Free Sterling by Dannika Dark Page B

balls. I averted my eyes at the gesture. “Adam would never let anyone else answer his own door. I didn’t get your name.
    “Then wait outside, he didn’t tell me you were coming so you’re not invited.”
    “He’s not expecting me, true. I know I’m intimidating but fuck, I’m as harmless as—” Knox quieted as he leaned over my shoulder craning his head around the door to look behind me.
    “What the fff —”
    I was brushed to the side and stumbled over my feet when the door swung open. Knox signed, sealed and delivered his own invitation as he marched into the kitchen and loomed in front of the closet. His combat style boots stopped short of the fallen chair, broken shelf, and scattered tools. Knox twisted his large body around gripping something beneath his shirt.
    “Are you alone?” Not waiting for an answer, his eyes were already scoping the house.
    “Not anymore.”
    Well the invitation situation was now a moot point. I closed the door behind me and walked into the kitchen, glaring at the new visitor.
    “The chair slid out from me when I was rehearsing for my strip routine.”
    Knox wasn’t listening; he slanted his eyes staring out the back window. “You sure about that?”
    The legs of the chair slammed on the floor as my best fake smile played across my face. “Can I offer you some tasty refreshments?”
    That broke the tension. Knox huffed out a laugh and strolled back into the kitchen pulling his shirt down. “You aren’t exactly the kind of woman I pictured Adam falling for.”
    I laughed back and pulled a couple of beers out of the fridge. “I’m not his woman.”
    “Damn shame to hear that,” he said as he slid his wide frame into the tiny chair. It quivered beneath his weight and looked about as frightened as an inanimate object could.
    “Let’s go into the living room before you give that chair a heart attack.”
    I set his beer down on the coffee table, easing back on the sofa while picking at the label on my bottle. “So how do you two know each other?”
    The beer let out a sigh of relief as did the chair he collapsed in—Adam’s black leather, ass-pampering seductress of comfort. Knox didn’t just sit in the chair, he eclipsed it.
    I waited while he knocked back half the bottle. “We served together.”
    “Military?” That would explain a lot about Adam’s behavior .
    “He didn’t tell you, huh? How long you guys been… not dating ?” he smirked. Yet it was not a casual question.
    I could see why Adam would click with Knox; he was an extremely likable guy once you got past all of the bulk and attitude. What particularly interested me is that most people automatically assume a guy of his size is all brawn and no brain, but there was intellect behind his eyes and he was analyzing every answer I gave making me more self-conscious. With the mention of military I might have assumed front lines—Marine. But intelligence was more like it.
    “He’s just helping me out. I’m between jobs right now and he’s letting me stay here for a while.” I tried to twist off my cap but a sharp pain sliced through my shoulder. I grimaced as my muscles gave a silent warning not to try that again.
    Knox leaned over and snatched my beer, popping off the lid as easily as a 600lb gorilla could crack a peanut. “If you don’t have a home, what were you doing at those apartments?”
    “You first.”
    “Visiting a friend.”
    “Likewise.”
    That answer didn’t satisfy him but he looked as if he were expecting it.
    “Where did you meet?” he pressed on.
    I shrugged and considered a little rephrasing. “I was out for a run.”
    “From who?”
    I leaned back to take a long, very long, slow sip of that beer.
    Knox leaned forward. “I think we’re both bullshitting here, you ever play that card game?”
    “With my grandma, every Sunday after church.”
    He laughed and that’s when Adam burst through the front door. If he had just seen us sitting in the living room there might not