Page 26 of Two Steps Ahead

He narrowed his eyes at his brother. Chance saw too damned much. “Yeah, we knew each other for a summer when we were kids, before Clinton and Sheila, but we hadn’t seen each other in years. She’s a photographer now.”

And yes, he did care about her. More after spending the last few days so closely with her.

Chance’s eyes got wide. “It’sthatKayleigh. You’ve been collecting her work for years.”

Weston winced. He’d made the mistake of leaving the scrapbook he’d created of Kayleigh’s photographs out one day when his brothers were over and they’d seen it. No point denying now. “Yeah, the same.”

“And something happened between the two of you that has you beating up the poor, defenseless filing cabinet? Does she blame you for the kidnapping attempt?”

Weston explained how Leo had played them both and that Kayleigh felt betrayed. Weston couldn’t blame her.

“Ouch.” Chance blew out a breath. “You need to talk to her.”

He sighed, rubbing the sore spot on the side of his hand. “She doesn’t want to see me and I’m not going to force her to.”

“She’s only refusing to speak to you because she thinks you lied to her.”

“It’s not just that...” Weston trailed off, unsure how to voice what he was thinking. Chance waited him out. He was family. He was used to Weston needing a little more time to be able to get his thoughts out vocally. “I’m worried about her.”

Ultimately, it was that simple. He was worried about her safety. What if she decided to run from her security detail and made herself an easy target?

But mostly he was worried about her emotional health—she was fighting demons no one was aware of and he didn’t want her to have to go through that alone anymore.

“Explain it to her, Wes. Tell her the truth.”

“What if she still doesn’t want me as her bodyguard?” Weston asked. “She doesn’t like her father’s men and, after this, she’s not going to let anyone close enough to actually keep her safe.”

“Look, you can either go and explain things to her or you can walk away.”

Chance shrugged when Weston glared at him. He wasn’t walking away from Kayleigh. Not again. He’d only had her back in his life for a few days and he already didn’t want to know what it would look like without her.

Chance grinned. “That’s what I thought. Which means your only option is to make her believe you. Tell her the truth, Wes. She’ll listen.”

Weston let out a long breath. Chance was right and they both knew it. He walked over to his brother and clapped him on the shoulder. “Thanks, man.”

“Anytime.”

Before anything else could be said, the front door chimed and Maci walked in. Both her and Chance’s slight smiles immediately dropped into scowls when they saw each other, forcing Weston to choke back a laugh.

“Good morning, Maci,” Weston said.

“Good morning, Weston. Oh, look, Chance is here too.” She sounded anything but enthused at the sight of her least favorite Patterson brother. “I must have done something terrible in a past life to deserve Chance Patterson before I’ve had my morning coffee.”

“You and me both,” Chance muttered.

Weston wondered who would punch him first if he suggested the two of them get a room. Neither of them seemed ready orable to admit their attraction to each other even though it was definitely there on both sides.

They were still bickering with each other when he walked out the office door. Regardless of Chance’s inability to realize his own feelings about Maci, he was right about Weston’s.

Weston needed to talk to Kayleigh.

“INEEDTOtalk to you.” Kayleigh stormed into her father’s office after Weston left.

At Leo’s side, Jasper tensed at her entrance, reaching for his gun and only relaxing when he realized it was her. She didn’t care if her fury was making his job a little harder. He’d already tried to talk to her twice since she’d gotten back with Weston a few hours ago, wanting to know exactly what had happened from her perspective.

“Get out, Jasper,” she snapped, not taking her eyes off her father.

Jasper stiffened and turned to Leo. “Sir—”

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