“Then we’re mutually not attracted to each other,” I said brazenly. “That’s perfect.” As long as I was being bold… “Tell me something – why Amber?”
He tilted his head as if considering his answer, though I was sure he had a formulated answer at the ready for this as well. “We had a lot in common,” he said carefully. “We’d both been betrayed by the same man.”
“Reeve.” I couldn’t decide if he really believed that or if it were just the story he wanted me to believe.
“Beyond that, I found her entertaining.”
I wrapped my arms around myself, hoping he didn’t notice my shudder, “You mean you found it entertaining to abuse and demean her?”
Michelis frowned. “As her friend, I’m sure you well know Amber is a passionate woman. I’m also a passionate man. Perhaps we sometimes got carried away.”
“‘We got carried away’?” I practically laughed, a sound that was based as much in nervousness as scorn. “I don’t see you nursing any injuries.”
“Now, Emily. Please. I know you aren’t a woman who believes that all wounds can be seen by the eye. Let’s not pretend that you are.” His attempt at sympathy failed.
He did, however, have me unsettled. He’d been in my presence for all of five minutes, and I’d already learned that he was a master at communicating in dual meanings. It was distressing that he could do it so easily and terrifying how he managed to see inside me so clearly. How did he know that I was someone who understood both physical and emotional abuse well enough to react to the hint of unseen scars?
Or maybe he didn’t know. Yes, that was more likely. He was spouting vague lines that anyone could hear and hold on to like a well-written horoscope, applicable to thousands of people in an intimate way.
Well, fuck him.
“Let Amber go,” I said, tired of his bullshit beating around the bush. “She might have wanted you once, but she doesn’t anymore.”
“She’s back with Reeve now? I’m surprised that you support this since you’d rather be with Reeve yourself.”
Even if he did have spies on the ranch, he couldn’t know that. He was guessing.
“Wherever you got that, you should probably find a more reliable source.” I kept my response smug – not too defensive. Not at all truthful.
But Michelis’s brows rose as though he’d hit a jackpot. “My source is you, my dear Emily. You’re very easy to read, you know.”
He’s trying to get to you. Don’t let him. “Actually, no one has ever said that about me before.”
“Then no one you’ve ever met has been very observant.”
I opened my mouth and shut it again. As solidly as I understood that he was feeling around for the truth, his accuracy was startling.
But I’d also never let myself be surrounded by anyone who might see the real me. I was drawn to men who didn’t care to find out anything beyond my willingness to submit. Even Amber had only seen as much as she’d wanted. Reeve had been the first person to peel away my thick skin and study the layers underneath.
Had he left me vulnerable? Could Michelis really see what he claimed he saw?
My hesitation gave too much away, and he slid into the opening I’d left him. “Seriously, tell me, Emily. I’m intrigued. How are things working out with the three of you?”
Don’t answer. Don’t give anything away.
“Are you girls sharing him equally? Or does he have a favorite?”
I shook my head ever so slightly – not an answer, but a plea for him to stop hedging, stop closing me in.
“It’s you, isn’t it? I bet that makes Amber crazy.”
“Don’t talk about us like you understand anything.” But my breathing was heavy and my voice frail.
“Ah, I see.” He grinned, as if he’d scored, and he had. “You don’t want to share at all.”
There it was, my biggest secret of all. My most shameful wound. I could blame Amber all day long for the reasons we’d given up our threesomes and never be lying. She’d been the one who’d decided that those were over.
But she wasn’t the only one who wanted a man of her own. I did too.
And now all Michelis had to do was pour the salt. “You’re not the first woman who’s taken issue with his lack of loyalty.”
Surprised, I responded before I had a chance to think about it. “He wasn’t loyal to Amber?”
“I was talking about Missy Mataya.”
“You’re fishing,” I said, aware that my composure had been shattered. “You’re guessing at things that you think will upset me. It won’t work.”
“If you say so.” He wore the triumphant air of victory.
Like the last soldier standing on a battlefield, I fired my remaining shot with little hope of hitting any target. “Leave Amber alone.”
His eyes clouded momentarily with confusion or misunderstanding, and I almost thought he didn’t know what I was talking about. But then he said, “People don’t usually ask me for favors without offering something in return.”
Of course, he’d want payment. I’d been willing to give my body to find her when I’d gone to Reeve. I wasn’t willing to give that to Michelis.
Fortunately for me, I didn’t have to. “You said you don’t want me. I have nothing else to offer.”
“Au contraire,” he said, but I didn’t let out the air I’d been holding because he took a step closer to me. Then another. Then he was so close he could touch me or strike me or reach out and strangle me.