Page 64 of Thin Lines (Donati Bloodlines 2)

“They’re drunk,” Calisto said as he sat down besideher on the piano bench. “Move over a little.”

“My ass isn’t that big. You’ve got lots of room.”

“I know exactly the size of your ass, bella.That’s not why I asked you to move over.”

Emma’s cheeks pinked, but she moved all the same.“There.”

“Good, now …”

Calisto grabbed her left hand and moved it under hisright arm. His left hand was just a few keys beyond hers, while her right handwas just beyond his. Like this, she could plainly see the new ink he had gottendone on his forearm, wrist, and palm. The rosary was intricate in detail, andeach little black bead had swirls inside the middle, drawing her gaze in everydirection it could. She had noticed a piece of the tattoo yesterday when theyate, but he had been wearing his suit jacket. Now, he had his jacket off andthe sleeves of his shirt rolled up to the elbows.

“When did you have that done?” Emma asked.

“Shortly after I gave you the rosary I had,” heanswered.

Emma flipped over Calisto’s hand, wanting to see whatthe length of rosary beads led to. A woven cross had been tattooed inside hispalm. “It’s very pretty.”

“I wasn’t exactly going for pretty, dolcezza.”

“What were you going for?”

Calisto smiled gently. “A memorial of sorts formyself. Maybe I’ll explain it better someday. Now, we’re supposed to bepracticing the piano together. Play it again, and I’ll do the same but on adifferent key.”

“I thought you didn’t play for Affonso,” she teased.

“He hates the scales.”

Emma muffled her laughter into Calisto’s shoulder.“Okay, then.”

“We’ll do this like a round robin,” Calisto told her.“You start.”

She did as he asked, and a few seconds into herscales, he began to play, too. It was still the same old boring notes, but itwas better with two. It made it less routine in a way.

“Play something for me,” Emma said when they finished.

Calisto chewed on his inner cheek. “Don’t make a habitof asking, huh?”

Emma shrugged.

She would try.

“I’m not promising anything,” she said.

Calisto chuckled. The sound rocked Emma straight toher core. She had been careful around him all night. She didn’t cross any lineslike the day before. Calisto barely acted like anything had happened, and hedidn’t bring a single thing up to her about it all. He was polite andwell-mannered, as always.

But when he looked at her …

When no one else was watching …

It was entirely different.

“You should know this one,” Calisto said.

His fingers hit the keys, and it was fuckingbeautiful. Emma felt her smile grow as a familiar melody began to flow from thepiano.

“Third movement,” she said. “Moonlight. Sonata.”

Calisto nodded, but his fingers never stopped. Hedidn’t miss a single note, and Emma couldn’t stop watching his hands dance overthe keys like it was second nature. She remembered him saying that he didn’ttrain often anymore. That he rarely played.