As if any newborn was ever cute.
They were wrinkled, red and noisy.
They were definitely not cute.
“Uh, well, I’m still kind of deciding,” she said in a low voice.
Even as she spoke, she glanced around as if she were worried they would be overheard and she was bringing up a sore subject.
“You have plenty of time. Freshman year is more about getting your feet underneath you and figuring out the lay of the land.”
She blinked in surprise. “That’s kind of what I thought, but . . .” She broke off and jerked her thumb in the direction of the Kelly brothers. “They don’t exactly see it that way. They think I’m a fuckup because I didn’t know what I wanted to study before I ever set foot in a university.”
Steele lifted an eyebrow at her choice of words. Not that he was remotely offended by profanity—as if! But the Kelly men had thawed considerably in their treatment and opinions of Rusty. He doubted they’d voiced those exact words or called her a fuckup just because she hadn’t declared a major yet. It was more likely she was sensitive—overly sensitive—about the issue and worried that they looked down on her for not being more decisive.
“Have you narrowed your choices down at all?”
Rusty bit her lip and again shot a glance to the side, but this time her gaze lighted on Sean. When she spoke, it was in lowered tones as if she didn’t want anyone to overhear.
“I’m really interested in criminal justice, but Sean thinks it’s a terrible idea and I can’t imagine the guys would like it either. They’d probably have a cow at the thought of me doing anything remotely dangerous.”
There was a note of frustration in her voice that told Steele she was serious, even if the way she said it was meant to be flip, like she didn’t care or that she wasn’t strongly considering a career in law enforcement. She just didn’t want to be shot down and was already steeling herself for the possibility. Nobody liked to look stupid or to be made to feel stupid.
“Doesn’t matter what Sean thinks,” he said bluntly. “Or the other Kellys, for that matter. It’s your life. Are you interested in law enforcement?”
She blinked in surprise and her lips parted, forming a small O. “You don’t think it’s stupid?”
He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter what I think either. That’s a choice you have to make for yourself. No one else can make it for you.”
She bit into her lower lip, a clear sign of her frustration. She wanted—needed—guidance. She was still young and impressionable.
“But if you’re asking my opinion, I think you’d make a fine law enforcement officer. I’m of the mind that you can be damn well whatever you want if you apply yourself and stick to it.”
Her eyes widened. “Really?”
He almost smiled. He caught himself, because by the way Maren had reacted he realized he obviously didn’t smile very often, and the last thing he wanted was overreaction by anyone watching him and Rusty.
“Yeah, really.”
Her eyes sparked and danced with merriment. “Man, wait until I tell Sean this. The biggest badass on the planet thinks I’d make a good law enforcement officer.”
Steele sighed.
“What?” Rusty asked innocently. “If you think I’d make a good cop, then who else do I need to convince? You’d be the hardest sell.”
He shook his head. “I almost feel sorry for the citizens you’ll be sworn to protect.”
Sean walked up then, a frown wrinkling his forehead. “Rusty, you still talking about a career in law enforcement?”
Rusty clammed up, her eyes went flat and her posture immediately stiffened. She went from relaxed to on the defensive in a split second.
“Steele thinks I’d be good at it,” she said quietly.
Sean’s mouth tightened. “It’s too damn dangerous for you. Choose a safer profession. Preferably one that makes better money.”
She rolled her eyes. “KGI makes good money. I don’t see any of them starving.”
“They aren’t your average police officer,” Sean said patiently. “And no way in hell you need to even contemplate a career with KGI. Sam would shit a brick and so would Marlene.”
“You don’t think I can hack it,” Rusty said coolly.
“I’m not picking a fight with you, Rusty. So chill. I just think you’re making a mistake. If I’d given you my stamp of approval, you would have chosen something else. From now on I’ll support all your bad ideas just so you’ll ditch them out of spite.”
Hurt flickered in Rusty’s eyes and she glanced downward to hide her reaction. Steele hadn’t missed it, but he didn’t imagine anyone else saw it or was paying as close attention as he’d been.
“Everything isn’t about you, Sean,” she said in a low voice. “What I do with my life has nothing to do with you. I don’t make choices based on what I think you’ll like or not like. You give yourself way too much credit. I’m going to choose what makes me happy and I’m going to choose a job that I can be proud of. I’m going to make Marlene and Frank proud. The rest of you would have written me off long ago, but they didn’t. They’re the only people I give a damn about. Theirs is the only opinion that matters to me.”
She turned swiftly and walked away. At the doorway, she smiled unconvincingly at Marlene and told her she was taking a bathroom break.
“Well, hell,” Sean muttered.
“Lay off her,” Steele said bluntly. “She’s a good kid. Has her head on straight.”
Anger glinted in Sean’s eyes. “I know that. But come on. A police officer? Would you want your wife or sister or female cousin working in law enforcement? Especially someone as emotionally fragile as Rusty is?”
“You don’t give her enough credit,” Steele said. “She may very well surprise you if you give her half a chance.”
Sean’s lips tightened and he glanced in the direction Rusty had gone. “She thinks I’m on her case. And maybe in the beginning I was. But I’m not and I haven’t been. She only sees the way things were when she first came into Frank and Marlene’s life. You say I don’t give her enough credit, but she doesn’t give me that same credit. She’s too busy wrestling with that chip on her shoulder to see that there are people who genuinely care about her and don’t want to see her hurt or killed in her choice of professions.”
Steele nodded. “That may be so. But if that’s what she really wants to do . . .”