Page 3 of Brooks

“I know all about your verification process, Mr. Miller. I’m also well-acquainted with men like you.”

Here we go. I’d hit a hot button topic for her. Overbearing daddy or husband maybe.

Men like you… I wanted to tell her she’d never met a man like me and that was a goddamn guarantee.

“Oh, yeah? And what kind of man am I, Doll?”

“An overachiever. Demolitions expert. Divemaster. Low and high-altitude jumpmaster. Rappel Master. Fast Rope Master.”

She was missing a few of my quals, and I had to fight the urge to school her on all things Brooks Miller. Like how good I was with my hands, I was top of my class in close quarter combat. My hand techniques were the best around.

And it was more than me knowing hundreds of ways to kill a man without breaking a sweat.

“Glad to see you’ve done your homework. Unfortunately the work-up we received on you was only a paragraph. There was nothing listing your accomplishments.”

“My accomplishments aren’t important. The only thing that’s imperative is you don’t fuck up my op.”

Interesting. She’d laid her cards on the table. The question remained, was it intentional, or had she fucked up?

“Well, Miss Jones. It is Miss, correct? We wouldn’t want to get in your way. I’ll take a quick look around this afternoon and hopefully in a few days we’ll be on our way.”

“It’s actually none-of-your-business,” Tatiana sparred. “I’ll take you out there myself. Tomorrow, oh-five-hundred.”

“You’ll take me out?”

“Good to know all your combat tours haven’t diminished your hearing.”

“What do you know about diving?”

“You’re not the only one with special quals, friend. If we’re done, I have shit to do. I was promised you guys wouldn’t be an issue.”

I wanted to keep pushing the spunky woman, but Declan looked like he was ready to stroke out. We’d been warned not to piss Tatiana off. While the details about her were sketchy at best, the report was clear she knew and had worked with some very important people.

“There will be no issues from us,” Declan confirmed. “Recon and out.”

“Good. I have something scheduled in less than a week. I’d prefer you were gone by then.”

“Ah. You’re kicking us out of your country?” Unable to stop myself I dramatically covered my chest.

Tatiana shook her head, not the least bit amused by my behavior. “With big egos, comes bigger mouths,” she mumbled. “Have a nice afternoon, gentlemen. Mr. Miller, I’ll see you at the docks off fifty-ninth, slip fifteen.”

All I needed was a few hours and I’d wipe the disdain off her pretty face. It wouldn’t take long to show her that my big ego was hard-earned confidence and not bullshit talk.

Tatiana didn’t wait for us to stand before she took her exit. I kind of found that sexy, too.

“Damn, brother, I was having grade school flashbacks.” Kyle chuckled.

“All that was missing was you pulling her hair,” Max threw in.

“Mark this, assholes. If we had more time, I’d be doing more than tugging on Miss Sex Kitten’s curly mane. Holy hell, those legs in those sky-high heels. Hot damn. And that mouth, she can throw some sexy attitude my way anytime,” I told the group.

“Keep your dick in your pants. Recon only,” Declan mumbled.

“Copy that, Boss.”

“Brooks wishes he had time for a quick recon mission.” Thad laughed at his own joke.

We made our way out of the UN annex building, and for once I didn’t feel the need to bitch about the temperature when the heat blasted me in the face. I had better things to think about, like all the ways I could fluster Tatiana Jones.