“Well, you did good for yourself, Denver, and that should tell you something about what a strong person you are. That’s what I always think. I’m proud of who I am. I hope you are. All of your friends, including me, look up to you. If your family doesn’t appreciate you, screw them.”
He grinned at her. “That’s so you, Stella. Loyal to your friends. I don’t exactly have any family left.” He gestured around the bar. “I guess this is it. I decided to make my home here when I first came here. It was the only place that gave me real peace.”
She understood that. “It sounds like you inherited a lot of money. You could go anywhere.”
He shrugged. “I live simply and I like it that way. I make a shit ton of money on my own. I’ll think about what to do with the money I inherited. We could use it here for the hospital, and maybe I could set up a foundation. I’ll talk to Zahra and Vienna. Zahra knows what the hospital needs, and Vienna knows what we need for Search and Rescue.”
“Give it some time, Denver. Even if you had a difficult time with your family, the loss can still hit you at the most unexpected time. I know from experience. We weren’t close, but it was still a loss when I lost my mother. You have to allow yourself to grieve and process.”
“I suppose so.” He sounded doubtful. He drained his drink and held up his glass. The bartender came over to refill it. “What’s going on with you and Sam?”
She frowned at him. “Not sure what you mean. He’s our sober driver tonight.”
“He never dances with you more than one dance. Two at most. And he doesn’t have his hands all over you.”
Her frown deepened. “I don’t recall that he had his hands all over me.” She pulled out her cell phone. Did you have your hands all over me when we were dancing?
She watched as Sam took out his phone and looked down at the screen. His expression never changed, not even while he texted her back.
“Yeah, he did. Well, he was dancing closer than he has in the past. You have to be careful of him, Stella.”
When I have my hands all over you, Satine, you’ll remember it and it won’t be in public.
A little shiver went down her spine. She glanced at her screen twice. Yeah. He used the word when. It was crazy, but just looking at his text made her body aware of him. Come alive. Too many Moscow Mules, for sure. She needed to stop drinking. She took another sip because the pounding of blood between her legs felt delicious when she’d felt cold and alone and frigid for so long. Sam had slowly awakened her. If he had come at her too fast, she would have run for the hills, but somehow he’d slipped past her guard and found his way inside her.
“I thought you were friends with Sam.” She leaned closer to Denver, keeping her face turned directly toward him, afraid Sam could read lips. She’d always thought he could— well, after the first few encounters with him. Either that or he really was as psychic as she was, just in a different way.
Denver’s gaze lifted to drift over Sam and then came back to her, his expression concerned. “I’m not saying I don’t like the man. I do. It’s just that no one can really be friends with a ghost, Stella, and that’s what he is.”
“Um, no, he’s real flesh and blood, Denver. He’s sitting right there and he works his ass off at the resort. He’s on Search and Rescue with you and never shirks. You’re the one who told me that.”
“In the military, sometimes men like him are necessary, and they’re called in when everything else fails. We sometimes would see them, like shadows, hunting like wolves, but alone, always silent. Most of the time you didn’t see them, but you felt them. They cleared the way for you when you were pinned down. Or they got you out of a bad situation.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
He hesitated. “In the right circumstances, yes. But ghosts are used for other tasks as well, Stella, outside the military. They usually don’t last long. They die young. They aren’t supposed to last long because they’re trained for one thing. They’re given psychological tests, and when they’re proven to be a fit for what the government is looking for, they’re trained for specific tasks.”
“What you’re saying is they’re used up as fast as the government can use them.”
Denver nodded. “Often, if they do break free, they’re hunted down and killed because they’re considered too big of a risk to be running around loose.”
“You really think Sam is one of these ‘ghosts’?”
She was careful not to look at Sam. He had asked to be paid under the table. What would happen if she told him she wanted him to go legit? Would he walk away? She could ask Raine to investigate him, but then Raine would know she was suspicious of him and would demand a reason, and she didn’t want that. What could she tell her?
Denver sighed and pushed a hand through his hair. “Yeah, I think he might be. He’s too good at everything. Too quiet. Too watchful. I don’t even know how to explain it.”
“What about his paperwork, Denver?”
“These guys have a million IDs. They have them stashed everywhere and money to go with them. They can be gone in minutes. If he is a ghost, he would have contacts to get him anywhere he wants to go.”
“Maybe he just wants to be left alone like the rest of us. We moved here because this place represents peace to us, Denver. You said so yourself. All of us deserve a chance to live our lives the way we want to live them. You have a family here. You belong with us. Sam does as well.”
She gestured around the bar to her friends. They were laughing loudly, clinging to one another, happy in their circle on the dance floor. “That’s us. We’ll figure it out together, right? We always have. I’m so sorry your family past has caught up with you and it turned ugly. I swear to you, I know what that’s like. I don’t wish that for you, but it happened. Lean on us. You’ve always been there for us. Let us take care of you. Did you even talk to Bruce about this?”
He put his arm around her. “Babe. Guys don’t do that kind of shit. We don’t need to get all emotional with one another. It’s bad form.”
Stella laughed. “Men are so silly. You can’t even share with Bruce that you’re the last of your family? Did you have cousins? Siblings? Even half siblings? I always wished I had them.”
“Not that I know of.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Anything is possible, but according to the lawyers, no one has suddenly come forward to say they’re related and should get a piece of the pie. It’s a big pie. Millions. Hundreds of millions.”
Stella pulled back, startled, looking into his eyes. “Hundreds of millions?” Suddenly the casual conversation was not so casual. When had the dreams started exactly? The date? Denver fished in that spot. He hunted. He climbed. He was on the Search and Rescue team. What if he was the actual target because he had money? She hated that the thoughts were instantly pushing into her head, but money was a huge motivator. Huge. And hundreds of millions?
“Denver, you have to be careful with that kind of money. Make a will and get it wrapped up in a trust or something. You could be very vulnerable.” She took another drink of her Moscow Mule, this time nearly gulping it. It made sense. An outsider might even pay someone to give them information in order to target Denver. A cousin? Even a distant cousin. The lawyer that read him the will? He knew where Denver was. Her head was swimming. She couldn’t think straight.