Page 28 of Broken Rules
He gave her a skeptical look. “You get those?”
“Well, my boss got home last night.”
“Ah, yes, Joe Wilder returned on Virgin flight 528 last night from England.”
“How do you know all that?”
“I do my research before I rob someone.”
She closed her eyes against the pummeling of reality that struck straight through her heart. The gorgeous, funny, coffee-bringing, hottest sex-ever guy sitting next to her was still a criminal.
“Talking about my work makes you uncomfortable,” he said, his face unreadable.
“Well...you are a thief.”
He lifted his shoulders. “Technically, I’m not.”
She flashed him a quizzical look. “Come again?”
“The person who hires me is the thief. For me, it’s just a job. I don’t possess anything that isn’t mine.”
“But your...er...customers pay you.”
He nodded. “They do.”
“So then it’s kind of like you steal an item, then sell it to your client.”
He shrugged, a smile playing at his lips. “I never said there weren’t any holes in my logic.” He leaned closer and took her hand. “I can see I’m making you uncomfortable. Maybe we shouldn’t talk about work. Why don’t you tell me about your family?”
She dropped her head.
“Was that a bad question?”
She took a deep breath. “I’ll give you the cliff notes, then let’s just move on. I’m an only child. My parents died in a car accident when I was eighteen, the summer after I graduated from high school. My mom’s mother is still alive.” She smiled. “My Nonna. I used to take care of her, but she’s in decline now and has around-the-clock nursing. But she’s it, my only family. She’s everything to me.” Before he could respond, she blurted. “So, what about your family?”
She was relieved that he took the hint. She didn’t want to talk about her family. It would only lead to crying and she had no wish to turn into a snotty mess.
He shrugged. “You know, your typical all-American family. I have a younger sister. She’s married and has two kids. My parents live in a small town in Indiana.”
“Do they know what you do?”
He smiled. “What do you think?”
“So how does a boy from a typical all-American family become a thief-for-hire.”
Again that sideways smile assaulted her senses. “It’s what I’m good at.”
“Come on,” she said, raising a skeptical brow. “You’ve got to give me something more concrete than that.”
His nostrils flared a little, and he gave her an assessing look. “Fair enough.” He cleared his throat. “After high school, I joined the army. In the midst of war, I quickly moved up the ranks and became a military intelligence soldier. I was honorably discharged two years ago.”
She canted her head to the side as she studied him. “So you started out good but...what happened?”
His eyes became hard; his whole body tensed. “When I was in the army I did things I know were good.” A shadow fell across his face. “I also did things I was told were good, but looking back on it...” He shook his head and expelled a long breath. His face softened. “There aren’t good guys and bad guys, Savannah.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean everyone has the capacity for good, for selfless nobility, for heroism.” He raised his shoulders. “But we can all be cruel and self-serving—there are no exceptions. We arealltoo human.”
