Free Hard Days Knight: Under-Cover Knights, Book 1 by Livia Quinn

run. See you tomorrow. Be careful.”
    She jogged off down the sidewalk, but Luc didn’t wait to see how long she could keep up the pace. He let himself inside the townhouse and turned both locks.
    How did Mercy know about Del? Was it female intuition? He thought back to the afternoon Del came by KPI. They didn’t actually meet did they? He threw his keys in the tray by the door. No, she was shooting in the dark, messing with him as usual.
    He grabbed an NA beer from the fridge and went through the glass doors of the dining room to his gym. He liked having it in his home where he could workout whenever it was convenient. Occasionally he hit the Knights gym when he was in the mood to socialize with the other cover models but today especially, he just wanted to savor the memory of last night with Delilah.
    He’d had no idea when he met her, with her stiff posture and dressed in her street uniform, with the utility belt and gun on her hip that she would light his fire quite so quickly. He groaned. Reminiscing hadn’t been a good idea. He stripped down and stepped into the bathroom to take a cold shower. When he got back to the gym he’d think of something else, like that bitch, Mercy.

Chapter 12
    “ D amn ,” Luc hissed at the sight of his SUV practically sitting on the asphalt. Dialing KPI he asked to speak to Ridge.
    In ten seconds Ridge answered, “Luc, what’s up? Don’t you have a shoot at 8:00?”
    Luc rubbed his eyes. “I’m sorry Ridge. I’m going to be late. I have four flat tires. I’ve got to call my insurance agent, call a cab and AAA.”
    “Damn, who did you piss off?” Ridge asked, concern in his voice.
    Luc could have answered that question but he shook his head. He had yet to discuss his problem with Mercy with his boss. Besides, this couldn’t have been her. “I read in the paper that it happened to one of my neighbors last week. Must be some kids performing a graduation hazing ritual or something.
    Ridge said, “You make your calls and I’ll send my driver over for you. Then if someone has to be there while they fix the tires, he can meet them there. You can make your shoot, and I can keep my wifey happy.”
    “Thanks, Ridge. Look—” He needed to think about the situation with Mercy before talking to Ridge about her and coming off like some kind of sissy?
    “What?”
    “Nothing. I’ll be ready when he gets here.”
    Ridge’s driver waited on him to get his duffle and took him directly to the production door but he was still twenty-five minutes late. As he made his way to his dressing room, Mercy came swishing down the hall in her Regency costume. “Where have you been? You’ve run everyone late. And you call me a Prima-donna.” She glared at him.
    Was she that good an actress or was he just wrong about her? The photographer walked up behind her. “I’d have been on time but someone—let the air out of my tires.”
    “Oh, Luc. That’s terrible.” She tried to engulf him in one of her smelly hugs but he pushed into his dressing room. “I’ll just be a couple minutes, Roger.”
    Her eyes had flared just a bit when he explained, like the news wasn’t that terrible or she thought he might have deserved it or… nah, forget it Larue. Be honest, you just don’t like her. Damn right he didn’t.
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    T he rest of the day went without a hitch. Two shoots, one with Mercy, one with Taylor Evans, a slender actress who had just started doing some shoots to make ends meet between acting jobs. She was a friend of Buffy’s sister.
    Luc planned on catching a cab home but when he walked out the back door, a navy blue police car sat in the first space, the cop leaning against it looking decidedly unhappy. He nodded. “Delilah?”
    “Don’t Delilah me. Why didn’t you call me this morning when you found out your tires were slashed?”
    Frowning, Luc said, “Why would I bother you with that?”
    She walked up to him. “Maybe because it’s my job, Luc.” The door to the studio