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Persy laughed lightly. “He really isn’t happy having me here.” She could see no point in denying it when, despite his kissing her earlier, she knew it to be the truth.
There was even the possibility that Casper had deliberately kissed her as another incentive to get rid of her by having her complain about his inappropriate behavior to one or several members of his family.
Persy knew from the conversation in Sinclair’s office earlier that Casper had to be aware that none of his brothers or his cousin Adam would be happy if anything he did caused Persy to leave Kingston Security. Besides, she was well qualified for the job, and she had proven herself to them over and over again during the four months of her employment.
“He’ll get over that,” Remy assured with certainty. “Casper isn’t one to bear grudges.”
Persy raised one brow. “What if I am?”
The other woman chuckled. “I have to admit, I hadn’t thought of that.”
“I’m actually not.” Persy grinned ruefully. “The military tends to knock that depth of sensitivity out of you.”
“You sound as if you enjoyed your years in the army?”
“I did.” She smiled at the memories. “I enlisted originally because my parents couldn’t afford to send me to university and the army offered to train me in a specific skill set. I transferred to Special Ops after serving my basic three years.” She grinned. “I enjoyed that even more.”
“Then why did you leave— Sorry,” Remy apologized as Persy’s shoulders tensed at the question. “It’s none of my business.”
“None of mine either,” Casper said as he entered the kitchen. “But I’d still like to know the answer.” He came to a halt next to the table, an empty sling still secured about his neck. “Here’s the list you asked for.” He placed a piece of paper down on the table in front of her.
It took every ounce of Persy’s self-control to stop herself from instantly glancing down at that list of names. The mockery in the dark depths of Casper’s eyes as he leaned against the table, arms folded as he looked down at her, helped considerably with that endeavor.
Although, there was no denying, to herself, at least, that his close proximity was once again playing havoc with her senses. Her heart was beating faster than normal, and her blood felt hot as it coursed through her veins. She was also aware of the immediate and completely inappropriate engorging of her nipples and the heat between her thighs.
“Thanks.” She picked it up without looking at it before folding it into four and placing it in the inside breast pocket of her jacket. “I can check the names later,” she felt compelled to add as Casper continued to stare at her.
Casper quirked one dark brow. “No rush, then?”
“Not an immediate one, no. But then, I never said there was.”
His eyes narrowed at her dismissive tone. “I checked the details of the initial interview you had with Sinclair. I noticed you never offered an explanation for why you quit the military that you now claim to have enjoyed being such a part of.”
Her nostrils flared and indignation started to build inside her. “That’s because I didn’t consider it to be any of Sinclair’s business, and he was polite enough to respect my privacy.”
Casper shrugged. “I think you’ll find I’m nowhere near as polite as Sinclair.”
“No, you aren’t.” Persy stood up, feeling less at a disadvantage once the two of them were on an equal footing. “But in my experience, there’s usually a black sheep in every family,” she challenged. “Someone the rest of the family prefers not to talk about.”
Casper continued to meet her gaze for several long seconds before chuckling appreciatively. “A black sheep,” he repeated. “Is that what I am?” he prompted his sister-in-law affectionately.
Persy inwardly admitted to having forgotten all about the listening Remy Kingston as she and Casper once again verbally challenged and taunted each other. Not a good idea when the other woman was the wife of the eldest Kingston brother.
“You’re…something,” Remy answered him dryly. “You’ve delivered your…whatever, so why don’t you stop tormenting Persy and return to your Batcave?”
“It’s what we all call my office up in the turret,” Casper supplied when Persy frowned her puzzlement.
She smiled ruefully. “It looked more like Mission Control to me.” There wasn’t just one screen in the room but half a dozen, all monitoring a different thread of information.
Casper raised a challenging brow. “And guess what my mission is going to be the moment I get back upstairs?”
Persy kept her expression bland. “Be my guest,” she invited. “You won’t find anything online about me that Sinclair doesn’t already know.” She’d made very sure of that.
Useful as the internet could be, it was also an intrusive entity that revealed facts and figures rather than considering any of the emotions behind them. Persy didn’t consider her private life open to such an impersonal invasion.
“That was an interesting way of putting it,” Casper mused.
“Was it?” she said guardedly.
