Page 34 of They Break Beauty

He stepped close again and fingered my vibrant red and black all-seeing eye tattoo on my left shoulder. “You know, she’s got a necklace like this?”

Oh, I was well fucking aware. “She does?”

“Yeah. Weird, huh? The coincidence of it?”

“Uncanny.”

He frowned. “You knew, didn’t you? Is that why you stripped down to this shirtless state, rather than actually getting dressed for her arrival? You wanted her to see that the two of you have this in common?”

“Anything I can do to ease her skittish state.”

“Damn, that’s really sweet of you. Especially for you.”

Sweet. It was far from that. “Well, contrary to popular belief—Mason’s included—I am actually human and I can demonstrate that once in a while too.”

He laid his hand on my shoulder. “I know you can. And I’m really glad you’re back here with us.” He cupped my cheek and emphasized earnestly, “Really glad, Lev.”

I stroked his fingers on me. “Right back at you, cupcake.”

The sound of the doorbell downstairs by the lobby had us both pulling back.

He adjusted his silky shirt—this time a tiger print number—along with his leather pants, then told me, “The show is on. Here goes nothing.”

Thankfully, Mason was occupied elsewhere at some sort of get together with a group of his law buddies who were working on this semester’s big project—or case. I hadn’t bothered to get the details because my main focus had been this evening and making sure he wouldn’t be here to get in my way and especially not to get the chance to figure out what my fascination with Brianna was all about.

I couldn’t have that.

He’d find a way to put a stop to it before I even got anywhere with her.

As Colt headed on out of my bedroom, I hung back and sucked in a centering breath, fighting to tamper down the electric anticipation coursing through me with Brianna Walker about to enter our home, with me so close to having it out with her and doing what I’d needed to for so fucking long—pulling her close to me, fucking well binding her to me forevermore.

Just a little while longer.

All I needed to do was wait for Colt to get her into a calm and relaxed state where her walls weren’t up and where she wasn’t defensive.

I walked out to the landing and peered over the railing as she stepped into the house with Colt speaking words I couldn’t hear from this far out.

Her silky black hair was pulled back into a bouncy ponytail that swung from side to side whenever she moved her head and, in this case, scanned the immediate area of the mansion trying to take it all in.

She had that pastel-pink three-quarter-length coat on over a white tank with butterflies lining the bust, dipping low enough to highlight her perky breasts as well as the necklace of hers that was a blue version of my tattoo. It gave way to a gray mini-skirt. The heels of her knee-high boots that matched her coat clacked on the black marble floor.

But, despite all of that being a fuck of a lot to take in, it was her eyes that drew my attention the most.

Those enchanting whiskey pools.

They were what I’d remembered the most about her.

What I’d seen staring back at me all those years ago, what I’d seen staring through me in my dreams and nightmares alike since.

I forced myself to push away from the railing and tracking her movements and guarded interaction with Colt, and then I made my way into my bedroom to fire up the surveillance I had in the recording studio—and wherever else she ended up venturing to while she was here in my home.

“I’ve been standing in the shadows/ Willing the blackness to pull me in/ A place where nobody else knows/ I’m barely holding on, barely surviving.”

Colt’s powerhouse vocals rang out, that rough grittiness out in full force with that signature growl along for the ride, and giving him that special edge he’d worked hard to develop and capitalize on over the years.

I’d heard it thousands of times and not just with his live performances, but through him singing around the house, belting out pieces of songs he’d been working on over and over, but it still impressed me.

I thought nothing could top that until another voice joined in on the chorus wrapping around his.

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