“Have you ever been to the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments?” Warrick asked as he opened the passenger door to his car for Sara. She eyed the car as though she wasn’t entirely comfortable sitting on luxury leather seats, then slipped in. He saw the glint in her eye when she felt the softness of the seats envelop her. It was something he’d grown up taking for granted. He knew now how lucky he was to have luxuries in his life. In fact, he’d been thinking he might downgrade his car a bit. The Maybach he’d been in for the last two years was a luxury not a necessity.
“No,” Sara said, after he’d shut her door and jogged around to his own. “What is it?”
“It’s a museum. Yale houses a gorgeous collection of old instruments. Everything from harpsichords to string and percussion instruments from around the world. It’s not well-known, but it’s beautiful. I thought maybe we’d head there, then grab a bite to eat on the green.”
Sara turned to smile at him as he pulled onto the highway, and his groin kicked into high speed just as the car did. It was going to be a long night if his body kept responding to her like that.
“Sounds great.” She turned back to look out the front of the car.
“I used to love it when I was in school. I’d go there sometimes just to get away from things. The collection doesn’t change very much, but I’d always manage to find something new to look at.”
“You went to Yale?”
He nodded. “It was expected. It’s the family school.” He frowned. “Sorry, that sounded stuck up. It’s just that there was never any question that’s where I’d go. If I hadn’t gotten in, my father would have paid my way in. Or, at least, that was his plan. I’m not sure that really goes on anymore.”
Now she was watching him again, and he focused on pulling into a spot a block away from Prague Hall where the music school was housed.
“You would have hated that, wouldn’t you?” She asked quietly.
“What? Having my dad buy a spot for me?” He laughed. “Oh yeah. In fact, that was more motivation for me to get in than anything else. I don’t know why, but it didn’t occur to me to rebel and go someplace else. I wanted to sail in on my merits so he wouldn’t get the satisfaction of making some grand donation to save me.”
They got out of the car and he hit the key fob to lock the doors as he gestured across the street. She was quiet as they walked across the street and into the Yale campus through one of the old stone walkways that would take them to the right building. He had to admit, the campus was stunning. There’d always been a sense of reverence about the buildings for him. Like he could somehow hear the voices of the past speak to him there.
“You and your dad didn’t get along?”
“No. Not at all.” He took her hand in his and led them to the right, matching her shorter strides. “But who does?”
She didn’t say anything and he didn’t know if she was simply giving him the chance to expand or if she got along with her dad and didn’t understand what he was talking about.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to bitch and moan about my childhood. Believe me, I know I had it easy. I wasn’t abused, always had money and a roof over my head, and had advantages I can’t even begin to count. Let’s just say, my dad and I didn’t agree on anything. That translated into motivation to show him up. To be better than him. To take over the company he had no interest in running, and to build it into something even bigger and better than it was.”
“Did he get into Yale?” She asked with a grin.
“Of course he did. There was a large donation made that year by my grandfather. And every year after that for five years.”
“Five?”
Warrick shrugged. “He wasn’t the best student.” He opened the door to the collection and paid their entry fee.
“So did your dad run the company before you?”
“No, he never had any interest in it. My dad liked to party and travel and spend money. He wasn’t really into working. Luckily, my grandfather was happy running the company until I took over.”
“Is he still alive?”
“No. He died six years ago.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, quietly. She didn’t say what he had a feeling she was thinking. He’d lost his grandfather six years ago, his father four, and his wife three.
He nodded, never sure what to say when people offered their condolences for a loss like that.
She seemed content to let it go.
Together, they entered the first of the exhibit halls. He heard the intake of her breath at the sight. He’d reacted much the same way when he’d first seen the exhibit.
He was partial to the harpsichord room himself and they moved in that direction. He watched her face as she took in the harpsichords of every shape and size, some with polished shining wood, others with murals or decorative edgings painted on them.
“Oh, wow. These are incredible.” The hushed tone in her voice was one he understood. They were incredible. The collection ranged in color, shape, and size. Some were plain in decoration, but even those had a burnished shine to their wood and decades of nicks and wear that spoke of their secret history. Others were hand painted masterpieces where the art itself was worthy of collection.
He noticed right away, though, that Sara seemed to view them differently.
The realization ran through him, warming his chest. She was so different. It was what made her so enticing. She bent and studied the inner workings of one of the instruments, then bent further. Christ, she was getting to him, and he could honestly say it wasn’t just the sight of her pants pulling tight over her backside and the view she was giving him. Although, if he were honest that was doing things to him that he probably wouldn’t be able to ignore much longer.
It was how she saw the world. He liked watching her face as she studied the instruments.
“They’re amazing.” She moved to the next, then another next to that, a piece that held two keyboards, one on top of the other.
She was equally fascinated with the other instruments in the collection, her face lighting at the smallest of percussion instruments or the largest horn. It hadn’t occurred to him that she would value and appreciate how each piece worked so much, but it should have. She was an engineer. She saw things in ways he and others didn’t, and that was quickly becoming one of his favorite things about her.
Sara wished she could say she had a bad time, but she hadn’t. After visiting the Yale collection, they’d grabbed pizza, then wandered around the rest of the campus looking at the old buildings. She hadn’t taken the time to walk the campus before, and she had to admit, it was gorgeous.
Now, sitting in Warrick’s car as he pulled into her building’s parking lot, she suddenly felt nervous. The kind of jangly nerves that tell you something is about to happen. She could feel the shift in the air as Warrick came around and opened her car door, offering a hand to her as they walked into the building.
Before they reached the entrance, he broke the silence. “Why do you need this practice, Sara?” She knew he was referring to practice being around a man again. Dating.
She let out a breath and decided telling him was better than trying to skirt around the issue. She’d never really been one to skirt. “My fiancé left me right after I was injured. Said he couldn’t handle it.” She raised her prosthesis and made the muscle movement in her forearm that caused the robotic fingers to wave.
Warrick didn’t comment but raised his brows and she could see in the stark shadow in his eyes that he had some thoughts on the subject.
“I guess, since then, I have friends and my family, but I don’t date. I’m careful to keep things from going there. I’ve been sort of hiding out from that side of things. Hiding out from life in some ways.”
“I have some experience with that.” They stopped in front of her apartment and he turned her to face him. Her breath caught at his intense expression. “You said we could practice this part a little.”
“Okay,” she murmured, and realized almost immediately, it was too husky, too breathless.
He leaned closer and heaven help her, she pressed into him, lifting onto her toes slightly as he came down to meet her. His mouth closed on hers and the jangly nerves flipped into overdrive.
The kiss was hot and hard and soft all at once. It wasn’t the kind of kiss that only happened with your mouth. It was a whole body kiss, his arms coming around her to pull her close. And damn, if her body didn’t just sit up and beg for more. A lot more.
He softened the kiss, letting his lips barely brush over hers for a moment, before deepening it once again, as if going back for seconds. Sara brought her right hand up to his shoulder, running it over the muscles and letting herself sink into the feel of his body wrapped around hers. It was a feeling she had missed. One she wasn’t sure she’d ever experience again.
Then he pulled back and broke the kiss, and she realized with a start she hadn’t been ready for it to end yet. He studied her for a minute, and she saw the smallest of smiles form. “Good night, Sara.”
And then he was gone.