Page 69 of Ruthless Wars

“Did you ask me here to mess with me?” Coop glares down at me. “Another one of your games, showing off your husband?”

The accusation doesn’t sit well with me. After all, he’s the one interrupting me and my lovefest with pretzel bites.

“I’m not trying to do anything with you, Coop. You made your position clear. I’m just enjoying the day with a friend and some pretzels.” I shake the cup of pretzels at him, then pop one in my mouth for effect. And also for my utter love of carbs.

Coop scoffs. “Right. In front of my gym. Where you asked to speak with me. I didn’t realize it was to flaunt your status.” He glares at my friend. “You couldn’t even buy her a ring?”

Confused, I frown. “I didn’t ask you here.”

“Really?” Coop tugs a note from a pocket that’s barely an inch from his dick, and it takes me a minute to focus on the note.

Need to see you. Please.

Margot

Unconvinced, I flip the note back at his smug, gorgeous face. “This isn’t my penmanship.”

Irritation bleeds through Coop’s wrinkled expression. “How the hell would I know that? It’s not like I’ve seen you write anything. Who the hell writes notes anymore? And who else would send me that note with bright red lip prints on it?”

Suspiciously, I turn to the apparent schemer. “That’s my shade of lipstick on the note.”

“I had to make it convincing,” the conspirator says, tickled with the confession of having rummaged through my stuff at some point during the day.

When will I learn to keep my purse away from that man?

With a devilish grin, he’s once again extending his hand to Coop.

“Those would be my kissy lips on that note,” my friend says as a very confused Coop reluctantly accepts his hand for a shake. “Hi. I’m not Margot’s husband ... not that she has one at the moment. I’m Paco Robles—the guy who’s going to fix the mess you two have created with your salacious affair.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Coop

I size up the man who looks polished and elegant, has my hand in a firm grip, and is blowing a kiss at me. Paco Robles is infamous, and I want Margot as far away from him as possible.

I square my body in front of him, keeping Margot safe. “She has nothing to do with this.”

“With what?” he asks, easing his shades over his head.

The half-smile Paco beams my way is just enough of a threat from a man whose reputation is well-earned. I don’t know much, but I do know his money was earned the old-fashioned way—as clean-up guy for Alex Drake and his multibillion-dollar empire, DGI.

This man is lethal. And for all I know, Paco is here on behalf of the Alliance to quash all the crazy publicity, one way or another.

“Margot,” I say calmly but with an authority that I hope she understands. “You need to leave. Now. And I need to have a talk with Paco.”

“I really don’t know how many times we need to go over this,” she says, stepping around me to link arms with possibly the most dangerous man I know. “You’re not the boss of me.”

“This isn’t a game, Margot. You don’t know who this man is.”

“Of course, I do,” she says, because at the worst possible time, she just has to argue with me.

Suddenly, I find I don’t care about her marriage, or the publicity, or whatever happens to me with the Alliance. I just want her as far from him as I can get her.

Ripping her away from him, I pull her into me, and Paco reaches out to place a hand on my chest. Even though I’m sure I get a glimpse of a shoulder holster beneath his suit, the way he’s patting me is strangely calming.

“Coop—may I call you Coop? Look, Margot’s not afraid of me because she has nothing to be afraid of. Sometimes my reputation precedes me in unexpected ways. Like, right now.”

His glance washes over the two of us, and I realize I’m holding Margot a little tighter than I should under the circumstances. But I can’t for the life of me let her go.

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