Page 84 of What He Never Knew

But that just wasn’t how it worked.

“I tried to tell someone,” I clarified. “I just… the person I told said we should keep it between us. And it wasn’t just a friend or something… it was the music director. She had power, she could have helped me… but… well, she didn’t have to say the exact words for me to hear everything she wasn’t saying.” I shrugged. “He’s Wolfgang Edison. It would have been my word against his, and who’s going to believe a young,blackfemale against an old, prestigious, award-winning, white, male piano legend?”

“Me,” Reese said without pause. “I believe you. And I know I wouldn’t be the only one.”

My heart swelled, beating with an unfamiliar emotion at his certainty, his unyielding belief.

“What if we went to the police together,” he offered. “We could—”

“No,” I said, shaking my head firmly. “This isn’t up for debate, Reese.” I lifted my eyes to his again. “I’m sorry, but it’s not. Okay? I don’t want to tell anyone about it. And I trust that you never will, either.”

At that, he lowered his lips to my fingers again, kissing them with promise. “I would never tell anyone. It’s not my story to tell. And I respect you too much to ever do that.”

I nodded. “Thank you.”

The silence stretched between us, the sun warming the bed as much as Rojo did. She was still sprawled out beside us, snoring lightly, little hind legs twitching a bit.

“Reese?”

“Mm?” he answered, shifting his weight to the opposite elbow. He still seemed lost in thought from our last conversation.

I chewed the inside of my cheek, debating my next words. “Did you and Jennifer… have you ever… you know… with her?”

He smirked. “Have I ever what?”

“Please don’t make me say it.”

Reese chuckled as my cheeks burned. “No. We didn’t. Do you really think I’d fool around with her and then come home and do what I did to you?”

I shrugged, picking at the blanket wrapped around us. “I don’t know. When you first got home, there was lipstick on your mouth. I just assumed…”

“She kissed me when I dropped her off,” he said bluntly. “But I didn’t kiss her back. I stopped her, and asked her to get out of my car.”

“Why?” I breathed. “She’s beautiful. She’s…”

“Not you,” he said. My next breath stalled in my chest, and the corner of Reese’s mouth quirked to one side as he pulled my fingertips to his lips again, kissing them lightly. “She’s not you, Sarah. That’s why I didn’t kiss her back.”

I wanted to trust it, the way my heart soared at his words. But it didn’t seem possible. It didn’t feel real, that he could want me, too. That a young, damaged girl like me could be anywhere near what he wanted or needed.

But the way he looked at me…

I swallowed, tapping his lips. “So… what do we do now?”

Reese sat up a little more, that familiar crease showing between his brows. “What do you mean?”

“I mean… I’m your student. Your boss is my uncle. And…”

“I’m an old man?”

I chuckled, running a hand back through his hair before I rested it at the nape of his neck. “Thirty-seven is notold.”

“It’s a hell of a lot older than twenty-one.”

I frowned, twirling the strands of his hair between my fingers. “So… does that mean… can we not…” I couldn’t figure out how to ask what I wanted to, what Ineededto. My eyes fell to his chest, a thick, sticky knot in my throat as I tried to swallow past it. “Was last night it?”

Reese watched me for a long moment before he dipped down, forcing me to look him in the eye. “Do youwantit to be?”

I shook my head immediately.