The Rules of Engagement. Элли Блейк

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СКАЧАТЬ he waited for her to fill the silence, she slowly released her breath, like a balloon losing air through a tiny hole, then said, ‘Fine. Only child, yes. Never played lacrosse though. Dancing in front of my bedroom mirror with a hairbrush was about as athletic as I got in high school. And...I grew up on the Central Coast and have never even seen a goat in the flesh.’ She frowned at her fingernails. ‘My mum lives there still. Same place. Same house. If we didn’t have the same knocked knees I’m not sure either of us would believe ourselves related.’

      She shook her head, then sat on her hands as if they were the ones she was upset with.

      ‘And your father?’ Dax asked, surprising himself at wanting to know when before it had been just conversation.

      She gave him a blank stare. ‘He didn’t have knocked knees.’

      His silence stretched again.

      She rolled her shoulders, and her eyes for good measure, before saying, ‘Mum always said I got my dad’s elbows and his nerve. I reckon I look just like him, in fact. He was the complete opposite to her. All spirit and fire. Couldn’t stay still even if you sat on him. He travelled constantly. He was a pro rally-car driver actually. A really good one. Did the Dakar rally a few times. He died on the job when I was eleven.’

      The speed with which she got out the words and the soft, sad little shrug told him more about her relationship with her dad than even her words had. They’d been close. She missed him still. It was the complete antithesis of the relationship he’d had with his parents, then and now.

      ‘And the pillow fights?’ Dax asked, his voice unusually deep.

      She slowly looked up at him under her long auburn lashes and the revival of the sparkle in her eyes wiped every other thought from his mind. ‘Well, they were way more fun than you could ever imagine. Your turn.’

      Dax was still trying to get his head around the image of Caitlyn bouncing about in her underwear, when he heard himself saying, ‘Grew up here. Still live here. My parents are both gone.’

      Gone. It felt so impersonal. So contrary to the very personal way the event had knocked his values inside out and turned his life upside down.

      ‘I’m sorry to hear that. I—’

      ‘Don’t be. It was a long time ago. I have one sister. Younger. Lauren. A semi-reformed hell-raiser. In fact the reason I was at the club the other night was for her birthday. It didn’t occur to her that turning thirty might call for something more civilised.’

      Caitlyn laughed. ‘Why do I get the feeling I’d like her?’

      Dax shook his head. ‘I’m fairly terrified what might be accomplished if I put the two of you in the same room at the same time.’

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