Shadow Keeper (Shadow #3)

She had been shocked. It was the last thing she ever would have considered—the three men, very drunk, their hands wandering constantly as if they were entitled to anything they wanted, giving her apologies. A man who made his living taking pictures telling her he was sorry he’d gotten angry over losing the film.

Giovanni kept his gaze steady on her face. “Did they include their phone numbers in their nice little notes?”

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.