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)
Because he’d saved them way more than once. Because he’d become one of them.
“I think he got in and he liked us,” Kenzie said with a wistful sigh. Sometimes she thought her sister had been born in the wrong time. And place. She should be dressed in some frilly gown, staring out over the moors of England, waiting for her lover to return from war or something. “I know he admired Dad. I think he wanted to be one of us.”
“Yes, that would have given him far more access.” Devi Taggart settled into the chair beside Kala, putting her makeup kit down. She was in an emerald corset and shorts that made her legs look a mile long. “If he became a Taggart, he would have had access to everyone in our family. Have you thought about how convenient that could be for a man like Huisman?”
Damn. She hadn’t actually seen her cousin since she’d gotten back. She’d been too busy recovering from what that asshole had done to her. Including starting PT since she’d seriously strained a couple of muscles and joints. The paralytic had worn off before the drugs that tortured her veins had, and she’d been left to spasm and jerk, her body trying desperately to expel the drug.
And her heart stopped, and stupid Ben Parker had to bring her back. Now she couldn’t hate him the way she properly should since he was constantly perving on her sister and that meant her, too, since he didn’t know there were two of them.
“I don’t think it was like that,” Kenzie said with a deep sympathy.
Devi had hooked up with Zach a couple of weeks before. It had been fast and intense. She’d even shown up with him when they’d left for the Montreal trip—something that wasn’t supposed to happen. Girlfriends and boyfriends weren’t supposed to know they were Agency, much less drop them off for a super-secret op with a kiss and a couple of snacks. So that had told her Zach had been serious.
Though Devi had a point. “She’s right about the Taggart thing. If they’d gotten super serious, Dad would have considered him more family than teammate.”
“That doesn’t mean he targeted Devi,” Kenzie argued.
“I’ve tried to tell her this. We’ve all tried.” Daisy O’Donnell was already prepped for the night. She was stunning and oh-so feminine in her white corset and thong, long dark hair caressing her shoulders. She was with Brianna Dean-Miles. The three had grown up close, their ages ensuring they were always thrown together. They’d formed a deep and abiding friendship. Like hers with Lou.
“I saw them that night,” Brianna explained. “He was into her.”
“Or he’s an excellent actor.” Devi took a deep breath and stared at herself in the mirror before pulling out her eye palate. “I was a complete idiot around him.”
Kala shrugged. She felt for her cousin, though she didn’t understand the situation. She often worried she wasn’t hetero or gay or anything in between. She’d only ever wanted one man. She was Cooper-sexual, and it was a problem. “He’s attractive and nice. It’s okay to be attracted to someone. It wasn’t your fault, Devi.”
She wanted to say he didn’t seem like a massive asshole, but she was trying to be sensitive to Devi’s obviously tender feelings. She was growing.
Daisy looked between Kala and Kenzie before leaning over to Bri, her voice a mere whisper. “This is one of those times. She said the word nice. I kind of thought she was Kala because of all the black, but she sounds like Kenz.”
She didn’t sound like Kenz just because she was being nice. She was nice. Fuck, she was not nice. Kind. She could be kind from time to time, but nice wasn’t in her repertoire.
“Are they doing an op or something?” Bri asked. “The kind where one of them hides and they pretend they’re one person. Because Kala always gets testy when she’s the one hiding.”
It was good to know all she had to do to trick people into believing she was her twin was to be a little nice. “No op. We’re all sitting around trying to figure out where the fuck Huisman and Zach are. I apparently get to have a shit ton of therapy and then either go to Sweden and escort a family into hiding or hit the road looking for a nomadic auntie. All in all, not how I planned to spend the next couple of weeks. I planned to spend them wrapping Huisman in his own entrails.”
“Nope, definitely Kala,” Daisy announced. “Kenzie never mentions entrails.”
Her twin sat back, one brow rising. “Oh, I might not mention them, but if I get the chance, I’d play in his. I’m not joking. I hate that fucker and what he did to my sister.”
“We don’t have to go into it.” She didn’t want to think about what happened in Canada because it forced her to think about what happened here in Dallas all those years ago. Or up in the air. It could have happened in the plane. It might not have happened at all. The doctor who examined her told her she didn’t think so, but she also didn’t have a hymen. That had been a great anatomy lesson for a fifteen-year-old. Dr. Gates had explained it didn’t mean she’d been raped. It could have torn from athletic pursuits or using tampons. It didn’t matter because it played out in her head over and over again. And then when she slept, sometimes Julia showed up trying to pass her crown on. “But we do have to talk about the fact that Huisman wanted Tasha because he thought hurting her would get Zach to talk.”