Rev It Up (Black Knights Inc. #3)(44)

“That’s why you want to go out with this doctor guy? Because he stimulates you intellectually?”

“Yes!” she nodded, her pulse hammering at the base of her throat. “I’m not like you.” Or my father. She didn’t have to say the words; they were written all over her face, and he felt ready to pop an aneurism. “I don’t base my relationships on the thrill of the moment, because it doesn’t last. It burns bright for a while, then it fizzles out. I want something more than that, Jake.”

He opened his mouth to tell her, yet again, that he wanted more than that too, but she cut him off.

“We’re done talking about this.” She sliced a hand through the air—at some point she’d painted her nails bright red—and now he was growling in earnest, so much like the jungle animal he was supposed to have evolved past. Because he knew what that particular color meant. Boss always referred to it as screw-me-cross-eyed red.

“You’re not going,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest, surprised there wasn’t steam pouring from his nostrils.

“You can’t stop me,” she insisted, an angry flush climbing up her throat into her cheeks, making her all the more beautiful.

Fierce and beautiful.

And no way was he letting her go out with some ass-hat of a doctor looking like that.

“Wanna bet?” he smirked, reaching for his phone. “How ’bout I make a little call to your brother. Tell him your plans. See what he has to say about you toddling off, unprotected, with this stable, reliable, consistent doctor while I stay here keeping an eye on Franklin. Have you forgotten that there may be some really nasty characters out there ready and willing to put a bullet in your brain? Because I bet Boss hasn’t.”

“You yourself said the risks to me and my son are small. But even so, I don’t intend for you to stay here watching Franklin while I,” she rolled her eyes and made the quote marks with her fingers, “toddle off alone with Chris.”

“Huh?”

“Well, what I mean is you can if you want. It’s your choice.”

“What the hell are you talking about, woman?” His head threatened to explode right off his shoulders, but only after his scorching ears exploded right off the sides of his head.

“Frank should be here soon, and it’s up to you whether you want to stay here babysitting Franklin, or whether you want to follow me on my date. He’ll fill in whichever position you don’t.”

“Boss knows about this harebrained scheme?” he asked in disbelief.

What the hell happened to, I’ll do what I can to help you with Shell?

Because if Boss’s idea of helping him with Shell was endorsing her idea to go out with some fancy-schmancy doctor, Jake sure as shit didn’t want see what the guy’s version of hindering him would be.

“It’s not a scheme. It’s a date. And, yes, he knows. And he’s…” The doorbell sounded, a trilling call of three separate notes that reverberated around Jake’s head like a funeral dirge. “…right on time,” she finished.

He stalked to the top of the stairs as Boss pushed through the front door, easily catching Franklin who jumped off the back of the sofa straight into his good arm.

When Boss glanced up, Jake sent him a look that succinctly conveyed, Yo! What the hell, dude?

Boss shook his head, wincing.

Jake jogged down the stairs and pinned his former CO with a hard stare.

“I swear I tried to talk her out of it, man,” Boss said. “But she’s my sister, not a prisoner. I can’t force her to do anything. But that doesn’t mean I’m not still on your side. This is just a little hiccup.”

Great. Frickin’ great. Obviously, there’ll be no help from that quarter.

Growling, Jake stomped back up the stairs and straight into Shell’s bedroom. Her expression was tight, but she took a deep breath and once more presented him with her bare back.

“Now, would you please zip me up?” she asked, her voice strained.

He considered doing the opposite of what she suggested and pulling that damned dress off her shoulders and down over her hips. He’d show her just exactly what lust could bring to the table.

Of course, he couldn’t be that crude. He couldn’t act like the animal she’d basically already accused him of being. And there was that promise he’d made to her last night…

Still, that didn’t mean he couldn’t exact a little revenge. Because he was done being Mr. Nice Guy. He’d tried apologizing, and she’d brushed him off. He’d told her he loved her, and she’d thrown his declaration back in his face.

Now the gloves were coming off.

She wanted war?

Oh, he could give her war…

Slowly, ever so slowly, he pulled the tab on the zipper up, dragging the rough edges of his fingers along her smooth skin all along the way.

He was rewarded with the feel of goose bumps pebbling beneath his fingers.

“What are you doing?” she gasped.

“Just what you asked me to do,” he rumbled lowly, stepping close so that she could feel the heat from his body. When he reached the top of the zipper, he brushed her hair over her shoulder, softly skimming the callused pad of his thumb along her neck as he fastened the little eyehook. “There,” he leaned in until his breath feathered her cheek. “All zipped up.”