Broken Serenade (20 page)

   
“Mr. Leigh, I apologize for my objection. However, I hope you would agree with me that it would not be diplomatic to cease your collaboration with them right now, immediately after Robert Kane’s death. His demise has affected them also.”

   
So what?
Timothy wanted to scream.
They’re bad luck! I got an awful feeling about them. I’m sick and tired of
them!
He managed to control his anger and frustration. He kept quiet for a moment and considered his secretary’s unbiased point of view. The woman was right. He had to admit that.

   
“Thank you, Miss LaFontain. Your smart observation is most welcomed and greatly appreciated. Let’s postpone the sending of the letter for a couple of weeks. But I would like you to start working on it as soon as possible. Have it ready, please!”

   
“Of course, Mr. Leigh.” 

    Miss La
Fontain left the architect’s office straight as a board. Once she sat comfortably at her own desk, she reached into her old, roomy bag and took her cell phone. She dialed a number. Someone answered on the spot. The secretary spoke only one sentence, and then she hung up.

   
“Tell her the architect wants to withdraw.”   

CHAPTER 17

     
 
I
n the tender darkness of that late autumn evening, the lightning was drawing strange lines – thin fire streaks on the storm-blackened sky. The rain unleashed all of a sudden, wild and cold, hitting with gigantic drops and hail as big as the egg of a sparrow.

   
Timothy noticed the free parking space left beside Vivien’s Lexus. Like a bolt out of the sky, the young woman showed by his side the instant he exited the car. She covered him with a huge transparent umbrella, saving his elegant Versace suit from that caprice of nature. Taken by surprise, he smiled thankfully and almost kissed her cheek. Almost… Instinctively, his left hand wrapped around the handle of the umbrella, sheltering her cold fingers, as he protectively took her under his coat. His heart rejoiced at the sight of her. His mind fumed, angry with her and very angry with himself for being so in love with her and so weak when it came to her charms.
Don’t send me wrong messages,
Vee! I know your dirty secret
,
young lady,
Timothy thought, regrouping for the attack.  

   
Without having the faintest idea about what was torturing the man before her, Vivien giggled happily and stepped inside the house.   

   
“Thank you so much for the blouses. They are absolutely gorgeous, but you shouldn’t have to do that, really.”

   
“I’m glad you like them and they fit,” Timothy stated coldly, averting his eyes. He shook the umbrella vigorously on the doorstep. After closing the door, he reopened the parapluie and left it in the hallway to dry.   

    Vivien wiped her lace high-
heel slippers on the entrance rug, and Timothy noticed her recently done pedicure. Her lilac toenails had diamond brightness. They looked like fine jewels, and he had to control his impulse to get down on his knees and touch them, kiss them one by one. The fury inside him rose like bread dough left to ferment; it threatened to overflow and make a memorable fool of him.

   
Vivien retired timidly to her piano. Disappointment spread fast all over her good-fairy features. She sensed that something was wrong with him. She could not guess what it was, and his distant attitude didn’t encourage her to ask about it. This Tee seemed to be a different person from the one that had sent her the Victoria’s Secret gift along with the igniting love note.

   
What did you expect from me today?
Timothy raged inwardly.
That I would take you in my arms and kiss you breathlessly from the first second I laid my eyes on you? That I would madly desire to make love to you, and I will beg you to let me do it when I would see you dressed like that… like… ready to be undressed?    

   
Unfortunately, that was precisely what he felt, exactly what he wanted that moment, but he would not surrender to her powerful magnetism. He craved for more than just her beautiful, sexy little body. He wanted her mind, her soul, her heart. He would not take pieces. Not when it came to her! He had taken pieces and small bits his entire life. This time, he wanted it all or nothing at all!

   
The amalgam of contradictory emotions made him feel irritable and unsure of himself.  

   
“I would like to listen to Moonlight Sonata this evening,” he demanded in a glacial tone, as he took off his shoes and coat and stretched comfortably on the sofa. He undid the first three or four buttons of his shirt and rolled its sleeves up to his elbows.

   
Moonlight Sonata is too sad for tonight
, Vivien protested, in her mind only.
Beethoven must’ve had the blues when composing it
.

    She pulled the hem of her dark-
blue silk skirt and covered her knees. She had carefully picked that skirt to go with the blue blouse from him. She loved that sexy blouse with its ample and low neckline.

   
As she started to play, unenthusiastically, she cast instant-lived glances at him from time to time. The image of his strong, masculine body lying splendidly in such close proximity threatened to mix up the musical notes on her score. She struggled to concentrate. The song - although magnificent – did not mirror her frame of mind at all that evening. She felt so content, so joyful, like expecting something wonderful to happen. And it appeared that the only thing that stayed in her path of happiness at that moment was that melancholic song composed by a deaf genius.
Through pain, to heaven,
she recalled the Christian creed with optimism and faith.

   
Timothy perceived her disagreement with his musical choice and found sadistic pleasure in knowing that he was giving her a hard time.
If I’m so damn furious and sad, why would you be so annoyingly cheerful?
 

   
His blood was simmering. Now, that she was concentrated on playing the piano, he could look at her without restraint. He imagined approaching her slowly from behind, kissing her white, graceful nape that evoked a ballerina. In his mind, he started to undo the small, fabric-covered buttons of her silk blouse. It had already slipped off one of her milky, opalescent shoulders, subtly giving away the fact that the woman wore no bras underneath. He continued the sweet torture, he saw himself opening the elaborated bow of her wrap skirt and…

   
“Enough!” he roared.

   
Vivien jumped, startled by his act. Involuntarily, her fingers hit two or three dissonant notes. Her right hand flew to her chest, and she watched him appalled.

   
In a blink of an eye, Timothy got up from the sofa, put on his shoes, and grabbed his coat. He advanced toward her as a bull in the arena and slammed a check on the piano.

   
“I hope that settles the matter. I’m tired, and I’ve had it with your piano lessons,” he snapped and headed for the exit door.

   
Vivien registered the exorbitant amount paid, and that only enhanced her fury. She tore the check in small little pieces and threw them all over him.

   
“I don’t need your money, you arrogant brute,” she screamed offended.

   
Timothy stopped. He turned around and walked toward her with confident strides.

   
“Then what do you need? What do you actually want from me, Vivien?” he asked in a loud voice. “A DNA sample maybe?” he suggested with a rueful smile, waving in her face the plastic bag with his hair and Detective Leonard’s card in it. “Answer me, you angel-face little viper!”

    “I can’t believe it
!” Vivien scoffed. “Tee, just tell me it isn’t true. You lowered yourself as much as to go through my garbage?” 

   “Don’t try to lie to me, Vivien.”

   
“Then it wasn’t you who found it,” she guessed, suspicious of that detective again.

   
Like an iron claw, his hand caught her arm. His long fingers sprawled gladly on her velvety skin. He tightened his grip and watched satisfied her indifferent expression at the light physical pain he was sure he was inflicting on her. It was obvious that she was not afraid of him. That transient thought initiated his mollification. His anger eroded at a fast pace.

   
Her words were harsh, but her eyes serenaded him with the most beautiful notes of blue.

    “I wish I could hate you! You certainly deserve it this moment.”

    “No, Vee. I don’t,” he stated categorically, aware of his feelings for her. “Vee, if you don’t hate me, does that mean that you love me?”

    “There could always be indifference… or only friendly love,” she pointed out.

    “That’s not the case here,” he said as he dropped his coat at their feet. He caught her other arm with the same firm clasp.

   
“Is that how you killed Nadine? In a moment of fury?” she inquired boldly.

   
“I’m not furious. Not anymore, Vee,” he said, suddenly calm as an infant at his mother’s bosom. “I’m in love… with you,” he admitted. “And I didn’t kill anyone. Not yet,” he confessed, just killing her gently with the most seductive smile. “But you, woman...” he hissed in her face, sniffing her like a wild beast. “You bring the worst in me lately… or the best… I don’t seem to be able to make up my mind,” he continued, breathing on her lips.  

   
The pleasure overcame her, so raw and intense, that she suddenly felt lightheaded. She lost balance and accidentally leaned on him. Their lips finally touched… Their bodies fitted tightly like two perfect halves of one being. An intense wave of pleasure vigorously washed their last bit of reason and purified their souls of any trace of suspicion.

   
His burning hand filtered in under her silk blouse and gently cupped her round and cold breast. Vivien sighed deeply. With her arms around his neck, she pressed her abdomen rhythmically on his hard sex that pulsed eagerly.

   
“Tee, please, don’t…” she whispered, kissing him frantically.

    Terrified by
what could follow, Timothy didn’t let her finish her thought.

   
“Vee, I beg of you, my love. Make love to me now. I want you, I want you so much,” he moaned loudly, going mad with desire.  

   
“Then please, don’t stop what you’re doing to me,” she concluded her sweet demand, gasping for air.

   
An overwhelming feeling of brand-new happiness never experienced before inundated him. He lifted her in his powerful arms, and his husky voice sang in her dainty ear. 

   
“We are in urgent need of a bed.”

   
“Last door on the left,” she guided him.

    Timothy
laid his precious cargo on the bed and turned on the lamp on the nightstand.

   
“I want to see you,” he whispered, dreamy, undoing the buttons of her blouse.   

   
He exposed to his hungry eyes her beautiful breasts with their pink and hard nipples. He lowered his head on her chest and tasted them as her fumbling fingers efficiently assisted him in taking off his own clothes. He lay beside her, naked and very aroused. As his eager hands opened her skirt, he discovered delighted that Vivien was not wearing any intimate lingerie. She bit her lower lip with an inviting smile.

   
“Reach into the nightstand drawer. You’ll find condoms,” she advised.

   
“Don’t worry, my darling,” he replied with a devilish grin. “I’ll sacrifice myself and do the honorable thing if something unplanned happens.”

   
“Sacrifice? You have the nerve…”

   
“I have everything I ever wanted when I hold you like this. I don’t need anything else, Vee.”

    
She wanted to debate the matter a little, just for fun, but he covered her mouth with his, thirsty for her sweet love. Then he entered her slowly, aware of every second of infinite joy. She moaned seductively, looking at him through her long and thick lashes. He began moving inside her, tracing her harmonious curves, touching her, tasting her…   

   
“Tee, Tee, oh, God, Tee,” she soon called him, loosing herself in that immense wave of indescribable pleasure. It shook her febrile body over and over again with a suffocating intensity, taking her to a world of gratification she had never known before. As she reached the highest pick and their fingers locked together in the strongest embrace, she felt him pulsate inside her. She called him once more. 

   
“I’m with you Vee,” he answered. His heart singing with happiness, he accompanied her in that splendid little trip where he experienced pleasure beyond his wildest imagination.