Rory’s long legs easily ate up the distance to the interior of the shop. Since they’d been born so close together, he and Knox were usually on the same page. They occupied the middle lineage of the six Albertini brothers and were both good at staying under the radar. Usually. “I’m ready to join you as soon as I finish up one last case.”
Knox raised the hood of a vintage Mustang and tossed his brother a wrench. They’d been working on the vehicle for over a year, at least when they were in the same town and had a chance. Knox owned and operated an outfitting company with their other brother. However, that wasn’t all Knox did.
“You sure?” he asked, leaning over to gingerly maneuver a piston in the engine bay.
“I’m sure,” Rory said, stepping up to inspect the cylinder walls, searching for signs of wear or damage. “I finished the last case, and things are just heating up. I’m done interrogating people.”
Knox flashed him a quick grin, looking just like their dad for a second. “Sounds good. However, it’s not exactly like we’ll just be hunting and fishing.”
“I know,” Rory murmured.
“We sure could use your skill set.”
Rory’s chest heated. It’d be nice to work with family again. “I appreciate that, brother.” He ducked his head to start disassembling a valve for Knox to inspect. They definitely needed to replace the worn bearings soon. “I would probably need to tell Serenity the whole truth about the organization.”
“Yes, you would,” Knox agreed. “Vince, Finn, and I have discussed it. If she agrees to be engaged to you again—and not until then—you can tell her everything before the wedding. I mean months before so she can really make up her mind. Work smart and work careful.”
“Yeah, but...” Rory said. “You operate well because nobody knows about the Core.” They weren’t an official organization. Several private security and dark-ops groups had already offered Rory exceptionally well-paying jobs, but if he went the private route, he wanted to work with Knox, Finn, and Vince. They ran a small group of former operatives and soldiers who took private jobs—ones that meant something to them.
Knox’s concentration was as intense as ever. “Serenity would need to know about your new job, and she’d have to keep it confidential.”
That was more than fair. Rory wiped grease off his left hand. “By the way, that’s a nice bruise you have across your temple.”
“Thanks. Got that in, well…right outside of Ukraine.”
That made sense. “Were you successful?”
Knox leaned in, and his voice echoed off the carburetor. “Yeah. A couple needed to flee—American—and we had the best resources for rescuing them. It was dicey for a while, but now here I am at home. There’s nobody to explain the bruise to because I am…unattached,” he said blithely.
“You’re unattached for now, but rumor has it Nonna Albertini has you in her sights.” Rory took great pleasure in the slight paling of his brother’s broad face.
“That doesn’t matter,” Knox uttered a little too forcefully. “I’m in the thick of several campaigns right now and am not involving a woman in any of them. I don’t want to change my life, Rory.”
Rory rolled his neck, popping the side. Relief followed. “I’m not changing my life or profession because of Serenity,” he retorted quickly. “It’s for me. I’m ready to be out and doing something different.” Well, it would be much of the same, but he’d be a private contractor instead of working with the government. So he could choose his assignments. He wanted to have kids someday, and he definitely wanted to stick close to home then. But for now, he had to secure Serenity and get her back where she belonged.
“Do you think there’s a chance she won’t forgive you?” Knox merely sounded curious.
Rory reached for a different wrench. “No. I mean, she’s stubborn and strong, but she also has a heart of gold, and that heart is mine.” He shrugged. “I know I screwed up, but she still loves me, and…I don’t know, we’re meant to be together. Even Nana O’Shea says so.”
“Well, if Nana O’Shea says so”—Knox chuckled—“it must be true.”
Rory was a cynical bastard sometimes, but he believed his Irish nana when she said something was meant to be. The woman was gifted, and if he allowed himself one second of whimsy, he figured she was magical. Either way, even without Nana O’Shea, he knew he and Serenity belonged together. “By the way, I need you to contact whatever sources you have in comms. Someone’s been calling Serenity and harassing her via phone.”
Knox tossed a wrench into a nearby bucket. “Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s not you?”
“Of course, it’s not me,” Rory snapped.
Knox grinned. “I was just kidding. I’d be happy to dig deeper. We’ve been working with this group out of LA with unbelievable technology. It’s a little worrisome, but they seem to be on the right side, and their intel’s good. I’ll reach out when we’re done here. Do you think she’s in danger?”
“It’s just been a few phone calls,” Rory said. “But I don’t like it. It could be someone with a crush, or it could be something more.”
Knox nodded. “In exchange, it’d be really nice if you mentioned to Nonna that you were on a campaign to get Serenity back.”
Rory chuckled. Their nonna had been making noises that she’d found just the right woman for Knox, and since she was announcing it, there was no doubt a plan already in place for the poor guy. “I thought she’d zeroed in on Vince.” Even though he was the eldest, Vince had so far escaped their grandmother’s machinations.
“That’s what I thought, too,” Knox grumbled. “Help me out, would you?”
This was too much fun. “You just want her off your back, and I’ve already provided you with a distraction. She’s happily involved with fixing my love life. In fact, after a couple of drinks during Christmas, I planned to escort Serenity to our cabin, and Nonna was on board. It was great.”
“Escort? You mean kidnap,” Knox retorted. “I wouldn’t go that route. It’s not going to work.”
Rory knew it wouldn’t. Kidnapping women was always a bad idea, but his Serenity had always liked a clear path, so he’d given her dates as deadlines for her to consider. If she truly and honestly didn’t want to be with him, he’d have to take his lumps and move on. But he knew her better than that. “Huh,” he said.
“What?” Knox asked.
“Sometimes, maybe I’m the asshole,” he admitted.
Knox threw an oily rag at him. “You’re definitely the asshole sometimes.”
“Jerk,” Rory muttered, grinning and shoving his brother.
“You’re the jerk.” Knox pushed him back.
They may be grown adults, but it didn’t matter. They were still brothers, and they often acted like kids when together, though they were also highly trained and most certainly dangerous. The rest of the family didn’t know about Knox’s other business, except for Finn and Vince, who were his business partners. At least most of the family probably didn’t know. So long as the brothers kept all campaigns away from home, they were good.