windows, and that made him nervous.
He didn’t have long to wait, however. Kit jumped out of the driver’s side and hurried around to the passenger door. Rocco shouldered his gun and went to greet them.
“Back off, Kit. I’m not a goddamned toddler,” Blade groused as Kit tried to help him get out of the SUV.
Rocco smiled. Some things never changed. “You sure about that? ‘Cause you needed big, bad Kitten to bring you home,” Rocco teased.
Blade’s piercing gray eyes lifted to Rocco. For a moment, Blade studied him, missing nothing. It was uncanny how he could look at a man like that, peel all his protective layers off, and see the truth of what lay beneath. “You look good, Rocco. Kit had me thinking you’d taken up cutting yourself or some such bullshit.”
“Hell, you know better than to listen to him,” Rocco admonished as he held out a hand. Blade hooked his thumb around Rocco’s and pulled him close for a shoulder bump. “I’m glad you guys are here,” Rocco told them, “but I don’t like it one bit.”
Kit slapped him on the shoulder, then handed him a duffle bag. “Thought you’d keep all the fun to yourself?”
“Something like that. Where’s the team you mentioned?”
“They stopped for dinner at the diner in town. Wanted to make it real obvious that the game had changed.” Kit smiled.
Blade looked at Rocco and grinned. “You’ve heard of the subtle and patented ‘Guns Blazing’ approach?”
Rocco laughed. “You staying here or at your place, Blade?” he asked as he took up another duffle bag.
“Here, for now,” Kit answered for him.
Rocco led them through the front door into Mandy’s house. No sooner had the door closed than Mandy came running from the kitchen.
“Kit!”
“Hi, sis,” Kit said, catching her up as she launched herself at him.
She pushed free and looked up at him, cupping his hard chin in her hands. “Wow. Look at you.”
“What do you mean?” he said with a frown.
“You’re all buff. And you’ve got that flat top. You look scary.”
“I am scary.”
Blade scoffed that off, stealing Mandy’s attention. He stood inside the door, leaning on his cane.
“Hi, Ty,” she greeted him, somewhat cautiously.
“What? No hug for the man who watched after your brother’s ugly hide all these years?”
Mandy smiled and gave him a hug. Watching Blade’s arm wrap around his woman, Rocco felt an unfamiliar tension ratchet up his nerves. He had the absurd drive to rip her out of Blade’s hold-until he caught the look in his friend’s eyes, the look of an orphan at Christmas time. Blade had no one, nothing to go home to. There would be no welcome home dinner for him. No one to weep tears of joy at his return. Rocco knew what that hollowness felt like, for he’d experienced that very thing not too long ago. He met Blade’s gaze and watched him shutter away his emotions.
Blade straightened and looked down at Mandy. “Well, little sister, you sure filled out in all the right places,” he said with a grin.
Rocco made a warning sound. Mandy moved to stand in front of him and leaned back against him.
Kit frowned, glaring at Rocco. “What the hell is this? I sent you to protect my sister, not take advantage of her.”
“Dial it back, Kit.” Rocco pushed Mandy behind him. “I don’t like what you’re implying.”
Kit moved closer, his face dark with anger. “Implying, hell. I’m stating full out. You overstepped yourself.”
“You got an issue with me, then let’s take it outside. ‘Cause, yeah, I got a thing for your sister.”
“A ‘thing?’ What the hell does that mean?”
“It means I care for her.”
“Shit. I care for her, too, Kit,” Blade interjected helpfully, “but you aren’t tearing me apart.”
“Stay out of this, Blade.” Kit was face to face with Rocco now. He was built heavier and had a few inches on Rocco, but such differences mattered little to either of them. “What are your intentions? My sister deserves better than a wham-bam, thank-you ma’am.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Kit.” Mandy leaned around Rocco’s arm to speak-he blocked her from coming forward. “I’m not a child, so don’t you two dare have this conversation without me. And what Rocco meant was that we’re still discovering what it is we’re feeling. Don’t crowd us. Now, why don’t you all go wash up? I’ve got dinner ready.”
Blade laughed. He clapped a hand on Kit’s shoulder and steered him toward the bathroom. “Nice going. Would have been better if you two had come to blows, splattered some blood, broken some furniture. Next time, try harder, okay?”
Rocco had forgotten what a smart ass Blade could be. He rolled his shoulders, then followed his two friends. It was going to be interesting having them here.
Dinner was an event Rocco could have passed on. He didn’t like sharing the table with Mandy and two other men, despite the fact that one was her brother. Mandy sat opposite Rocco, as she had for many meals. Unbidden, the memory of her sitting before him in her bra, laughing, being serious, being Mandy, popped into his mind-the night he’d driven her to put the brakes on their relationship.
“It’s great that you haven’t changed the place much, Mandy. I can still feel your grandparents here,” Blade said. Rocco narrowed his gaze on the man, trying to read beneath his statement. Blade was an expert in manipulative psychology. He knew, always, what to say and when to get the results he wanted. Exactly what was he after here?
“I didn’t want to make many changes. I liked that homey feeling. It’s as if they’ve just stepped out for a little bit and will be right back.”
Blade smiled at her. Rocco lost his appetite. “Your grandfather was a big influence in my life. He stood strong against my dad. He’s the only one who ever did, I think.”
“What he did for you when you broke your leg, getting you to stretch it out by riding and doing all the different chores he had you do inspired me to go into hippotherapy. I noticed your injury’s in the same leg. I can massage it for you, if you like.”
“Sure. That’d be great.”
“No,” Rocco growled. What the hell was wrong with him? Blade was like a brother to him. Rocco should be glad that Mandy could help him, but all he could think of was her hands on his friend’s thigh.
“I’m a trained physical therapist, Rocco. It’s what I do. Or what I was meant to do, before all of this.” Her voice broke, and it was that thread of emotion that made him relent.
“Then you aren’t doing it alone.”
Blade sighed. “Fine. Rocco can join us, because if he doesn’t, I won’t get the massage. And if Rocco comes, Kit has to as well because he’s too damned curious to be left out.”
Kit frowned as if he were no more pleased about Mandy treating Blade than Rocco was. “We’ve got the other guys coming shortly. Let’s get them settled first. Besides, I need to talk to both of you. Rocco, if you have gear down at the bunkhouse, bring it up here. You can bunk with me.” He looked at his sister and added in a grim voice, “Or Mandy.”
Kit’s phone rang. “Bolanger,” he answered.
“Hello, Mr. Bolanger. Glad to see you arrived safely,” came a smooth voice on the other end.
Kit hit a couple of buttons on his phone, triggering the voice recorder. “Who is this?” he asked, though he knew the answer. Amir Hadad, lieutenant to a powerful Afghan druglord.
“I am disappointed that you don’t recognize me. I know your name, where you live, who your friends are, what your sister is doing. I know so very much about you, yet you know nothing about me.”
“So enlighten me,” Kit urged.
“My name is not important. What really matters is that I am going to destroy your life as you did mine. First, I will kill your friends, who themselves are guilty of heinous war crimes. And then I will terrify your sister, a process that has already begun. Perhaps I shall offer her protection as only a strong and intelligent warrior can-”
“Well, that eliminates you then, Amir” Kit interrupted the man’s diatribe.
“Ah, so you do know me. I will destroy your village, as you did mine,” the man continued, his voice strident. “It
