Page 48 of Iron Willed Warrior

“I know. I can smell it.” I leaned closer and breathed him in. Partly because we still had an audience over in the cabana. But partly just…because.

“I’m good, B.”

He wasn’t used to being undercover. But he had plenty of experience with plans going to shit. So it didn’t surprise me that he was already shaking off the bump in our schedule. If Westwick was early, we would adjust. We could handle anything that came our way. I believed that.

Except maybe this insistent chemistry between us. It was confusing and overwhelming, and I couldn’t seem to avoid it. No matter how much I’d been trying to.

I still had my fingers in his hair. Cole took my hand by the wrist and tugged it gently down. Okay, message received. He didn’t want me touching him unless absolutely necessary. Maybe I’d been laying it on a bit thick today.

I had a thing for this guy. A stupid, inconvenient crush. Itcould become a problem if I let it, so Iwouldn’tlet it. I’d made a rule for myself. When we were alone, I had to steer clear. For my own sanity, not to mention the sake of the mission.

Yet my eyes wandered over him. He’d rolled up his sleeves, revealing those sexy tattoos on his forearms. An eagle in flight on the right side, and on his left, the wordsAlways Endeavor.

“Introduce me to your friends, Brianna.” Cole smirked. “I’ll decide if they’re worthy of you.”

In other words, back to our cover story. “Sure, baby. Whatever you want.”

The skin around his eyes tightened, almost a flinch, and I had no idea what it meant.

I spun on the ball of my strappy sandal and made my way back to the cabana. I managed not to react when I felt his warm hand slide into mine.

At moments like this, our cover stories gave me the perfect excuse to give in to temptation. Even if Cole didn’t seem to enjoy the contact. He’d been acting uncomfortable since we’d arrived at the resort. He was attracted to me. That much was obvious. I’d seen the way he admired my body just now in my bikini. That hunger in his gaze. But he didn’twantto be attracted to me. And that, I could sympathize with. This would be easier if I weren’t attracted to him either.

We stepped into the cabana. It was raised from the rest of the pool area, the sides draped with white fabric that billowed in the slight breeze. Every eye turned toward us.

“Hi again, everyone.” I hugged his arm, tugging him closer. “Cameron just got word about a sponsor pulling out of a collaboration with me, and he gets very defensive on my behalf.” I smiled at him, fluttering my lashes. “Baby, I told them all about how you’re my manager.”

He grunted some kind of response, which was good enough. I planned to talk enough for the both of us.

The tactical part of my brain wanted to know if Westwick had really arrived early, and why. Why had the man scheduled this seminar at the last minute, only to change his plans? Hopefully River could work his magic and find out more. Same with Stanford and the task force, though I’d have to be more careful there.

I was anxious for the next piece of intel for our mission. But right now, I had to act natural. So did Cole. We had to sell this.

I went around introducing Cole, or rather Cameron, to the four people I’d met so far, all of them already profiled as attendees of the small business seminar. The most outspoken was Molly, a woman in her fifties from Dallas with the teased hair to match. She was here with her husband, co-owner of her chain of bakeries that she hoped to expand with Westwick’s entrepreneurial advice.

It frustrated me that these kind people were paying money to hear someone like Garon Westwick speak. I didn’t like lying to them either. Putting on this show as Brianna and being something I wasn’t. But if everything went well, these resort guests would have no idea we’d lied. They could go home in blissful ignorance. No clue that they’d come so close to an evil organization like Stillwater.

And Cole wouldn’t need to know I’d been updating SAC Stanford this whole time, either. I’d brought the burner phone Stanford had given me. It was inside a sock in the hotel room, hidden from my partner and password protected. Another lie to dig at my conscience. But it was a practical one.

If we got desperate enough to need FBI backup, Cole would thank me.

We settled back onto the couch, me tucked against Cole’sside and practically in his lap. I draped my arm around his shoulders, feeling him tense up as he had been all day. Well, he was just going to have to get used to it.

“Cameron, isn’t it a bit unusual for you to be dating Brianna if she’s your client?” Molly asked. “Or am I mistaken about that? Especially since you’re so much more mature than her?” She put an emphasis on the wordmature. According to our covers, he was supposed to have about fifteen years on me.

Molly had mentioned that she had a daughter in college, and I’d gotten the sense that she was a mama bear type. From the way she had her eyes narrowed at Cole, our cover story was working. They’d accepted me as the young, naive twenty-something with a domineering jerk for a boyfriend.

“Isn’t it rude for you to ask bullshit questions like that?”

Molly huffed, looking to her husband to defend her, but her other half was sucking down the rest of his rum runner.

“Don’t mind Cam,” I said. “He can be nice when he wants. I guess he bewitched me.” I dragged my fingertip down the back of his neck.

Cole’s eyes locked with mine, full of intensity. That look of his that could drive me wild. It tugged at something deep within me like a magnet.

Damn the man. He was so uncomfortable with me one moment, then hit me with that lust-filled gaze the next. Knocking me off balance.

Neither of us noticed at first when the others’ heads turned, and new voices spoke on the patio. Excitement filled my veins, along with something uglier. More bloodthirsty.

---