Page 8 of Beyond the Badge: Crew

However, just because the man was sex on a stick didn’t mean she would go gaga over him. She was no longer bright-eyed and innocent, and easily swayed by appearances. She learned quickly that looks could be deceiving and the man could be rotten at his core.

Plus, he’d been pretty damn rude and condescending. To her, that was a huge turn-off.

Luckily, she was an expert at fighting fire with fire.

She sighed and turned her attention back to the building. If this was the correct address, it had to be a false front. A way to disguise that it housed a federal drug task force.

That would make sense. And was smart to boot.

Putting her RS Q8 into gear, she decided to check for an entrance at the rear of the building.

After turning the corner, she discovered an alley and as she drove down it, saw that the privacy fence continued along the side and the back of the building. But there was a gate wide enough for vehicles and since that gate was open, she pulled in.

And found where the task force parked.

In one of those parking spots was a tall man with short salt-and-pepper hair and a well-maintained matching beard. His ass was perched sideways on the seat of his bike as he leaned back and waited with his ankles and arms crossed, causing his shirt to pull tight over his broad shoulders. His stunning gray eyes, hidden behind mirrored sunglasses, were turned in her direction.

He’d been waiting for her.

No surprise.

He was most likely hoping she’d be late. It would give him one more excuse to be annoyed at her for being added without his approval to his task force.

As soon as she parked, he pushed to his feet and went to close and lock the gate.

She scanned the rear of the property. Another smaller fenced area was butted up against the back of the building, reminding her of an enclosed patio area. The windows on the second floor were uncovered but the ones on the third were boarded up like the front.

Interesting.

His long denim-covered legs easily ate up the distance between them as she exited her car.

“Daddy buy you this?”

Here we go…

He wasn’t happy that he got stuck with her for whatever reason and was going to take that displeasure out on her, whether she deserved it or not.

Was the reason because she was a female? Young? Her father’s daughter?

That was okay. She not only loved a challenge, she was good with de-cocking cocky. While fun for her, it wasn’t always so fun for the one getting his ass handed to him. Doing some time in the Navy made her a pro.

“Why would you think that?”

“Most people in their twenties can’t afford a ride like this.”

That might be true, but in her case, it was not. “It’s been a while since you’ve been in your twenties, so you might not be up to date on what twenty-somethings can and cannot afford.”

With his hands on his hips, he slowly circled her car, taking his time to check it out. “Not an Audi fan.”

“No? Then don’t buy one. I bet it would blow the doors off of that.” She jerked her chin toward his bike.

He lifted his gaze to her. “I have concerns with you being on my team if you think my Harley has doors to be blown off.”

“It’s a figure of speech.”

He went back to circling her Audi. “What’s the horsepower?”

He thought he would stump her. That she was simply a girl who liked pretty cars and didn’t know what was under the hood.

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