Page 34 of Snow

“Come on, Snow, you gotta admit that she’s attractive,” Playboy said.

Snow slid into the vehicle and shut the door. “That has nothing to do with anything.”

“That’s not a denial,” Aussie pointed out as he climbed into the driver’s seat.

Snow muttered a curse under his breath. These assholes were going to be relentless.

He wasn’t ashamed to admit that Nova was attractive. But it wasn’t just her looks that made her attractive. The way she had walked into that meeting with a room full of dangerous-looking men and managed not to fall apart was pretty admirable.

But attractive didn’t mean qualified. And that was the problem.

“She seemed smart,” Bear said.

Snow glanced out the window at the blur of buildings passing outside. “She’s a lawyer. I’d hope she’s smart.”

Joker laughed. “That sounded personal.”

“I’m serious,” Snow replied. “Book smart isn’t the same as street smart.”

He leaned back against the seat, dragging a hand across his jaw as his thoughts circled back to the meeting.

At one point, she hesitated. It wasn’t long. But it was enough for him to notice. In all his years of being a SEAL, he knew firsthand how hesitation could get someone killed.

The second Derek laid out what they were really asking of her, she had gotten that look in her eyes, the one people got when reality finally hit them. And honestly? He couldn’t blame her for that. She had walked into what she thought was a straightforward acquisition review and, instead, had been handed a covert operation involving multiple agencies and a potentially dangerous situation out in the middle of the Gulf.

Most people would have turned and tucked tail. But she had surprised him when she had agreed to help. That alone earned some respect.

Still, Snow couldn’t shake the concern gnawing at him. If the situation went south out there, and experience told him there was always a chance that it could, he was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to keep Nova out of the crossfire. She didn’t have years of training like him to fall back on. Maybe she could hold her own in a courtroom, but a courtroom and a hostile environment in the middle of the Gulf were two very different battlefields.

He shifted in his seat and stared out the window as the city rolled by. He told himself he was overthinking it, but the possibility was there. And that alone made it difficult to ignore.

CHAPTER TEN

“Son of a bitch!” Brett shouted as he slammed the phone down hard enough to make the pens in the chipped ceramic mug rattle.

Per the corporate prick he just spoke to, because of the acquisition, Silverman Petroleum was sending two representatives to the rig for what they called a “routine pre-acquisition assessment.”

He snorted at the thought. There was nothing routine about strangers poking around his operation.

According to the guy on the phone, one was an engineer, and the other was a hotshot attorney tasked with reviewing contracts and liability concerns before the deal moved forward. The usual corporate garbage that buyers demanded before signing on the dotted line.

The timing couldn’t have been worse. With the next shipment due in less than a week and enough illegal cargo tucked away on Platform Three, the last thing he needed was two outsiders wandering around asking questions and sticking their noses where they didn’t belong.

The office door opened, and Clint stepped in, stopping short when he saw the scowl on Brett’s face.

“What’s wrong?”

“We’ve got visitors coming.”

“Visitors?”

“Silverman Petroleum is sending two reps out here for some pre-acquisition bullshit. A lawyer and an engineer.”

Clint stepped further into the room and shut the door behind him. “They’re coming here?”

“No, Clint, to my goddamn beach house. Yes. Here,” Brett snapped.

“When?”