Page 80 of My Temptation

Getting in the SUV, I slammed the door and waited for her to jog around to her side. Once she was inside, I started the engine and pulled out of the parking space while she talked.

“I knew what I was doing,” she explained. “We need in the back room, and agreeing to dance is the only way that’s going to happen.”

I turned out of the parking lot onto the road that would take us back to the hotel, hoping like hell that I’d be driving out of this town by tomorrow.

“Ethan.” She laid her hand on my arm. “You know as well as I do that something big is happening in that place, and Samson is involved. If we get him for this, we'll hopefully be able to find out why he wants Beth.”

“At what cost?” I narrowed my eyes and briefly glanced at her. “Do you have any idea what could’ve happened to you in there without backup?”

“I was prepared for that.”

“Prepared to be raped?” I raised my voice. “Prepared to be drugged or beaten while I was on the other side of the door, not able to help you?”

When she didn’t reply, I glanced at her again and noticed she stared out the windshield. Something occurred to me at that moment. “Has that happened to you?”

“I wasn’t raped,” she answered quietly. “But I was in a situation where I was assaulted for saying no to one of the MC members.”

“What kind of assault?”

“He gave me a black eye after I kicked him in the nuts for groping me. Honestly, I was lucky the president of that club didn’t throw me out right then.”

“Where the fuck was Nick?”

“This happened right after I was brought in. I’d only just ‘met’ Nick.” She used her fingers to make air quotes. “We weren’t dating yet.”

“What the hell did Nick do about it?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing!” I yelled.

She sighed. “Ethan, you don’t understand undercover work. He couldn’t have done anything about it. He would’ve blown his cover so I didn’t tell him. I told my handler who called Nick with orders that we were to start dating.”

“Did he explain why?”

“Yeah, but I’d told him not to. I didn’t want anything to ruin the case Nick was building.” She shifted in her seat to face me. “Look, I was trained for this. We all are. Every agent knows the danger we put ourselves in, and we accept it so we can catch the scumbags we’re hunting.”

“Why the hell would you want that job?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “To prove to my father that I was capable, I guess.”

“Did you tell him what happened?”

“Yeah,” she answered quietly.

“What did he say?”

“He said it's part of the job, and if I couldn’t handle it, then I needed to turn in my resignation.”

I shook my head in disbelief over the shit I was hearing. Her own fucking father refused to protect her.

“We’re so close to getting him, Ethan, we can’t give up now.”

I pulled into the parking lot of the hotel and parked the SUV before turning off the engine and shifting to face her. “I’m done, Mila. I wasn’t just saying that because I was pissed. I won’t stand by and watch you put yourself in those situations. It’s not who I am. I’m never going to let you go into that room alone. If you try, I’ll blow our cover, so I’ll call Brody and tell him to send you someone else.”

Her shoulders dropped while I talked. “I don’t want a different partner.”

“You can work that out with Brody.”

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