“All of this complexity is only conjecture and words.” She’d had enough of both. “For me, it boils down to a simple truth. I like dogs better than I like people. I will continue to work with Atlas because I want to see him happy.”
“A working dog is happy working. Not so different from a worthwhile human being.” Her stepfather continued with his inexorable logic.
God, was he never wrong?
“I think we’ve beat this conversation into the ground.” She was definitely worn out from it. He always did this to her. Give him another ten minutes and she’d have a raging migraine.
“Fine. I want your agreement, though, that you will update your status reports in accordance with my request.”
She sighed. Anything. Anything at all to end this. “You did not make a request. You instructed me. Understood. I’ll have a report ready tomorrow.”
“Tonight.”
She’d accuse him of needing to have the final word but he hadn’t terminated the call. He was waiting for her to acknowledge him. Damn it. Forget time in the Service. Her stepfather alone was enough to drive her to heavy drinking.
A brisk knock scared her right out of her thoughts.
“Lyn?” David’s voice came through the door.
“Fine. Tonight.” She ended the call before her stepfather could hear anything more or say anything to put her in an even worse frame of mind.
Chapter Seventeen
David let himself into the cabin, scanning the room more out of habit than any suspicion of someone in there with Lyn. She’d have found a way to warn him. His girl had a good head on her shoulders, after all. The last couple of days had proved it.
Something was off, though. Lyn had a deer-in-headlights look on her face and while it was adorable, he didn’t think she intended for him to read her so easily. She was used to reading the dogs and people around her, not the other way around. Her ability to detect bullshit seemed as fine-tuned as any delicate instrument, but he’d developed his perception around some of the most closed-off personalities a person could come into contact with and remain sane.
So to him, her expressions and body language were an open book. One he enjoyed reading as he ran his hands over her, kissed her into quiet desperation.
Her current tension wasn’t anticipation and nothing about her posture was an invitation. He was a little disappointed actually, but more immediately he was concerned.
“What’s wrong?” And whatever it was, he wanted to eliminate it.
She blinked. Panic flashed in those big blue eyes for a second before she got hold of herself. “Oh. Nothing.”
Uh huh. Try again, darling. “I could guess, but we both know this would go a lot faster if you told me so I could help you.”
She laughed, a short huff of dry humor. “If it’s all the same, I’d like to avoid introducing you to even the concept of my stepfather.”
His stomach dropped. Guess introducing him to the family wasn’t high on her list of priorities. Funny, the idea of introducing her to his hadn’t occurred to him but the idea of not hit him in the gut. Hard.
Her gaze was on him now and she took a step toward him. “I’d love for you to meet my mother someday. If the idea of it doesn’t make you want to pack your bags and head someplace far, far away. It’s just introducing you to my stepfather would mean I’d have to see my stepfather and I try to avoid him pretty much all the time.”
The sucker-punched sensation eased up a bit and he took a slow breath. “Okay. I take it you talk to your stepfather on the phone, though.”
Had to be who he’d heard her talking to if the man was at the forefront of her mind. He’d not wanted to eavesdrop though. It’d been why he knocked and waited for her to tell him it was okay to enter. Suddenly, he was more careful of her personal space than he’d be with normal people. He honestly couldn’t care less if he got other people upset but her—well, things had evolved.
“Yeah.” She drew out the confirmation as she looked away, out the window. Obviously she had a lot on her mind when it came to her stepfather. “Recently more so than the last several years.”
And not in a good way, apparently.
“Yeah?” In his experience, family had a way of coming in and out of life, sort of the way comets were gone for years then back in the night sky. Signs of the Apocalypse, too. “Any family trouble?”
Lyn shook her head. “More of a disagreement.”
She scrunched up her face, the tip of her tongue showing.
Damn, she was adorable and sexy simultaneously. He had no idea how she managed it but he liked it. A lot.
“Most of my discussions with him are disagreements, really. So it’s not a surprise. It’s just frustrating.”
David didn’t know what to say. He waited and when her weight shifted forward as if she was about to walk toward him, he opened his arms in invitation.