Too Hard to Handle (Black Knights Inc. #8)(3)
“Gentlemen, please,” Penni interrupted, her head spinning with the whirlwind that was her first five minutes at Black Knights Inc. And then there was her stomach… It was so jittery at the thought of what she was about to do that she marveled her lunch was staying down. She’d been so peaceful, so serene when she’d made the decision to come. But now that she was actually here, on the brink of confessing everything? Yeah, no. And Ozzie and Geralt? Well, they weren’t helping a damned thing.
Her father’s voice echoed inside her head. When you find yourself in a gaffle, Penelope Ann DePaul, the only way out is straight ahead.
Her dad had been chockablock full of little adages like that.
“It’s not that I’m not extremely flattered at being reduced to the chew toy in a game of tug-of-war between two big, slobbery dogs…” She lifted a brow, letting both men know when she used the term “dog” she wasn’t referring to the four-legged variety. She was fully aware this little tête-à-tête had nothing to do with her and everything to do with them having an excess of testosterone, which forced them to latch on to any excuse to growl and posture and insult one another. Men. She shook her head. “But I really do need to talk to Dan.”
Geralt had the good sense to bite the inside of his cheek and turn the color of the cherries they put atop the charlotte russe pound cakes back in Brooklyn. But Ozzie? He just grinned wider. The good-looking lout.
“We’ll let you talk to Dan,” Boss said, narrowing his eyes, “if you can assure me this doesn’t have anything to do with that bad business in Malaysia.”
To her utter horror, when she opened her mouth, what initially came out was, “I-I-I—” Hello? What sorry sonofabitch had gone and tied her tongue in knots? Swallowing, she tried again. “I’d really rather discuss this with Dan, and I—”
Before she could finish, three women burst from the back door of the warehouse, laughing uproariously. There was a petite blond with a lollipop stick protruding from her mouth. She was carrying a huge casserole dish filled with…peach cobbler, by the smell of it. Beside her was a tall, curvy woman with an amazing mass of chestnut hair. She was holding a baby swaddled in a Chicago Cubs blanket—the little bundle cooed and burbled and waved a pudgy fist in the air. Bringing up the rear and rounding out the trio was a dusky-skinned, dark-eyed beauty who walked over and slapped Rock on the ass before she realized there was a stranger in their midst.
“And who do we have here?” the black-haired woman inquired, snaking an arm around Rock’s waist. Rock brushed an inky lock away from her face and bent to press a tender kiss to her temple.
“Vanessa,” he said in that sweet southern drawl that screamed Louisiana bayou, “this is Agent Penni DePaul.”
Penni opened her mouth to remind him that she and Vanessa had spoken on the phone during The Assignment and to correct him on that whole “agent” business, but she closed it again when he quickly introduced Becky, the blond, and Michelle, of the chestnut hair. Penni also made the acquaintance of the cooing baby, one Jacob Michael Sommers, Jr. Or JJ for short.
These people are more than coworkers, she realized with a start after Becky set the casserole dish on the picnic table and walked back to the group, popping the sucker from her mouth so she could drag Boss down to steal a loud, smacking smooch. They’re family. A big, noisy, loving family. Dan’s family. And I’m intruding on them. On him.
Okay, sure. She’d known before she ever hopped on the plane headed west out of Reagan National Airport that just because Malaysia had been the catalyst for her making some huge decisions about the path of her life, it didn’t mean Dan had done the same. And she’d been fully aware that just because what passed between them during those hellacious twenty-four hours had turned out to be momentous for her, it didn’t mean it’d held the same importance for him. But now, after seeing the impressiveness of Black Knights Inc. in person, after meeting the host of people who filled Dan’s life, she couldn’t help but wonder if he’d given her as much as a passing thought.
She considered tucking tail and running. It would be so easy to turn around, walk out that gate, and forget she ever—
No. No! She wasn’t a coward. She’d come here to say her piece. And you can bet your ass that’s exactly what she was going to do. Squaring her shoulders, she glanced around at the faces staring at her expectantly and blurted out, “I sort of feel like a broken record here, but I really need to—”
“Talk to Dan,” Boss finished for her. “Just as soon as you tell us what this is all about. Because if the Secret Service has a problem with the way he handled things in Kuala Lumpur, then it’s me you need to be having a conversation with, not him. When it comes to BKI, the buck stops right here.” He hooked a thumb toward his football-field-sized chest.
See? Family. Sticking up for each other and closing ranks when it looked like she was trying to insert herself into the middle of them. Once again, a sliver of doubt lodged in the back of her brain. All right already, who was she kidding? It was more than a sliver. It was a full-fledged log of doubt.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with that, I swear to you,” she assured him. “What I want to talk to Dan about is sort of…well…” Geez, this is getting awkward. “It’s personal.”
“Hmm,” Boss hummed.