Page 178 of Her Defiant Warrior

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The applause died down, and now it was Lainey’s turn. Mateo reached out with his left hand and touched her shoulder. “You’ve got this, beautiful.”

She gave him a grateful smile as she stood up.

There’s still hope.

Her toast was sweet, funny, and kind, just like her. The applause was loud.

It didn’t totally mask Trey’s shriek of pain as Mateo broke his middle finger.

He’d have preferred his thumb, but in order to break Trey’s thumb, he’d have to use two hands. Mateo broke Trey’s finger with one hand by isolating it and twisting it backward, which he did easily.

People at the two tables closest to the dais turned their attention from Lainey to Trey. However, after seeing him slumped across the table, everybody just assumed he was drunk.

Lainey looked over at Trey, who was sobbing with Bennett shaking him. Mateo gripped her elbow and said, “it’s time to go.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You’re right. It is.”

24

“Who are you?” Lainey asked as soon as her bedroom door was shut behind them.

Matt didn’t immediately respond.

Lainey stalked to the middle of the room and turned around, her eyes blazing as she stared at the man she loved, a man she thought she knew. “Let’s make this easier. I’ll tell you what I know, and you tell me when I’m wrong.”

“My name is⁠—”

“Uh-nuh. Not your turn. Your name is Mateo Aranda, and you’re in the Navy. That’s courtesy of Captain Hale. Should have known you weren’t a scientist when I saw your watch was set to military time and the minute you said you were going to rip off someone’s head and shit down their neck.”

“Lainey, you know you don’t want to be swearing,” Matt protested.

She started to tremble, so she crossed her arms over her chest. “Stop right there. You have no right. No right whatsoever to pretend to know what I want or don’t want. You’ve been playing me since the beginning. You’re a liar.”

“Stop right there. Just stop.” Matt rushed forward and settled his hands on her shoulders.

She threw them off.

“Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare touch me. Matt Agular the scientist can touch me. He’s the man I fell in love with. Not some liar.”

“I’m the same man,” Matt insisted.

“I’m right, aren’t I? Mateo Aranda is your real name, isn’t it?” She hissed the question into his face.

“Yes.”

“You’re in the Navy?”

“Yes.”

“What do you do for the Navy?”

“I’m a Navy SEAL.”

“Why would someone special forces need to pretend to be someone else and get to know me? Why would—?” Her eyes got wide as saucers. “You did something to make my tire go flat, didn’t you? You actually did that. You were lying to me from the first word you ever spoke.”

“I had to. We needed to find out if you were working with the Kraken.”