Last Kiss (15 page)

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.

He leaned in close so his cheek was near mine, and I had to force myself to swallow my scream. “You have much more to offer me than a trip to my bed, which, I’m sure you realize, I could have had already if I’d wished it.”

Yes, I’d realized it. He could do almost anything he wanted to me here. He could kill me, and neither Reeve nor Joe would ever get to me in time.

Michelis sensed the extent of my fear. He fed on it. It aroused him, which made me hate him even more. He swept a hand through my hair – gently. So gently it was ominous, and I could no longer control the tremors moving through my body.

He liked that – enjoyed terrorizing me. I could smell the heavy musk of his interest as he pressed his mouth to my cheek. Then, he licked me, leaving a wet smear of saliva along my jaw.

Bile gathered in the back of my mouth. “You won’t hurt me.” It was myself I was trying to convince, and it was obvious. “You want me scared. But you respect Reeve and so you won’t hurt me.”

“Because you’re his
woman
?” He pushed his nose against mine, giving me the most sinister view of his eyes. “But Amber’s his woman, too, you said. And even if you share him, he can only claim one of you as his
woman
. I think it’s really you. Which would make Amber free game, wouldn’t it?”

“No. Not me.” I wouldn’t betray her even if it was true. But that didn’t mean I wanted to put myself on the line. “It’s both of us. We’re both his women.”

“Hmm.” He pulled back to look at me, to assess if I were lying, maybe. “Unfortunately, Emily, I’m not sure my respect extends across two women. We’ll have to see.”

“What do you want from me?” The question was thick in my throat.

His hand stroked through my hair again, petting me as though I were a small animal and not a woman at all. “You can pass on a message.”

“To Amber?” My voice cracked. I was sure any message he meant for me to pass would be given in physical form, and already my mind was racing with all the possibilities of injury and pain he could bestow. In what way would he rape me? Would I be able to walk out of here or would my message be delivered in the form of my limp body?

“Not a message for Amber,” he said. “For Reeve.”

“What’s the message?” It was barely more than a whisper.

“I want to talk to him.” He settled his arm around my shoulder and draped his hand low enough that it rested just above my breast, a reminder that he was the one with all the power in the situation, and for a quick second I could imagine how terrible it had to be for Maya to be his servant. How terrible it must have been for Amber to have been whatever she’d been for him as well.

“That’s all you want? I tell him to talk to you, and you’ll leave Amber alone?” Hope slipped into my words despite my attempt to keep it at bay. Could that really be all he wanted from me?

“No, no, no.” He chuckled, his lips buzzing against my skin. “That would be too easy, wouldn’t it?” He stroked my hair again and pressed his forehead against my temple. “I don’t want you to
tell
him. I want you to
convince
him.”

It sounded relatively easy, which was quite certainly deceiving. “Why doesn’t he want to talk to you?”

Michelis considered. “Let’s just say that Reeve’s disloyalty doesn’t only extend to women.”

This was the second time he’d hinted at deception where Reeve was concerned. I twisted my head to meet his eyes. “He betrayed you.”

Michelis smirked, and I knew he found too much satisfaction with my ignorance to give me anything more. He swept his knuckles across my jaw, the metal of his V monogrammed ring cold against my skin. “Convince my nephew to talk to me, Emily Wayborn. Face-to-face. You can tell him I’ll be staying in the hotel for a week. Give him my room number. I’m available to speak to him at any time.”

His hand dropped, and he stepped away from me.

My entire body sagged in relief, as though he’d been pressing a giant weight against my chest and now that he’d removed it, I could finally breathe.

“Our conversation is over, isn’t it?” I was desperate to leave and find Joe. Desperate to get back to Kaya. To Reeve.

Before he could answer, a cell phone rang in another room. Michelis put up a finger, indicating for me to keep silent, as he seemed to try to listen to the conversation.

It was too low and muffled for me to make out a single word, but I was also pretty sure the language being spoken wasn’t English. It was less than thirty seconds before the call ended.

“Petros?” Michelis called out.

His son stepped into the room. “It’s done,” he said, and though I had no idea what he was referring to, I felt a menacing dread settle on me like a heavy cloak.

“Wonderful.” Michelis’s eyes brightened as he turned his focus from his son to me. “Yes, Emily, our conversation is over. I trust you’ll arrange for my nephew to meet with me soon. Petros will see you to the door.”

A glance at the wall clock told me it had only been twenty minutes since I’d left Joe downstairs. He’d likely be about ready to tear his hair out when I found him again, but chances were he hadn’t done anything too drastic yet.

Even knowing he’d be concerned, I halted my steps after Petros had led me only halfway across the room. “What if I can’t convince Reeve to talk to you?”

“You can. You will.” Michelis was much more confident than I was. “Besides, I’ve just done him a favor. Reeve isn’t the type to leave a debt unpaid.”

If his final words were meant to be reassuring, they were anything but, and even though I walked out of his penthouse suite alone, I took the cloak of dread with me.

I spotted Joe pacing the lobby the second the elevators opened.

His eyes were moving constantly – checking his phone, the entrance, looking toward the restaurant, scanning the bank of elevators – so he saw me almost immediately after I’d started toward him.

“What the actual fuck, Emily?” He was visibly sweating, and his hair was disheveled, as though he’d run his hand through it several times. “Where the hell did you go? You’ve been gone for nearly half an hour. I was seconds from calling Sallis, and I promise you —”

He cut off, his eyes catching on something behind me. I swiveled to see Michelis with a man I hadn’t seen in the suite getting off the elevator. He smiled, his expression cruel and taunting.

Joe put a firm hand on my shoulder, both protective and steadying, his eyes pinned to Vilanakis as he and his companion disappeared into the restaurant. “That was Vilanakis,” he said when I suspected he could breathe again. “You were with him? God, Emily.” He began studying me – moving my hair off my neck, running his hands down my arms, searching for any signs of distress the way I’d searched him when he’d arrived at Kaya.

“I’m fine,” I assured him. “A bit shaken up.” I really was fine. But now that I was safe and with someone I trusted, my emotions surged to the surface. I put my hands up to cover my eyes. To breathe. “Just… I need a minute.”

“Of course. We can sit.”

He started nudging me toward the lobby couch, but I shook my head. “I’d rather get out of here. I don’t want to be in that hateful man’s vicinity one second longer.”

“Understood.” With an arm around my shoulder, Joe led me toward the front doors.

Before we reached them, though, I halted. “Maya!” He looked at me, confused. “There’s a woman. Upstairs. In his room. We have to help her. She’s a slave or a servant or whatever. She has the tattoo.”

Joe dropped his hand from my shoulder and scrubbed it over his face. “We can’t,” he said after a beat, and the look on his eyes said he hated saying that as much as he knew I hated hearing it. “We can’t just take her. We’ll start a war that we can’t win.”

“But she’s upstairs. She’s… she needs help.” Deep down, I knew he was right, but I wasn’t ready to give up. “You took Amber. How is that different?”

“It was different,” he said, practically at the same time. “Michelis left her for dead. And I took her to Reeve, who I thought could protect her.”

“Then we’ll take Maya to Reeve too!”

“If Reeve wants to take that burden on, then he needs to do that himself. Right now, I’m not even sure he can take care of Amber. I’m not going —”

“I thought this was what you wanted to do! You wanted to go after him. You wanted to help these women. Was that a lie?”

He sighed and tilted his head toward me. “I do want to help them. And I will, I promise. But right now, a rescue would be a suicide mission. You have to see that. You do, don’t you?”

A fresh sob threatened, but I swallowed it down. “Yes. I do. You’re right. Let’s just go.”

“Will you tell me what happened, at least?” Joe asked as he led me out the doors, his hand on the small of my back. “Are you really okay?”

“Yes. It was fine. I’m fine.” If
fine
was defined as a jumble of fear and agitation, that was.

Joe glanced at me skeptically. “Then, you just talked?”

“Yeah. Mostly.” My mind flashed back to Michelis’s breath on my skin, the wet feel of his tongue. A shiver ran through me.

Joe noticed. He came to a stop, a few feet from the valet station, and faced me full on. “What happened, Emily? What did he do to you?”

“He didn’t do anything, really, except try to creep me out.” I hesitated, trying to decide how honest I wanted to be. Joe had made a good point about playing hero, and I didn’t want him rushing to fight for my honor. From the urgency in his tone, there was a distinct possibility that he would.

“He didn’t hurt me,” I prefaced, then explained how I’d ended up in his suite. “He said he wanted to meet me. He didn’t hurt me and he barely touched me.”

“
Barely
touched you?” Joe looked ready to tear off someone’s head. All I had to do was say the word.

“I’m fine,” I insisted, nudging Joe toward the valet. “Everything’s fine. He was manipulative and he made every effort to show me he was in charge and get me riled up and it worked.”

I stood quietly until Joe gave the attendant his ticket. As we walked to the line to wait for his car, he asked, “But what did he want from you? Did he tell you anything about Amber? About Reeve?”

“Funny, you should ask.” A breeze blew by, and I shivered, but it was quite possible I might have shivered anyway. “He wants me to convince Reeve to talk to him. I guess Reeve hasn’t been receptive to such a conversation in the past.”

“I wonder if that’s what his e-mail to Sallis was about.” Joe furrowed his brow. “Will you convince him?”

“To talk to Vilanakis?” It hadn’t occurred to me that I had any other choice. “Yeah. I have to try. For Amber’s sake.”

Even as I said the words, I chided myself internally.
Always for Amber’s sake.
When would I start doing things for
my
sake?

“It doesn’t seem like this is about Amber at all, though. If she’s just a pawn, then what is this really about?”

It was hard for me to think of Amber as anything less than a queen, but I put thoughts of her aside and concentrated on the feud between the men. “Michelis hinted that Reeve had betrayed him. Said it a couple of times. He wouldn’t say much more when I prodded. Oh, and he said that he’d done Reeve a favor of some sort. Said I should use that to convince Reeve to talk to him.”

“A favor?” The couple ahead of us drove off, and we moved up to the front of the valet line. “Remember once we thought that Vilanakis had taken Amber off his hands as a favor?”

“Yeah, but then Amber said she’d left voluntarily so that doesn’t work.”

Although she’d also said that Vilanakis had been right there in town, waiting for her. Which was somewhat odd. Maybe Amber thought she’d gone of her own free will, but could Reeve have arranged their meeting from behind the scenes?

And Vilanakis was in town
now
. He’d found me in the hotel the first time I’d gone there. As if he’d been waiting. Either the man was extremely well prepared, ready to pounce on every opportunity the minute it popped up. Or Reeve had made both meetings happen.

No. I refused to believe that. It didn’t even make sense. But the thought added mass to the knot of doubt growing in my belly.

“Anyway,” I said, ignoring the weight pressing against my ribs. “I’m not sure if it was a recent favor or something a long time ago or if Reeve even asked for it or if Michelis just took it on himself to give it. But I have a bad feeling about it, Joe. If I can’t convince Reeve to talk to him, I think something very, very terrible is going to happen.”

Joe’s forehead creased. “Jesus, Emily. If Sallis is that adamant about not speaking to him, he’s going to flip when he finds out you were with him.”

“I didn’t
try
to meet with him. I had no choice.”

“I didn’t mean to suggest you did. But he’s going to be pissed that you left the ranch, and he’s not going to be very supportive when you want to leave tomorrow.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.” I would have been tempted to keep my Vilanakis incident quiet except that I planned to deliver his message. Besides, even after what had happened that day with the dog, Reeve did make me feel better. “I’ll figure it out.”

“
We’ll
figure it out.”

Joe meant to be supportive. Instead, it made me anxious. Because he and I were not a
we,
especially where Reeve was concerned, and that hadn’t changed just because I’d said I’d leave the ranch with him.

Just as I started to correct him, an Escalade pulled up in front of us. The attendant opened the door and gestured for me to get inside.

“This isn’t our ride.” The last word trailed off as my eyes met the driver’s. My face went hot, my chest went cold. “Reeve.”

His lips were a tight thin line and his eyes so sharp that his gaze was uncomfortable to stand under. The rigid set of his jaw and deep furrow of his brows were unfamiliar to me and completed his austere appearance.

Well, so much for worrying about how to tell him I’d met with Vilanakis. Ten to one odds, he already knew. It’s the only reason I could imagine for him to show up out of nowhere with that look on his face.

“I guess this
is
your ride,” Joe mumbled. His car pulled up then behind Reeve’s. “Will you be okay?”

I paused, trying to decide who to ride with, but it didn’t take long for my decision to be made. I wanted to be with Reeve – I always wanted to be with Reeve.

But I’d hesitated too long for Reeve.

“Get in, Emily,” he ordered. His tone was just as tight as his lips. It confirmed what I already suspected about his emotional state. That he was beyond angry. That he was restrained, but just barely.

It was a mood that made me quiver, and I couldn’t tell if I was scared or excited.

Both
. I was definitely both.

“You’re mad, aren’t you?” I hated how shallow my breath had gotten, how rapidly my heart knocked against my ribs, how painfully my nipples peaked and pointed.

His lips curled upward ever so slightly. “Mad does not begin to describe what I am right now.”

Most of all, I hated that I couldn’t look at him anymore without seeing
her
. Without feeling her between us. Without having to acknowledge everything about her that wasn’t me.

The smile I flashed him mirrored the strain in his. “Awesome. Because mad doesn’t describe what I am right now either.” I slammed the door and turned to Joe. “Let’s go.”

But Reeve had lightning reflexes. He was out of his car and blocking Joe’s passenger door before I could reach for the handle.

Reeve’s hand shot out and wrapped firmly around my arm. “You’re riding with me.”

The timbre of his voice, the tightness of his grip, the steel look in his eyes – I knew it wasn’t in my best interest to protest.

“Guess I’ll see you at the ranch,” I said to Joe.

“Yep.” He was the one with the tight tone now. His entire body was stiff as he opened his door.

“Oh, and Joe?” Reeve waited for his attention before going on. “It’s time for you to move on from Kaya. We’ve appreciated all you’ve done to bring Amber back safely, and now your job is done.”

Joe and I exchanged a glance. He’d been dismissed.

“I do agree,” Joe said, with only the slightest hint of irritation. “Actually, I was already planning to leave tomorrow.”

“Glad to see we’re on the same page.”

The only thing that made Reeve’s smug smile tolerable was knowing that I planned to leave when Joe did. Something told me now wasn’t the time to tell him.

As Joe’s taillights faded into the distance, Reeve pulled me back to the passenger side of the Escalade. He opened the door, and half pushed me inside as he said, “Get in.”

I climbed in with a scowl that deepened when he jerked the safety restraint across my body. “I can strap my own seat belt, thank you very much.”

“Forgive me for not being confident in your ability to make wise decisions regarding your safety.” He tightened the strap to the point of discomfort then, with a contemptible expression on his face, he slammed the door.

I’d expected he’d be mad. Reeve hadn’t wanted me to leave the ranch at all and, even though my encounter with Vilanakis wasn’t exactly my fault, it proved his concern had been warranted.

But the depth of his anger was uncalled for. Especially when I’d potentially been in danger. Especially when it had been
his
family that had come after me. Especially when I’d been mad first – before The Four Seasons, when he’d admitted that he’d told Amber he loved her.

We drove in silence. Every mile that passed without a word, I grew more and more incensed.

Finally, I couldn’t stand it any longer. “Go ahead,” I prodded. “I know you want to say something, so just say it.”

He waited a beat. Then, with his eyes glued to the road, he said, “I don’t think it’s wise for me to say what I want to while I’m driving.”

It seemed more like a tactic to manipulate control of the conversation than about controlling his temper.

It infuriated me. “More like you want to be able to manhandle me while you’re talking. How else could you get your point across?”

“You’re trying to provoke me.”

“I’m trying to get you to ask me about Michelis.” And, yes, I wanted to provoke him. I wanted to yell and argue and fight. Anything to break through the awful, terrible distance between us.

I studied his profile and waited, giving him a chance to respond. When he didn’t, I said, “Since you won’t ask, I’ll tell you. He wants you to talk to him.” I watched for any hint of a reaction.

But he was stoic and guarded and gave me nothing.

“A conversation, Reeve,” I pleaded. “And then you can go back to hating him. I won’t even try to figure out what all that anger is about. Just one conversation, that’s all I’m asking for. That’s all
he’s
asking for. And then he’ll leave Amber alone.”

No response. But his jaw flexed and I swore his grip on the wheel tightened.

I shifted so I was facing him and nudged him again. “Isn’t that what you want? For Amber to be safe?”

“Emily, I’m not discussing this.”

“Not discussing this now? Or not discussing this ever?”

“As soon as I’m no longer operating a motorized vehicle, I’ll happily discuss your absolutely foolish behavior this evening. As for —”

I cut him off. “Foolish why? You do understand I didn’t leave to go meet up with your uncle, don’t you? I didn’t talk with him by choice. I am not Amber.”

“I told you not to leave the ranch —”

Again, I didn’t let him finish. “And you told me you’d never keep me trapped. Maybe you really did forget I wasn’t Amber.”

His eyes widened with fury. “Asking you to stay put so I can keep you safe is not even remotely the same.” He was practically shouting, which was fair. It was cruel of me to keep bringing up Amber like this. And, honestly, I didn’t know why I was doing it since I spent a lot of time fretting over how the two of us might compare in his eyes.