Dominance Never Dies (Masters and Mercenaries #11)(20)

“I thought there wasn’t anything to talk about.” Unless he was here to commandeer her airplane. She wouldn’t put it past him. “If you think you’re taking this plane…”

Case put a hand up. “That’s not what’s happening.” He set his bag down. “Please, can we talk?”

“You don’t have to talk to him.” Ezra stood solidly beside her. “Why don’t you get on the plane and I’ll take care of this.”

Case ignored him, giving her sad cowboy puppy eyes. “Please, Mia. You kind of owe me since I’m probably infertile after our last encounter.”

She didn’t have to talk to him. She could ignore him and go sit on the plane. This was exactly why she’d hired Ezra. Ezra was here to take care of stuff that annoyed her.

And then the stuff that annoyed her would make that call to Drew if he hadn’t already. He might be here simply to ensure she didn’t take off before he could hand her over. She should probably be happy that Ian and Sean Taggart weren’t standing beside their younger brother.

Instead he’d brought Greg Hutchins and Michael. Hutch, as everyone called him, was a hacker, likely the one who’d caused her delay. He would also be considered the tech guy or the communications specialist on a mission team.

Had he put together his own team? His team. Case’s. If this was Ian Taggart’s team she would be dealing with Adam Miles and Alex McKay. Was he here to take over? Or to work with her?

“You don’t have to talk to him.” Ezra stared at Case. “I’ll explain to Mr. Taggart that you’re uninterested in dealing with him further.”

“I think you should step aside so I can talk to my…” Case stopped, his jaw squaring stubbornly before turning his attention back to her. “Please, Mia. You know how important this is to me.”

And that was why she was going to try to forget what he’d said before. There was more at stake than her ego. “I’ll talk to you if you’ll call off the inspection. The plane is fine and you know it. I have a schedule to keep. You should at least respect that.”

Case glanced toward Hutch, who pulled out his tablet and started working on it. He looked back at Mia. “Done, but you have to know if you get on that plane without me, I’ll be right behind you and I’ll do my damnedest to make sure you don’t get off that plane. I’ll do whatever it takes to see that you go right back to Austin.”

There he was. For a moment, she’d thought he was going to be human. “Or you can go straight to hell.”

Michael shook his head and leaned over. “We have got to work on your delivery.”

Case sighed. “I’m not trying to make this harder.”

“But he’s really good at it,” Hutch said with a smile.

Michael sent Hutch a warning look. “Don’t make this worse for him. What Case is trying to explain is that he’s very concerned for your safety and will do what he needs to do to make sure you don’t get hurt. It’s dangerous for you to go down there by yourself.”

“Is that what you’re trying to say, Case?” Somehow she doubted it.

He held her gaze. “I can’t let you run around Colombia by yourself.”

Ezra settled his bag over his muscular shoulder. “Then you can rest easy, Taggart. She’s got me. I’ll take care of her and you can go do whatever it is you do.”

“And who the f*ck are you?” Case turned on the new guy.

If she didn’t deal with Case soon, he might explode and then there would be cops and more delays. “His name is Ezra and he’s the bodyguard I hired. Now let’s talk and get this over with. I have a job to do.”

Case set down his bag, but not before looking back at Hutch. The two went through a silent conversation involving frowns and raised brows before Hutch nodded.

Case turned to her, reaching out and putting a hand on her elbow. “I want to talk to you in private.”

“She can be private with me,” Ezra insisted. It looked like he was taking his job seriously.

Mia held up a hand. “It’s fine. He won’t hurt me. He remembers how good I am at defending myself.”

Before there could be more arguments, she let Case lead her toward the plane. The wind whipped at her hair and she shivered a bit.

Case took off the light jacket he was wearing and settled it over her shoulders. “I was a dick earlier tonight and I apologize. You…god, Mia, you have to know what you do to me.”

She wanted to shove his jacket back at him, but the minute he’d put it on her, she’d gotten warm and she could smell the masculine scent of his aftershave. “What I do to you? I’m looking for your brother. I’m trying to do something good.”

“I wasn’t talking about that. I was talking about…it’s hard for me to be around you. I get weird.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want you to get weird.”

“I’m f*cking this up. I’m not smooth so let’s just start over.” He took a deep breath and put his hands on her shoulders. “I was a dick and I should have thanked you and asked how I could help. Mia, you did a phenomenal job. You did something the rest of us haven’t been able to do for months. Let me and Hutch and Michael go with you. We’ll lay low, but this is important to me and beyond finding Theo, I want to make sure you’re safe.”