CHAPTER 5
One week later, Dante was restless and irritated as hell. True to his word, his brother Jared—with Grady sometimes filling in as his jailer—kept him confined to the house. He’d only seen Sarah for very brief visits, and he could tell she felt awkward. She was professional and matter-of-fact, and Dante hated it. He was desperate for another taste of the warm, passionate woman he’d discovered at her house last week.
No such thing as sexual chemistry, my ass. We were both about to go up in flames, and I wasn’t even fucking her.
His jaw clenched with impatience, and he was more than ready to give his adorable genius a few lessons on the subject of carnal pleasure. His time being idle in the hospital had been bad enough. Now being constantly inside was making him crazy. Granted, he’d liked catching up with Jared and Grady, since the brothers had seen each other so few times during their adulthood. But being stuck indoors was about to make him stir-crazy. He wasn’t used to having a spare moment to do anything. His job had always consumed him, left him almost no time to think about doing anything else.
All I can think about now is making Sarah come. His need was almost an obsession, and it got worse every damn day.
Dante’s body was healing, and he had stopped using the pain pills because he didn’t need them anymore. It still hurt like hell when he coughed too hard, but he was regaining his strength, and he wanted to spend some time outdoors.
I’m bullshitting myself. What I really want is to get my cock inside my beautiful physician and give her a taste of doing something just for pleasure.
“The week is up. I don’t need you two to babysit anymore, and I can go into the office to see a doctor when I need to be checked.” Dante looked up at Jared, who was sitting in a chair in front of his desk, doing some kind of work on the computer. “What are you doing?”
“Looking at a possible project,” Jared answered, sounding somewhat distracted.
Jared was a real estate developer and an architect. Dante knew that his brother had drafted the plans and personally helped build all of the houses on the peninsula except Grady’s. However, he rarely got all that involved in any of his projects anymore unless they were personal, which none of them really were. Jared bought, built, and sold commercial real estate to make money, not that he needed it.
“I’m going to town,” Dante informed him, getting up from the chair his ass had been warming for way too long. “You can go to your own house. Or stay here and finish. But you and Grady don’t need to be my keepers anymore.”
Jared looked up at him with a slightly wounded expression. “Look, I know you’re pissed. But we wouldn’t have been here if we weren’t worried.”
Dante knew that. “It isn’t that I don’t appreciate that you were concerned.” He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans, having problems saying what he really wanted to say. His brothers might be a pain in the ass sometimes, but they’d been here when they thought he really needed them. “I’m just getting tense from sitting around for too long. I need to get out. I’m doing better now.”
And I need to get laid! Unfortunately, only one woman will do.
Jared stared at him silently for a moment before releasing a masculine sigh. “I’ll go to my house. You’ll call me if you need anything?”
“Yep.” Only if I’m dying. Dante needed a little space, a little time to think. He’d spent the last week in almost constant company with his brothers. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to spend more time with them, but not if it meant they were playing nursemaid . . . or jailer. He knew Jared planned on sticking around for a while this visit, probably until Dante was ready to go back to Los Angeles.
Jared stood up and shut down the computer. “It’s senior bingo night at the youth center. I was thinking of stopping by.”
Dante released a bark of startled laughter. “You? Since when do you play bingo?”
“I don’t, and the bingo is for the seniors. But I heard Sarah was playing the piano tonight before the games start. Grady says she’s better than most concert pianists. I thought I might stop by and check her out for myself.”
Dante pulled his hands out of his pockets and stared at his brother, giving him a suspicious look. “What’s your interest in her?” Jared was very rich, very successful, and very much in the public eye. He was known for never being seen with the same woman more than once. Dante didn’t give a damn if Jared wanted to change women every day, but Sarah wasn’t going to be one of his daily specials.
“My only interest is in hearing her play. She’s a local doctor, Emily’s friend, and a woman who’s off-limits for me—just like she should be off-limits for you, Dante. She’s not the type of woman you can play around with. You’re going back to Los Angeles eventually. Don’t start something that’s going to leave her hurting. She’s a nice woman.”
Relieved that his brother wasn’t going to hit on Sarah, he replied, “I don’t want to play around with her. I actually like her. I can’t stop thinking about her.” He’d skip mentioning the sexual fantasies he had about her, and how desperately he wanted to fuck her.
“If you mess with her, Grady’s going to kill you if you make Emily unhappy. You know how he is about Em,” Jared warned ominously. “If she gets a hangnail, he about loses his mind.”
Yeah. Dante knew how protective Grady was about Emily, but he knew even that knowledge wouldn’t stop him from seeking Sarah out, trying to get closer to her. He felt like he was being lured by a feeling that was greater than lust. He wanted to fuck her, but there was something . . . more. “Maybe we could just be friends. I have several more weeks to recover. We could hang out.” Okay, it was lame, and a complete lie. But he was attempting to be nonchalant in front of his brother.
Jared broke into a loud snort of laughter. “Who the hell are you trying to fool? Dante, I’ve seen the way you look at her. Every damn glance says you want her naked. And I catch her sending you the same signals.”
“She is?” Dante looked at Jared hopefully. Honestly, he’d never really sensed, heard, or seen much from her in the last week except for her practical and logical side, which drove him completely insane after sampling the passion she was capable of feeling. He’d like to kill the man who’d initiated her into the world of physical pleasure. On the other hand, there was a primal part of him that reveled in the fact that she’d only been with one guy, and it hadn’t been pleasant. He wanted to be the man who made her scream with pleasure, the only one who made her come until she shattered to pieces as she chanted his name like he was the only thing she could think about. The scar was healing on his face, but it would never be completely gone, and the rest of him wasn’t particularly attractive at the moment. He knew he hadn’t been the only one feeling the heat between him and Sarah, but he asked Jared anyway. “You think she’s attracted to me?”
Jared shook his head. “You’re really pathetic. Do you know that? Yeah. She’s attracted. But the fact still remains that she isn’t a woman to mess around with.”
She’s attracted. Dante ignored the rest of Jared’s lecture. “I’m out of here. I’ll catch you later.” Dante wanted to get to the youth center before Sarah started playing.
“Dante,” Jared called out to him.
“Yeah.” Dante turned back to Jared impatiently.
“Here’s the key to your truck.”
Dante snatched the set of keys as they went sailing above his head. “Thanks,” he muttered sincerely, happy to get his keys back again. Taking his keys once his truck had arrived in Amesport had been one of his brothers’ many ploys to keep him grounded.
He stopped as he stepped outside, taking a moment to absorb the scent and sound of the ocean. He had his own small beach behind the house, and he loved the sound of the waves hitting the shore. Opening the window every night had become a routine, letting the sounds of the ocean lull him to sleep. Strangely, since his passionate encounter with Sarah, he hadn’t had a single nightmare about Patrick.
He hopped into the driver’s seat of his truck, a sense of peace washing over him just from doing something normal again. Evan had made sure his truck was transported to Amesport, an act that Dante had thought was unnecessary at the time. It wasn’t like he wasn’t going back to Los Angeles, and he could have rented a car. Now he was sending a silent thank-you to his eldest brother. The familiar feel of the big truck and the scent of the leather interior made him feel almost balanced again. “I owe you one, big brother,” Dante whispered to himself, smiling as he felt the powerful engine jump to life.
Evan, at the age of thirty-three, was definitely the one who handled details like bringing Dante’s truck to Amesport. He always knew what his younger siblings needed. Grady had just turned thirty-two. Dante was thirty-one, and Jared was the youngest male in the family, almost thirty. Their little sister, Hope, wasn’t so little anymore, just having turned twenty-seven, and newly married to Jason Sutherland, a childhood friend of Grady’s. Actually, Jason was a friend of the family because he’d grown up near their childhood home in Boston, but had come precariously close to getting the shit beat out of him by all the Sinclair brothers after the stunt he’d pulled to make Hope his wife. Luckily, it had ended well, because Jason handled both Dante’s portfolio and Grady’s, making sure both brothers continued to grow wealthier every day. Admittedly, Dante didn’t care much about the money. He mostly lived on his salary as a detective and rarely touched the money his father had left him. He’d been pretty stunned when he’d drawn out money to give to Karen and Ben, finally glancing at his balance for the first time in years. He’d been incredibly wealthy when he’d turned his financial management over to Jason years ago, but now he was ridiculously rich.
Taking out the money for Karen and Ben hadn’t even made a dent in his net worth. As much as the money might mean to the future of his deceased partner’s wife and kid, Dante knew that his daily phone calls meant even more to them. The calls had helped him, too. Talking about Patrick, remembering everything good about his best friend, was helping all of them get through the process of grieving. Maybe none of them had gotten to the point of acceptance yet, but every day was getting a little less painful.
He accelerated the truck down his short driveway and swung a left turn to get to the gate leaving the peninsula. Dante had been to the youth center on his previous visits. Knowing Sarah would be there tonight filled him with an unfamiliar anticipation, and he pressed on the accelerator just a little bit harder.
“How were the lessons?” Emily Sinclair asked Sarah curiously, seating herself on the piano bench next to her.
“I think they’re going well,” Sarah answered, happy to see Emily. She’d just finished teaching piano basics to three grade school children, and although she loved doing it, she could use some adult conversation. “The class started with ten kids, and it’s finishing with only three, but they’re dedicated.” Sarah just taught the basics to get kids interested in music. “I think the three who are left are going to go on and take lessons, so that’s something.”
“It’s fantastic,” Emily replied enthusiastically. “You’re amazing for volunteering to do this.”
“I’m just trying to pay back for the use of this incredible piano.” Sarah ran her hands lovingly over the keys of the baby grand.
“It’s here for the public to use,” Emily argued. “After Grady ordered it, I was thrilled that somebody could actually play it.”
Sarah laughed, thinking about the illogical fact that Grady had ordered a piano like this and didn’t even know if anyone in Amesport could play it. There were a few very good adult piano players in the town, but most of them had their own instruments.
“Jared told Grady that he saw you making out with Dante. Are you two an item?” Emily asked in a hushed, secretive voice.
Damn! The one thing I didn’t want to get around town already has gotten around.
“Please don’t say anything.” Sarah looked at the vivacious blonde next to her, hoping the fact that she had been taking advantage of an injured guy on pain drugs hadn’t gotten much further than the Sinclair family. She didn’t understand how she had lost all reasoning that night, but she was still plagued by guilt over the incident.
“Nobody knows,” Emily replied in a low voice, almost a whisper. “Jared and Grady would never tell anyone except family, but Grady’s not crazy about the fact that Dante was getting hot and heavy with you. He’s afraid Dante’s taking advantage. What happened? I heard you got hurt at Dante’s house, and Grady wanted to know what to give you to apologize. I’ve been dying to talk to you for days, but we’ve both been so busy this week.”
Sarah sighed, wondering if she should tell Emily that she’d actually been ravaging her brother-in-law while he was under the influence of pain meds. “Our first meeting didn’t go very well. He was being a self-destructive jackass, and he broke a glass by accident. The cut I got was no big deal, but I told him off. He showed up later that night at my house with lobster rolls and an apology. He was a little buzzed on pain meds. He kissed me. It was no big deal, Emily. He was stoned on legal medication. I’m sure it’s something he wouldn’t normally do. After that, we’ve been very professional. Everything’s fine.” Well, everything except for the fact that I still lust over him every time I look at him. Dante had started a flame that she couldn’t seem to extinguish.
Emily shot Sarah a doubtful look. “I don’t think a few pills motivated his behavior. There has to be sexual chemistry.”
Oh, God. There were those words again. Lust? Sexual attraction? Sexual chemistry? Does it really matter? The fact is . . . I do feel something.
She couldn’t deny it. “For me there was,” Sarah admitted reluctantly. “But it can’t happen again. He’s my patient, and what happened wasn’t professional.”
Emily’s delighted laugh floated through the music room of the youth center. “I went to Grady on business, seeking a donation from him. I ended up kissing him, too, even though I was there for a business transaction. Some attractions are impossible to deny. I know you. If you kissed him, you think he’s incredibly hot.”
More than hot. I think Dante is like a white flame, the hottest possible fire.
“I got caught up in the moment. That’s all it was,” Sarah said nervously, not wanting to admit to anyone that she found Dante Sinclair much more than just attractive. She had been drawn to him, craving him so desperately that her mind had let go of all rational thought, and she hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything except the feel of his touch.
For just a few moments, she’d felt completely connected to him, and her loneliness had fled. Experiencing something like that had been a powerful aphrodisiac.
“The senior bingo crowd is coming. Meet me later this week for coffee?” Emily stood, giving Sarah a questioning look.
Sarah watched as the chairs in the room filled up. There were several rows available, and they were rapidly being occupied. Playing before the weekly senior bingo session had become a habit, and she didn’t mind playing for anyone who loved music. She’d studied music since she was a child and had done more piano recitals than she could count. The ritual had started months ago by accident, when she had been playing for pleasure after her volunteer lesson for the kids. The seniors who had arrived early for bingo had started wandering in to listen before the bingo session started. After that, it happened every single week, seniors showing up in the music room a half hour before bingo to listen to her play before they went to the gymnasium where the bingo session was held.
“Brew Magic on Friday?” Sarah suggested. “After work?” She loved her girl chats with Emily, but she had a feeling this week she might be squirming. Emily could be as bad as Elsie when she wanted information.
“I’ll be there. I want to hear the whole story,” Emily warned her with a wink before she left the room to attend to her duties as director of the youth center.
“There’s no story to tell,” Sarah whispered softly to herself. It had all been a terrible mistake, an incident that should never have happened. She felt guilty, knowing she should have sent Dante home the moment he’d arrived, but she didn’t. It wasn’t just the lobster rolls or his attempt to say he was sorry. It was the man himself. Something about Dante Sinclair fascinated her, and she wanted to unravel him piece by piece to figure out exactly how his mind worked. Maybe it would give her some clue as to why she was so unnaturally drawn to him.
Needing a distraction, Sarah started to play. She didn’t need to see sheet music. She could play almost anything by heart, having played most classical piano pieces hundreds of times.
She started with Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in G Minor. It was one of her favorite classical pieces, the composer leaving so much of the arrangement open to the interpretation of the player. Losing herself in the melodic bass lines, she allowed herself to express her passion in the music, her fingers flying over the keyboard as she poured every emotion she’d been feeling throughout the week into her playing. This was her emotional outlet, the one activity where she felt safe letting go of intellect and reasoning to just . . . feel. Every emotion was woven into the music: sorrow, joy, confusion, disappointment, guilt, and pain. Finally finishing the piece to a round of applause from her small audience, Sarah started right in on another, Franz Liszt’s “La Campanella.” It was a livelier composition, and one that had never failed to make her heart a little lighter after performing it. She finished with gusto, panting as she struck the last chord. Standing to thank her elderly audience, she startled as she saw Dante and Jared Sinclair sitting in the crowd.
The two Sinclair brothers were hard to miss. They were the youngest listeners, their darker hair standing out among a sea of mostly silver-haired ladies. Her gaze locked with Dante’s, his expression fierce and his eyes so hungry that he looked like a predator that had finally found some desirable prey. Dante’s stare was so intense that Sarah couldn’t pull her gaze away. She wasn’t even entirely certain how long she stayed like that, frozen, her eyes captured by his, before the others in the room started making musical requests. Finally, Sarah jerked away from the fixed stare and nodded hesitantly when someone asked her to play a particular tune. She sat back down again and played for the next fifteen minutes, waiting for the next request before she started to play again, keeping her focus on the gleaming wood in front of her.
I can feel his eyes on me and the tension between us from here.
Sarah’s hands were shaking when the last song was finally complete and the bingo crowd started filing out of the room, all of them smiling and telling her how beautifully she played before they left.
“You’re incredible. I’ve never heard Rachmaninoff interpreted quite that way. It was very beautiful and incredibly eloquent,” Jared Sinclair commented as he approached her. “That was the most pleasurable half hour I’ve spent anywhere in a long time.”
Sarah smiled at him despite the fact that he’d spilled her secret. His tone was genuine and the praise obviously sincere. There was nothing more satisfying than knowing she’d made someone’s day a little brighter with music. “Thanks. You like classical?”
“I do,” Jared admitted. “I’ve heard some of the best pianists in the world, but your playing is outstanding. I’m surprised you never pursued a musical career.”
Sarah stood and carefully pushed the bench in closer to the piano. “I don’t think I’d enjoy it as much if it became an actual job.” She couldn’t imagine playing for a living, having her music become a duty that she had to do on a schedule. It wouldn’t be the same.
“Thank you for sharing your talent,” Jared replied, his tone genuine as he grinned at her before walking slowly out of the room.
“You’re welcome,” she called after him as she stepped down from the elevated platform where the piano was situated, grabbing her purse from the floor as she went.
Her head swung to the right as she noticed that the room wasn’t entirely empty. Dante Sinclair hadn’t moved from his chair, and his expression was still as focused as it had been earlier.
“I need to lock the room up,” Sarah told him as calmly as possible, her heart beginning to race as he stood.
“We need to talk,” Dante told her in a graveled, demanding voice.
He sounded like a man who wasn’t going to take no for an answer.