AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She straightened her shoulders, forced herself to move. Strode across to the guesthouse door. Only to realize that the place was deathly quiet. Zach rarely existed in silence. There was always music playing in any space he was in. It was like oxygen to him. Even when he was out in public, he hummed under his breath or tapped his fingers in endless rhythms when he wasn’t thinking about what he was doing.
Faith did the humming thing too, but not to the same extent.
Wired for sound, the two of them. And Zach had been able to indulge his passion. Hadn’t had to learn to put it aside like Faith had. So he never really tried to hide the fact that part of his brain was almost always listening to some melody only he could hear.
She pressed the doorbell, wondering if maybe he might be asleep. The sound of the chime came through the door but there were no answering footsteps or movement in response. She waited, but that didn’t change. There was only silence beyond the door that stayed stubbornly closed.
Dammit. Where was the man?
It had taken her this long to get up the nerve to face him, she didn’t want to have to do it all over again tomorrow.
“Where would I be if I was Zach Harper?” she muttered to herself. Grey’s old truck—presumably borrowed from Faith—was parked in one of the covered spots off to the side of the guesthouse, so somewhere on the estate seemed like a safe enough bet. Unless he was with Eli. But counting that out for now, then the most likely places were the beach or … Grey’s studio, she realized.
Zach was a night owl. It was close to six now, which for him was more like lunchtime.
If he was settling into the studio, he’d just be getting started.
She should have thought of that earlier. Another quick detour, retracing her path through the garden a little faster, and she was past the main house safely again and heading down the opposite side of the garden, following the narrow cliff path that led down to the small studio building and then onward to the property line where the Harper estate ended and Shane’s land began.
A line of salt-and-wind-battered bushes formed a wall between the path and the house, so she was hopefully still incognito and safe from Faith’s eagle eye. In fact, at this time of day Faith was probably still working in the Harper Inc. offices. With less than three months now until CloudFest, Faith was starting to hit the pointy end of the mountain of organization that lay behind pulling off a massive music festival.
It meant long hours and working nights while she was trying to deal with musicians and management located all over the world.
And this year she was throwing a wedding into the mix. She and Caleb had set the date for the start of September.
Personally, Leah thought that was insane. Faith usually took a few weeks off to recover after CloudFest, and this year she’d have to roll straight into final countdown for her wedding.
But maybe Faith was thinking longer term. She and Caleb could take a vacation each year that culminated in their anniversary with no need for any kind of excuse. There was some method to the madness when you thought about it that way.
Leah reached the end of the path, rounding the last slight bend, which brought Grey’s studio into sight. Now she could hear music, the sound of a guitar. Definitely Zach, she thought, listening to the melody. She didn’t recognize the song but she knew the style of the musician. He must have the windows open, airing the place out. The studio was well soundproofed, so she wouldn’t hear him otherwise.
It was tempting to stay right where she was and just listen to him play. He might be a dick, but he was a great guitarist. And the music he coaxed from six simple strings always had the power to steal her breath and her common sense. It would be all too easy to stand here and let herself be a lost-in-a-crush teenager again.
But that wasn’t going to get the job done. She wanted to work with him, not jump him.
So when the music stopped abruptly, she walked over and knocked on the door.
It swung open faster than she had expected and there he was. Zach Harper. Large as life.
Larger, maybe.
“Leah,” he said, sounding surprised. Then he smiled, and her pulse sped up all over again as the force of that grin hit her like the kick of a bass drum to the back of her head.
Larger than life and still freaking hot.
Dammit.
“How the hell are you, Santelli?” Zach said, stepping back to let her in.
She skirted around him. There would be no contact.
“What, no kiss hello?” Zach said, closing the door behind her. Leah kept walking. No contact and definitely no thinking about kissing. Of any kind.
“Let me guess. Faith is mad at me, so you’re mad at me? The old best friend solidarity thing?”
“Faith is mad at you,” Leah agreed. She stopped and turned to face him. Took a breath while she figured out what exactly she was going to say. That was a mistake. The studio smelled like Zach.
How was that even possible? The man had only been in residence a little over a day. The studio had been, as far as she knew, closed up for years. Maybe Faith had it cleaned now and then—it didn’t looked covered in dust. It shouldn’t have smelled like much at all. But it did. Another breath. Yep, there it was. A scent so familiar she would have known who it was with her eyes closed. Spice. Salt. Zach.
