She felt her eyes widen. “Who are you?”
His lips curled up. “I’m your bodyguard, Mia. I’m also very smart when it comes to dealing with men like the Taggarts. They can be…ruthless. You have to work smart to get around them. I do some work for a rival company. We keep tabs on them. That’s how I knew about your relationship with McKay-Taggart. I was surprised you wouldn’t call them. That led me to believe you’re doing something they don’t like. They can be a bit forceful when they want to.”
What was Case doing? “Is there any way to countermand what he did so we could leave on time?”
“I can certainly try. I’m a fairly decent hacker myself. Or we can bribe maintenance to speed the process along.”
She turned and saw that the need was likely gone. Shit. Case was stalking toward her, his big body in the same jeans and T-shirt she’d left him in earlier. He wasn’t alone. She recognized Hutch and Michael Malone. They were all carrying duffel bags. She’d seen Michael in the hallway of Case’s building as she’d made her getaway, but she certainly hadn’t stopped to talk to the man. He was Case’s best friend. He wasn’t going to give her advice on how to handle him.
So why were they here? What was going on?
“Looks like we have company. Did you work out your differences?” Ezra turned, placing himself securely next to her. “Should I consider myself fired?”
Did she want to be alone with a guy she’d recently kicked in the balls and his ex-special forces friends without any backup of her own? “Nope. Our differences are still going strong. I have no idea why he’s here. I think I might need you even more than I thought.”
Case’s expression changed the minute he saw the man she was standing with. That gorgeous face of his changed from blank to fierce in a moment, his eyes narrowing. “Who the hell is this, Mia?”
Michael put a hand on his shoulder and leaned over, whispering something in Case’s ear when he stopped. Case’s eyes rolled, but when he looked back her way, he seemed to school his expression. “What I meant to say is hello, Mia. I’m genuinely sorry about our last encounter and can we have a talk?”
“I thought there wasn’t anything to talk about.” Unless he was here to commandeer her airplane. She wouldn’t put it past him. “If you think you’re taking this plane…”
Case put a hand up. “That’s not what’s happening.” He set his bag down. “Please, can we talk?”
“You don’t have to talk to him.” Ezra stood solidly beside her. “Why don’t you get on the plane and I’ll take care of this.”
Case ignored him, giving her sad cowboy puppy eyes. “Please, Mia. You kind of owe me since I’m probably infertile after our last encounter.”
She didn’t have to talk to him. She could ignore him and go sit on the plane. This was exactly why she’d hired Ezra. Ezra was here to take care of stuff that annoyed her.
And then the stuff that annoyed her would make that call to Drew if he hadn’t already. He might be here simply to ensure she didn’t take off before he could hand her over. She should probably be happy that Ian and Sean Taggart weren’t standing beside their younger brother.
Instead he’d brought Greg Hutchins and Michael. Hutch, as everyone called him, was a hacker, likely the one who’d caused her delay. He would also be considered the tech guy or the communications specialist on a mission team.
Had he put together his own team? His team. Case’s. If this was Ian Taggart’s team she would be dealing with Adam Miles and Alex McKay. Was he here to take over? Or to work with her?
“You don’t have to talk to him.” Ezra stared at Case. “I’ll explain to Mr. Taggart that you’re uninterested in dealing with him further.”
“I think you should step aside so I can talk to my…” Case stopped, his jaw squaring stubbornly before turning his attention back to her. “Please, Mia. You know how important this is to me.”
And that was why she was going to try to forget what he’d said before. There was more at stake than her ego. “I’ll talk to you if you’ll call off the inspection. The plane is fine and you know it. I have a schedule to keep. You should at least respect that.”
Case glanced toward Hutch, who pulled out his tablet and started working on it. He looked back at Mia. “Done, but you have to know if you get on that plane without me, I’ll be right behind you and I’ll do my damnedest to make sure you don’t get off that plane. I’ll do whatever it takes to see that you go right back to Austin.”
There he was. For a moment, she’d thought he was going to be human. “Or you can go straight to hell.”
Michael shook his head and leaned over. “We have got to work on your delivery.”
Case sighed. “I’m not trying to make this harder.”