Iron Willed Warrior (Last Refuge Protectors #5)

4. Brynn

CHAPTER FOUR

Brynn

Cole’s lip curled. “You?”

River squinted at us both, glancing between us. “What’s going on, exactly?”

“He’s the guy. The one who helped me change my flat tire and then hit on me.”

Cole scowled. “I didn’t hit on you.”

“You pointed at your crotch and said you have ‘good equipment.’”

Keira’s jaw dropped. River’s head slowly swiveled toward the other man. “Dude. Seriously?”

“Whoa!” Cole held up his hands, taking a quick step forward. “That’s not what happened.”

“Now you’re calling me a liar? Wonderful.” I spun and went back into the house.

Footsteps pounded after me. “Hold on a minute.” Cole followed me into the kitchen. Larger than life, and even more imposing because he was so out of place here among Keira’s cute, welcoming decor. “Are you telling me this undercover op for the Protectors is with you ?”

“It was with me. Not anymore. I’m not working with you. ”

Eventually, everyone showed their true colors. And this afternoon by the side of the road, Cole had shown me his. No way could I go into a dangerous undercover op with a guy like that.

“Hell, I never said I’d work with you,” he barked. “I don’t know a single damn thing about you except that you’ve got the wrong idea about me.”

“First impressions speak volumes. I need an undercover partner I can trust with my life. Not someone who’ll try to cop a feel.”

River strode into the kitchen, Keira on his heels. “Okay, kids,” River said. “There’s been some kind of misunderstanding. Let’s take a minute to breathe.”

Cole and I glared at one another, chests heaving. Breathing was not the issue.

“Brynn, this is Cole Bailey, also known as Lynx. Cole, this is Special Agent Brynn Somerton. FBI.”

If anything, Cole looked even more disgusted.

“Former FBI,” I corrected. “Officially.”

Cole turned his glare on his friend. “You didn’t say anything about this op being with the FBI.”

River shrugged. “I told you we were taking down Stillwater. You said you were in. We were saving the details for when you arrived.”

“Hell of a detail to omit. I’m not working with a Fed. Find someone else.”

I nodded. “Works for me. Find me another partner. Not him.”

River threw his hands up in exasperation. “There is no one else. Not on the schedule we’re working with.”

“Maybe you two could discuss what happened earlier?” Keira said softly. “Five minutes. Couldn’t possibly hurt. Then we can address the FBI thing.”

I glanced over at Cole. He side-eyed me .

He went to the back door. Opened it. Looked at me like he expected me to go first.

“After you,” I said.

Grumbling, he went into Keira’s backyard, and I closed the door lightly on my way out.

Cole spun to face me. “For fuck’s sake, I didn’t point at my crotch.”

“I saw what I saw.”

“And yet you didn’t see the whole picture.” He bent and lifted the hem of his jeans on one leg, revealing the metal rod of a prosthetic leg. “ This is the good equipment I was referring to.”

My lips parted, but words failed me.

I had…not expected that.

But when I recalled the incident earlier, what he’d said… Okay, maybe I’d misinterpreted. The gesture hadn’t been directly at his crotch. But still.

“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 what you think 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 “good equipment” 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 to your foot. 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.”

“ Agent Somerton.”

“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.”

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.