Soft Place to Fall (Navy Book 4)

Chapter 19

Carmen could hear voices coming from the living room, signaling the arrival of Will's sister and her friend. She looked at her reflection one last time in the mirror smoothing her skirt. She was wearing a black wrap dress that could only be described as classic, but she had dressed it up with red stilettoes and chunky red jewelry, and she had pulled her hair back into a sleek ponytail and it gave her a dramatic appearance.

She didn't know why she was so nervous to meet Will's sister, it wasn't like she would see the girl again, but she obviously thought that she was Will's girlfriend and she wanted to make him proud of her. Putting on her game face she turned and walked out of the bedroom. Since she wasn't noticed right away she was able to take in the girls' appearance. There was a young overweight girl with dirty blond hair that was pulled back into a ponytail who was hugging on Will and she guessed that this was his sister. The other girl, a slim brunette with a pixy haircut, was looking at him with wide eyed awe.

Carmen knew exactly how the young girl felt, it was what she had felt when she had first met him, the only difference was that she had been able to disguise that awe, or at least she hoped she had been able to.

Will's smiling face looked up from the young blond who was talking a mile a minute and saw Carmen, she saw the brief flash of heat in his eyes as they scanned her appearance before he quickly masked it.

"Carmen, this is my kid sister Kitty and this is her friend Amber."

"Wow, just wow!" Kitty said as she rushed towards her enveloping her in a spontaneous hug that Carmen did her best to return. She wasn't really into hugging or even touching, except where Will was concerned, so it felt a little awkward.

Carmen smiled at the other girl, who gave her only a fleeting glance before she turned her attention back to Will, she seemed to be fascinated with him.

"Will, you didn't mention that the two of you are living together! Wait until I tell Mom."

"Carmen has her own place across the hall," Will clarified.

Kitty rolled her eyes. "Fine, I won't tell Mom but I'm super excited to meet the Carmen Morales. I've seen your photo in magazines for as long as I can remember."

"I think she just called you old Carmen," Will teased and Kitty blushed.

"That's not what I meant at all Will and you know it. Are you trying to make your girlfriend hate me?" She danced back over to him.

"No one could ever hate you Kitty," he said as he threw his arm around her pulling her close

"I only wish that were true." Kitty said under her breath, but her brother and Carmen heard her and their eyes met over the girl's head. Something was amiss in this young girl's life. However, Kitty missed the look because she was busy pulling out her phone. "Can I take your photo together. I promised Justin and Saul that I would."

Carmen watched Will's lips narrow. "Is it necessary?"

Kitty sighed. "Will, you know them, they won't believe it until they see it."

"Fine, then they don't need to believe it." Will picked up his keys from the counter. "Are we ready to go?"

Carmen was picking up on the tension between the two siblings. "Who are Saul and Justin?" she asked, watching Will force a smile.

"Our older brothers, they always think that Will exaggerates. They never believe anything about him."

"And that's fine with me," Will said motioning to the door his unwavering smile firmly in place. He appeared to be relaxed and unconcerned but Carmen could tell by the set of his shoulders that he was angry.

"Do you have photos of your brothers Kitty?" Carmen asked as they moved into the elevator. She was curious to know what their brothers looked like. Other than her eyes, Kitty looked nothing like Will and she wondered if their brothers were the same way.

"Sure," Kitty said pulling out her phone. She sat next to Carmen in the car as it pulled away from the curb and started to scroll through the photos, narrating them as she went. Their brothers were good looking in their own way, but they didn't seem to have Will's presence, they didn't draw people's attention like Will did. Whenever Kitty would stop at a photo of all three of them her eyes were immediately drawn to Will's figure.

Feeling Will's eyes on her she looked up and met his eyes. He looked slightly amused but she knew it was a front, his hand was clenched next to him on the seat, a dead giveaway that he was upset. Was he upset that Kitty was sharing so much or was he still upset about his brothers? If it was because Kitty was sharing that was his own fault, he was the one that had set up the evening's outing.

Carmen let her eyes pass over Amber as she started to look back down at Kitty's phone and noted that she was still studying Will. Carmen's eyes skipped the phone and looked from the girl to Will and this time she couldn't help the amused smile that touched her lips as her eyes met his. Maybe Will was on his way to having his own stalker.

"Is it true you're a Navy SEAL?" Amber asked in reverent tones.

Carmen's smile grew a little and Will's gaze dropped from her eyes to her lips before moving back up to her eyes.

"Yes, I'm on the Teams," he said.

Carmen's eyes narrowed as she noted he hadn't used past tense. She wanted to ask if she had heard him right but it wasn't the time or place to do so, and she was forced to drop her searching gaze from his as Kitty drew her attention back down to the phone.

"Is it also true that you were missing in action and were actually a prisoner of war?"

This time Carmen couldn't control herself as she caught her breath and her eyes flew to Will's. His hard gaze met hers for a moment before it fell to Kitty, who blushed to the roots of her hair and quickly hushed Amber.

Will looked away from Kitty, ignoring Carmen's searching look as he turned the charm on full blast, hiding behind his mask once more as he focused all his attention on the young girl sitting next to him. Carmen looked over at Kitty who looked as if she was about to cry. Carmen couldn't help herself as she reached out and squeezed the young girl's hand.

Kitty was so young, she was much younger than she had expected, and she had a feeling that she had been playing peacemaker between her brothers her whole life. Kitty looked up at her with a wobbly smile. "Let me show you photos of out last camping trip. Will likes to go camping when he comes home."

"I've camped a time or two, it wasn't by choice and I didn't enjoy it very much," Carmen said. "If you can count a year living on the street as camping." She didn't know why she had said it, but a tense silence fell over the car and she refused to look at Will.

It must have been her good deed for the year, it had taken all of the tension off of Will and put it on her, and it made Kitty immediately stop crying. She wished she could take it back. They probably all thought she was trash from the streets now, and the sad thing was that wasn't very far from the truth.

This time Kitty took her hand and squeezed. "No, that doesn't count. You should let Will take you one day. He makes it so much fun."

"Sure Honey, we should go sometime, just you and me alone under the stars." This time the charm was sincere as if he was trying to save her from her awkward comment. And it worked as the thought of them alone under the stars did funny things to her tummy.