Page 8 of His UnBearable Touch

His bear chuffed at him and sent him an image of what he expected, Allegra in their arms.

Valerio agreed, that was where he wanted her too, but he could tell by the lines on her face that she was exhausted and he needed to contact Salvatore before his older brother came after him. While Salvatore wouldn’t scare Allegra, he’d mellowed quite a bit since he’d found his mate, Natale, but it was their younger brother who would certainly disturb Allegra’s new-found calm. Uberto had the uncanny ability to unsettle anyone and his brothers still had yet to determine if it was a gift or a curse.

“Allegra?”

He heard her intake of breath on the heels of his growl.

“I need to make a call.” He felt her tense, and regretted the way he worded his statement. “I’d like to come in after I’m done, if you’d like me to.”

She trembled a little, but plastered a smile on her face. “If you’d like to…”

“Allegra,…” He leaned closer, carefully pressing his taller frame against hers, feeling every inch of her fantastic body against his until he felt blood surge through his body. “The last thing I want to do is leave you. I’ll be in to see you in a few minutes.”

Linda sidled closer and was there to take Allegra’s elbow in a gentle hold. “I’ll see she gets inside safely.” Her eyes remained on his face a moment too long, but all that mattered to Valerio is that she did what she said and took care of Allegra.

As soon as the door closed behind the last of the musicians he pressed a speed dial number and lifted his phone to his ear. He didn’t have to wait for an answer. The eldest Orsino picked up the call on the first ring.

“Yes?”

“Salvatore, I found her.”

Chapter Three

The rehearsal hall’s air conditioning was usually enough to give her a chill, cold enough that she would have seen her breath before her if she were able. Instead, she felt an unaccustomed warmth radiating through her skin, making all of her nerve endings tingle.

And it had nothing to do with the woman holding her arm.

She barely remembered meeting Linda a few days ago when she’d attended her first full orchestra practice and the whole crowd had made their introductions. She remembered that the woman was bright and curious. Very, very curious. “So, who is the hunk?”

“I’m sorry,” Allegra swallowed and tried to focus on Linda’s question. “What did you say?”

Allegra felt a playful swat on her arm and tried to pull away, but Linda wasn’t going to let go so easily.

“That gorgeous man that almost made Davis pee himself on the sidewalk. Who is he?”

Allegra shuddered a little at the thought. “Was Davis afraid of him?”

She felt Linda draw close, her expensive perfume crinkling Allegra’s nose. “I think he was more afraid that he’d lost you in the subway. Oh my god! Think of the press! Blind cellist lost in the crowds by Artistic Director! The Orchestra would be over and done on the bad publicity alone!”

She tried to laugh it off, but Allegra felt a little tremble of worry push through her body. “I’m fine though. I was lucky that Valerio found me.”

“Oh,” Linda’s fingers dug into her forearm and Allegra stumbled slightly, “is that his name?” They stopped short. “Here, there’s a chair right in front of you.”

Allegra reached out her arm and said a silent prayer of thanks that Linda had released her. With a minimum of fumbling, she found the back of the chair and sat down on the hard seat. “Valerio? Yes, that’s what he said. Valerio Orsino.”

The high-pitched metallic squeal of chair legs sent a shudder through Allegra’s shoulders.

“Nice. So, are you two… you know… together?”

Allegra could hardly catch her breath. “Together? No,” she smiled as a matter of being polite, but underneath it all, she grit her teeth together, “we’re not.”

It was the truth, but it irritated her on some level.

“He was, in a word,” Linda confided, “drool worthy.”

Allegra opened her mouth to say that drool worthy was two words, but Linda rolled right over her.

“I mean,” she laughed, “not that you’d know if you didn’t ‘know’ him, you know?” There was an odd little pause between them before Linda popped back in with a rush of sound. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I mean, I wasn’t trying to say that you couldn’t know because, you know, you’re blind. Which would still be true, but I wasn’t trying to make you feel bad about it. What I mean is-”