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)
Lena chuckled. “Now that might be the first real lie you’ve told me.”
“The first? You’ve kept count?”
Lena waved a hand. “Of course not, but I do find your honesty refreshing. Although sometimes we like to lie to ourselves. You trust your team. Maybe too much.”
She did trust her team. She knew her team. It’s what happened when you grew up together. “I do trust my team, but you should know I don’t truly trust anyone else.”
Another lie. She trusted her cousins. And most of the people at The Hideout. She wouldn’t like tell them classified secrets or shit. Especially Brianna, since she seemed to be rolling down the same road as her romance-writing mom, but she certainly trusted her. Oooo, she wouldn’t trust her brother with any of her friends because his dick was dumb and wanted to know every woman in a biblical sense.
But she would trust Seth with her life.
Yeah, when she thought about it, maybe she wasn’t as isolated and gloomy/broody as she thought she was. She blamed her parents. They had too many friends. If they’d been the proper spy parents she’d deserved, she would have been an only child—created by accident—who they carried with them around the world, never making friends, only enemies to be taken out at a later date. But no. They had to settle down and have a billion kids and dogs and make her love them all.
It was gross.
“I don’t think that’s abnormal for a woman of your talents,” Lena said, the shadows throwing across her face. “You have a healthy skepticism. I certainly worry more about the other members of the team. I think Kenzie could be easily manipulated with the right tools. You should know I told Drake I don’t think Kenzie should be the one to deal with Benjamin Parker. I think you should handle the relationship. I was overruled.”
She bet she’d been. Even if her dad agreed with Lena, he wouldn’t hurt Kenz that way. “Kenzie isn’t as naïve as you think she is. My twin just likes to look on the positive side of things.”
“I still think it would be better for you to manage the relationship.”
“If she did, Ben would be dead now,” Cooper said from the doorway. He was a big, muscular shadow standing there, and she felt a rush of arousal go through her system.
She was a big old perv now. Even after what she’d heard, all she could think about was getting into that boy’s manties. She had so little time with him. Shouldn’t she take advantage before she did the right thing and gave him up to some whining sheep who would give him what he needed? Who would have a ton of kids and go to PTA meetings and not embarrass him because she was weirdly socially awkward.
Until she needed to give him up, shouldn’t she have him as many times as he was willing?
Would he be willing after what his mom said? Or was he reconsidering.
I sleep where you sleep, your arms a blanket around me.
The dark is softer when you are near.
I am unafraid and dreams are sweet, all my shadows silenced in the song of your breathing.
Where your life entwines with mine, I am safe.
Kala took a long breath, trying to banish the sudden well of emotion that threatened to swamp her. It had been so long. So long since words invaded her head like a damn Taylor Swift song she couldn’t stop playing. She resisted the urge to grab a notepad and write it down. It wasn’t like poetry would ever pay the bills, but her heart clenched at the thought of writing again. It wasn’t for anyone except her.
“Her sister has emotional connections to the man,” Lena was saying. “It’s not a good idea to let her direct communications with him.”
“I assure you Kala does, too. But she has the emotions you think she should have about a foreign operative,” Cooper said as he sank down next to her. “What you don’t understand is the amount of restraint she’s shown in not murdering him.”
He was being over the top. She didn’t truly want the man dead. Maybe maimed. What was a little maiming between friends?
The door opened again, and her parents walked in. Tristan had gone with Kenzie. Tasha had the day off because she and Dare were visiting wedding venues.
They were very light today, the team spread out over the globe. It kind of made her nervous they weren’t together.
See, this was why it would be easier on her own. She wouldn’t worry.
Except then she wouldn’t know where Lou was, or Kenz or Tash. She wouldn’t have eyes on her brothers.
“Well, I believe Kala can easily control her emotions in a way Kenzie cannot.” Lena sat back, crossing one leg over the other.
Her dad snorted. “Sure.”