“Want her ass at Anya’s and my place for a steak, soon’s you can,” Knight demanded.
“They watch her, brother,” Nick told him.
Dark flashed in his brother’s eyes before he said, “Clear her of a tail and get her ass to Anya’s and my place for a steak, Nick. Soon’s you fuckin’ can.”
“Right. It isn’t just that. You need to give me time. She’s closed up tight. Face value, she’s cool to ice-cold, man. You don’t know the warm under that surface, she isn’t easy to like.”
“Kat and Kasha’ll break that down. They don’t, you know to dump her.”
“I’m bein’ serious, Knight.”
Knight tilted his head. “This woman’s the woman you’re willin’ to put your ass out there to get her safe, puttin’ the mission you been livin’ and breathin’ for four and a half years in jeopardy, she’s gonna be at our bar eatin’ steak more than once over the years. I think we can look past her bein’ a little cool and uncomfortable with us the first time around. So get her ass to Anya’s and my place, soon’s you can.”
“Jesus, you’re a bossy motherfucker,” Nick muttered. “Then again, you always were.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Knight muttered back, but did it grinning.
He probably didn’t know the half of it. What he did know was that he didn’t want to.
Nick grinned back. “Get out of my office. Got shit to do.”
Knight didn’t stop grinning as he moved to the door.
Before he opened it, he stopped and turned back.
“Anya made it easy. Fell for me, gave me the beauty of her, didn’t make me work for it. Not even a little. Not a lot of women like her would put up with a man like me. Who I am. What I am. How I am. What I do. Barely a hesitation, she was all in. I needed that. Life I was born into, I needed something that important to come easy.”
Nick again remained silent, held his brother’s eyes and let Knight give him what he needed to give.
“You, brother, you started life havin’ it easy,” Knight continued. “Got a lot of love for you so this is difficult to say but I’m gonna say it. I like you gotta work for what’s important. If you work for it, you’ll get it. You’ll get why it was worth the work. You’ll never forget that. And you’ll finally get to where I am now after you wade through all the shit, knowin’, when you finally have it easy, just how worth it was to keep wading through. But bottom line, I know you’re a man who’s got the balls and the guts and the heart to stick it out and wade through.”
Nick gave it the time he needed to let his brother know that sunk in and it meant something to him.
Then he gave him shit.
“You done with heartfelt big brother lectures?”
Knight’s mouth quirked on his, “Fuck you.”
“You wanna meet my girl, safer for you to come to us at first. But I’m no one-trick pony so it isn’t gonna be steak.”
“Now he disrespects my steak,” Knight muttered.
“Get out. Got work to do.”
Knight grinned and turned.
He was almost out the door when Nick called his name.
He had men out there, Bernadette.
He didn’t care.
“Just so you know, love you too.”
A different kind of dark flashed in Knight Sebring’s eyes before he shook his head, grinned again and disappeared.
Nick got back to work.