Dominance Never Dies (Masters and Mercenaries #11)(72)

Mia began making her way across the room, trying to keep a serene smile on her face as she walked away from Hutch.

Case trusted her to do the one thing he couldn’t do himself, but he didn’t trust her to sit her ass in a motel room with a bodyguard?

It was ridiculous. She had to face the fact that she felt more for him than he did for her. She was in love with him, but all she was to him was a convenient lay. He might check in with her from time to time when he was at loose ends. He might even offer to play with her, but he wasn’t ever going to be serious about a woman he could dismiss so easily.

No matter what he said, his actions spoke volumes. He was so eager to get rid of her, he was actively putting his brother’s investigation in jeopardy.

And still she had to acknowledge if he’d said anything about loving her, she would have hopped on the plane and been the good little girl, waiting for her man to come home. If he’d said a damn thing about needing her, she would have kissed him good-bye.

He’d just said she was a distraction and he didn’t need one of those.

He’d been cold. Not at all the warm lover she’d quickly grown addicted to.

It wasn’t the first time a man had lied to get a woman to do what he wanted. She’d basically offered herself up. Need to get off? Mia will spread her legs for you. Need to let off some steam? Spank Mia. She likes it. Want to move your mission forward but don’t have any cash? Mia will write you a check as long as you kiss her and make her think you care about her.

Maybe it was the leftover pleading of a child who’d been so loved one moment and alone and shoved into a cold world by herself the next. Maybe she would always be that six-year-old girl wishing her parents weren’t dead, praying someone else would love her because her brothers had been taken from her, too.

She plastered a smile on her face. Get through the next thirty minutes and she could figure out what to do. It wouldn’t be going back to Austin. If Case didn’t want her help, she would find someone who did. She would pursue her leads and feed them to Ian Taggart. She would do it via computer. There was no way she was getting back into that circle again. It was far too dangerous.

Then she would work on her brothers’ plans. God knew revenge was going to take up a good portion of her time in the coming months.

Perhaps making the people who’d killed her parents pay would take her mind off the cowboy who didn’t want her.

“Hi, I was wondering if there was a place I could make a call from.” She made sure she was standing in a way that forced the guard to turn away from Hutch. “My cell can’t find a signal here.”

“Very good,” Case said in her ear. She wished his voice wasn’t so damn sexy. “Just a few minutes more and we’ll have you out of there.”

And out of his life.

The guard looked down and she was surprised by the perfect English he spoke. “We’re kind of in a dead zone, if you know what I mean. Sorry about that, but if you walk outside, you should be able to get a signal.”

His accent sounded Western to her. Like he’d been taken straight off a Colorado ranch and put into a designer suit. Wasn’t that interesting?

How many Gringos were there according to the papers? Three? Was she currently talking to one of them?

“You’re American?”

He stopped for a moment, a cloud coming over his face, but then he smiled. “Yes. I’m American. Born and raised in New York.”

Not with that laconic drawl he wasn’t.

“You sound like you’re from Colorado or Wyoming.”

Again, his eyes seemed to lose focus, but he recovered more quickly. “Not at all. I’m from upstate New York. Lived there all my life until I left for the military. You’re a lovely woman. Are you here alone?”

“Tell him you have a husband waiting for you and then excuse yourself to find him.” Case didn’t sound quite as calm now. There was an edge to his tone. “Hutch should have gotten to the offices by now. You can rejoin the party until I tell you Hutch is ready to come back out.”

“I came with my brother,” she said, unwilling to stop the conversation. Case couldn’t see what she was seeing. Not all intel was found on a computer. “I seem to have lost him, but that’s okay. I found the only other American here.”

“What are you doing, Mia?”

It was annoying to have Case in her ear, judging her every choice. Maybe she was better off on her own.

The big guard stared down at her. “There are two more. My brothers. We all work here.”

Something about the way he said brothers made her wary. His eyes had lit briefly when he’d said the words.

It was time to use her assets to get a little more information. She gave him what she hoped was her best flirty look, eyes up, bottom lip out just a bit. “Are they all as big as you?”

His lips curved up, a perfectly arrogant look. “They’re tiny compared to me. I’m afraid I got all the muscle in our family.”

“Mia, you walk away right now,” Case growled. “You think this is making me jealous? It’s not. It’s making me pissed off that you can’t follow orders. This is exactly why I’m shipping you home as fast as I can.”

“How did three New York boys end up in Cartagena?” She ignored Case. This man very likely knew Theo. If she was right, he worked with Theo. Tony had talked about Hope McDonald gathering a small group of men she was turning into her own personal army. This was bigger than just Theo. This could have ramifications that went beyond one family.