Page 12 of Iron Willed Warrior

“How was I supposed to know that?” I sputtered.

“I don’t know! It was a throwaway comment. I didn’t mean a damn thing by it.”

“But you could’ve explained right then.”

“Why? I thought I’d never see you again. You’d hardly be the first woman to walk away with a shitty opinion of me.”

“That’s supposed to reassure me?”

He straightened to his full height and walked toward me, stopping when we were a few inches apart. “I’m just trying to clear this up so my friends don’t think I’m a creep who propositions women who need help. It doesn’t matter whatyouthink of me.”

I arched my spine, arms folded over my chest, ready with another comeback.

But then I thought back to how helpful he’d been with my flat tire. How he’d been perfectly nice before the “goodequipment” confusion. He’d been checking me out, but no, that wasn’t a crime.

There is no one else, River had said.

Ugh, what a mess.

Maybe we could salvage this. The enemy was Stillwater, not each other. If Keira and River and the other Protectors thought highly of Cole, I should give him a chance to prove himself.

Most importantly? I couldn’t let this op fall apart before it had barely begun.

I put my hand over my eyes, then wiped it down my face. “All right. So we got off on the wrong foot.”

He stared for a solid beat.

“That supposed to be a joke?” he finally asked.

“A joke?” Then I realized what I’d said. “It wasn’t a reference toyourfoot. I mean?—”

He snorted, glancing away and shaking his head. “I’m kidding. But you see how easy it is to say the wrong shit and get misinterpreted? Look, I personally witnessed some asswipe try to get aggressive with you this afternoon. I’m sure that kinda thing happens to you plenty. Impressive how you flipped him, by the way.”

“Thanks.”

“But I get why you jumped to the wrong conclusion when I said what I did. We both got our backs up. Got defensive.”

“Yes, we did. I did.” I could admit I was sensitive about men who pretended to be one thing, then proved to be the opposite. “I’m willing to start over if you are.”

“Guess we could try,” he said gruffly.

I held out my hand. “I’m Brynn Somerton.”

“AgentSomerton.”

“Former agent.” My eyes looked heavenward.Give me patience, please. “We might as well go inside and talk through the details. Since we both came all this way.”

“We did,” he hedged.

“And this really isn’t about us, anyway. It’s about our common enemy.”

“True.”

I wiggled my hand. He still hadn’t taken it.

He eyed my open palm another moment. Then he returned the gesture, and we shook. “I’m Cole Bailey. It’s been…interesting to meet you, Brynn.”

“Likewise.”

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