set it down. “Talk to me.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. I just… things are moving… have moved too fast.” She searched for the phone and he turned her hand and set it on her palm. “I know I care about you, Valerio. So much.” She shook her head. “Too much.”
He wanted to say something but he didn’t want to interrupt until she’d had her say.
“And I’m feeling out of control… like I can’t catch my breath.”
She set her hand down on his and gave it a little squeeze.
“Can you understand what I’m saying?”
He nodded and lifted their hands, cupping his other hand around her. “I understand only too well.” He drew in a breath and let it out. “When I’m around you I can’t catch my breath, either.”
“I had time to think while you were gone,” she explained. “When you’re close to me, when you’re touching me, I can’t think. I feel everything like it’s amplified, expanding, pulling me under. The air feels solid. My feelings like an ocean wave knocking me off my feet and to tell you the truth, I’ve never learned how to swim.”
“Allegra-”
“I just need a day,” she began and shook her head, “a few days to feel like I’m standing on my own two feet. To feel like I’ve had time to think instead of just feeling everything like a live wire.”
“We have guest rooms. I can sleep in one of those.”
“No,” she tugged at her hand, but instead of pulling it from his gentle touch, she turned her hand to fit their fingers together, “I’m not chasing you from your bedroom. That’s not what I’m talking about.” He kept quiet as he argued with his bear. The beast roared his displeasure, shoving a thick shoulder against their bond. “I talked to Jane earlier. She said I could stay with her until the concert. We need some time to work together outside of the group rehearsals anyway.”
“But this is also because of me.”
She nodded and then shrugged, but he could tell it wasn’t that easy. Her face looked tired, her eyes guarded and Valerio felt her hand go a little cold. “Lance was one man on the outside and one man on the i
nside. I know you’re not like him, you’d never do what he did, I just-”
“You just need some time.”
He heard the dull tone of his voice, felt the heavy pounding of his heart in his chest. Felt the fear creep up and choke off the air he needed to breathe.
“I need to concentrate and with you, everything I feel,” she gulped in a breath as she started to shake, “is so much more. I need to bring things back to normal, just for a little bit.”
Normal. Normal to him was just an empty hole in the center of his soul. A hole that only Allegra had been able to fill with her touch, her music, her light.
“I want to give you guards. You need to have guards.”
She nodded slowly. “If it will make you feel better.”
He shook his head and tasted blood as his fangs scored the inside of his lips. He was thankful that she couldn’t see. He knew that if she did, she would likely have been afraid of him. His bear had pushed through enough that he knew that his face, his skin, was just a mask stretched thin over the wild animal. He knew his eyes and teeth had already made the change.
When he opened his mouth to speak, he wasn’t sure what would come out of his throat.
“Will you stay the night?”
He saw the change in her face. The pain that flickered across and then settled on her features. Felt the tremors in her body.
What slayed him, flayed open his pain, was the single tear that fell from her sightless eyes as she nodded. “Hold me in your arms?”
He would have done anything she asked. Anything.
Peeling back the covers on the bed, he gently nudged her up on the feather-soft bed and watched with hungry eyes as she laid her head on the pillow and tucked her knees up against her stomach.
He felt his bear growl within him, the protective instinct riding both of them hard. Crawling in behind her, he laid his naked body on the crisp sheets and slid an arm over her shoulder, just under the pillow. His other arm drew the sheet and thin blanket over their bodies before he reached around her body, tucking it just under the generous swell of her breasts.
Her satisfied sigh and the soft caress of her cheek on his bicep made him rock hard against the luscious curve of her backside. “Valerio?”
He answered with a kiss on her bare shoulder.
“Thank you.”
He trembled against her. “For?”
“For listening to me.” She snuggled back against his chest. “For giving me some space.”
“You are my mate, Allegra. I would do anything for you.”
Chapter Fourteen
Jane chuckled softly as the heavy stage door closed behind them. “Goodness, Allegra. There’s no shortage of handsome men when you’re around.”
Allegra’s laugh was easier than it had been for the last few days. “I’m glad to provide you with entertainment.”
“That,” the older woman giggled, “and plenty of eye-candy.”
Feeling her cheeks flaming with heat, Allegra’s shoulder shook with a new round of silent chuckles. “Any of them strike your fancy?” Allegra felt Jane step up beside her again and offer her arm. Taking it, they walked down the hallway.
“Any? Oh, sweetheart, I’m taken, but I’ll look my fill. Even if I was single it would be all just a blushing fantasy, but I sure do like to imagine what they look like under those tailored suits.”
Nodding, Allegra knew to expect the turn up ahead and then the short walk to the elevator. “I’ll leave that to you. There’s only one man’s suit that I want to get into.”
And it felt good to think about him.
After being with Jane for the last few days and focusing on her rehearsals and the upcoming concert, she was ready to go home.
Yes, home. Free of the anxieties driven by the secrets and the notes, her worries had melted away under the sway of her music. Somewhere between Bach and Debussy, Adagio and Vivace, she had finally risen above the fear in her heart and she’d found the clarity she’d been seeking.
And that clarity was Valerio. Her mate.
Reaching up her free hand she felt the healed mark under the shoulder of her dress. It wasn’t just a declaration or something as ephemeral as a ring, the mark she wore on her shoulder went all the way to her heart, her very soul.
A moment later, she realized that they’d stopped walking.
“Sorry, I was in my head again.”
“Well, if you’re thinking of your man, then it’s a lovely place to be.” Jane opened the door to her dressing room. “And when you’re actually with him after the show tonight, you be sure to thank him for the brunch he sent over to my apartment. I’ve never had such a lovely meal before.”
“You and me both,” Allegra sighed and leaned forward, reaching for the pianist. Jane returned the hug and continued down the hall to her own dressing room.
Allegra stepped inside and moved to the closet six paces away, sliding open the panel. Hanging inside was the gown that Natale had designed for her, a soft buttery silk patterned with a raised-texture that tickled under her fingertips. Natale had left her a message that they would meet her backstage after the concert, so she would have a chance to thank the designer in person. She would have a chance to thank them all in person.
The air conditioning system clicked on, ramping up as it always did before a show. During rehearsals the theater could get away with a bare minimum of air-conditioning, enough to keep the performers and their instruments cool and at the appropriate temperature, but when they were about to open the doors to ticket holders and patrons they needed to add extra power to the system to maintain the right temperatures with the hundreds of added bodies in the theater.
That meant that it was time to do make-up.
“My favorite time of the day.” The table was a few steps away and she sat down in the chair and slowly moved her hand over the surface of the table. She located her compact and her lipstick, blush, eyeliner and then the edge of an envelope.
The breath rushed out of her lungs as she picked it up from the table, fumbling it once before she managed to hold it between her fingers. Untucking the top flap of the envelope she pulled out the card inside.
Braille.
Allegra blew out a breath and felt a tremor roll through her body, fear spreading like ink in water, curling through her body. Touching her fingers to the raised letters she read the message.
See you tonight after the show
Mia Anima Gemella
Valerio
His soulmate.
He said the words to her before. She’d heard them as a whisper, as a groan, and mumbled again and again like a prayer as he’d held her in his arms.
Oh yes, she was ready to go back to him.
And it was a huge relief that the card was from Valerio. Since she’d gone to stay with Jane there hadn’t been any new messages. She was beginning to think it was all some kind of a weird dream. Lance was in Geneva. She was safe from him. And whoever had tried to make her scared, they’d obviously given up. All she had to do was get ready for the concert and prove that she’d taken her life back and found her way even with all the hurt that Lance had caused her before.
Picking up her base compact she flipped it open and took out the applicator.
Allegra looked up at the sound of a knock on the door. “Come in!”
The door opened and she heard someone take a few tentative steps inside.
“Hello?”
“Oh hey, sorry. It’s Zack. I um… well, you looked up and I thought maybe… anyway, sorry.”
Allegra laughed. “Old habits die hard I guess. I still turn toward sounds like I’m expecting to see who or what is there. Don’t worry about it.” The moment passed easily for her. “Did you need something?”
“Not really. I was just coming to see how you were doing. You’ve been a little, I don’t know, sad?”
Allegra’s laughter faded a little. “A little, but I think I’ve got it all figured out now.”
“Ahhh,” he sighed, “so I
guess you’re still with that guy, huh?”
“Yes,” she shook her head, “as long as he hasn’t changed his mind, I’m all his.”
“Yeah, well I doubt he’s changed his mind. The way he looks at you,” he cleared his throat, “he’s all about you too.”
“Zack, I-”
A knock on the doorframe interrupted them.
“Hey, Zack. What are you doing here?”
“Hey, Linda,” Zack’s voice tensed up a little, “I’m stopping in to see Allegra. What are you doing here?”
There was a little huff of sound, a scuff of a shoe on the carpet. “Ever since they brought you in, you’ve been a pain in my neck, Zack.”
“Whoa?” Zack’s laugh was a little strained. “Way to bring a guy down, Linda.” His voice was clearer when he turned. “Woodwinds, never quite as popular as the strings.”
“Why don’t you go and bother someone else, and leave the girls alone to chat.”
“Chat? You two?” Zack chuckled. “I don’t see what the two of you would have to talk about.”
“Girl stuff.”
That got a reaction and Allegra heard Zack back up through the doorway. “Hey, you don’t have to push. Jeez! Okay, fine! You do your icky girl talk and I’ll see you later, okay, Allegra?”
“Sure, Zack, I-”
The door closed shut.
Salvatore and Natale walked her father to the door of the penthouse. She reached out a hand and touched his arm. “Papa, are you sure you don’t want to stay with us?”
His deep laughter always made her smile. “Natale, you have your life here and I visit you and see how you glow with love, but I know what a precious time this is for you as a couple.” His face flushed a little. “And there just might be a chef at the restaurant in my hotel who knows that I have a weakness for her pastries.”
Natale pulled her father closer for one more hug. “Be careful, Papa.”
“Why?”
She stepped back and looked over his happy smile with a glorious smile of her own. “I think she’s in danger of having a weakness for you too.”