Dominance Never Dies (Masters and Mercenaries #11)(19)

She wasn’t some pathetic doormat. She was Mia Lawless Danvers. She’d covered war zones. Hell, she’d started a few in smaller, less stable countries. Case Taggart could bite her ass.

The pilot shrugged. “No idea. It was weird, but the airport won’t let us go without maintenance signing off on the plane. I thought I’d taken care of all that in Austin. They’re working on it now. And your bodyguard is here.”

“Good.” She wasn’t entirely foolish. Bran really would check on her so she’d called around and found her own bodyguard in the two hours since she’d left Case Taggart cupping his own balls. She hadn’t even looked on Craigslist or anything. She had contacts and one of them happened to be in town.

Not that she’d met Ezra Fain before. He was a friend of a friend and apparently was hard up for some cash, had a valid passport, and could travel to South America on a moment’s notice. According to her friend, he was ex-special forces and a little down on his luck.

As long as he could watch her back and mostly stay out of her way, she was cool. The only reason she’d hired Ezra Fain was to please her brother. When it came time to meet Tony, she would go in alone, and now she didn’t have to fight anyone on that.

She was the boss and she would call the shots. This Ezra guy was probably in his fifties or sixties, a kindly older man. Hopefully he would be a good traveling companion. She would like the company. It would take her mind off her hormones and how wretchedly she’d screwed up with Case.

“Ms. Danvers?”

She turned, ready to greet her last-minute hero, and her jaw dropped.

The man in front of her had to be six foot three and looked like he’d just walked off a movie screen. Tall, dark, ridiculously handsome, with sensual lips and the clearest, bluest eyes she’d ever seen. His hair was pitch black and cropped close. He had a sexy scruff covering his jaw.

Maybe he wasn’t the bodyguard. Shit. Had her brother sent someone? “Yes? I’m Mia Danvers.”

He gave her a smile that was sure to melt the panties off a nun. “Ezra Fain. I’m happy to meet you. Hell, I’m happy to be hired by you. I’ve heard we have some kind of delay. Should I look into that?”

Why couldn’t the military recruit unattractive men? She was one hundred percent sure that they did but she had yet to find one of the f*ckers. Her first instinct was to tell him to go home, but she didn’t have time to find someone else. It was too bad she hadn’t told her friend the bodyguard she hired couldn’t look like a sex god.

But hey, he wasn’t Case Taggart so she very likely was safe.

Why had he been such an ass?

“No, I think it’s routine.” Maybe she could grease the wheels a little. Pay the maintenance guys to get this done in a hurry. “I’m going to talk to the manager. I’m sure it’s nothing important.”

His glorious eyes turned serious. “Or one of the Taggart brothers is f*cking with you. When I found out the plane had been delayed, I’m afraid I did a little check of my own. Someone hacked into the airport’s system about an hour ago and sent those orders in. You do have ties to them, right? I assume they want to delay you for some reason.”

She felt her eyes widen. “Who are you?”

His lips curled up. “I’m your bodyguard, Mia. I’m also very smart when it comes to dealing with men like the Taggarts. They can be…ruthless. You have to work smart to get around them. I do some work for a rival company. We keep tabs on them. That’s how I knew about your relationship with McKay-Taggart. I was surprised you wouldn’t call them. That led me to believe you’re doing something they don’t like. They can be a bit forceful when they want to.”

What was Case doing? “Is there any way to countermand what he did so we could leave on time?”

“I can certainly try. I’m a fairly decent hacker myself. Or we can bribe maintenance to speed the process along.”

She turned and saw that the need was likely gone. Shit. Case was stalking toward her, his big body in the same jeans and T-shirt she’d left him in earlier. He wasn’t alone. She recognized Hutch and Michael Malone. They were all carrying duffel bags. She’d seen Michael in the hallway of Case’s building as she’d made her getaway, but she certainly hadn’t stopped to talk to the man. He was Case’s best friend. He wasn’t going to give her advice on how to handle him.

So why were they here? What was going on?

“Looks like we have company. Did you work out your differences?” Ezra turned, placing himself securely next to her. “Should I consider myself fired?”

Did she want to be alone with a guy she’d recently kicked in the balls and his ex-special forces friends without any backup of her own? “Nope. Our differences are still going strong. I have no idea why he’s here. I think I might need you even more than I thought.”

Case’s expression changed the minute he saw the man she was standing with. That gorgeous face of his changed from blank to fierce in a moment, his eyes narrowing. “Who the hell is this, Mia?”

Michael put a hand on his shoulder and leaned over, whispering something in Case’s ear when he stopped. Case’s eyes rolled, but when he looked back her way, he seemed to school his expression. “What I meant to say is hello, Mia. I’m genuinely sorry about our last encounter and can we have a talk?”