Page 69 of Beyond the Badge: Crew

What?“What the hell does that mean?”

“Exactly what I said. Which part do you need explained?”

“I’m well-respected in the agency.”

“You’re delusional, too.”

She was fucking with him. On purpose. To get his blood pressure up. For what good reason? Did she want him to snap? Because he was getting dangerously close to that point. “Why do you have to constantly push me?”

Her head tipped to the side. “Is that what I’m doing? Or am I just not taking any of your shit?” She shrugged. “It’s called fighting fire with fire.”

He jabbed a finger in her direction. ”I’m your goddamn boss. You report to me, Cabrera. You seem to have forgotten that.”

“And there we have it. You don’t like me calling you ‘boss’ but you just said the quiet part out loud.”

He gritted his teeth.

“If you didn’t…” She shook her head. “You treat me differently from the guys. You need to stop doing that. I don’t need you to babysit me. I’m here to work, so that’s what I’m going to do.”

He wanted to grab her and force her listen to him, to see reason. But he couldn’t. It would only make her dig her heels in deeper.

She was determined to get what she wanted.

And he shouldn’t stop her.

He was conflicted. What she wanted would be beneficial to the team and the investigation. If sending her alone into Hawg Wild wasn’t so damn dangerous, he’d have no problem with it.

Any task force leader in their right mind—which clearly he was not—would be lucky to have someone like her on his team. Her enthusiasm and her ability to think and work independently was an asset.

He just needed to get that through his own thick head.

He was overly protective of her without a good reason. It wasn’t because she wasn’t capable or because of who her father was.

That wasn’t why he worried about her.

He didn’t want to admit to himself why. And that thought spurred him to get the hell out of that house before he made a mistake that might affect his career.

“Make sure to document everything that happened last night in your report. And make sure that report isn’t late. And park that fucking car inside.” He turned and strode as fast as he fucking could to the front door before he did something he shouldn’t. Something that would get him fired or,hell, maybe even arrested. “And make sure you document everything tonight when you go back to that fucking bar.”

“Yes, Daddy.” He heard from behind him.

First Grandpa and now Daddy?For Crissake!

He slammed on the brakes, did a one-eighty and strode right back to her until they were boot to bare toe. Until he towered over her.

Unable to stop himself, he fisted a handful of hair at the back of her head and yanked it back so her face was turned up to his.

He dropped his head and stared down into her deep brown eyes. He growled each word slowly and succinctly to make his point, “I’m not your grandpa. I’m not your fucking daddy. I’m not old enough to be either.”

“No, you aren’t,” she admitted in a breathless whisper. Her pupils were so wide staring back at him, it made her eyes look black.

“Why do you frustrate the fuck out of me?” he ground out through clenched teeth.

Her chest rose and fell like she had just sprinted around the block. “Why do you frustrate the fuck out ofme?”

“You constantly fight me.”

“Because you don’t treat me as an equal.”

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