by Té Russ
She glanced at him over her shoulder. "May I?"
When he nodded, she gingerly removed it from the wall and cradled it between her hands.
"It's beautiful," she said, gingerly running her fingers across the polished wood of the body. She looked up at him, eyes filled with curiosity. "What kind of music do you enjoy playing most?"
"Growing up, when our parents discovered that music was one of our talents," he said. "They had us play a lot of classical music."
"You don't do that anymore?"
"I do, but what I really enjoy is putting my own spin on R&B and Jazz."
"Is that why you played on Laurel's album?"
Isaiah laughed. "I played on Laurel's album because she's relentless."
"Do your siblings still play?"
"Probably not as much as me, but I know they still play occasionally. That's one of Ian's guitars over there," he said pointing to the acoustic guitar in the corner. "He keeps another with him in Vegas."
Tessa was quiet for another moment before she looked up at Isaiah.
"Will you play for me?"
Chapter 17
"Are you ready?" Tessa asked Isaiah, watching as he tuned his violin. When she'd asked if he would play for her, she wasn't sure how he'd respond. But he'd simply nodded, cracking a small smile.
He booted up his soundboard system, and after pushing a few buttons and sliding a few bars up and down, he showed her the play button.
Isaiah looked up and nodded and she hit the button. A quick, sensual drum beat dropped as Isaiah lifted the violin to his shoulder, placed his chin on the rest and brought the bow to the strings.
Tessa recognized the song, "Call My Name", instantly. She watched, enraptured, as Isaiah's fingers flew across the neck of the violin, while he used his bow to sensuously stroke the strings on the body. It reminded her of the way he used his hands on her when they made love. It was erotic and exhilarating.
Watching Isaiah play was a thing of wonder. He lost himself in his music, his eyes squeezed tightly, his biceps bunching when he moved certain ways. There was an air of vulnerability that showed on his face that he didn't usually show regularly.
As the background music began to fade, he ended his private performance for her. When he opened his eyes, he walked over to her.
"You play beautifully," she sniffled.
He smiled, and thumbed away a tear. "Thank you. I'm glad these aren't tears of suffering."
She laughed and wiped her face. "It was just...that song...by that artist." She shook her head. "I still get emotional."
"Yeah, it's hard to wrap your head around the fact that he's no longer here."
"Music died a little bit more the day he left this earth."
Isaiah nodded. "Truer words have never been spoken."
He leaned down and kissed her lips gently. When he pulled away, he asked, "You wanna hear something else?"
"Sure!"
He pushed a few more buttons, and picked another arrangement on his laptop that was synced to the soundboard. He went back into the recording booth and began playing. She didn't recognize this more upbeat, yet soulful track.
It was smooth and sexy, she thought, as she watched Isaiah sway from side to side.
"What song was that?" she asked, once he was done.
"I haven't titled it yet."
Her mouth fell open. "You composed it yourself."
He shrugged. "It's just something I do in my spare time."
"It sounded amazing. Do you have anymore?"
"A ton..."
Tessa spent half the night down in the basement being serenaded by Isaiah and his violin, before he took her back upstairs and made her body his instrument for the rest of the night.

Tessa pushed her wild hair out of her face and cracked one eye open. When she saw Isaiah above her, she groaned and pulled the cover over her face.
"What the hell are you doing, Isaiah?" she grumbled.
"What does it look like?" he teased.
She snapped the blanket back down and tried to glare at him, fighting hard not to smile.
"When I agreed to be in your documentary, to talk about your products at Noble Naturals, I didn't expect it to be so intimate."
"Don't worry, I just took a picture," he murmured, with his phone in his hands. "Good morning."
"Good morning," she said, finally smiling. "You know, some people would find what you're doing incredibly creepy."
"I'm sorry," he said. "But you're extremely beautiful in your sleep. I wanted to capture the moment. You look like an angel."
"You don't think I'm an angel when I'm awake?"
"After the things you did last night..."
She gasped, grabbed a pillow from behind her head and chucked it at him. He ducked out of the way, laughing. He put his phone down on the nightstand before moving over to her to pull her into his arms.
He began to kiss her, and their kissing lead to a morning round of lovemaking. Once they were done, they relaxed in the tub for a while. Like in his bedroom, there was another long, horizontal window in the bathroom. This one was right over the tub, so they had a picturesque view of the lake and mountains as they soaked.
"What was that dessert you made last night?" he asked, as he massaged one of her feet. Isaiah was sitting at one end of the tub while Tessa was at the other end, facing him.
She sighed as she answered, "A key lime tart."
"It was amazing," he said. "Is it one of the new recipes you and your sister have been trying to get in the bakery?"
Tessa nodded quietly.
"What does your father have to say about all of this?" Isaiah asked. "I mean everyone knows that it was his parents’ bakery."
"Daddy thinks our ideas are great. But he wants to keep Mama happy."
"I see," Isaiah said. "Doesn't want to cause tension."
"Happy wife, happy life, I guess. Ugh," she growled, splashing the water in the tub around. "I just wish she'd give us a chance."
"What if you could convince your parents to give the new desserts a trial run?"
"A trial run?" she thought.
"Sure," Isaiah said, shrugging his shoulders. "Can your mother really complain that much, if you're simply passing out samples of new desserts? It's not like you'd even be profiting from it."
Tessa's countenance fell again. "You don't know Janet Everett. I don't know how that would work, if she refuses to even taste them."
"Maybe you go over her head."
"What?" she laughed. Shaking her head, she said, "Isaiah, I couldn't do that. My mother would lose her mind."
"'A little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing...'," Isaiah quoted. "And I bet if you could find a way to really get your father on your side, it would soften the blow for her."
"Isaiah," Tessa said. "I know you said to try harder, but what you're suggesting...I just don't know."
"Just consider it," he said, in a soothing tone. He picked up her other foot and began to massage it. "Tell me about some of your other recipes."
She began rattling off all of the recipes she and Dana had been testing.
"When we were at the concert, Laurel mentioned that maybe one day you'd open a bakery in L.A. That's part of this dream, isn't it? Expanding and opening another bakery."
"Yeah," she said. "Dana and I think it would be amazing to add some variety to the menu and expand. We think it would bring in a whole new crop of consumers."
"Add some variety...expand." Isaiah repeated quietly, those words ringing in his ears. Suddenly his eyes popped open wide. "That's it!"
"What's it?" she asked, confused.
He lunged toward her, grabbing her face, with his soapy hands as he kissed her lips with a loud smack.
"Tess, you're a genius!"
"You want to fill me in on how exactly?" she said, giggling as he continued showering her face with kisses.
"You've given me the perfect idea on how to up the ante with Noble Naturals."

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Isaiah breezed into the boardroom of Noble Naturals and found his parents at the head of the long conference table, with expectant looks on their faces.
Isaiah had called them and asked them to pull together a meeting with some members of each department.
He greeted everyone at the table, very familiar with each person before his father said, "All right, son. You told me you had some ideas for the end of the documentary and how we're going to present the future of the company and where we are going with it."
"Yes, sir," he said, nodding.
"Let's hear them," Isaac said. "What are you plans and why do we all need to be here?"
"Because it's going to affect the entire company. And we all need to be on board for this, because it's going to be a lot of work. But it'll blow Chic and Sleek out of the water."
Isaiah sat up, ran his hand down the front of his suit jacket, then straightened his tie.
"Ladies and gentlemen. It's time to go back to the drawing board."
Chapter 18
"What do you mean 'revamp the company'?" Isaac yelled. "The company's been fine all this time."
"Isaac, sit down," Irene said calmly. "Let Isaiah finish."
Isaiah gave his mother a grateful nod. He opened his mouth to speak when Isaac said, "Our products our fine! We don't need to change them."
"I'm not talking about changing the products we already have," Isaiah said. "I'm talking about adding variety and expanding." He smiled, remembering those were Tessa's words that sparked the inspiration that had him standing in front of his parents.
Isaac now seemed intrigued.
"Expand how?"
"What sets us apart from most other hair care lines?"
"All of our products are natural of course," Giselle Warren, one of the chemists who worked with quality control, piped in.
"Exactly," Isaiah said, pointing at her. "But we've only limited ourselves by just making hair care products. People aren't just trying to be conscious of what their putting in the hair, but they are becoming conscious of the things they put on their faces and their bodies as well."
He watched as both of his parents' eyes lit up with realization and he nodded. "I think we should add more variety to Noble Naturals by expanding beyond hair care products. I think we should make lines of natural bath and body products, and makeup as well."
The room went up in a frenzy; a burst of excited energy buzzing around.
"That's brilliant," Isaac said.
"I've actually got some ideas that I think would be great," Giselle said.
The people from the PR and marketing departments were already brainstorming ways to present the company’s revamping.
"This is excellent," Isaac said, laughing as he clapped his hand. "We'll get started on putting together a plan and reconvene next week. But this definitely has to be in the documentary. 'The future of Noble Naturals. Bigger, brighter, bolder.' Chic and Sleek won't know what hit 'em!"
Isaiah eventually dismissed the meeting and everyone filed out of the boardroom.
Isaac clapped his hand on Isaiah's back. "I knew you would come through."
"How did you come up with the idea?" Irene asked. "It's such a simple idea, but so broad at the same time."
"I actually came up with the idea thanks to Tess," Isaiah said. He couldn't wait to see her later on and tell her the good news. When he'd told her that his idea was inspired from her own aspirations, she thought it was a great idea. She wished him more luck with his parents than she'd had with her own.
He hoped they could figure out a way to get her parents, specifically her mother, to come around.
"I told Tessa she was good for you," Irene said, smiling.
Yes, he thought, Tessa was extremely good for him.

"You...got...laid!"
The egg Dana had been about to crack on the edge of a bowl, slid from her hands and hit the floor with a splat.
"Shit," she swore under her breath.
As she went about cleaning up the egg, Tessa continued to needle her. "Unfocused at work...glowing skin," she said. "Not to mention that big ass hickey on your neck."
"I told that asshole..."
Her eyes squeezed shut when the words slipped from her mouth and Tessa threw her head back and laughed. "I see you finally took my suggestion and let Aiden knock your bottom out."
"I can't stand your ass."
"You love me," she teased. "So...how was it?"
Dana finished cleaning up her mess and stood. Shrugging, she said, "It was sex. We ran into each other at the perfect opportunity. I was pissed after my argument with Mama, I ran into him, he made some assholey comment; I cussed his ass out and then went into my place. The next thing I know, he's pounding on my door. I went to cuss him out again and he..."
Dana cheeks actually blushed when her words drifted off.
"It was that good, huh?" Tessa asked, folding her arms across her chest and leaning her hip against the island.
Dana stood, went over to the trash can and dumped the destroyed egg, and the contents she'd used to clean up the mess.
"We made it abundantly clear...I still think he's an arrogant ass, he still thinks I'm a spoiled brat. So the fact that it was probably the best sex I've ever had in my life, is irrelevant."
"The best sex, you say?"
"How was your weekend away with Isaiah?"
"Deflect now," Tessa said. "But I'm invoking my right as your big sister to demand you tell me everything...well not everything–"
"I get it! Damn," Dana said, cracking a small smile. "Back to your weekend away."
"Oh it was great, even though we broke up for like two minutes."
"What?!"
"Although I'm not sure whether or not it would be considered breaking up since we haven't really defined what our relationship is yet, so–"
"What the fuck happened?" Dana screamed. "What did you do?"
Tessa's eyes grew wide. "Why would you assume I did something?"
"Because you're always overthinking things. You probably freaked out over something that was absolutely nothing."
Tessa sighed at her sister's keen observation. "After you left, Mama and I got into it as well. I was frustrated about that. And a few days before that, his mother came in and she was talking about how he's going to leave Sweet Rapids soon."
"So you were all in your feelings and went full bitch mode on Isaiah."
"I did not." Tessa rolled her eyes. "Okay, I guess I did," she admitted, when Dana glared at her. "But Isaiah is not one to give up that easily. He set me straight."
"Good for him," Dana said.
"You're supposed to be on my side," Tessa teased.
"And I am," Dana said, smiling. "I think Isaiah makes you happy. And you should enjoy it, for however long that is. Don’t worry about the future that you can't predict or control. He's a great guy."
Tessa nodded, letting her sister's wise words sink in.
"So tell me more," Dana said.
Tessa told her all about how nice Isaiah's place was out in Zephyr Cove.
"Hey," Tessa said, lowering her voice as her face filled with a contemplative look. "Isaiah mentioned something...I guess you could call it a suggestion about selling our new recipes."
"I'm all ears," Dana said. "What did he say?"
"Well for starters, he suggested maybe we start off with offering samples."
Dana nodded. "Not a bad idea."
"He also said that we might want to think about just going over Mom's head."
Dana's face morphed into shock. "As in just…" she shook her head. "…Sell them against her wishes."
"Either that or get Dad to agree to let us sell them."
"Either way," Dana said. "You do realize this would basically be a mutiny. Against Mom."
Tessa nodded. "I know," she said. "It's crazy."
Dana's mouth spread into a devious grin. "Let's do it."
Tessa looked up. "Really? You're okay with this."
&nb
sp; "I mean, I think we could easily convince Dad to at least let us give out samples of one or two new things, and eventually begin to sell them occasionally. We could call them seasonal items."
Dana was bouncing around the room, excitement beginning to radiate off her body. It was adding fuel to the small flame that was building in Tessa.
Dana stopped. "How do you feel about this?" she asked. "Because we have to be a united front with this. We can't waver; especially when Mom flies off the handle, because we know she's going to be pissed."
Tessa pulled her lip between her teeth and let it pop out a second later.
"She'll get over it."
Chapter 19
Tessa smiled when she pulled her ringing cell phone out of the pocket of her apron. Dana had already taken off for the day and Tessa was locking up.
"Hey," she said, after she answered. "How was your meeting?"
"Why don't you meet me at my place and I'll tell you all about it," Isaiah offered.
"Your place?"
"I just pulled up to the Mediterranean spot to pick up some food."
"I'll see you soon."
Tessa finished cleaning up the bakery, locked up and drove out to Isaiah place.
They ended up snuggled up on the couch, feeding each other the take-out Isaiah had picked up.
"How'd it go?" Tessa asked again.
Isaiah twirled the noodles of the lemon basil pasta around his fork before stabbing a piece of shrimp and holding it up to Tessa's mouth.
As she took a bite, he answered, "They loved the idea."
"Isaiah!" she exclaimed, covering her mouth, so no food would fall out. "That's great."
Isaiah nodded. "Yeah, everyone's already making plans. They're not wasting any time on this. We want to get the ball rolling as soon as possible."
"This is going to be great for Noble Naturals. I can't wait to see what new products you guys create."
They ate in silence for a while and once they were done, they got up and began to clean up their mess.
"I mentioned your idea to my sister today," she said, following Isaiah into the kitchen. "About us just going for it with the new desserts."
