Page 71 of Amber Gambler

“Ah. That. Yes.” Pedro drew a hand down his face. “I can only imagine what Josie told you.”

A popping noise in my jaw warned I would be heading to the dentist if I didn’t chill out soon.

“The sunscreen was the spray kind Matty likes. That’s where she got it. From his locker.”

Embarrassment creeping up my spine, I focused on the short drive and parked us in our usual spot.

Pedro kissed my forehead before I released him from his host to a standing ovation from Little.

Used to the production, I hadn’t considered how it would appear to her. She couldn’t see spirits, but she was a clever girl. She had to be observant to stay alive, let alone pickpocket with enough success to keep her spot with Ian. So, after Pedro left,and Matty woke, she noticed the shift. His posture was looser and more familiar as he invaded my space with a stretch. His expressions grew more animated as I explained the situation, and the curious glint in his eyes was pure Matty as he aimed his full attention at Little.

Hooking his elbow over the seatback, he asked her, “Have you ever been to the cemetery at night?”

“No.”She turned red as a beet under his gaze. “The gates get locked at dark.”

Either she wanted to impress him with her haughty denial, as if she had never broken a single rule in her life, or she drew a hard line on breaking and entering. Or maybe just breaking and entering cemeteries.

“Then you’ll get a kick out of this.” His infectious grin was one I recalled from childhood. He always wore it seconds before he suggested a bad idea I never had the heart to deny him. With gusto, he threw open his door. “Race you to the river.”

“To Heaven’s gate,” I called as they leapt out and ran away laughing.

Had Matty not cast a wink over his shoulder, I would have thought he was distracting Little for her own sake. But that damn wink told me Pedro let him in on therubbingincident, and he must feel I needed a moment alone with Kierce to sort through it. Face-to-face would make this easier, I hoped, so I stepped into the parking lot and waited for him to do the same.

“I’m sorry for what Josie did to you today.” I twisted my fingers in my shirt. “You could have told her no. I’m not victim-blaming. I just want to make sure you understand you don’t have to indulge her whims.”

“You were upset at the idea of Josie putting her hands on me.”

Through a locked jaw, I admitted, “Yes.”

“I don’tlike-likeJosie.”

Heat licked under my skin. I was a dirty, dirty eavesdropper. And I knew exactly what he meant. “Oh?”

“I came back to this world for you.” He cuffed my wrists, pinning them behind my back. “I like-likeyou.”

Heat as slow as sun-warmed molasses poured through me. “Maybe I like-like you back.”

With gentle pressure, he bowed my spine until I arched against him. “I would kiss you if I remembered how.”

“It’s like riding a bike.” I wet my lips, ready to taste his. “You don’t ever really forget.”

“I never learned to ride a bike.”

“Then it’s like riding a horse.”

With him in control, I couldn’t link my fingers behind his neck or guide him.

Kierce would have to figure it out on his own.

“You brought Little here.”

The interruption dragged a groan out of me. Out of Kierce too. Which, yes, gave me a thrill.

“Farah.” I regretted the instant he traded his grip on my wrists for a single hand resting on my hip. “We’ve got catching up to do.”

“Do you know how much trouble she’ll get in if Ian catches her?”

Had a spirit possessed the ability to blanch, she would have turned bone white.

---