Page 30 of Out of Sight

“So what’s that thing with your dad about?”

Maybe he was paying attention at the airport after all. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You got allweird when Marshal Jim Marshall here brought him up. You don’t like to talk about him?”

“Why are you bringing him up again if you think I don’t like to talk about him?”

“I don’t know. I’m not a judgy person and I figured if you wanted to get something off your chest I was a good person for you to talk to. You don’t care what I think anyway, right? So you can say anything to me without feeling nervous or self-conscious or any of that bullshit.”

He made a good point. Was there a lot more to Will under that conceited exterior? Was it possible he was both sensitiveandnot a complete sleaze-ball? Could he actually have some depth to him hiding behind all that outrageous flirting?

“You look confused. It’s all good,” Will said, crossing his arms behind his head and leaning his chair back. Yup, the arrogance was back. “You’ll see that I’m telling the truth soon enough. I’m a good listener. Everyone says so. I know they say so because I listen to them say it.”

I snorted. “Maybe you are a good listener, but what if I’m not a good talker? Or maybe I just don’t want to talk about personal things with you. I agreed not be openly hostile to you, nothing more.”

Will paused, meeting my gaze. The blue in his eyes was fierce, penetrating my mind and as he tried to gauge what he saw in mine.

“Well, you’ve said a lot of things, but not much since we got here. And your eyes… Well, your eyes told me it wouldn’t hurt to try for a little casualfriendship.”

My face always gave away too much. And there’s no way he only wanted friendship; he was too big of a flirt for me to think he wanted anything less than a steamy night together. I tried to remember all the reasons why a night with him would be a really bad idea.

I needed someone stable, someone who could be there for me through thick and thin, not some criminal who couldn’t even stay loyal to his shady criminal overlords.

I needed someone supportive, not someone who would flirt with anyone he came across. I needed…

Well, I needed someone who wasn’t a felon! Someone who had the means to be there for me, whether physically, financially, or emotionally.

I didn’t need someone who might or might not end up in prison at any given time. I had enough people running in and out of my life—I didn’t need to add that to my love life, too. Someone in prison didn’t have the ability to be there in any of the ways that mattered.

I scoffed, flipping my hair back over my shoulder. “I don’t do casual anything.”

He raised an eyebrow at my insinuation.

“I can work with that,” he said, wiggling said eyebrow at me. “I’m sure we can find a tux to make it all a more formal affair. You got a ball gown hanging around somewhere? We can do anything but casual anytime you like.”

“Okay, I walked right into that one,” I admitted with a shrug.

But don’t tempt me like that.

His gaze pierced straight through me, like he could read my mind and all the dirty thoughts swirling around in there. Hiseyes swept slowly down my body before meeting my eyes again. How could blue feel so damn warm?

“Sure,” Jim chuckled. “So glad you’re practicing acting like siblings. No one will think anything is weird at all.”

twelve

Will

Ineeded to find a way to take care of Kaylie when I got out of here.

That meant I needed to find a real job to support her and pay for her care. I needed to be a better brother and call or visit her a lot more often.

It would be difficult to find a new tax-paying, legal job with a record like mine, and even harder to find one that paid well. I would work day and night with no sleep if it meant I could do it right and not go back to prison; Kaylie needed family she could be proud of, not the mess I made of myself and my life.

The problem was I wasn’t good at much. I needed help.

I looked up at Jim. He was watching news coverage on the couch about some big storm that rolled through the area last week. Claire was sitting on the opposite side of the couch from him, reading some chick-lit book with a shirtless guy on the cover. Where did she get a book like that?

“Hey 007,” I called, capturing Jim’s attention. Claire looked up from her book. “I’m talking to Jim here, so I don’t need you to chime in, Claire.”

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