“What?!” Kassie and Kelly exclaim in unison.
“Didn’t think of mentioning that before now, Dec?” Brooks laughs.
“I’m sorry, I don’t even know who you are,” Kassie says to Brooks.
“I’m one of the family,” he smiles, gesturing to his cut.
“Brooks is our newest member,” Tiberi explains.
Of course. There was one blank space in the Dante’s Nine ranks on the FBI wall. Mitchell told me that this club always needs nine members. Part of the original charter, laid out by the current president and the first nine members. Guess they’ve filled that final spot. And damn, if they didn’t choose well.
Stop it, I chide myself, Sure he’s hot, but he’s a criminal. Get it together.
“I don’t understand,” Kassie says, “how is he a member, just like that? He didn’t prospect or anything.”
“Not every member has to be a prospect first,” Tiberi shrugs. From what I understand, being a prospect is like being a trial member of an MC. There can be a fair amount of hazing that goes into it, too. But something tells me that none of the other members will be messing with the likes of Brooks.
“So, what, you guys just hit it off at the bar, and now he’s a member that we’re supposed to put up?” Kelly goes on, a frown twisting her pretty mouth.
“I’ve known Brooks for years,” Tiberi snaps. From his steely glare, I can tell there’s a little bit of tension between Kelly and the Dante’s Nine VP. Totally understandable, of course. Best friends and significant others often lock horns. Unless this conflict goes deeper...?
“We were in the Navy together,” Brooks offers, tucking the cigarette behind his ear for the moment. “Or at least, near each other. I was a mechanic. Fixed all those fancy planes and got ‘em flying again.”
“We put Brooks’ membership to a vote right away,” Tiberi goes on. “I would trust this man with my life any day.”
“From what I recall, you already have,” Brooks grins. “One loose screw and that pretty plane of yours would have gone down like a lead balloon.”
“Is that your standard for membership now, Dec?” Kelly murmurs. “Just as long as there are no loose screws—?”
“The vote was unanimous,” Tiberi says, ignoring her. “Brooks is a man of Dante’s Nine now. And he needs a place to stay until he sets down roots here in Vegas.”
“Dec, you know we’ve been using this suite as our CrowdedNest offices,” Kassie says pointedly. “We need the space. Especially now that there are three of us.”
“I don’t mean to cause any trouble,” Brooks says, holding up his hard, capable hands. I, for one, don’t believe that for a second. Something tells me that causing trouble is what this man does best.
“You’re not causing trouble, Brooks,” Tiberi says, turning his stormy gaze on Kassie. “I seem to remember a time we housed a friend of yours here, Kass. You didn’t have a problem with an extra occupant then. Kelly moved right on in—”
“We weren’t using the space then,” Kassie replies. “Why didn’t you talk to me about this before promising—”
“Why didn’t you talk to me before hiring some girl we’ve never met,” Tiberi shoots back.
Tiberi, Kassie, and Kelly fall into surly silence, looking back and forth between me and Brooks—the problematic newcomers. My heart is balled into a tight, panicked fist. Maybe this was a terrible idea. Maybe I should turn on my heel, run out of here, and never look back.
But before I can move a muscle, Brooks pushes himself away from the door and strides across the room to me. I stifle a gasp as his heavy, muscled arm falls across my shoulders. He peers down at me with those blazing emerald eyes, and I swear it’s like he’s seeing straight through me. The way he looks at me feels like an unspoken secret between us. Like we understand each other. But that’s ridiculous. I’ve never met this man before in my life.
“Tough being the new kid, huh?” Brooks grins at me, totally at ease with having his arm thrown around me.
I gape back at him, disarmed by his nerve. But as annoyed as I am by this (or any) unexpected physical contact...I’d be lying if I said I didn’t also love it, just a bit. I can feel my very cells rallying at his touch. I want to sink against his side, trail my fingers along the rippling muscles barely obscured by his tee shirt. Slip my hands beneath that leather cut, and—
That leather cut. Decorated with the patches of a MC member. This is no innocently cavalier bad boy. This is just another thug. Why the hell am I having so much trouble remembering that?
“Ever hear of personal space?” I say to Brooks, slipping out from under his arm.
“Nah, what’s that?” he replies, eyes wide with mock intrigue.
Goddammit. Of course he has to share my wry sense of humor, too. Hot and funny with an I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude? The repressed rebel in me is yanking at her leash. I never end up with guys like Brooks. I settle for the safe ones, the smart ones, the whiny ones with pasty faces and droopy personalities. But some part of me wonders what it would be like, to be with a guy like this.
Too bad I’ll never find out. I haven’t read the FBI undercover handbook cover-to-cover, but I’m pretty sure that hooking up with suspected criminals is a big no-no.
“Look,” Tiberi sighs, rubbing his strong jaw, “this suite is plenty big enough to house your offices and my friend, too. Brooks is going to be working at the auto shop most of the time anyway, until he saves up enough to rent a place of his own. It’s not like he’s going to be hanging around here, staring into space all day.”
“Though the view is pretty fucking amazing,” Brooks says. I expect to find his gaze aimed at the enormous windows overlooking the strip, but instead he’s staring at me.
Pinpricks of heat light up along my body wherever his eyes roam. I’m totally unused to this kind of attention. Since I started my FBI training at Quantico, men have looked at me with envy, disdain, or indifference. Before that, I was just a skinny little redhead with big glasses and scraped-up knees. But the way Brooks looks at me you’d think I was the sexiest woman to have ever walked the earth.
Surely, he has this effect on all the women he meets. All but Kassie and Kelly, that is. They’re less than thrilled about this turn of events, and making no effort to hide it. Good for them.