“You never did tell me why you decided to become a cop.” Amber was fascinated by this man she’d married.
He shrugged. “I never really thought about why.”
Amber laughed. “Liar. I have a feeling you think most things through.”
He wondered how she knew him so well. “I wanted a career that made sense, something that had rules, where things were black and white.”
Amber swallowed hard. “Why?” she asked, wishing he’d confide in her. Trust her.
For a few painful seconds, silence created a cavern between them. Until he finally spoke. “Because things at home were anything but stable.”
He cleared his throat. “You were out cold by the time I got home,” he said, changing the subject.
She laughed. “Yeah, I made your life pretty easy. You didn’t have to come home and deal with your wife.”
“And you made sure I didn’t have to deal with you first thing this morning, either.”
She glanced at him.
His hot gaze conveyed pure sexual heat, but clear understanding, as well.
Cornered, Amber thought. She’d hoped to distract him with sex. Keep him happy and he wouldn’t think about things like divorce.
“Well, I think you dealt with me pretty well,” she said coyly. The man did know how to satisfy her.
“Very funny.” But his arms around her squeezed tighter.
So far, at least, he wasn’t letting her go. “I called to check on your father last night,” she said, hoping she wasn’t about to destroy the peace between them.
He groaned. “You didn’t.”
“I did.” She rested her head against his shoulder. “He’d asked us to call and I didn’t know if you were too busy, so I did. I tried the number in your phone book and it had been disconnected. So I tried the other number you had listed and got his cell. Did you know he disconnected his home phone?”
“I knew. He has some crazy notion about spirits traveling through the phone lines.”
Amber disagreed. “Actually I think he’s just looking for attention.”
“Excuse me?” Mike stiffened at her suggestion and she patted his chest to calm him.
The warmth of his skin nearly distracted her into picking up where she’d started this morning. But she needed to bond with him outside of the bedroom. They needed to talk about things that were important to them both and he’d begun bridging the distance by admitting how hard his childhood had been. She was merely drawing some deeper conclusions, things someone close to the situation wouldn’t be able to see as easily.
“Your father has been alone for so long, he thinks that’s the way it has to be. But the crazy things he’s doing to your cousin Derek and his wife, and cutting off his landline…” Amber drew a deep breath. “It looks like a cry for attention. I don’t think he really believes in voodoo.”
“And the curse? Are you telling me he suddenly thinks it doesn’t exist?”
She let out a sigh. “No, after talking to him, hearing his concern about you not falling in love, I can tell the curse is real to him.”
“Just not the other things, like voodoo?”
She shrugged. “I’m not entirely sure. But he kept me on the phone for an hour last night, asking a lot of questions interspersed with long silences that told me he didn’t want to hang up or be alone.” She paused, then asked, “Did you ever get yourself into a situation you couldn’t undo, no matter how much you wanted to?”
“Well…”
She nudged him in the side with her elbow. “I do not mean our marriage. I think you like being with me, no matter how much you’re fighting it.”
He didn’t immediately argue the point, giving her a real flicker of hope.
“I’m talking about backing yourself into a corner like your father has done by isolating himself,” Amber clarified.
Mike cleared his throat. “It’s more than isolation. My father hasn’t spoken to my Uncle Thomas in over thirty years. He blames the curse, but he’s willingly retreated behind walls for years.”
Amber heard his voice crack. Her heart in her throat, she rolled over and stroked his cheek. “I believe he’s lonely. I think he does the crazy things he does because it’s the only way people notice him.”
“And you know this from a quick meeting and an hour phone call?”
She smiled. “I know this because I’m good at reading people. It’s what I do-I mean, what I did for a living for years.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Keep talking. I want to know more about you. Like what kind of partner this Marshall was to you, why you ended your association, anything and everything about you,” he said.
He was as interested in knowing her as she wanted to understand him, but unlike Amber, Mike’s curiosity ran deeper. She’d told him why she’d left him in Vegas, but her answers only scratched the surface. He clearly wanted to understand why she’d associate with Marshall in the first place, why she was being followed,
And she wasn’t ready to shine the light of day on those things just yet. So she’d tell him about the areas of her life she was proud of, the parts she enjoyed, those she wanted him to know because he’d get an insight into who Amber Rose…Amber Corwin…really was.
She drew a deep breath and began. “I used to be a concierge in L.A. and I loved it. I worked at the Crown Chandler in Beverly Hills and people skills are my forte. I have a photographic memory and it really helped in my line of work. Remembering names and faces is a crucial part of the job, but it was never a problem for me. I met A-list celebrities and made it a point to accommodate their every wish. I was the master,” she said, remembering.
“What happened? You said you
Clearly he didn’t mind her rambling.
“Well, my dad got sick and I had to come back to Vegas. He didn’t have health insurance, so I became his primary caregiver.”
“That must’ve been tough.” He pulled her closer, his fingertips stroking her arm.
She appreciated his strength and support, two things she hadn’t had enough of lately. She’d thought she was used to being independent. She realized now just because she’d been used to it didn’t mean she’d enjoyed it.
She sighed. “It wasn’t easy. I took a job at my friend Paul’s bar because he would let me leave whenever Dad had an emergency. I’d hoped the progression of his disease would be slow, but it wasn’t.”
Mike continued to run his fingers over her arm, comforting her. “Do you want to tell me about it?”
“There’s nothing to tell really. It’s a sad, degenerative thing. I kept him home as long as possible until one day the neighbor who checked on him for me called to say he’d wandered off.” The fear Amber had experienced that day washed over her, nearly choking her again now. “We canvassed the neighborhood, all his favorite places.”
“Where was he?” Mike asked.
“Wandering downtown on the Strip, looking for an old casino where he’d first met my mother. It was torn down years ago.”
“That’s awful.”
She saw her chance to link her life and experience to his. “It’s similar to how your father lives in his own world. Except when you talk to Edward, he’s
He nodded. “It does. But let’s not talk about Dad right now. What happened once you found your father? And what’s his name? I’d like to refer to him as a real person.”
She smiled. “His name is Sam, and you would have liked him,” she mused aloud. “That night, I brought him back home and the next day, I immediately went in search of a clean, well-run nursing home for him. And that, as they say, is that.”
She had to get Mike off this subject before he probed too much deeper.
She’d have to lie or omit information and she just didn’t want to do that to him. To them.
She pushed herself upright, holding the sheet against her chest. “Mike, what I’m trying to get at is that with my father, all opportunities to communicate and have a relationship are gone. But you still have that chance with Edward.”
