Page 38 of His For The Keeping

“I can do that.”

“Where do you want the beer, boss?” another man entering the room asked. Phantom nodded toward the table.

“Does anyone knock around here?” Frankie wondered out loud.

“Not normally,” Phantom answered. “This house is the gathering place for a lot of things. As we develop more and guests arrive, I’m sure it will become a bit more formal.”

“You didn’t start without us, right?”

Frankie turned to see a third man enter with a gorgeous German Shepherd by his side.

“Gangs all here,” Phantom said.

“Great. Let’s grab some pizza and beer, then we can get down to business,” Shane answered.

“You don’t waste any time, do you, brother?” The man with the German Shepherd rounded on Shane. Frankie watched in awe as they embraced in a deep bear hug. “Sorry to hear about your family, O’Brien.”

“Thank you.” Shane knelt down and petted the dog on the head. “How’s Shadow these days?”

“Same as always, aren’t you, boy?” The other man responded, petting the dog fondly.

In a manner of seconds, there were five large men sitting at the table, drinking beer and eating pizza. Frankie was still standing there, staring.

“Frankie, you better grab a plate and some pizza before these bozos eat it all,” Shane said, motioning for her to join them. He reached out, grabbed two pieces of pizza, put them on a plate, and placed it in front of her.

“Thanks.” She smiled at him and sat down, taking a big bite out of the hot, cheesy pizza. She looked around the table at the men who were chowing down, and for a moment, she forgot why she was there. All she could see were five very sexy men.

“Let me introduce you to these knuckleheads,” Shane said, his voice filled with fondness. “The one with the beard and the dog is Mitch Anderson. The skinny one to his right is Jaymson Carothers. We call him Jay.”

“Skinny?” Frankie just about choked on her pizza. There was nothing skinny about any of them, let alone the at least the two-hundred-pounds worth of muscle, six-foot-four man sitting next to Shane.

“When he met me, I was a skinny nineteen-year-old seaman with very little muscle mass,” Jay explained.

“And fewer brain cells some days,” Shane laughed.

“I won’t argue that,” Jay said. “Luckily, both my muscles and my intelligence have grown with age.”

“I’d say the years have been good for you, brother. Maturity, experience, and taking care of your body have worked wonders,” the man sitting next to him said. “I’m Rider, ma’am, Rider Bates. Nice to meet you.”

“Rider here is from Mississippi, a real southern man. He loves his mama and God,” Shane said. “You’ll love his manners and southern drawl, I’m sure.”

“O’Brien here could learn a thing or two about manners,” Rider teased.

“He probably could,” Frankie agreed.

“Now look, there’s nothing wrong with my manners,” Shane bristled.

“Sure… if you had any,” Phantom ribbed, and they all laughed.

The rest of lunch continued much of the same, a lot of laughter and teasing. It was obvious Shane was comfortable with these four men. He had worked beside them, and they shared a brotherhood. She was envious of the way they bantered, finding herself missing her home and her family even more. At the same time, she was happy for Shane.

“Why don’t we clear the table and talk?” Shane said.

Frankie was impressed. Shane was organized and intelligent. He had a plan. Now he just needed a target. He turned to Frankie, who had been sitting, observing the conversation with wide eyes.

“Frankie, baby, you won’t like this part. There is something I need to talk to you about.” He scooted his chair back and walked around to her side.

Crap.

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