Page 56 of Last First Kiss
Was he better?
He looked back down at the gnome, then at the woman in his arms. He kissed her temple and then blew out a big breath. “Yes.”
“Sometimes a hug is all you need.”
“I wouldn’t know,” he mumbled underneath his breath, just as the front door swung open. “Can we forget this just happened?”
She shook her head and gave him a wink. “Probably not.”
“There’s no fucking paparazzi around. So if you tell me this is you pretending to be his girlfriend, I’m calling fucking bullshit on that!” Joey yelled from the front door.
“First of all, don’t yell at me!” she said, hopping up the steps, her hands on her waist. “And second of all, stop cursing at me, fuckhead.”
Joey rolled his eyes, kissed his sister’s cheek, and then moved out of the way for her to step inside. “You may be a client, but she’s my baby sister. I will rip out your balls and feed them to you if you so much as touch her again.”
Well, that lightened the mood. “I guess the professionalism is over once I signed on the dotted line.”
“You didn’t sign dick. It was your studio that signed. And as long as you keep shit professional with Annie, I’ll keep shit professional with you.”
“She doesn’t need you to look out for her, you know? She’s strong and smart. She’s got her life together.”
“You’ve known her for five minutes. I’ve known her all her life.” Even though Joey had his arms crossed over his chest in a display of male bravado, he also had a bit of a smirk. He was just being an overprotective brother giving her date a hard time.
Rocco hoped that was all it was.
He wanted to tell him how he was falling in love with her and would never do anything to hurt her. In fact he wanted to put her in a protective bubble and make sure she was never harmed or worried about anything. He just wanted to take care of her. But, alas, that wasn’t something he wanted to share with her brother or share with anyone for that matter. Not until he told her how he felt. And not when he wasn’t sure whether Joey wanted to strangle him or invite him in for a beer.
Joey moved forward and closed the door behind him. “I like you, Rock. You seem to be one of the good guys.”
“You’ve known me for five minutes.” He repeated the words. “And you tell me you’re going to kick my ass every time I see you.”
“You’re right. Like is too strong of a word. But the point is, I Googled you.” He added, just loud enough for him to hear, “and maybe hacked all your electronic devices.”
“What?”
He waved it off. “Because I don’t exactly hate you, I’m going to tell you something. You’re about to walk into a house with four men. Four armed military men who hate you already. She’s our baby sister and she’s been through a lot, so there’s nothing you can do to make them like you . . . except make her happy. Annie ran away from home when she was fourteen for two days just to see if she could survive in the everglades on her own, mostly because my dad was in Iraq and she’d seen a picture of him in a tent. At seventeen she paid three hundred bucks to get a fake ID so she could enlist. Luckily they saw right through it, and she had to wait another year. She has seen war and death. Shit you can’t even imagine.”
“I do know. She’s told me.”
“Wow. Okay, that surprises me.” Joey took a step back as if seeing him for the first time. He didn’t tell her brother that he knew more than even he did. It wasn’t his business, but he wanted to rub it in since he was being a jerk. But even as a jerk, he was looking out for his little sister, so he couldn’t blame him for that.
“She’s tough. I get it.”
“No, you’re not listening. She’s been through a lot. Too much. She may seem tough, but she’s sensitive. She’s breakable. You—you can break her.” Then he leaned in. “And if you do, I’ll break your face. Then I’ll let my brothers loose on you. Got it?”
“Got it,” Rocco said, thinking it though. The woman he’d gotten to know in the last week was not fragile. She had some soft spots, but her brother was underestimating how strong she really was.
She had a shell around her harder than cement. No, it wasn’t even a shell. It was a fortress, with a moat and fucking alligators in the water keeping anyone and everyone out. But he was going to scale that wall if it was the last thing he did.
* * *
Annie ran away from the window just as Rocco and Joey were about to walk inside.
What the hell had they been talking about?
And what the hell had happened to Rocco? It was as if he was falling apart right before her eyes. And it weirded her out, but it made her heart hurt for him.
She rushed over to the kitchen as soon as they walked in.
