Page 27 of Awakening Storm

He angled his large frame sideways on the piano bench and stared at her. Slowly, he lifted a whiskey glass from the top of the piano and drank.

Rhianna stood and strolled over to him. She stopped short of touching the piano, even though she wanted to. “I’m amazed. You’re very good. How did you get a piano here?”

“Where there’s a will there’s a way,” he recited. “Ships can carry anything. But getting itin herewas another matter. I had to partly disassemble it”—he ran a hand lovingly over the wood—“and put it back together.”

“Given what I’ve seen of your workroom, I guess that was a piece of cake for you.”

He angled his head, obviously confused by the saying. For someone who read so many books, he was sure missing some modern idioms from his vocabulary.

“I mean that it was easy for you,” she explained.

“I wouldn’t say it waseasy, but doable.”

Her gaze slid past him, noting a violin and guitar sitting on stands. “Do you play those also?”

He shrugged. “I have a lot of time on my hands.”

“Will you play something else, please?” She gave him an encouraging smile.

He nodded, placing his fingers on the keys.

Thirty minutes later, she was wondering again if packing up and leaving as he’d suggested was the best idea. Her heart yearned to spend just a little more time with him. Perhaps stay on the mainland and visit for a while. That would give her more time to investigate about her great-grandfather.

She shook her head at the way she was justifying her reasoning.

No, no. She was thinking like a lovesick teen.

“Thank you for letting me listen. I enjoyed it,” she said, hoping he couldn’t see her flushed face as she stood to go back downstairs.

She closed her eyes tightly and groaned inwardly. How could she be attracted to a loner shape-shifter who lives in Japan? Nothing could ever come of it.

But it would be one hell of an adventure. One hell of thrill. One hell of a memory.

“Anytime,” he replied. “Sleep well.”

She nodded. “Good night, Aidan.”

As she descended the stairs, she wondered why she always fell for the wrong men. Then she corrected herself. He wasn’t just a man, was he?