Iron Willed Warrior (Last Refuge Protectors #5)

14. Brynn

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Brynn

Cole was on edge, and I didn’t like it.

I feathered the longer strands of hair on top of his head. “Do you need a cigarette? I can get you one.”

His eyes closed briefly. “Already had one today.”

“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. It could become a problem if I let it, so I wouldn’t let 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 words Always 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’t want to 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’s side 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 word mature . 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.

Garon Westwick, the leader of Stillwater, stood just a few yards away. His ash-blond hair was slicked back from his face, his chinos neatly pressed. So unassuming. Like a suburban dad more than a high-powered investor. Certainly nothing like what you’d expect a dark-web criminal mastermind to be.

But that was how men like him always operated. Right there in plain sight, pretending to be righteous, hiding their evil behind closed doors as if their power would always protect them.

I’d thought so many times about how this moment would go. Should I hang back, play the shy card? Wait for him to notice me? But as I sat there, I knew that was the wrong way to go.

Cole put his hand on my knee, his palm hot against my bare skin. Like he already knew what I planned to do and wanted to stop me. But I was going to follow my instincts.

I jumped up and walked straight over to him. “Mr. Westwick, right? Sorry, I just couldn’t wait to meet you. I’m Brianna Waverley. I’m signed up for your seminar.”

Westwick had been chatting quietly with Donovan Ryker, his head of security, who towered over the other man. As soon as I approached, they went silent. I’d been careful to leave my cover-up hanging open, my bikini on full display. Westwick did a quick sweep of my body, and his clean-shaven face broke into a grin.

“Miss Waverley. Yes, I’m Garon. I’m happy to meet someone who’s excited to hear me speak. I hope I live up to it.” He laughed self-deprecatingly. Both his hands closed around mine, and I worked hard to keep my smile in place, though I was cringing with disgust on the inside.

I had looked killers in the face before. As a special agent, I had interrogated them. Heard them recount, with no remorse and a charming smile, the monstrous things they had done. I saw that same glassiness in Westwick’s dilated pupils right now. Dead eyes that hid the depths of cruelty beneath. This was the guy who’d ordered kidnappers and killers to go after my best friend .

Oh, I was going to enjoy taking him down.

“It’s a pleasure,” I said.

“I promise, the pleasure is all mine.”

Cole came up behind me. I felt his hand rest protectively on my waist, his body angling next to mine, as if he wanted to be sure he was in place to step in front of me at a moment’s notice.

“Mr. Westwick, this is my manager and boyfriend. Cameron Clay.”

“Cameron, is it?”

“That’s right,” Cole said.

The head of Stillwater shook Cole’s hand. The men’s knuckles turned white as they gripped each other’s fingers. Behind his boss, Ryker shifted closer.

Molly and her husband hurried over to meet Westwick and ask questions about the upcoming event on Saturday. Cole’s arm snaked around my waist and his hand splayed on my bare stomach. He subtly pulled me back from the group.

“You could’ve given me some warning you were going to do that,” he murmured into my ear. “You ran straight for him.”

“I had to make sure he noticed me.”

“Oh trust me, he did.”

After a few minutes, Westwick clapped his hands together. “I’d love to have you all join me for dinner tonight. My treat.” He’d included everyone in our group, but his eyes connected with mine as he spoke, like it was an invitation directly to me.

“That was way too easy.”

Cole paced across the room in his long black pants and cream linen shirt. I swiped mascara onto my lashes in the bathroom mirror.

“I planned everything about my appearance and cover story to appeal to him. Is it that surprising that Westwick took the bait?”

“But I was standing right there. You would think he’d be a touch more subtle about it. The guy already has designs on my girlfriend after meeting you for all of five minutes.”

I chuckled. Cole sounded like he was taking personal offense. Like this wasn’t exactly what we’d wanted. “I did my best to give him the right signals. You should be glad I know what I’m doing.” Westwick wasn’t the type to get pulled in by a femme fatale. I had to make him believe I was a sweet ingenue who looked up to him for his business success. All the better for him to take advantage of me.

Yuck . I tasted bile in my mouth.

But soon, if this all went well, the state and federal authorities would have enough evidence against the man to put him away for good and shut down Stillwater forever.

Cole grumbled something inaudible as he paced.

I finished with my makeup and fluffed my hair. I really wasn’t used to the blond, and the texture was off too from the bleach. “Westwick moved up his timetable for a reason, and I doubt it was for more vacation time. We have no idea how the rest of his schedule might change. He might even leave the resort earlier than we expected. We have to take this chance at him while we’ve got it.”

Cole stopped in the doorway to the bathroom, visible behind me in the mirror. “I agree. But is it possible, even remotely, that any of your double agents inside Stillwater tipped off Ryker and his security team? Could we have walked into a trap?”

His concern was valid. Cole was asking the same questions I’d been asking myself. It would be foolish if we didn’t consider it. But I’d already dismissed it.

“No. Our sources inside Stillwater never spoke to me directly. They would have no idea about my cover identity or that you were involved. Besides that, the FBI has a very tight leash on all our double agents.”

But I would have to confirm it with Stanford though. Make sure our double agents were still cooperating and accounted for. I just hated doing that behind Cole’s back.

“You know…I could touch base with the task force,” I suggested, testing the waters.

But he leveled a glare in the mirror. “No way. Let’s wait to hear back from River. See what he can find out through his channels. The FBI is far more likely to charge in here and make a mess of this, while screwing us over in the process.”

“Except I trust them.”

“And I don’t . We already agreed this is a Protectors op only.”

I exhaled, summoning patience. Yes, we’d agreed. And we had contacted River about Westwick’s early appearance at the resort. River had promised to look into it. Since Cole was so uptight about anyone associated with the FBI, I would discreetly text Stanford my update later.

What else could we do right now, aside from continue trying to get access to Westwick?

I turned around and smoothed my hands over Cole’s shirt. His spine went rigid. “Relax. Your nice clothes are getting wrinkled from all your fussing.”

“I don’t fuss.”

My palms ran over his broad chest. Why did the man have to be so sexy, even when he was being impossible? His tongue traced his lower lip, and I backed away.

“There. All set.” I grabbed my purse, which held Brianna’s phone and room key. Of course, the flash drive River had given me was hidden inside the lining, along with a multi-purpose adapter that would connect to Westwick’s phone and other devices. If I had a chance tonight to upload River’s virus, I had to be ready.

“Wait,” Cole said.

I turned around.

He brought his hands to the shoulders of my dress. It was made of semi-sheer fabric, just flirty enough to tease the outlines of my undergarments beneath. He tucked my bra straps in. Then he carefully lifted his hands away, avoiding any other contact.

“Now we can go.”

“Thanks.” I opened the door, ignoring the thickness in my throat.