“Jesus,” Knight whispered.
“Good news is, that recurring headache is done for you.”
Knight watched him closely. “Any bad news?”
“Mention of the Feds which confused her, though not enough for her to snoop around to find out what it means. She doesn’t much care what her dad did or does outside of the fact she hates all of it. But even though she now knows my end game is to get her clear of that mess, she doesn’t know how that game started. So it’s good she isn’t snooping around because not only have I not figured out how I’m gonna get her clear, I haven’t figured out how to tell her how that game started.”
“Fuck, Nick,” Knight muttered.
“You got any ideas?” Nick asked.
“No, brother,” Knight answered quietly. “Feel for you on that. That’s gonna be an uncomfortable conversation.”
“Unh-hunh,” Nick mumbled.
“Advice, sooner rather than later,” Knight said.
“Right,” Nick mumbled that too. He drew in breath, looked to the door and then looked to his brother. “You wanna meet her?”
Knight’s focus intensified. “Absolutely.”
It was the perfect moment. She knew Knight was coming. She knew why. She had to figure Nick wouldn’t keep him out in the cold. And Knight couldn’t stick around so Olivia didn’t have to be on the spot for long.
The first meet over, the next would go easier.
He slid open the door, and if the sound it made wasn’t enough of a warning, he called out, “Babe, you wanna say a quick hi to Knight before he has to take off?”
If Nick had to guess, he would have said she’d ice over. Stone-cold. Polite, definitely, but distant in her princess way that might be borderline insulting.
He was shocked as shit when she walked from the kitchen toward them, her hands engaged in rubbing a dishtowel to dry them, doing this almost obsessively, her eyes on Knight, the wide hems of her pants too long.
She tripped, fortunately close so when she went flying, he could lunge and catch her before she hit the deck.
The dishtowel floated to the floor as she latched on to him and he brought her up straight and close, her head jerking back to look at him, her face beautiful and horrified.
No stone-cold princess there.
“Shit, fuck,” she whispered.
No stone-cold princess there either.
The laugh he tried unsuccessfully to bite back scraped up his throat over the roof of his mouth to make an amused scratching noise coming out of his nose.
“Brother,” Knight admonished when he heard it.
Nick held on to his woman and she held on to him as they both looked to Knight.
“I…um…hi, hey…um, hello,” she stammered.
And no stone-cold princess there.
Nick’s body started shaking.
She turned and glared at him, unlatching the arm she had wrapped around his back so she could smack his shoulder blade.
His amusement came low but audible.
“Shut up,” she muttered under her breath.
“She can be cute,” he told Knight.
Knight was staring at Nick’s woman, his lips quirked up, and Nick reckoned his brother already got that.
“And a fuckin’ nut,” Nick went on.
“Nicky, shut up,” she hissed.
Knight’s brows rose and his gaze cut to Nick.
“Nicky?”
“Now you shut it,” Nick replied, still laughing low.
Knight smiled at him then turned that to Olivia.
“Nice to meet you, Olivia. And sorry I’m doing it when I gotta go.”
“I…me too, nice to meet you that is. As well as sorry you have to go,” she said swiftly and with obvious nerves.
“We’ll get together soon, you meet my Anya and my girls, yeah?” Knight suggested.
Olivia tensed against him but nodded and said, “Yes. That’d be nice.”
“Right, gotta go,” Knight murmured and looked to Nick. “Got the door, brother. Stay warm. Thanks for the news and later.”
“Later, Knight.”
Knight nodded to him, gave another smile to Olivia then turned and walked out.
“Oh my God, I tripped in front of your brother and said fuck,” Olivia whispered in horror the minute the door slid closed.
He pulled her to his front and shared the obvious, “It was cute.”
“I said fuck,” she repeated.
“Baby, he’s heard the word before.”
“Undoubtedly,” she returned. “And undoubtedly it’s not a surprise coming from me considering the fact his brother’s girlfriend is a gangster’s daughter.”
Fuck.
He finally got it.
He pulled her closer.
“He doesn’t think dick that’s bad about you.”
“You sure, you know, considering you called him earlier to ask him over in order to report his nemesis is dead at my father’s hand?” she asked sarcastically.
“He was born in your world. There’s shit he gets about you that I’ll never get about you. I don’t give a fuck about it. He sure as fuck doesn’t give a fuck about it. And he is who he is and you know who he is. So bein’ who he is, he doesn’t judge,” Nick returned resolutely.
That shut her up.
“Unless you’re an asshole or a twat, then he judges,” he continued. “And you aren’t either.”
She pressed her lips together.
“You were cute,” he repeated.
She looked to his shoulder.
He gave her a shake.
She looked to his eyes.
“So shake it off,” he ordered.