After Midnight (31 page)

Had he hurt her? Caused her pain in any way? If he had, he would never forgive himself.

As the alarm continued to chirp, he tossed the sheet aside and rolled out of bed. It wasn’t until the chill of the room washed over his skin that he realized not only could he not locate Isabeau anywhere in the apartment, but he couldn’t find his clothes either. He crossed to where his phone and wallet rested atop the kitchen counter and turned off the alarm. Then, comfortable in his own skin, he stepped onto the landing of the interior staircase leading to the bar and pulled open the door. Relief filled him at the sound of someone moving around in the kitchen below.

“Isabeau?” he called out, his voice pitched just above normal range.

She appeared at the base of the steps. Her eyes skimmed down the length of him, lingering on his groin before returning to his face. A mischievous smile blossomed. “I bet you’re glad it was me down here and not Clint.”

He cringed.

Her smile widened. “While I could happily gaze at your magnificent body all day, you might want to get dressed. I have a delivery truck scheduled to arrive any minute.”

“I can’t find my clothes.”

“They’re behind you, in the dryer.”

Of course. He’d been soaked to the skin when he’d stripped them off.

After a quick shower, Noah dressed and wandered back to the kitchen to retrieve his phone and wallet. He clipped the phone to his waist then flipped open the wallet and removed the magnetic key card to his hotel room before heading down the stairs.

She talked to the delivery man while he leaned against the counter, taking the signature pad and signing her name on the form affixed to it. Then she offered the pad back to the man, took the box he held and turned.

“Hey.” She set the box on the counter, pulling each item out and setting it aside after a brief inspection.

Vegetables. Organic, if his memory was correct. “Hey, yourself.”

As he’d stood beneath the shower’s hot spray, waiting for the heat to clear the cobwebs from his head and ease the ache behind his eyes, he had done some thinking. Made a few decisions about their relationship. Now that she stood before him, he wondered how much of what he’d decided she was going to want to hear.

He pushed off the counter and crossed to stand at her side. But when he looked down at her, he was suddenly reminded of how much smaller she was than he and the knot of guilt returned. “I didn’t hurt you?”

“Of course not.”

“You would tell me if I did?”

She turned to face him, placing her hand in the center of his chest. “You didn’t hurt me.”

“Good.” He closed his eyes and released his breath in a rush. “That’s good.”

“I’m glad you came to me last night, Noah. That you let me comfort you.”

He should probably be embarrassed by the way he’d broken down in her arms. He wasn’t. Of far greater concern was that she understood he would never knowingly harm her. “About that…Isa you do realize that I didn’t use a condom last night?”

“I wasn’t worried,” she admitted, then shifted her gaze over his shoulder. “Noah, you—”

“I had a complete physical in March of this year,” he assured her. “I was tested for everything from the flu to HIV. I’m clean, Isa. I wanted you to know that.”

Her gaze shifted again, this time to the center of his chest. “Okay.”

He hooked a finger under her chin and forced her gaze back to his. “Why won’t you look at me? Are you sure I didn’t hurt you?”

“You didn’t hurt me,” she repeated softly.

He lowered his head and pressed a kiss to her temple. Her skin was a haven of warmth beneath his lips as they slowly journeyed to her cheek, then her mouth. He kissed her softly, slowly, showing her the gentleness he hadn’t shown her last night. He teased her lips open with his tongue and tasted the rich flavor of her morning coffee.

Reaching up, he wrapped his hand around hers, ran his thumb across her palm. “I’m sorry about yesterday.”

Her breath hitched as he replaced his thumb with his lips. “You don’t need to keep apologizing to me.”

But he did need to explain. “I was angry. It wasn’t just my grandfather’s passing, it was also...I thought if I stayed away from you, I could concentrate on the demo more. It’s not right yet, and we’re running out of time. But all staying away did was make everything worse. It turned my grief to anger, anger I took out on you.”

With his hand still wrapped around hers, she cupped the side of his face. “Not just on me. Dominic was pretty upset with the way you were acting.”

He sighed. “I know. I’m surprised he managed to refrain from slugging me.” He turned her hand over and pressed the magnetic key card into her palm. “Will you come to me tonight after you close?”

She curled her fingers around the card. “I’m not scheduled to close tonight, but if we get busy, I may need to stay.”

“I don’t care.” He nibbled on her bottom lip, drawing it into his mouth to softly suckle. “I need to talk to you. I need to be with you.”

“It…” A tiny shudder worked through her. “It could be quite late…before I get there.”

His lips roamed over her cheek, then traced a path to her jaw. “I’ll wait up for you.”

****

“It needs a piano,” Noah said, giving voice to the one thought that had been gnawing at him all morning. That the song they’d been working on for days still wasn’t right because it was missing an important element—one that no one in the control room had the talent to provide.

Straddling the chair to his left, his arms draped across the top of the chair back, Nick agreed with Noah’s conclusion. “He’s right, that’s what is missing.”

“You can’t slip something like that into a song without reworking it,” Alex argued fervently, his eyes clear, indicating he hadn’t been out drinking the night before. “We don’t have time to rework it.”

Dominic leaned forward in his chair, his gaze scanning each occupant in the room. “Can we afford not to?”

Nick cursed under his breath.

“What do you think, Pete?” Dominic asked, drawing the man into the conversation.

With anxiety tightening his gut, Noah closed his eyes and pressed his fingers against his lids where a pounding ache flared anew. He knew where this conversation was headed but it was too late to go back now. Too late to change what he’d set in motion.

Pete turned his back to the mixing console. “I know of a few skilled pianists in the area. However, if you want it done without having to start over, there’s only one.”

“No,” Noah stated as the pain in his skull intensified. “No way.”

“She’s got the skill,” Pete continued. “Hell, something on this small a scale wouldn’t be difficult for her at all.”

“Who?” Nick asked.

“I’m confused,” Dominic said as he pushed his hand through his hair. “I thought after the car accident—”

“It wasn’t her injuries that stopped her from making music.”

Noah shot Pete a questioning glance. The man obviously knew more than he was saying.

Alex leaned in and repeated Nick’s question, “Who?”

Dominic turned to Noah and regarded him for a moment. “She might do it for you.”

“I’m the last person she’d do it for.”

“Will someone please tell me who we’re discussing?” Nick asked, his irritation evident.

“Isabeau,” Dom answered, openly studying Noah.

Although Noah couldn’t decipher the look in Dom’s eyes, he found it was enough to make him uncomfortable. It was all he could do to keep his features neutral.

“Izzy plays the piano?” Alex asked, clearly taken by surprise.

“Not any more,” Noah stated, but no one appeared to be listening to him.

Nick blinked, surprised. “Is she any good?”

“You can’t imagine,” Pete replied.

Abruptly, Noah pushed to his feet. He crossed to the opposite side of the room, suddenly feeling like the walls were closing in on him.

“How do you know this?” Nick asked Pete.

“She recorded all four of her albums here, in this studio.”

Nick shook his head. “Four? How come I’m the only one who didn’t know Izzy played the piano?”

“I didn’t know,” Alex interjected.

“Four?” Nick continued, “Izzy, Noah’s Izzy, has recorded four albums?”

“Yes,” Pete replied, a broad smile on his face. “Isabeau Montgomery was a true virtuoso. She was six when she recorded her first album, and rumored to be the best pianist in the world.”

“Six?”

“So small she couldn’t reach the pedals without an extension, but you should have seen her. Lord, could she play. She was a sight to behold.”

“Ask her,” Alex said simply. “What have we got to lose?”

Noah shook his head. “She doesn’t play anymore. She won’t do it.”

“But she could,” Dominic surmised.

“She could,” Noah confirmed.

Alex shrugged. “Then I don’t see that we have any other choice.”

Noah pushed off the wall he’d been leaning against and began to pace. A line formed between Dominic’s eyes as he tracked his movements from one wall to the other and back again.

“You don’t have any other choice,” Pete stated bluntly. “There is no one else. Not in this area and definitely not in your time frame.”

“We need this one,” Nick said matter-of-factly. “And a piano would make the song everything it can be.”

“You’ll have to ask her, Noah,” Alex persisted.

Expelling a heavy breath, Noah rubbed his hand over the tight muscles in his neck.

Dominic gave him a dubious, narrow-eyed look. “What’s going on here, Noah? What aren’t you telling us?”

Noah slid his hand in his pocket and glanced around the room, taking notice that all eyes were looking to him for an answer. “She hasn’t played since her mom died,” he stated, choosing to give them the simplest answer, instead of the one that was tying him in knots. “She can, but doesn’t.”

Averting his gaze, Pete went back to the mixing console. No doubt about it, the man knew something. Something he wasn’t sharing.

“I don’t see the harm in asking,” Alex exclaimed.

“She knows how important this demo is to us,” Dominic stated. “To you, Noah.”

Noah retraced his steps and lowered himself onto his chair. “She’ll think it’s a set-up. The words won’t even be out of my mouth, and she’ll already have shot me down.”

His gaze landed on Dominic, his best friend. Dom had formed a friendship with Isabeau immediately, earned her trust faster than even Noah had been able to do. If Dom asked her for help, she would know the request was sincere, their need for assistance genuine. Noah needed her to at least hear the song before she made up her mind, and if he went to her, she would never give it a listen.

Because one look at him and she would know what he had done.

Noah scrubbed a hand over his eyes and sighed. “You’ll have to ask her, Dom.”

“All right. You mind telling me why? Last I knew we were just friends. I’m not the one intimately involved with her.”