Night Walker (20 page)

Betty turned the box over and frowned. Other than Calisto’s name and address, there were no other markings on the box, no tracking number, nothing. It must have been a private courier service.

She peered out the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of his truck, but the only car left in the driveway was her own. Damn
.

Placing the box on the corner of his desk, she jotted a note to herself to remember to call all the local couriers to find out who delivered a package to Calisto Terana. That driver had messed with the wrong woman.

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Chapter Eighteen

Calisto awoke filled with passion for the night to come. The memory of Kate sleeping in his arms, her raven hair strewn across his pillows in stark contrast to the ivory pillowcases warmed his heart.

His second chance had arrived. This time it would not end in tragedy.

He rose from his sleeping chamber and climbed the stone stairs to his room. Not the master bedroom of the main house, but
his
room.

It was originally a wine cellar, but shortly after purchasing the house, he converted the cellar into a private bedroom and bathroom. His resting place during the daylight hours was far beneath his room, buried deep within the sandy soil.

He showered and dressed, pulling on his black boots and tying his dark hair back without making an effort to slow himself to human speeds. He needed to be with her again soon.

But first he needed to feed.

For a moment, he was tempted to go to the main house, just to see if she waited for him, but he thought better of it. If he saw her, he would never be able to pull himself away to feed. He couldn’t take the chance that his bloodlust might overcome him if they made love before he had a chance to sate his hunger. At best, she would suspect 152 LISA KESSLER

something was wrong with him if she touched his cool skin.

She would never guess he was no longer human, but rather a Night Walker who lived only after the sun died on the horizon. He wished he could shed his immortality and be the man she deserved, the man she thought he was.

He stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked down the beach, disappearing into the night. He was lying to her. No matter how much he believed she was better off not knowing, he hid the truth from her, even denying her the chance to decide for herself.

She had no idea he would never be with her when the sun came up. Eventually he would break her heart daily by leaving her each morning. He had lived among mortals since his rebirth, but he had never loved one, never allowed anyone into his heart until now.

Appearing human was simple when no one really knew him, but how long could he live a lie with the woman he loved?

At some point, she would ask him to stay.

With a frustrated growl, he ran as fast as he could, his legs propelling him toward the lights in the distance. He searched for his next meal at a shopping mall, pushing away the shadow of guilt lurking in the corners of his mind. The guilt whispered that Kate deserved a far better future than he would ever be able to provide.

§

Kate waited, trying not to watch the clock, trying not to count the minutes until Calisto walked through the door. She failed.

After Betty grudgingly left for the day, Kate took a long bath, blew her hair dry, and tried to read a book, but her thoughts kept drifting back to his note. She wished he’d told her what time he’d be back. She would have been happy to pick him up from the airport. It was the least she could do to repay him for saving her life. Or at least that’s what she would have told him if he had asked. In reality, she would have been at the airport the second his plane landed because she couldn’t wait to see him again.

But instead, she sat here, alone in his empty house, waiting.

And the longer she waited, the more she thought about how she might bring up the oddity of his empty master bedroom and unused
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kitchen. She hoped he wouldn’t be angry with her for snooping around his house.

Thinking about it drove her nuts.

Kate got up from the chair in the office and replaced the leather bound copy of
A Tale of Two Cities
with a sigh, wondering where he might be. It felt like she’d already waited all night, but the clock said it was only six-thirty. Kate wandered out of the office and down the hall.

When she walked into the living room, she smiled. The piano.

She sat on the bench and looked over the slick black and white keyboard. It wasn’t her mother’s piano, but it didn’t matter. Playing took all of her concentration, exactly what she needed right now to keep her mind off of how slow the minutes crept by.

She warmed up with scales, her fingers flying up and down the keyboard in a building flurry of notes. Finally, she played a careful rendition of one of Mozart’s variations on “Twinkle Little Star,” starting with the simple melody in her right hand and gradually adding the harmony with her left, until the music became more complex and filled the room with its joyful song.

The act of playing, of making music and letting the chords fill the air around her, lightened her spirit. Her emotions bled through her fingertips into the keys, making every turn in the notes sound like laughter and every forte blossom with an almost tangible passion.

It was similar to the way the human voice sang. Loud and soft, crescendo and decrescendo, joy and sadness, major and minor, her fingers could convey a message words sometimes couldn’t achieve.

A communication beyond anything speech could convey.

When she reached the final cadence, she slowly let the sound of the last chord fade.

Applause echoed through the room. Kate spun around with a start, and then laughed.

“God, you scared me!” She rose from the piano. “I hope you don’t mind me playing your piano. I wasn’t sure when you’d be home.” Calisto walked forward and took her hand, sending a familiar electricity through her bloodstream. “Not at all. What is mine is yours.”

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She tried not to lose her head completely when he lifted the back of her hand to his lips, but the moment he kissed her knuckles, coherent thought escaped her.

“I hope you will play for me again soon.” He lowered her hand without letting it go.

Kate could feel the blush burn through her cheeks, but she shook her head and laughed. “You don’t have to flatter me. I’ve got a degree in music. I’m well aware my abilities as a pianist are lacking.”

“You are too hard on yourself. This fine instrument has never been introduced to such a beautiful rendition of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.’ ”

Kate’s heart fluttered. He made even the juvenile title sound sexy.

Seeing he had no idea how sensual he sounded made him even more irresistible. He made no effort to be seductive. He just was.

Calisto sat with her. “You enjoy Mozart?” Kate ran her fingertips over the keys. “Very much. I wish I could play well enough to do his work justice.” He stared into her eyes for a moment with a crooked smile.

Without a word, Calisto turned toward the keyboard and pulsed the steady tempo with his left hand while his right played the simple turns.

Gradually it built into a faster, more complex work, his fingers teasing the keyboard until Kate thought she might never be able to wipe the smile off her face.

He played the third movement of Mozart’s piano concerto in E-flat perfectly. Every trill, every turn, every frenzied scale. She’d never heard anything like it before. He wove a web of music around them, leaving her breathless.

Mozart himself couldn’t have performed it with more fervor and precise intonation. Calisto played chord after chord leading up to the final cadence, urgent intensity masking his features. A lock of his dark hair dipped over his brow. He played with pure abandon and passion.

Kate’s heart raced at breakneck speed, watching his body move with the melody. He didn’t hold back to find the right keys as she did. He felt them.

And she’d never witnessed anything so sensual.

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The piece of hair dangled on his forehead, bobbing to the music with every beat he played, and the sight made her chest ache with emotion. If she didn’t love him before, she did now.

Nothing in the world spoke to her the way music did, and no one had ever given her such a beautiful gift as the one he offered her now.

The concentration and passion pouring out of his body and into the piano spoke volumes about his emotions.

He loved her. It seemed crazy, but she
knew
he did. He told her with every note he played.

Calisto thundered through the finale of the third movement, and when the final chord sounded, he held the keys down, his foot on the sustain pedal, allowing the strings inside the grand piano to continue to sing as if he weren’t ready to give up the music yet.

When the music finally faded into oblivion, he lifted his fingers from the keys and slowly turned toward her.

He frowned. “You did not enjoy it?” He brought his hand up to cup her face, wiping away a tear.

“I loved it,” Kate whispered, nuzzling gently into his touch.

“But you are crying.”

“Happy tears. I’ve never heard anyone play like that before. You chose my favorite piano sonata.”

His thumb caressed her cheek. “I am glad it pleased you. For the first time in many, many years, I feel the joy in Mozart’s music. You gave me that gift, and I wanted to share it with you.” Kate stared into his dark eyes, bringing her hand up to brush the stray lock of hair back from his forehead. There were so many things she wanted to tell him, and yet words seemed incapable of capturing the magic of his music.

Instead, she leaned closer, her lips meeting his in a tender kiss that made words unnecessary. A soft moan escaped her when his fingers slid into her hair, cradling the back of her head as he deepened the kiss. She pressed closer to him on the piano bench, her hands moving up his muscled chest. Kate’s pulse already raced. Just kissing him left her breathless. No man had ever had this effect on her before, which only furthered her belief he was the one.

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Calisto was the missing part of her heart, her other half, but she still didn’t know him. Not really.

He pulled back from her lips, resting his forehead against hers. “If there had been any way for me to stay with you this morning, I would have. I was glad to find you here when I returned.”

“I was a little blue when I first woke up, but I found your note.”

“I hope you can forgive me.” His lips brushed hers, stealing a tender kiss. “Last night meant more to me than you could ever know.” Kate’s heart skipped a beat. Between the way he looked at her, and the words he spoke, she lost her train of thought. “There’s nothing to forgive. But the next time you have to leave before the sun comes up, I hope you’ll at least wake me up to give me a kiss good-bye.”

“Any excuse to kiss you.” He leaned closer to brush his lips against hers and scooped her into his arms.

Kate’s breath caught in her throat when he carried her through the room. She lost herself in the kiss, her tongue tangling hungrily with his. She struggled to silence her inner voice from reminding her that the bedroom they were entering was virtually empty. Reminding her she might not know this man as well as she should.

He laid her down on the bed, covering her body with his, their lips never parting. Her fingers worked quickly to unfasten the buttons and open his shirt. She wanted him, needed him, now.

But deep inside, she wondered if fear fed her urgent hunger for him. She pressed hot kisses down his neck, her hands sliding his shirt off of his broad shoulders. With every hungry touch of her lips to his skin, she told herself she wasn’t afraid of anything. This was passion, and she was simply surrendering to it.

Or was it really fear, and she was running away from it?

Kate lifted her arms so he could tear the shirt from her body, moaned as his lips caressed the swell of her breast. The feel of his weight over her, seeing his dark hair fall over his shoulders, teasing her sensitive skin, drove her insane with desire. She couldn’t resist the passion his lips offered.

Or was she just afraid she wouldn’t like his answer if she stopped to ask him why his bedroom was so empty?

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“Calisto, stop,” she whispered, pulling him up to meet her eyes.

He lifted his head, looking up at her with dark eyes that gazed directly into her soul. God, he made it hard to concentrate. She couldn’t help but watch the muscles in his chest and shoulders tense and he slowly pushed himself up, resting his elbows on either side of her head.

“Is something wrong?” His thumb gently caressed her temple, brushing her hair back.

“No... Yes.” Kate sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know.” Calisto frowned.

“I need to talk to you about something before this goes any further and I lose my nerve.”

“Have I done something to upset you?”

She brought her hand up to cup his cheek. Touching him, knowing he was real, that he cared about her, eased her tension. Why couldn’t that be enough? “I need to know you, Calisto. The real you.” She stared into his eyes, watching for any sign he hid something from her. “I know this room, most of this house, is
not
you.” Calisto’s smile faded, and he shook his head slowly. “I do not understand.”

Kate pressed her lips together, gathering her courage. She hoped he wouldn’t be angry with her for snooping through his home, peeking in his drawers and cupboards and closets. She didn’t want to lose him. Not ever.

But she’d ignored her doubts to love Tom, and look how that turned out.

If Calisto lived a double life, she decided she’d rather know now.

She couldn’t risk getting too attached to another man with secrets.

“This isn’t your bedroom, Calisto. It can’t be.” He raised a brow and glanced around the room before meeting her gaze again. “I assure you I own this house, as well as this bedroom.”