Page 41 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8
‘There’s no subterfuge in music. It doesn’t pretend to be one thing and deliver another. I’m not afraid to let it in because I know it won’t hurt me. Not like...’
‘Your father?’
She nodded. ‘As you’ve probably guessed, he hasn’t been prolific with the truth. Just like with my mother.’ She pursed her lips. ‘And my ex.’
‘I know what your mother did. But what did he do, this ex?’ he asked, an edge in his voice.
Her shrug weighed heavily with bitter recollection. ‘He worked at the company for a while as some hotshot marketing guru. He had big plans. Was forever trying to get my father to take bold risks. And... I know I should’ve trusted my instincts when I suspected he was using me to further his career, but I didn’t. Not for six months while he told me my suspicions were all in my head.’
Jario’s eyes narrowed lethally. ‘I trust that you didn’t tolerate such a thing for long?’
Her short laughter scraped her throat. ‘Well, I guess finding him in bed with his ex and being told that, too, was my fault finally did the trick.’
He cursed under his breath. ‘Tell me his name.’
Willow started at the feral tinge to his tone. Cursed the curl of warmth at his rage on her behalf. She really needed to stop melting every time he displayed his unique brand of care. She was in danger of growing addicted to it. She forced herself to wave him away. ‘It’s fine. He was the one person I took pleasure in letting go on Dad’s behalf when the company started failing...’ Her words drifted away at the reminder of who was responsible for that failing.
‘And what I said about better judgement rankled?’
She nodded. ‘He used to say things like that to me all the time. Like he was trying to find his better human self and I was holding him back from it.’
‘You’re aware that’s the knee-jerk position of a loser,sí?’
His vehemence flared heat to her cheeks that she prayed he wouldn’t notice as she shrugged and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
After a beat he continued. ‘So you sought solace in music?’
She inhaled a calming breath. ‘Yes, music has always been special to me.’
‘You mentioned you also play the violin. How long have you been playing both?’
She glanced up and was relieved to see the shadows recede a fraction, intrigue replacing them.
He sauntered over and sprawled his towering frame on the sofa again, one hand cradling his cognac on his knee while his other arm lay along the back of the seat. Lights gleamed lovingly over his naked torso, sending further shafts of heated desire between her legs.
She dragged her gaze from the sexy sight he made and approached the piano, half wishing it was positioned so she wouldn’t have to see him from the corner of her eye.
‘Since I was seven. My goal was to join a symphony.’
‘A dream you’re on the cusp of achieving.’
She nodded, the pangs of her decision pricking her. ‘Yes.’
‘But?’ She felt his gaze intensify on her.
She shrugged. ‘It didn’t come without its challenges.’ In the form of her walking away from her father.
Jario’s expression dimmed, but not out of anger. It was more of a sombre reflection of her words. Or perhaps how his own life had changed because of the past directly involving their fathers?
He watched her with hooded eyes, slowly lifting his glass to take a sip. Then he lowered it to rest on top of his six-pack and nodded at the piano. ‘I’d love some more,’ he said, his voice a little gruff.
Foolish pleasure heating up her insides, she turned back to the keys. Played a little Elgar. Lyadov.
At the end of another arrangement, she glanced over, her breath catching when she saw his eyes were shut, his glass set down next to him.
Jario was asleep.
She didn’t stop playing, smiling to herself a little when she played Puccini’s ‘O Mio Bambino Caro.’ Jario’s response to the childish lullaby probably would’ve been acerbic, but Willow, her heart tugging with emotion she didn’t want to examine, hoped the boy inside the grown man would find a little elusive peace in sleep.