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“Planning my sister’s murder.” She’d promised she wouldn’t lie to him again.
“Ah, maybe I shouldn’t have told you. If it helps, I think she was trying to make sure I hadn’t hurt you.”
“She was being reckless.” She lowered her voice. “And Ben is here. He could have caught her.”
“Only if he was looking up in the ceiling. Do I snore?” He was surprisingly calm.
“Only a little. I find it soothing.”
His lips quirked up slightly. “That’s what your sister said. She watched me sleeping. That’s weird, right?”
Yep, she was going to murder her sister. Still, she could think of worse scenarios. “Be happy it wasn’t Kala. She would have woken you up with a knife to your throat and warnings about hurting me. I’m sorry. Kenzie shouldn’t have done that. I’ll talk to her about leaving you alone. And I’m sorry about the misunderstanding.”
Dark eyes narrowed on her. “Did you misunderstand?”
There might have been some malicious compliance in her actions this morning. He had given her instructions. “I was following your rules, Sir. You said…”
He moved into her space. “I know what I said, and I know what a reasonable human being would do. I’m planning on telling your father exactly what I think about his parenting methods. He didn’t shame you enough.”
The man obviously hadn’t figured her family out. “He didn’t shame me at all. He overuses the word dumbass, but it’s all love for him. You seem awfully calm about my sister sneaking into your bedroom.”
He moved away, leaning against the granite countertops. “I was surprised, and then I have to admit I found her amusing. I don’t understand your family. My siblings wouldn’t think to try to protect me. I promise you won’t ever find my brother or sister climbing out of the ceiling to make sure I’m okay.”
“Only because they probably think you’re indestructible. I would bet you don’t ever let them see you being vulnerable.” It was hard to think his siblings didn’t appreciate what he’d done for them.
“Maybe, but if it’s true, it’s because I had to.” He turned slightly so he could look out the small window. “I wonder how they’ll feel when I burn down everything around them. I’m not looking to save my father’s business. If your dad finds a way to save the legitimate parts, I intend to sell it off, split the profits between my siblings, and start over again somewhere new.”
Dallas is nice. That’s what she wanted to say, but he wasn’t ready to hear it. “You wouldn’t keep part for yourself? You’ve earned that money. You would run the company well.”
“I don’t want it, and I think giving it all to them might make me feel less responsible for them. I don’t actually know if my brother and sister like me. Isn’t that a kick in the gut? The only time they truly interact with me is to ask me to fix something for them. It’s not the same with your family. You know each other. Really know each other.”
There were big differences between their relationships with their siblings. “We grew up together. I’m only a year older than Kenzie and Kala, and our brothers are a few years younger. You’re so much older than Johnny or Gina. You were more like another dad to them than a sibling. I wouldn’t judge them harshly for that.”
His eyes narrowed. “Why not? You know it would be easier to manipulate me if I thought you were the only one who cared. Why would you try to ease my mind this way?”
His brain might always go to that place. She had to find a way to show him she was different. “If my goal was to control you then yes, cutting you off from people who love you would be an excellent way to go. If my goal is to be a person who truly loves you, then I can’t think of a worse way to go.”
“I would think they would teach you better in spy school.”
She was tired, and it wasn’t merely from her lack of sleep the night before. Her mother had told her it would be hard and she had to suck it up. She wasn’t going to give up on him. “Only because you don’t understand my team at all.”
“Zach said something about this team being different than other teams.”
“The word team being the operative term.” At least he seemed to be interested. The night before he hadn’t wanted to talk to her at all. “There’s not really teams of intelligence agents. It doesn’t work that way. An operative is guided by someone hirer up, and they rely on whatever support services are convenient in the area they’re working in. They often don’t know the men and women helping them, and those people sometimes don’t even know the operative’s real name.”
