Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
Cooper knows he screwed up with Kala when they were young, but the adult Cooper is unwilling to let their past rob them of a future. He joins her CIA team not for the thrill of the job but to be close to the woman he’s always loved. He spends night after night with her at the club, trying to fulfill her needs, to prove he doesn’t need some perfect partner. All he needs is her.
When Cooper and Kala are assigned to a mission, they find themselves locked together and forced to face their problems. As the truth of that long-ago night slowly comes to the surface, Cooper has to admit that Kala might be further from him than ever. And all his plans come crashing down as the elusive terrorist they’ve been hunting makes a move no one is expecting, but the real threat might come from within
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Part One
That Night
Chapter One
Kala Taggart forced air into her lungs and tried to relax. Like this was a normal, everyday Saturday night. It was in some ways. She usually did sneak out of the house to spend time with Cooper, but tonight she was doing something different.
Tonight, she was going to make Cooper McKay hers. Her first. Her only because she was going to love Coop for the rest of her life. And she wasn’t going to fake die on him like her mom had, so there would be no need for whatever the hell they did on Saturday nights.
She was pretty sure she knew what they did and it was gross because…parents…but what she was about to do with Cooper would be beautiful.
And it was a nice night for it. There was a full moon illuminating the path from her house to his. Only three blocks separated them, but it was too much. She lived for these nights.
“You’re going to get caught one of these days, and Mom will ground you for life,” her sister had said as she’d climbed out the window. She would give it to her dad. He knew how to lock down a house, but she’d figured out how to screw with the sensor in the window of the bathroom she shared with her sisters, and luckily it was big enough she could wriggle her way out and shimmy down the drain, avoid the cameras, and then she was free.
Honestly, she kind of enjoyed the exercise and was looking forward to the next time her dad redid the system. Getting one over on the old man was truly something to be proud of. She liked a challenge.
Cooper’s house wasn’t much of one. His dad wasn’t as crazy paranoid as hers. It was easy to move around the sparsely placed motion detector lights. She crept around the back of the house, working her way toward the door leading to the kitchen. Cooper always left it open for her. She’d done it at least a hundred times since she realized she didn’t actually have to listen to her parents when they told her to stay home. She had feet and they took her places.
Cooper was her favorite place.
“Hey.”
She nearly started at the sound but managed to play it cool. Coop sat on one of the lawn chairs by the pool everyone joked about. Like hey, do you remember the time we buried our enemies in your pool jokes.
Her parents were weird.
Of course, they might not be joking since her dad used to work for the CIA and her mom counted assassin in her previous professions. “Hey.”
She gave him the smile she only ever had for him. The truth of the matter was she had quite the reputation as a heinous bitch, and she was proud of it, mostly. But not with him. Never with him.
“You’re late,” he said, standing. He was tall and lanky, and she could remember a time when they were the same height, but the last few years had put a foot on him and she hadn’t kept pace. “I was starting to get worried.”
“It took forever to get Travis to go to sleep. Seth pays no attention whatsoever to what’s going on around him, but Travis is more aware,” she admitted. “And somehow he can tell me and Kenz apart.”
Cooper’s brows rose. It was his dumbass-said-what look. “Of course he can. I know you’re twins, but you are unique. I hate it when people pretend they can’t tell you apart. There’s no one quite like you, Kala.”
He was the only one who seemed to see her. Well, everyone saw her. He was the only one who didn’t think she was a bitch who happened to have a saintly sweet twin. Like she and Kenzie were mirror images of each other, but Kala was the evil version. Not to Coop. Coop saw her for who she was. He always had. Ever since they were kids.
It was why she loved him. It was why tonight was going to be their night, and then they would go to the dance together and everyone would know they belonged to each other.
And those mean girls who hung around because Coop was gorgeous and popular and on all the sports ball teams could fuck themselves.
“Hey, I heard something about Kyle and MaeBe,” Cooper said, worry in his tone. “Is that woman back?”
Ah, Julia Ennis. Kyle Hawthorne was her cousin. Technically not by blood since he and his brother David were her Aunt Grace’s sons from her first marriage. But blood didn’t mean a lot in her circles. When Grace had married Sean Taggart, those brothers had become family. Kyle had played with her and her siblings, babysat them, always got them ice cream when they were kids. He’d been gone for a couple of years and everyone pretended like he was in the military doing normal military things, but Kala was excellent at breaking into records and listening when she wasn’t supposed to. She got grounded a lot, and it was her parents’ fault because there wasn’t much to do when she was grounded. Eavesdropping and spying were the only fun times to be had. “Yes. From what I heard this week, she’s been causing all kinds of trouble. She wants to kill MaeBe because she thinks once Mae’s dead, she can, like, move into her place or something. She’s pretty psycho.”