Page 72 of My Temptation

Her eyebrows rose slightly. “That’s all?”

“Yeah.” I turned away from the door to face her directly. “I was texting with Brody when Steve texted me, so Brody already knows about the invite. He said to keep our cool and not get into any situations we can’t control. Just gather information and get the hell out.”

She smirked. “We’re doing more than that if we get past the guards in that place.”

“Mila—”

She held up her palm in my direction. “If we get a chance to get in that room, I’m taking it. You can guard the door if it makes you feel better, but I’m not leaving without something.”

I closed my eyes for a moment before crossing the room toward the bed. Her reaction didn’t surprise me. She wanted in that room last night but agreed when I suggested we leave and regroup. She was always ready for anything, ready to take any door to any room if the information she wanted was on the other side, but I wasn’t as impulsive. Whatever the hell was on the other side of that door was a secret people wanted to keep, and I was worried about how far they’d go to do that. Needing to put some distance between us before I said something I’d regret, I grabbed my shit from my bag and started walking past her toward the bathroom.

She reached out and wrapped her hand around my bicep. “I’m sorry if you don’t agree.”

“It doesn’t matter if I agree, does it?” I shifted my eyes to meet hers. “You’re going to do whatever the fuck you want.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Where the hell is this coming from?”

“You’re already planning to ignore Brody’s orders,” I replied.

She tilted her head to the side. “Don’t you ever just do what feels right, Ethan?”

“Not when it comes to ignoring Elite’s orders,” I answered honestly. “Brody knows what he’s doing.”

“And I don’t.” She dropped her hand and started across the room.

“I didn’t say that, Mila.”

“You didn’t have to, Ethan,” she replied, no longer looking at me.

“I’m not willing to put anyone at risk. Not you and not myself,” I attempted to explain. “I have my sister and niece to protect, and I can’t do that if I do something stupid here and don’t get back to them.”

She spun to face me. “I would never let that happen.”

My voice rose slightly. “You have no idea what we’re walking into tonight, Mila. Samson doesn’t seem to have any problems doing illegal shit. I’m willing to bet that whatever is going on in that bar crosses all kinds of lines that could mean our safety or worse.”

She dropped her head and ran her hand over her still damp hair before facing me again. “I understand that better than you think I do. I’ve spent a lot of time with men like the ones I suspect are in that bar and especially behind that door. I promise not to do anything tonight without discussing it with you first, but I won’t let an opportunity pass us by if it presents itself.”

I studied her closely while she talked. She was passionate about her work, and I trusted her, but the idea of anything happening to her drove me to question her at every turn. I waited, knowing she was about to say more, and I wasn’t wrong.

“I need you to trust me and follow my instincts if what I’m proposing isn’t illegal or a threat to our safety.”

I considered that for a moment. She had good instincts. She’d never led us astray, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t cross lines to get what she wanted. She did that while undercover. I knew she was a part of shit that she couldn’t tell her FBI handler, or she would’ve been pulled from the case immediately. She protected Nick and would never want to be off the case if it meant leaving Nick alone.

She offered me an opportunity to be the voice of reason, and honestly, it was probably the only compromise we could make.

Lifting my head, I met her stare and nodded slowly. “Okay.”

She nodded slightly before moving on. “You know what I was thinking about in the shower?”

My body tightened with the reminder of her being in the shower, but I swallowed and replied, “What?”

“What the hell happened to Jenny and Carl?”

My forehead wrinkled. “I was wondering about that too.”

“It doesn’t make sense that they invited us and then ghosted us, does it?”

“No, but nothing about last night made sense.”

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