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“We’ll match this time,” I quip. I guess it’s always handy to have a second closet here in the office. I have clothes for every occasion.
“Okay, then,” she says and turns to me. She looks into my eyes, and her lips part, but not to kiss me.
“No regrets?” I murmur.
“None whatsoever.” Her voice is firm, but something rises behind those brown eyes. Her stare intensifies, hinting that whatever she’s thinking might just shake my world if she tells me now.
“What?” I smile in anticipation.
“Any woman who’s been made love to like that won’t ever let her man go,” she explains, and then takes one of Captain Robsons from the bag.
I don’t think that was what she was going to tell me at first. But her statement leaves me thinking.
“I’m not going anywhere without you.” I kiss her lips, emphasizing my resolution.
The bear in her hands leads my thoughts to Matty. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but that was how fast he’d gone from being my baby brother to my entire world. And then he brought Amber-Rose into it with him. My wish is that Matty, Clay, and Amber-Rose won’t leave my world, ever.
19
AMBER
Yesterday, I definitely took the plunge. In return, the ocean called Robson Hartley paid me back tenfold. If every lover was capable of giving a woman so much love while being tied up, the word ‘breakup’ would probably never exist.
But what about those hands?
I’ve found him. The man who saved my life. We were reunited because of a boy named Matty and a bear called Bjork.
I’d yearned to blurt out to him who I really am, but my brain had only worked at half the capacity by that point, and my emotions were as raw as a truffle on the ground. Having to pretend in front of Rob shrouds me with guilt, but the secret isn’t just about a name change. His office was definitely not the place to reveal it.
Having had barely any sleep last night, I let myself sink onto the couch at Amber The Mender, clutching the blanket I’d covered Rob with the night he was here. This couch was when it all started. And ironically, I found out who he really is on his couch.
I will tell him in time, but I have one more thing to do—a sanity check.
“Clara Cloutier.” The Geneva police captain answers my call.
“Clara, it’s me, Amalia.”
“Ma chérie! Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Have you heard anything more about Aidan?”
“He’s definitely not in Europe anymore. Even though that man on the CCTV turned out to be someone else, we had proof that Aidan flew into Mexico earlier this month. Unfortunately, we’ve got no more leads since then.”
My pulse quickens. Mexico is closer to California than any place in Europe, so this isn’t good.
Clara asks, “You’re keeping low-key, yes? Staying put in Santa Maria?”
“Yeah.” Now my head hurts, thinking about what I’m going to say. “Clara—Robson Hartley and Karolina Belaya.”
There’s a long, unsettled silence. After a few moments, she says, “So you found out.”
“Do you think Aidan knows about them?”
“Possibly.”
“Do you think Aidan is after Rob?”
“Why are you worried about Hartley?” She pauses, trying to decipher my tone, I’m sure. “And why are you calling him Rob?”
