Dominance Never Dies (Masters and Mercenaries Book 11) by Lexi Blake

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 fuck 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 fucking 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.”
    “Why do you care if I’m safe?”
    “You know why.”
    She totally didn’t. “I don’t understand you at all.”
    “I’ve thought about this. Maybe you were right and we should…I don’t know…try it out. I know that I’m not going to be satisfied until I know how good it could be between the two of us.”
    Anger flared through her system. “You prick. You have a girlfriend, Case. You can’t expect me to fuck you on the side.”
    He flushed. “I don’t. Baby, I lied about that because I was embarrassed and I didn’t want you to think I’d been…I don’t…pathetic and alone.” He turned and yelled out. “Michael, do I have a girlfriend?”
    There was a loud snort. “He’s a pathetic, lonely dude, Mia. Not even a hookup in like a year or so.”
    He couldn’t possibly be serious. “Why would you lie?”
    One big shoulder shrugged. “Why did you kiss me when you had a fiancé?”
    It was her turn to flush. He knew about that? “I broke up with him.”
    “But you kissed me. You let me think you were single. You put me in a position I can’t stand.”
    His words hurt because they were so very true. She hadn’t meant to fall for him, hadn’t meant to do anything but investigate. “I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t make it right, Case. But kissing you that night made me understand I couldn’t marry Jeff. I didn’t even argue it in my head.