“Yeah, shoot.”
I swallow and glancing down at the gap between us, too scared to meet his eyes incase he does get upset with me.
“The other night, when you found me at the barn and you helped me because I was drunk ... I wasn’t in the barn the whole time. I came to the house to see you and ...”
“Fuck me.”
He cuts me off with those two grunted words. I look up at him.
“I’m sorry I lied to you, I was scared, and I wasn’t sure what to do or say. Then everything happened with Taj and I just didn’t find the time to talk to you about it.”
“I’ll make this as brief as I can, because I can’t discuss this with you, but that man wasn’t a good man and we deal with people who aren’t so good sometimes. Not sayin’ it’s right, just sayin’ that we have other business on the side. We don’t hurt good people. That’s what you need to know.”
“I believe you, I know you’re not bad guys. I only wanted to tell you I saw it for two reasons, the first is I wanted to make sure Taj hadn’t seen the same thing ...”
He opens his mouth, but I put my hand up.
“Before you blast me, I know you’re going to say you’d never hurt someone like Taj and I believe you, I’m just saying, it was a question I had briefly and it is no longer.”
He nods sharply.
He doesn’t like that I considered them in Taj’s death, but I guess he has to understand why I did.
“The other reason is I don’t want to see this place you’ve created go down the toilet. I think if you’re going to do, ah, business like that then you need to find somewhere safe to do it that your guests can’t see.”
He studies me, then reaches out and runs his thumb over my lip. “You’re a smart girl, Lei. Anyone would think you care about what happens to me here.”
I roll my eyes, giving him a small smile. “Of course I care.”
“Noted. I’ll find a place to take our business away from the ranch.”
I nod, then bite my lip.
“Say it,” he murmurs.
“Is it safe ... what you do on the side?”
“No,” he answers, honestly, “but we’re smart.”
“Is it worth losing what you’ve created here?”
His expression darkens a bit. “What I’ve created here is something I’ll protect with all I am, but what I do on the side is part of who I am, too. It’s what I do. I won’t let it touch my work here.”
“Okay,” I say.
It’s not up to me to tell him what he can and can’t do. He’s a smart man.
“My turn for a question.”
I scrunch up my nose, but nod.
“You don’t think Taj was accidentally killed I know that, but why?”
“I don’t know, it’s just a really strong gut feeling. I’m not sure what it is, but something is telling me that he was murdered. I just don’t know by who, or why.”
“Got any guesses on who?”
I shrug. “A few in our group have had small run-ins with Taj, but I can’t see any of them hurting him. I just feel like I’m missing something, but I don’t know what.”
“Want some advice?”
I pout. “If you’re going to tell me to leave it alone, don’t bother. I don’t do as I’m told and I’m going to look into it, even if you don’t want me to.”
He grins. “Good thing that isn’t what I was goin’ to say.”
“Fine, you may speak.”
He keeps the grin. “All I was goin’ to tell you is, go back to the start. Right back to where you can remember and think of everything, every little thing, every fight, every disagreement, every problem. You might just find you’ll remember something and it’ll put you on the right path.”
That’s a good idea.
I hadn’t thought to do that.
“You know, for a man who rides horses and walks around looking sexy all day, you’re pretty smart.”
He grunts and reaches for me, pulling me up and over him. I land with my knees either side of his hips. I grin down.
“You know, for a woman with such a big mouth, you’re pretty sexy.”
“Why thank you.”
“Shut up and ride me, woman.”
Oh boy.
“Yes, sir.”
Let round two begin.
15
“You need to tell me everything. Every juicy detail. Was it big? Was it painful? How did you do it? What position? God, I need all of it.”
I lift my sunglasses and glance at Kara, who is lying next to me. We’re sunbathing at the lake before we go and go for a hike this afternoon. It is the first day things feel a little less tense around here. That doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about Taj, he’s on my mind all day, and I very much plan to go back to the barn when we’re done later and see if I can find something that was missed.