Chapter Nine
Aiden
THE STRAINS OF music reach my ears. Drops of notes that remind me of rain splashing on the surface of a pond.
I glance to my left. Seraphina’s balcony is just around the corner. But I can’t see her.
I force myself to look back at my laptop.
I stationed myself here as soon as we got back to the villa.
I also made one phone call to the director of the Hawke Foundation and asked him to set up an endowment fund for Grace’s Refuge.
After learning firsthand everything they did for Seraphina, and everything they continue to do for people in need, I want them to never have to worry about money again.
I forced myself out of the room at six to meet her for dinner on the terrace.
The sight of her sitting at the table in another of her new dresses, a long pale blue gown with a black ribbon tied at the waist, had me gritting my teeth all through dinner.
She must have sensed my tension because she kept the conversation focused on business, asking questions about this account and that investment.
By the time we were served dessert, I was almost relaxed.
But then she stood and walked to the edge of the terrace. There was no back to the dress, just ties that I could easily imagine undoing. I managed to wish her good-night and go back to my room. Pulled out my laptop again and started answering emails.
I had no intention of seeking her out again tonight. But as more instruments join in and the music swells, I can picture her dancing on that stage at the botanical gardens, the way her movements flowed like water.
I close my laptop. Stand. My pulse is accelerating, blood pounding through me as I walk out of my suite and down the hall to her door. It’s partially open.
I pause at the threshold. I know what will happen once I cross it. When she looked at me on the boat, tilted her face up to mine, I nearly gave in. Nearly stripped her naked and laid her out on the cushions.
One corner of my mouth quirks up. I’ve been fighting this attraction for years. The last few days have been torture. But once she trusted me with her story, once she looked at me with the full strength of desire in her eyes, there was only one answer as to whether we would end up in bed.
But I meant what I said. I wasn’t going to take her fresh off her confession. Not with her emotions running so high. When we come together, I don’t want the past between us. Only the present.
I ease the door open and step inside. A palatial suite that mirrors mine, with a round bed on a marble dais and a gauzy canopy held up by slim Corinthian columns. Ivory furniture decorated with azure-colored throw pillows and silk blankets.
And a half-circle balcony that overlooks the ocean. The lights on the railing cast a golden glow as Seraphina dances.
Her moves are light and graceful as she moves about the terrace.
She changed into a loose, flowing dress.
The pale purple reminds me of the lavender growing in the fields just beyond the villa as she dips, spins on the ground and then comes back up, pausing with one leg extended behind her.
Her fire dancing was mesmerizing, but seeing the true extent of her dance training is captivating in its own way.
I want her. Need her. But I need to confirm she understands there is no future for us. Only these few months we have before we go back to the way we were before.
Warning whispers across the back of my neck. If we cross this line, can we go back? Can I break my own rules, let down my boundaries just to have a brief affair with Seraphina?
Yes.
As the song draws to a close, Seraphina rises up on one foot and turns.
Once, twice, three times, her other leg out in a perfect line.
She stops suddenly, drops to the floor. Then, slowly, she raises her head and looks straight at me.
Electricity crackles between us just like it did at the gala.
Except now it doesn’t just flare and disappear.
Now it lingers, building until I can feel it snapping across my skin before it sinks into my veins and heats my blood.
How did I resist her all these years? How did I work alongside her without touching her? Seeing her?
The truth hits me like a punch. I didn’t let myself see her because I knew it would be like this. Not just a casual fling but one that lingered. One that could hurt.
Seraphina stands, her breath coming in short pants.
“I heard the music.”
She winces. “Sorry. I didn’t think it was that loud.”
“Don’t apologize, unless I need to apologize for invading your space again.”
She shakes her head, a small smile on her face as she crosses to one of the tables next to a chaise longue and grabs a bottle of water.
“No. I…” Her voice trails off. She raises the bottle and takes a long drink. “Before the gala, I hadn’t danced for anyone for years except Jessica and a couple of the other people at Obsidian.”
“So why choose a gala with hundreds of people?”
“I didn’t. Jessica was supposed to perform that night, but her sister went into labor and she wanted to be there for her. The other fire dancers were at some event in the city.” She shrugs. “So I said yes.”
Loyalty is a trait I admire, perhaps more than any other, given what Dominic, Cassian and I went through together.
I already admired Seraphina, respected her.
But hearing that she gave her first performance in years to help out a friend, to see the evidence of how much she’s overcome, makes me realize just how strong and resilient this woman really is.
“Do you dance?”
I arch a brow. “Do I look like I dance?”
“You must dance at least once at the masquerade.” Her eyes widen as I shake my head. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.” I tilt my head. “You could teach me.”
Excitement sparks in her eyes, but disappears just as quickly.
“If it’s too much—”
“No. It’s just…” She glances down at the ground, then looks back up at me.
“I haven’t taught in a long time. But talking to you on the boat…
” Her lips curve up. “I didn’t realize how much I’d been afraid to talk about what happened.
It kept me from dating, kept me from fully embracing my dancing.
But you accepting what happened helped. A lot.
I feel lighter than I have in a long time.
” She smiles. “That’s a long, complicated way of saying I’d like to teach you. ”
I’m glad I helped. I am. But I also don’t know how to accept her gratitude, her continuing kindness and the trust she’s placing in me.
I was always impressed by Seraphina’s professionalism and how she never once showed any interest in me romantically.
I’m starting to wonder if that’s because she’s only recently started seeing me differently or if she was just adhering to the boundaries I set in place.
If I’ve been missing out on this side of a woman who’s invested so much of herself into my firm.
For the first time, my walls no longer feel secure. They feel like a prison.
Seraphina holds out her hand. “Ready?”
I hold up a finger and pull my phone out of my pocket.
“What are you doing?”
“Making a quick call.” I dial. “Yes, Arthur? Can you bring up a bottle of Dom Pérignon to Miss Clark’s suite, please? 1953 if we have it in stock. Merci.”
“1953?” Seraphina repeats as I hang up. “Like in…”
“Bond. James Bond.”
She wrinkles her nose. “Is it still good after all this time?”
I can’t help but grin. “We’re about to find out. It only cost me two thousand pounds at an auction in London.”
“Only two thousand,” she repeats.
“It’s a quality brand.” I pause, then decide there’s at least one thing I can share.
A part of my past that won’t let down my walls too much.
“John introduced me to James Bond. When I was studying for the test I needed to take to get my diploma, I’d put on the older Bond movies.
If John was in, he’d make popcorn and join me. ”
Interest sparks in Seraphina’s eyes. “He sounded like such an incredible man. What was he like when you first met him?” Before I can respond, she quickly adds, “Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”
I frown. I don’t like that that’s her reaction every time she asks me something. I don’t like to share, but I don’t like seeing her withdraw so quickly.
A knock sounds at the door. I cross the terrace and Seraphina’s room and open the door for Arthur, who’s holding a tray containing the champagne and a couple of flutes.
“Bonsoir, monsieur. Votre champagne.”
“Merci, Arthur.”
I take the tray over to the table on the terrace before I pop the cork on the champagne and pour.
I hand her a flute. “If I’m going to have dance lessons, champagne sounds like a good idea. Ready?”
She eyes the golden amber liquid in her glass. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
We both raise our glasses. The flavor washes over my tongue, layers of apricot and orange followed by tastes of hazelnut and caramel.
“Wow.” Seraphina holds up her glass. “That’s…wow.”
“Agreed.”
I hold up my glass. The lights on the railing make the champagne glow.
Seraphina has done nothing but give since this arrangement started.
All that I asked and more. I wasn’t going to push her about Brett Sinclair.
That she told me of her volition, that she trusted me so completely, means a great deal.
It also leaves me feeling cold and petty, a petulant child who refuses to share.
Seraphina
“We met John when Cassian tried to pick his pocket.”
I pause with my glass halfway to my lips. Aiden has always been private. I don’t begrudge him that, and he certainly doesn’t owe me anything just because I shared with him.
But the thought that he might be sharing with me because he wants to warms and scares me at the same time. Warmth that he would actually confide in me. Fear that if he lets me in, just a little, it’ll make it that much harder to walk away when the time comes.
“Where were you?”