“Well, I work for your brother, but you have a point,” Quinn agreed. “But until we find you a Daddy, you’re stuck with Red.”
Red scowled at both of them. “He doesn’t have to be stuck with me. I didn’t want the job. You forced me into it.”
The breath caught in Kit’s throat, and he looked visibly upset. “You didn’t…want me?”
Quinn rolled his eyes. “Way to go, Red. I’m gonna set up my laptop and book a plane ticket while you dig yourself out of this.” He disappeared out of the door.
Red forced himself to look at Kit, seeing his pinched expression. Dammit, he was gonna have to dig hard and fast. He licked his lips. “My boy, Davie, you remember him. We were together for years and he left me for my best friend.”
Kit flinched. “Ouch.”
“Yeah, ouch. Then he became my boss. My boy, not my ex-best friend.”
“A double whammy.”
“Right again. I can’t go through that again, Kit. I just want a job where I take care of people and go home at the end of the day.”
“Then why are you here?”
Red didn’t miss the note of accusation in his tone. He hesitated before he answered. “Because you’re in danger.”
“And I’m the club president’s kid brother.”
“I’ve known you most of your life, Kit. I didn’t want this job, but I won’t let anyone hurt you. I mean it.”
“Anyone from CDR can protect me. It doesn’t have to be you.” Kit was all bravado, but underneath, there was a thread of something more, something Red didn’t quite understand.
“Until they find someone else, all you’ve got is me. But you obey my rules.”
Now it was Kit’s turn to roll his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, whatever, Daddy.”
Red gave him a flat stare. “I ain’t your?—”
Kit through up his hands. “Joke, joke, geez. Can’t a guy make a joke, even when someone is threatening him. It might be the last joke I ever make.”
Red flinched. “That ain’t funny, kid.”
“It’s the truth, isn’t it?” Kit swung around on the couch and crossed his legs. “I’m not the kind of guy to make believe. I may look like this but underneath,” he waved at himself, “is a hard core of steel.”
“I believe that,” Red said. “You were like that even as a kid.”
“I was?” Kit sounded surprised.
“You sashayed through the barroom in satin and sequins like you were on a Broadway show, but if anyone mocked you, you were on them like flies on rice.”
Kit grimaced. “Nice. But yeah, I was. I wasn’t gonna let Tony or the seconds fight my battles. You taught me mixed martial arts.”
“Some.” Red was surprised Kit remembered that. “Then you went to classes and kickedmyass.”
“I did do that, didn’t I?” Kit sounded proud. He should be. “No one went after me after I put you on the ground.”
“That’s not in your notes,” Quinn said, reappearing in the doorway.
Kit seemed reluctant to drag his eyes away from Red’s. “It was a long time ago. I don’t know what I remember now.”
“We’ll practice,” Red said.
Kit’s expression changed to something mischievous. “Oooh, sweaty against your naked body? It’s my ideal fantasy.”
