Page 13 of Iron Willed Warrior

His palm was large, fingers rough and thick, nearly swallowing mine. Our hands slid apart, and a shiver ran down my neck like a caressing fingertip.

Between the hat and the beard, I hadn’t recognized him from his photos earlier, but now I saw it. The brightness of his blue eyes, ringed by crow’s feet from squinting. A strong, square jaw line. Not bad to look at. Not at all.

The back door opened. “You two made up yet?” River asked.

That weird trance-like moment broke. We separated. “Yep. All good,” I said. For now anyway.

I had no idea whether we could work together. But unless I wanted to face Stillwater alone, I had to give him a fair shot.

CHAPTER FIVE

Cole

Brynn walked toward the house.River stepped out of her way to let her pass. Then he turned toward me, blocking my path. “I trust the talk was productive,” he said.

I was still standing there, my tongue not working well enough to speak.

A handshake with a potential teammate wasn’t supposed to set my blood pumping. But from her? Shit. The sensation of her slender fingers wrapped around my palm had banished all the sense from my brain.

When I’d touched her, an image had flashed unbidden through my mind. Me gripping that ponytail on top of her head and tugging to angle her mouth perfectly toward mine.

Nngh.

Beyond inappropriate. I’d told her by the side of the road earlier that she wasn’t my type, and that was complete bullshit.

Shake it off, I told myself. Her looks were irrelevant.

“Our talk was productive,” I said, remembering River’s question. “We established I’m not going around perving onrandom women. If that’s what you mean. It was a misunderstanding.”

He chuckled. “So we don’t have to lock up our wives, nieces, and daughters around you?”

I coughed, gut twisting with discomfort over the lusty thoughts I’d been having about Brynn not moments before. It wasn’t an issue. Regardless of any base-level attraction, I would never act on it.

I’d served with women. Worked with them. I was a professional. I didn’t let myself get distracted by something as common as a pretty face.

And that wasn’t even the problem here.

“Joke all you want, but I still don’t see this working out. You should’ve told me what I was getting into.” We were still standing in the open doorway. I glanced into the house, but Brynn had disappeared. “What the hell are the Protectors doing working with the FBI?”

“It’s a long story, and I planned to explain it all when you got here.”

“You didn’t think I’d want to know a detail like thatbeforehand?”

“Oh, I knew you would,” River said breezily. “Trace and I figured you’d get your panties in a bunch. That’s why we decided to brief you when you arrived instead.”

I muttered a string of curses. “’Cause you knew it would be harder for me to say no. Asshole.”

He didn’t even have the courtesy to look sorry about it. I should’ve expected this kind of deception from River and Trace. They were ex-CIA.

But my buddy Aiden?Solo?

I’d been tight with Aiden since our Army days. Neither of us were fun-loving, gregarious types, and we’d appreciated that about each other, even though our paths in the servicehad diverged. Aiden had gotten out as soon as possible, while I’d meant to stay in until retirement.

Obviously, that hadn’t happened. But after I’d been wounded, his mom and sisters had sent me care packages.

Then the previous spring, about a year ago, Aiden had asked me to come to Hartley and lend the Protectors my tracking ability. I’d been happy to help an old friend. Hell, I’d shown up for his girlfriend Jessi’s birthday to see them get engaged. This was how he repaid me?

“Did Aiden know about this clever plan of yours?” I asked.

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