Chapter 3 #2
“Your sister is the ugly one. She proved that by opening her mouth and spewing that garbage about you loud enough for everyone to hear. That’s all she wanted. Attention. As far as I’m concerned, out of the two of you, you’re the real beauty here.”
“Shadow,” Echo said from behind him.
Turning, Shadow saw his teammate looking toward the stage, and he nodded his head toward whoever was up there.
Ayla was taking her turn at practicing her performance…dancing, which was most of the women’s chosen talent.
“I don’t think I need to tell you this, but do your best to stay away from your sister. She purposely made a scene, and I’m guessing she’s gotten really good at making sure she’s the center of attention at all times.”
“I will, and you’re right.”
Shadow didn’t know what it was about this woman that made him want to stay there and keep talking with her.
She hadn’t even said much, and yet he felt drawn to her.
He wanted to know everything about her. She was obviously at the pageant to work.
She mentioned doing something with the outfits some of the contestants were wearing.
Suddenly, he wanted to know all about it.
He was usually the standoffish one. The one who didn’t care about small talk.
Who was always completely focused on whatever job he was doing.
But he found it extremely difficult to walk away from her and turn his attention to the surrounding area.
To look for threats against the VP’s daughter, who was on the stage and could be a potential target for anyone who wanted to make some kind of political statement.
Shadow managed to keep his gaze from returning to Brinley for a few moments, before giving in to the inevitable.
She was now standing over by the other side of the stage, talking to a tall dark-skinned woman he’d seen earlier, wearing a sash that stated she was from Nigeria.
Brinley was on her knees in front of her, fiddling with the hem of the woman’s skirt.
Her brow was furrowed and she was biting her lip as she concentrated on whatever she was doing to the material.
“That was interesting,” Echo drawled, making Shadow jerk his gaze from Brinley to his teammate.
“What was?”
“The spat, you, the bitch, the seamstress…all of it.”
“Whatever.”
“Seriously. I’ve never seen you lose focus in the middle of a mission before. Even that one time when you were grazed by that bullet, you didn’t slow down. Simply continued on as if blood wasn’t dripping down the side of your head like someone had opened a faucet and left it running full blast.”
“I haven’t lost focus,” Shadow protested.
“Uh-huh. How many men just entered the back of the room then?”
Turning, Shadow saw that, indeed, he’d completely missed the trio of men who’d entered.
He recognized them as being members of the pageant staff, so they weren’t any kind of threat to Ayla, who was still dancing onstage, but he frowned in aggravation anyway.
He shouldn’t’ve missed them. His lapse in concentration could’ve gotten someone killed.
“Relax, Shadow. I’ve got your back. And I don’t blame you. She’s cute.”
His friend was smirking now, and all Shadow could do was shake his head. “That’s not why we’re here.”
“Of course not, but I haven’t seen you look twice at a chick in a hell of a long time. And the fact that you did so now, in the middle of an op, tells me that she’s different.”
“Drop it, Echo.”
“All right, all right. But if the opportunity arises, maybe you can get to know her a little better.”
“I mean it—shut the hell up.”
Echo pressed his lips together, but Shadow could see the humor in his eyes.
The thing was, his friend wasn’t wrong. Shadow hadn’t been the least bit interested in dating anyone in longer than he cared to admit.
But there was something about Brinley that still had him fighting not to stare.
She was clearly used to being disparaged because of her looks—which was asinine; there wasn’t a damn thing ugly about her—but she was also very capable of looking after herself.
She did a great job of not letting her sister’s words get to her.
And thinking back to what she’d said, she was obviously here because she was great at her job. If some of the other contestants hired her, and paid her way, just to personally make sure their clothes were perfect, she had to be in high demand.
Yes. He was officially intrigued.
Brinley had stirred something deep within him.
A need to protect. To get to know her. To find out what made her tick.
But this assignment was only for a week.
They’d go their separate ways after that.
And he lived in one of the coldest places in the US.
Fairbanks wasn’t exactly on anyone’s bucket list of dream places they wanted to visit, let alone live.
Granted, he wouldn’t always be there, as the Army could and would move his team wherever they felt they were needed after their current contract was up… but still.
The fact that he’d even thought for one second about a woman moving to Alaska to be near him, told Shadow just how much the short conversation with Brinley had affected him.
Fuck.
The question now…what was he going to do about it?