She nodded. “Yes, but I don’t think any of them expected me to actually call them.”
He gave a small groan and reached out to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. His fingers moved over her cheek and swept down to her jaw, leaving her shivering at his touch. She found her reaction to him disturbing.
“Aaron is a good man, Sasha, but he’s a player. I’ve known him most of his life. We train together sometimes and he’s a very good fighter, one of the best. He’s fought his way to the top and he deserves everything he gets. His childhood wasn’t the easiest, so I’m always happy when he wins his fights and earns good money. Being a good man doesn’t necessarily translate into being a good partner.”
“You can’t know that.”
“I do know that. He’s never been faithful to a single woman he’s been in a relationship with. I think it’s because he’s looking for something intangible that he can never find. He needs to know he’s worth something, and he’s always looking in the wrong places.”
Sasha could tell he was very thoughtful about it, not being mean about his friend. She could tell he liked Aaron, but was definitely warning her away from the fighter. “What about you? Have you always been faithful to a woman you’ve been in a relationship with?”
“I’ve never had a relationship.”
For a moment she almost didn’t comprehend what he was telling her. The enormity of that. She heard the ring of honesty in his voice, but to think that he had never been in a relationship …
“Not ever? Not even in school?”
“We weren’t allowed to go to a school, not like most people. Not even a private school. We had tutors. They were very … exacting. We weren’t encouraged to have social relationships with our peers. When I said I knew him from school, I meant he was my age during my school years and we struck up a friendship of sorts. Aaron’s family life was bad, and I ran across him one evening when I was running in the park. He was skinny, his clothes were torn and he was a mess. It was cold and he didn’t have much to keep him warm, so I snuck him into our garage. Our garage is heated and is absolutely clean at all times.” There was a trace of humor in his voice when he said the last.
She knew Giovanni felt bad for Aaron and was telling her about his friend, but the story told her so much more about him. He was wealthy beyond most people’s imaginations and lived away from others, not encouraged to have friends or relationships, yet he’d taken a boy home and hidden him in his garage to help him out.
“The tabloids always have you with some woman. None of that is true?”
Giovanni shrugged. “I go to charity events all the time. It’s customary to have a woman on your arm. The more famous she is, the more attention you bring to the charity. Being with a woman for a night doesn’t mean I’m in a relationship with her.”
“Why one night?” Sasha was well aware she was asking questions she shouldn’t. She didn’t want to even consider dating him. She didn’t want to be attracted to him, and the more she knew of him, the stronger the attraction seemed to be. She just couldn’t stop herself.
“I don’t lead women on. I don’t pretend that we’re going to be together forever. Even for a few months or years. It’s all or nothing for the men in our family. That’s the way we’re made and we don’t take chances that we’re going to hurt someone innocent. I’m not playing a game with you, Sasha. I’m telling you, you’re the one.”
She shook her head. “I’m not. You don’t know me at all. Not at all.”
“I watched you for most of the night. You’re like a ray of sunshine. The club was dark, and I was feeling angry and maybe a little sorry for myself.” He paused. “Very sorry for myself,” he corrected. “I didn’t want to be there, but I had no choice. I was sick of the music and the drinking. I was really sick of the women fawning all over me. My cousin was upset because the woman he thought cared about him did something despicable and he realized she didn’t care at all. It was a shit night, and then I saw you laughing. You were several tables down from mine, serving drinks, and you were like the sun right there, lighting up the dark.”
Her heart reacted, beating faster. Butterfly wings fluttered against her stomach.
“I watched you. I couldn’t take my eyes from you. You chatted with various people and I could see that everywhere you went, those you served drinks to laughed with you. Their faces lit up when you came close. You fascinated me.”
“I think, if that’s true, it doesn’t take all that much.” She had to deflect, make a joke, do something, anything to keep from hearing what he was saying. She liked it too much. She couldn’t afford to be drawn into anything with him. She was too busy and she didn’t have room in her life for someone else. More, his world was so different from hers. She knew she wouldn’t fit in there. How could she? She didn’t understand the people in his world, with their false smiles and sense of entitlement.
“I won’t lie to you, Sasha. Not now, not ever. I’m about as jaded as a man can get. I’ve had every trick you can imagine pulled on me. When I saw you, I swear, you were like a breath of fresh air when I was drowning. I watched you all night like some stalker. I lost track of you when you went on your break and that’s what got me in trouble.”
She didn’t have a defense against him, not when he told her things like that. She stared up at his face, all those hard angles and planes. His family scared her just a little bit, looking dangerous and powerful and owning just about everything she could see from her apartment above the deli.
“Tell me about your brother.”
The softly spoken command was so unexpected she found herself doing so before she could think it through. She needed someone to talk to about him. “Sandlin is my big brother. An absolute sweetheart. We were very close. He taught me to ride and shoot. He practically taught me everything there was to know about ranching. He took jobs away from the ranch and sent the money home when we needed anything extra. He would buy me things my parents couldn’t afford to give me. Sometimes he’d sneak me candy he bought, salt water taffy was my favorite, the cinnamon kind, and he’d go to the candy store, pick all the cinnamon ones out and fill up a bag for me. I wasn’t supposed to eat it because Mom didn’t want me ruining my teeth, but Sandlin would sneak it into my room.”
She laughed at the memory and found tears burned too close behind her eyes. “I love him. If I could, I’d take care of him myself, but he needs special care. He has seizures sometimes, and he can’t do a lot of things for himself yet. This facility is not only a live-in place, but a rehabilitation center. They’ve worked miracles on patients. I’m hoping for one for Sandlin. Even if he never remembers me, and the doctors say he won’t, I want him to get to a place where he can take care of himself, at least the simplest task. If something happens to me and I can’t pay for him to stay there, I want him to be able to do a few things for himself.”
“Does he remember you now, as you are, going to see him?”
She nodded. “I’m trying to build our relationship again. I think he looks forward to seeing me.” Her voice had a little quiver in it she couldn’t quite stop.
He reached down and took her chin with his fingers, lifting her face so she was forced to look at him. She was afraid he was seeing too much so she lowered her lashes, veiling her eyes. She wasn’t crying, she hadn’t since she lost them all, her parents and Sandlin, but she could feel that burn and was terrified it showed. She didn’t want to appear vulnerable to him. She wasn’t the kind of girl that needed taking care of and she wasn’t about to let him think she was.
“Sweetheart, he sounds like a man I would like to get to know. He might not remember his past, but I’m betting, he’s always good to you when he sees you.”
She nodded. “He’s so sweet.” She wrapped her arms around her middle for comfort and forced a smile. The nicer he was to her, the more the tears threatened. “He’s never impatient, and that’s the way he was before. There are things that make me know he’s still there. He’s still my brother,
he just doesn’t know me or remember from before. We had a special relationship and I know I never can have that again, but I’m working on a new one with him.” It took effort to keep her voice from cracking.
“How often do you visit him? You can’t have much time if you’re working sixteen hours a day,” he pointed out.
“The club job pays the most, and I start at six. Visiting hours are up until nine o’clock, but I mostly go on my days off the deli. Speaking of which, if I don’t get out there, Pietro might fire me and I can’t afford that. I’m off tonight at the club, so I’m going to see him tonight. I go as often as I can.”
Finding the time to see her brother was difficult though. The facility was across town and she had to take the bus. Sometimes that was uncomfortable at night. More than once, she’d wished she had a weapon to protect herself. Buses were convenient, but sometimes she wished she had a car.
“Let me take you there tonight. My car is comfortable. I’d like to look around the facility and talk to those in charge. If you give me the name and address of it, I can have my people check it out thoroughly.”
She didn’t want him helping, because that would only encourage him, but she would do anything for Sandlin. “My brother was always there for me when I was growing up. Always. I knew, no matter where I went or what I did, no matter how much trouble I got into, Sandlin would come for me. More than once, when I snuck out to a party, it was my brother I called and he dropped everything, including some pretty hot dates, to get me out of trouble.” She knew she was telling him, trying to explain, so he wouldn’t think badly of her for taking advantage of his offer. He’d made it, but she felt bad that she needed something from him. She didn’t want to be that person.
He flashed a grin at her. “Did you get into a lot of trouble?”
She nodded. “I worked hard in school and on the ranch, doing an adult’s work, so I thought I should be able to go wild on the weekends like my friends. Drinking is not my friend. The booze we had was really cheap and hangovers hurt like hell.”
She started laughing at a memory, sharing it with him, wanting him to know how wonderful her brother was. “I remember this one time my brother had a date with Ginger Tarter. I called her ‘The Tart’ to my brother, but she was really good-looking. She had breasts and hips and these lips.” She pursed her lips and made fishy noises.
“Sandlin was with her, right at the crucial moment, getting her clothes off her, and I called in a panic. I was pretty drunk and the man I went to the party with was expecting the same thing Sandlin was getting. I locked myself in the bathroom and called him. Of course, he came, and I never heard the end of it, but he never told my parents.”
“I’d really like to meet him,” Giovanni said. He pulled out his phone. “Name and address?”
She took a breath. Anything for her brother. Anything at all. This wasn’t a commitment to Giovanni, simply a friend helping out. She could look at it that way. She hoped she’d chosen the right place for him. She’d researched, and read all kinds of reviews, but she knew any care facility was only as good as the people it hired. She didn’t want her brother neglected or mistreated, and she didn’t know if he was capable of telling her if someone was hurting him in any way. She told Giovanni and he was instantly texting someone. He was fast at it, too, much faster than she was.
“What time should I pick you up?”
Her heart jumped. “I get off at five today. I usually jump right on the bus.”
“Do you want to change first? We could catch dinner after your visit.” He held up his hand to stop her protest. “We have to eat sometime. We might as well eat together. I refrained from biting you, remember?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Were you thinking of biting me?”
“Absolutely I was. I still am, but I’ll make sure you like it.”
She shook her head and pushed out of the seat. Instantly the heat of his body told her she was too close, and she stepped away from him. “I’m going back to work. I’ll see you later.”
He made no move to touch her—or kiss her—a fact that should have made her happy but instead disappointed her. “Be good. Stay away from those other men. I have that one really unfortunate trait.”
“One? You aren’t furthering your cause you know,” she said, smirking a little over her shoulder. “I believe you have many unfortunate traits.” Laughing, she hurried down the hall to the counter, wondering why she suddenly felt so happy.
CHAPTER FIVE
Sasha went out the back door of the deli, which led into an alley. She glanced at her watch. It was after three. Pietro had let her off early. She’d texted Giovanni and he was probably waiting out front, but just before she left, Pietro had gone to the bank and Aria, the girl who was supposed to relieve her, hadn’t shown up right away.
Sasha didn’t want to get into his car smelling of deli meat so she ran up the stairs, determined to take a quick shower. At the top of her stairs was a bouquet of roses. They lay there, a little wilted from lack of water, but the splash of color was cheerful against the bleached wood. She bent down to pick them up, thinking for a moment that Giovanni had left them.
She realized immediately that they weren’t from a flower shop; someone had hand-picked them, cutting the long stems carefully. Every thorn was gone. She looked around for a card, but there wasn’t one. She brought the roses to her face, inhaling the rich fragrance. They were beautiful, and it was sweet that someone would go to the trouble of putting together a bouquet. They were wrapped in red and gold tissue paper.
She straightened slowly and looked around, feeling as if someone was watching her. Fingers of icy fear crept down her spine. She unlocked her door and went inside. The moment she stepped into her apartment, she knew someone else had been there. It felt different. She stood very still, letting her gaze sweep the entire room. It wasn’t difficult—her place was small. Easy to manage. Easy to see from the living area to the kitchen because it was really all one room. Everything seemed to be there. As far as she could tell from just glancing around, nothing had been taken, but her things had been touched.
From where she was, she could see someone had put wineglasses, two of them, near her reading chair. Then there was the table: each item on it, mementos of her family, things that meant nothing to anyone else, but everything to her, had been moved. She kept them in a certain order. Her parents’ photograph, the one where they were looking at each other with such love. It was inside an antique silver frame. Beside it, she put her mother’s favorite pincushion and her father’s pipe. She liked to have the two items touching because her parents had always been touching. The pipe was several inches from the pincushion and the pincushion was on the wrong side of the pipe.
Someone had picked up her parents’ things. They’d touched the photograph as well. It was turned slightly, so that walking in the door, she couldn’t see their faces. Sandlin’s picture, the one with the two of them, brother and sister riding side by side on their favorite horses, the sun setting behind them, had been turned toward her parents’ photograph, rather than facing out toward the door.
Staying in the doorway, she peered at the table where the little mementos were kept. Her brother’s key chain wasn’t there. Her heart nearly stopped and then began to pound. She wanted to run over to the table and look all around in case it had dropped to the floor, but the doors to the bathroom and bedroom were closed. She never closed the bedroom door. She wasn’t about to set foot in the apartment alone. She backed out and shut the door carefully and extra quietly.
Running down the stairs and across the alley toward the deli, she nearly ran right into Giovanni. He caught her by the shoulders to steady her.
“What’s wrong?” The question was clipped, almost growled. He sounded dangerous, and for once she was glad. His gaze swept over her, taking in everything, including the bouquet of flowers she still clutched in her arms. “What is it? You’re very pale.”
“Someone was in my apartment. They touched my thing
s. I didn’t go into the bathroom or bedroom.” She didn’t realize she was shivering until he wrapped his arms around her and held her close to his body. He felt strong and safe. “The doors were closed and I thought maybe it would be better to get someone to come with me.”
“I’m going to call the police and a couple of my brothers,” Giovanni said. “My brothers will get here faster than the cops. We’ll go in and make certain no one’s inside.”
She shook her head. “Wait for the police. If someone’s in there, they could have a weapon.”
He set her aside, texted in that extremely fast way he had and then started up the stairs. She followed. He turned back to her, frowning at her.
“Go into the deli where I know you’re safe.”
“I can’t do that. There isn’t any point in arguing with me. I’ll just do what I think is right. If you’re going in, I’m going with you.”
“Where did you get those flowers?”
She glanced down at the bouquet, once again surprised she was holding it. “They were in front of my door.”
“Whoever went inside left them for you,” he surmised. “At least the probability is high.”
She dropped them immediately onto the ground, the same weird tingle of fear slithering down her spine. “That’s horrible. Why would someone leave me obviously hand-picked flowers and then sneak into my apartment and touch my things?”
“I don’t know, honey, but we’ll find out.”
Giovanni glanced around the alley, up toward the rooftop of the opposite building and then took her hand and pulled her to him. Taviano and Ricco strode out from around the corner of the alley, both wearing the signature pin-striped suit all the Ferraros seemed to wear.
“Sasha, you met Taviano, and this is my brother Ricco,” Giovanni said. “I was just heading upstairs to see what’s going on in her apartment. Taviano is going to stay with you. Ricco will go with me. He’s tough, he can defend me if someone jumps out at me.” He bent his head to hers to brush a kiss along her temple. Deliberately, he took her hand and placed it in Taviano’s. “Don’t let her out of your sight. I’m putting her in your care.”
Shadow Keeper Page 9
