Rev It Up (Black Knights Inc. #3)(13)
“You’re nuts,” Becky declared with a snort, then glanced over at Frank, her dark eyes instantly softening. “It must run in the family.”
“Oh, it does,” Michelle assured her.
She opened her mouth to tell Becky how happy she was that her brother had finally met his match, when he suddenly looped his good arm around her waist and called over his shoulder, “Snake, get over here. I wanna introduce you and Shell to Becky’s best friend, Eve.” He flicked a finger toward the slim, dark-haired woman who was busy setting the table. She turned at the sound of her name. “Eve, this is my beautiful and talented sister, Michelle Carter. And that sticky little creature over there terrorizing Peanut…” Michelle glanced over to see her son petting the biggest, ugliest cat ever born. The thing appeared to be part American Shorthair and part It’s-Anybody’s-Guess. It was ten pounds overweight—at least—covered in scars, and apparently a victim of some sort of skin affliction if its patchy fur was anything to go by. “…is her son, Franklin. And this,” he jerked his chin toward Jake, “is Jake Sommers.”
“Good to meet you,” Eve said, timidly shaking Michelle’s hand before turning her attention toward Jake. “Mr. Sommers, it’s a pleasure.”
Michelle rolled her eyes when Jake flashed those lady-killer dimples of his at poor, ill-equipped Eve. “Call me Jake or Snake,” he said, widening his dimple-inducing grin. “You say Mr. Sommers, and I start feeling my age.”
And another one bites the dust.
Wonderboy just couldn’t help himself, could he? Just like her father, if you put him in front of a beautiful woman, he naturally started oozing charm like a cedar oozes sap.
Not wanting to inadvertently get caught up in his sticky trap, she turned and wandered over to Franklin and the tormented tomcat he was now petting in the wrong direction. On the way, she studiously closed her ears to whatever charming bologna Jake might think to sling Eve’s way.
She figured she’d heard it all before anyway…
***
Vanessa Cordero watched as Snake shook Eve’s hand, amazed once again to be in the company of one of the most legendary SEALs ever to graduate BUD/S. The guy was known for not only being an absolute animal out in the field, but also for his unparalleled success with the ladies. When he flashed Eve those deep dimples of his, Vanessa could certainly understand why so many California girls had fallen victim to his charm.
Of course, when she caught the hot, longing look he shot toward Michelle, she figured his days as the SEALs’ resident lothario were long gone.
So that’s the way the wind blows…
She’d wondered what his whole I’m here for Shell thing meant last night. Now she knew. And it was strange thing indeed to witness the exact moment when a man’s heart skipped a beat. Stranger still that Michelle seemed to be completely clueless.
“Hey, cheri, why doncha load up a plate for Toran at the front gate, and I’ll mosey on out and take it to him.” Rock’s smooth voice dragged her away from her fanciful observations.
But she discovered, much to her embarrassment after she turned to him expectantly, he wasn’t speaking to her.
Of course he wasn’t.
Like he would ever refer to her by the sweet French pet name, or sling that leanly muscled arm around her shoulders.
As far as she could figure, Rock was barely aware she was alive. Which just made it that much more ridiculous when she turned into a Disney character anytime he came within ten feet of her. All big eyes and fluttering lashes and an overwhelming desire to break into song.
Good God, the absolute absurdity of the whole thing would’ve been funny if it wasn’t so blasted embarrassing…
And for the life of her, she couldn’t understand what it was about the guy.
It wasn’t like he was all that handsome. Not in the movie star way Ozzie or Ghost or Snake was handsome.
But it wasn’t like he wasn’t handsome either.
He was just…there. The kind of man you’d pass on the street without noticing. Seemingly wholly constructed of perfectly average features. That is until you really looked at him. Because when you stopped to really look at him, you realized his brown hair wasn’t really brown, but a deep, dark auburn. And his hazel eyes weren’t merely hazel; they were warm whiskey-brown shot through with amazing striations of glinting gold and new-grass green. His nose wasn’t average and uninteresting; it was actually quite perfect. And his mouth…well, anybody who took the time to get past that goatee had to recognize that mouth for the thing of beauty that it was.
And when you added all that up with a sexy Cajun drawl and a body that was long, lean, and honed to physical perfection by hard living and harder training, not to mention the overall effect of a plethora of tattoos and long-legged swagger on the female libido, it was easy to see why some women would find themselves quite enamored with the guy.
But she was not just some woman.
She was Vanessa Cordero, communications specialist superstar. She’d spent her entire adult life working with hard-bodied operators and never had she reacted to them the way she reacted to Rock.
The situation was not only highly unimaginable, but also highly unfortunate as it threatened to muck-up her new job with BKI, the most elite, most clandestine defense firm in the whole world.
“Hey.” Becky came up beside her, shoving a tall glass of iced tea and a plate with a giant slice of pecan pie into her hands. “Would you do me a huge solid and help Rock take this out to Toran at the front gate?”