My spine tingled at the thought of her tattoo and what Joe had said it meant. “How?”
“He found my father for me. And had him killed.” Her delivery was so matter-of-fact that I almost didn’t register what she’d said.
Then… shit. I was speechless.
During Joe’s search for Amber, he’d found her father had been killed while serving time for child molestation in federal prison. Joe had believed the man who’d done the crime had been connected to the Greek mob but there had been no way to prove it.
It had been Vilanakis then. Joe had been onto something after all.
“Yeah,” Amber said in acknowledgment to my stricken reaction. “Micha’s not a man you want to mess with. Or get in bed with, it seems, because then he said I owed him.”
She shifted to face me. “And, you know what? I was willing to accept that. Because even though I didn’t ask him to do it, I wasn’t at all upset that he had.”
Honestly, I didn’t feel any remorse either. But now she owed Vilanakis. Did she realize exactly what that meant? I wasn’t even sure what it meant, and I knew it was bad.
Amber lowered her head. “You must think the worst of me.”
“No. I really don’t. I’m thinking the worst of him.” Thinking the worst and getting pissed. “He breaks the law and then uses that to keep you with him. That’s bullshit, Amber. Then, did he make you get that tattoo? To remind you that you owed him?”
She stretched an arm across her body and placed her hand over the place of her design. “Yeah.” She tilted her head at me. “Did Reeve see the tattoo? Do you know?”
“Probably. I noticed it right away. Why?”
Her face was unreadable. “No reason. Let’s not talk about it anymore, though, okay?” She didn’t wait for my response before bringing her knees to her chest and burying her face.
She was shutting me out. I knew that feeling too. I’d done the same thing after she’d saved me from a dirtbag in Mexico who’d used me and nearly destroyed me in the process. I hadn’t feared that my dirtbag would come after me though. I couldn’t imagine how I would have moved on if I had.
I brushed a strand of hair off her forehead. “Okay. We don’t have to. We can talk about something else.” Perhaps it was the wrong time to segue into my relationship with Reeve, but the weight of his expectations sat heavily on me.
Amber shook her head. “I don’t think I feel like talking at all right now, if that’s okay.” She peeked up at me. “But will you stay with me? You can help me back to bed and then we can turn on bad soaps and make fun of the plots just like old times.”
I hesitated only a second before my lips slid into a smile. “Whatever you want.” Just like old times.
CHAPTER 8
I stayed with Amber until she drifted off to sleep late that afternoon. Then Joe came to take his shift with her.
“You been here all day?” he asked. “Have you even eaten anything?”
As if on cue, my stomach grumbled. “No, I haven’t. But I really just want to take a nap right now. Will you be good with her?”
He nodded. “Make sure you make it to dinner. You heard we’re out on the deck tonight, right?”
“Not in the hall like usual?” Supper at the ranch was always a family affair – after the long day of work, the men would gather to eat in the main house. I’d eaten with them every day since I’d arrived.
“Nope. I guess there’s a bunch of guests here for the next few days so Brent said that Sallis asked for a private setting for a few of us. Me and you included.”
“Got it. I’ll be there.” It seemed strange for the arrangement to have changed when one of Reeve’s expectations had always been that I ate with the men. But I was wiped out, and the only thing I wanted to think about at the moment was putting my head on my pillow followed by not thinking at all.
Though I woke up starving, the nap had been a good choice. It was the most peaceful sleep I’d had since Amber had returned, and it did wonders for my mood. I felt more relaxed than I had the entire time I’d been at Kaya. More relaxed than I had the entire time I’d known Reeve.
My steps were light as I went downstairs and headed toward the deck. The hall buzzed with the usual raucousness that accompanied the ranchmen. I peeked in and noted that the room was definitely more crowded than normal¸ yet there was still plenty of seating available.
A night away from the rowdy cowboys didn’t sound too bad, though. Maybe that’s what Reeve’s thought had been as well.
He was already outside when I got there, alone, leaning against the railing, looking out over the landscape like he was an emperor surveying his land. He’d stood like that when I’d had dinner with him for the first time in Palm Springs. Even then, when I’d been shaking in my heels, scared of the lair I was walking into, desperate to find Amber – even then, the magnificence of his presence had me twisted in knots.
Now, as I took him in, my breath caught and my throat tightened, but instead of paralyzing me like he had that night in the Springs, it propelled me forward. Brought me to him.
I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his back.
I felt his surprise as he turned his head to glance at me. I surprised myself, actually. I’d always let him take the lead, because I liked it that way, but also because he liked it that way. Right now, though, I was too overcome with emotion to care about anything other than holding him.
He only allowed the embrace for a handful of seconds before he pulled me around to face him. Trapping me between his body and the railing, he threaded a hand in my hair and tugged hard enough to make me gasp.