chest to get to his other side. Groaning and close to smiling, he wrapped an arm around their backs, muttered, “Come here, you two,” and drew them to the ground beside him. Panting, the border collies settled against him.
Tommy sat on the bench, leaning forward, watching him.
“Mark knew,” Kris said numbly.
After a moment, his brother muttered, “Shit.”
Throwing an arm over his face, Kris asked, “What did she tell you?”
“Not much.” He paused. “I didn’t exactly give her a warm welcome.”
Rolling onto his side with another groan, Kris pressed his face against Buck. Why did the thought of Tommy giving Frankie the cold shoulder hurt so much?
“We’ll visit Mark tomorrow.” Tommy sounded wide awake. “Sort this out.”
“Yeah,” he mumbled, sliding a fist up between his forehead and the dog’s side.
Just that morning, Tommy had been cool-mannered and brittle over Kris’s ascension—but now he was backing him. He wasn’t any less upset about the way Kris had treated him, but their bond could stretch and bend, not having to relinquish one fight just to offer support in another. That was the wonder of family.
He’d thought it was the same with Frankie. But as it turned out, she’d never been family.
She’d never been anything.
Later, much later, the word bodyguard rose in his mind like a dark shape from deep water. It loomed beneath the surface, just shy of comprehension, until the thought of her in such a high-risk position surged up and devoured him in a memory of their first argument.
Just months after moving to Sage Haven, Frankie had picked up extra work as a bouncer at the local bar. Kris hadn’t handled it well. Her build was too slight; the danger to her safety too real. How did she expect to dominate an aggressive male or best a group of destructive morons? A firecracker couldn’t blaze if someone snuffed out her fuse. Say, with a meaty fist.
Not that he’d protested. Instead, he’d lounged at the bar during her shifts, watching her, watching the room, ready to back her up.
One night, a group fight had broken out. Panic had jackhammered in his chest as she’d darted into the fray, and he’d been on her tail, terrified someone might break a bottle or pull a knife and mark her as their target. The fight had opened its savage arms and hauled him inside.
Less than a minute later, she’d kicked him out with the brawlers.
Confused, he’d stayed until close—when she’d burst out of the bar like a feral animal.
“How dare you?” she’d said, moving in so close, so fast, he’d thought she was going to shove him. Her eyes had glinted; her mouth had pinched tight with fury. “What the fuck were you thinking?”
Too shocked at how close to him she’d stopped, he hadn’t responded.
“I’m furious with you right now,” she’d spat, words echoing across the empty parking lot. “I’m still shaking. That’s how badly I want to throttle you!”
“Hey.” He’d raised his hands, his own anger spiking. “This is a bit much.”
“You’re not my protector!” Her seething temper had sought to repel him, but he held his ground as her gaze had darted to his throbbing cheekbone, the torn seam at his shoulder. “Back the hell down.”
“Frankie,” he’d said. “You need to—”
“I can handle myself,” she’d cut him off, and only then had he noticed her lips were pale, her eyes too wide. “How dare you wade into my fight!”
“I was worried—”
“Quit worrying.” Her breath had been hot on his chin. “If you show up here when I’m on the door again, it’ll be the last night you ever see me.”
He’d frowned at the unfair threat. “They could have hurt you.”
She’d turned away, frustration a half-roar low in her throat. “They could have hurt you!”
“That’s enough.” He’d run the back of his hand along his jaw, still stinging from a punch. “You’re reacting like no one’s ever cared about you before.”
She’d fallen still.
“Frankie,” he’d said, in a weird form of angry begging. “You can’t settle five full-grown men on your own.”
“The manager said something like that when I applied.” She’d rounded on him, fists clenched by her sides. Her eyes had blazed. “Said my presence is intimidating, but that I don’t possess a physique that demands respect.”
“So why did he hire you?”
“I told him to come at me like he meant it. He did.”
“And?”
She’d held his stare. “And I got the job.”
Kris had taken a step back. “Show me.”
She’d scoffed. “Get serious.”
“Show me.”
Scowling, she’d said, “You’re ordering me around now?”