He wasn't ready to admit the whole truth to her yet. "I'd started hanging out with some of my old friends who kept inviting me to have a drink with them. I resisted for a while, but after the wedding, I saw Isaac's mom in the grocery store." He paused his whittling. "She didn't see me, but it was enough to bring back the guilt. I caved and started going out drinking with my friends. It didn't take long for the alcohol to take control of my life."
"Why didn't you call Emily?"
"She was on her honeymoon." The words came out sharp and curt. "By the time she came home, I was so ashamed of myself for giving in to the alcohol again that I couldn't face her. So, I drowned my guilt with more alcohol." He lifted his chin and studied the green leaves above him. "I spiraled out of control with my drinking and did so many stupid things. Things that I had little to no recollection of the next day. Things that can't be undone. I turned into one of the ranch hands that your father always warned you to keep your distance from."
She snorted in disbelief. "You were arrested for a DUI. That hardly puts you in the same class as the ex-convicts we've had over the years."
"I've been arrested more than once, Ri," he said quietly, hanging hishead again. "I was arrested again last fall in a drunken brawl. The charges ended up getting dropped the next day when the waitress I was trying to protect told her boss why I attacked that biker guy and started a brawl in his bar, but the problem was, I'd made another wrong choice in a long line of bad choices." He rubbed his jaw again. "I've screwed up so many times I've lost the trust of the people I care about."
"That's not true." Her hand was back on his arm again. "Your parents love you and trust you. And I know Jake trusts you. If he didn’t, we wouldn't be working together."
Daniel rolled his eyes. "I'm just the lesser of two evils."
"Stop it!" She smacked his shoulder. "Stop talking like you're such a horrible person because you've made a few bad choices."
"A few? I can't count the number of times I woke up with no recall of the things I did the night before. I turned my back on all the values I was raised with and did so many things I'm ashamed of."
"What kind of things?" Her tone was quiet and guarded again.
Is she really that naive?
He thought he wanted to come completely clean with Riley and tell her everything, but he had no desire to admit to the woman he'd loved all his life how many times he'd taken other women home from the bar. Not that he could recall exactly how many there were, thanks to the alcohol.
He may as well show her one of his biggest regrets. She was likely to see it at some point anyway. He pulled the tail of his t-shirt from the waistband of his jeans, then he reached behind his head and tugged his shirt up by the collar, dragging it over his head. He rotated toward her, showing her the monstrosity on his chest. "This is bigger than any of the tattoos the hired ranch hands ever had."
He held his breath and braced himself, waiting for Riley to freak out. Good thing he'd set his knife on the opposite side of him, out of her reach.
Tightness seizedRiley's chest the moment it became apparent Daniel intended to take off his shirt. She struggled to draw air into her lungs at the sight of his bare midriff.
Warning bells rang in her head, screaming louder the higher his shirt lifted. Her fight or flight instincts kicked in, but because she sat on the ground, she felt incapable of doing either.
She gave herself a mental shake.
It's only Daniel. One of my oldest and dearest friends.
She tapped her fingers against her thighs to give herself something else to focus on besides the panic raging through her body.
When he pulled his shirt over his head, she couldn't keep from gasping. Her eyes widened in surprise as she studied his chest. Not because of his toned pectoral and abdominal muscles, but rather because a magnificent, colorful tattoo of an eagle in flight covered his upper torso. The bird was splendid with a white head, golden beak, and talons. Detailed feathers in shades from light brown to dark brown and even black fanned out across Daniel's skin.
Riley couldn't help herself; she burst out laughing. "You think you're a bad person because you got a tattoo?"
"It's not funny, Pockets. Look at the size of this thing." He pointed at his chest. Each of the eagle's wings was at least as big as her palm. "This is permanent. It's just one of the many choices I made while I was drunk that will stick with me for the rest of my life."
She continued to giggle. "It's a good thing you found a reputable artist, considering you were drunk when you got this. As far as tattoos go, you picked a good one. The colors are absolutely breathtaking."
Still grinning, she reached her hand out to touch his torso, but then a chill shot through her veins, reminding her how intimate this situation was and how quickly it could go south. She jerked her hand back.
Disappointment filled Daniel's eyes, and he pulled his shirt back over his head.
"That large of a tattoo in those colors must have cost a small fortune."
"Yeah, and it was money I didn't have because I had just lost my jobthanks to my drinking." He shook his head in disgust. Self-loathing filled his voice when he spoke again. "I threw my life away for booze."
"You're changing, though. For the better. You'll get your life back on track."
"I don't know. I have a degree I'm not sure I'll ever use, because I don't dare leave the ranch."
"Why?"
