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When he wrapped his arms around Calla, picked her up, and spun her around before setting her on her feet, every bone in my body turned possessive. But what was I going to do about it? Kick him in the shin?
“Steel, this is Spider,” she said, pulling the hulk over to me. His hand engulfed mine when he shook it, and the way his icy blue eyes bored into mine, I felt certain he intended to come across just as menacing as he was.
“So, uh, you work for the Invincibles?” I asked.
“Yeah, Edge recruited me. Before that, I was a bouncer at the Branch.” He nudged Calla. “That’s when I met this one.” He slung his arm around her shoulders and glared at me. “So, Rile mentioned you were coming to talk to him and Deck about a job. What’s your background?”
Calla laughed, elbowed him in the side, and stepped out of his reach. “Knock it off, Steel.”
“What?” he said, laughing and holding both hands in the air.
“You’re our ride, not the advance party.”
“The advance what? The party isn’t until later, darlin’.”
Calla looked in my direction and rolled her eyes.
Okay, so he wasn’t the smartest guy who’d ever kicked a few assholes out of a bar. Still, he was intimidating as hell.
“This iswhere Cowboy and Winslow stayed. I guess Mayhem was here for a while too,” Steel said when he pulled into a driveway after we’d gone at least a couple of miles beyond the ranch’s main entrance. “Shredder and I are next door. I can’t remember whether Deck said Buster was bunkin’ with us or you.”
“With you and Shredder,” Calla said, getting out of the SUV before either Steel or I could open the door for her. Probably for the best, since if I’d beat him to it, he might’ve leveled me while pushing me out of the way. “We’re riding over with Rile and Kenzie,” she added before waving at Steel and motioning for me to follow her into the house.
“This is nice,” I said after she placed her hand on a pad by the door and it sprung open.
“The house or its security?” she asked.
“Uh, both.”
“You know who owns King-Alexander, right?”
I raised a brow and cocked my head. “Yes,Casper.”
She laughed. “Sorry. God, Steel makes me crazy.”
“In a good or bad way?”
“You’re kidding, right? ‘The advance what? The party isn’t until later, darlin’,’” she mimicked. “Sometimes I wanna smack him upside the head to see if any brain cells shake loose. Problem is, I can’t reach his damn head.”
I leaned against the kitchen island. “Come here.”
When she took a step closer, I took her hands in mine.
“How are we playing this tonight? Agents who worked the Thanatos investigation together and just happened to both be traveling from Miami to Austin?”
“If you think Decker or Rile believe we justhappenedto be traveling from anywhere, you’re in the wrong line of work.”
“Okay. Friends, then? I don’t want us to come across as something you’d rather we didn’t.”
“How would we do that?”
I shrugged. “I heard a rumor there might be dancing.”
Calla leaned her body into mine.
“You keep that up, and we won’t make it to the party, let alone the dance floor, sweetheart,” I warned, wishing I could wrap my arms around her, squeeze the luscious cheeks of her ass, and pull her close enough that she could feel how much I’d rather stay here alone with her for the rest of the night. I let go of her hands, and she took a step back.
“Let’s just be two people at a party together,” she said.
