In Rides Trouble (Black Knights Inc. #2)(82)

Frank, I’m sorry. Frank, I’m sorry.

Although, considering how much trouble and heartache she’d caused him over the last twenty-four hours, those three words sounded feeble at best, downright vapid at worst.

She could hear his big boots clomping against the blacktop.

Twisting her hands together, she practiced tactical breathing just like Ghost had taught her. Three short breaths in, one long breath out. It was supposed to steady your nerves before you squeezed the trigger on a target. She wasn’t fingering a trigger, and she sure as heck didn’t have a target, but she needed steady nerves.

Lord knew she needed steady nerves…

Just when she was about to give it another go, because the first bout of tactical breathing hadn’t done anything but make her dizzy, Frank rounded the corner.

“Zoelner’s out front,” he said. “Make him at home, Ozzie.”

Ozzie took one look at Frank and jumped to do as commanded, rushing past Becky where she stood awkwardly by the gate.

“Christian, I’m gonna need you to call General Fuller and fill him in on what’s happened,” Frank continued. “Rock, you’ll have to…” He stopped when his weary eyes alighted on their newest arrival. “Well, I’ll be damned, Snake” he said, shaking his head, a tired smile playing at his lips. “You picked one helluva time to make an appearance, but it’s good to see you again.”

“You might not feel that way after I tell you what I’m here for.”

“Oh?” Frank’s smile faded.

“I’m here for Shell,” the mysterious man announced again, and Becky watched Frank take a deep breath before slowly blowing it back out.

“Okay then.” He ran a hand through hair that looked liked he’d already run his fingers through it a hundred times before. “I guess I’ll deal with that later. Don’t think I’m rude, but there’s something I gotta do right now.” He turned to her then, and her heart started pounding.

Because even though he was white as a ghost, that didn’t detract from the expression on his face. The one that held her rooted to the spot.

Oh, geez, this was so much worse than she expected. He looked like he wanted to kill her…

“Frank, I—” That’s all she got out before he scooped her up in his good arm and pushed her back against the shop’s back wall, slamming his mouth over hers.

…or kiss her?

Eve was right. It was hard to know which he had in mind when he wore that particular expression.

For a second she was frozen, her eyes blinking and crossed as she tried to see his face. Then his hot tongue plunged between her lips, and he pressed his big body up against her and all thought flooded right out of her ringing ears as she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back with everything she had.

Too soon he pulled away, his gray eyes fierce as a winter storm. “Come with me,” he growled at her. “Now.”

***

Bill smiled as he watched Boss drag Becky out of the courtyard. And when he turned back, he was surprised to find Angel mirroring his expression.

“What the hell are you grinning about?” he demanded. “The big Boss Man just made off with your girl.”

Not that Bill was complaining, of course. It was about damn time Boss and Becky acted on the love that’d been growing between them for years. And he wanted nothing more than to see his little sister happy.

That being said, he figured he could’ve gone the rest of his natural life without bearing witness to the gut-turning spectacle of Becky getting body-slammed and lip-locked. Then again, if some guy was going to grind his sister against a brick wall, he could think of much worse options than Frank Knight.

Angel Agassi being one of them.

“We were never anything but friends,” Angel mused, taking a sip of the cocoa Becky’d left behind, absently watching as Rock escorted their visitor through the back door of the shop. The rest of the Knights followed the pair, no doubt keen to find out who the mystery man was. Bill was curious about the guy as well. But he was even more interested in Angel’s response.

Never anything but friends?

Yeah, my ass, he thought. “So what was with the perpetual pissing contest between you and Boss?”

“A mistake,” Angel admitted with a shrug. “I thought I was protecting her.” His face twisted in a wry grin. “I didn’t realize the woman Boss was courting in Lincoln Park was his sister.”

Bill felt himself soften a bit toward the enigmatic Israeli. After all, the guy had risked his life to save Becky once, and now it seemed he’d been willing to risk his job, risk being thrown out on the unforgiving streets of Chicago, just to safeguard her virtue.

Maybe he and the rest of the Knights had been too hard on the man. Oh, not that anyone had overtly introduced their fist to the guy’s face or left a boot-print on his ass, but heaven knows they certainly hadn’t welcomed him with open arms either.

“I guess I should be thanking you, then,” he admitted, offering a hand. “For that, and for seeing Eve home earlier.”

“You are welcome on both counts.” Angel accepted his hand and gave it a hard shake.

“And speaking of Eve,” he mused, suddenly restless, “I should probably give her a call and check on her, make sure she’s all right.”