Page 20 of Sweet Little Spies

His father pointed a finger his way. “I knew he thought hewas protecting you. You’ve talked to him?”

He didn’t want to lie to his da. “Yes. But Carys doesn’tknow we’ve been communicating on a regular basis. She absolutely doesn’t knowhe’s the guy I’ve been playing games with online for the last year or so. Itwas oddly the easiest way for us to talk.”

Because Tristan knew how to ping a signal across the globe.

“Do you want to keep something like that from your fiancée?”his father asked.

“Tristan didn’t think it was a good idea to bring her in. Hethought she would freak out. And he’s not wrong. Carys can be stubborn when shethinks she’s right.” It was one of the reasons their threesome worked. He wasthe go between for two very strong personalities.

He wasn’t certain Tristan and Carys wouldn’t self-immolateif left alone. Not that he didn’t have his own situation. When he and Caryswere alone they fell into patterns and routines, and found it difficult tobreak them. Especially since they were in the same field and could understandthe pressures on each other. It sounded like perfection, but sometimes theyrequired an outside force to remind them both there was something to lifebeyond studying and surgery and rounds. Tristan would have laughed if Aidan hadtold him they needed to go to a symposium on cutting-edge surgical techniquesfor their honeymoon. Tristan would have told him to stuff the conference or ifit was important enough, to postpone the honeymoon. Instead, he and Carys haddecided to be practical.

Tristan was the one who constantly pushed her boundaries.The one who could get her to cry.

Aidan was fairly certain Carys hadn’t cried in two years.

Was it all about to fall apart? He had no idea what he woulddo if he lost Carys, too.

“What’s going on, son?” His da stared at him withintelligent green eyes. “I know you haven’t wanted to talk about it, and yourmother and I have honored your privacy, but it’s past time.”

Aidan shook his head. “I know very little, Da. I know a fewyears ago Tristan got involved in a long-running operation with one of theAgency teams he works with, and it got dangerous.”

“But Ian says he doesn’t know anything.”

The man known as Big Tag had been his father’s “brother” formost of his life. Aidan wasn’t about to throw him under the bus. “According toTristan, he didn’t tell Uncle Ian. This wasn’t the team he’s on with the twins.Because Tristan is technically Army intelligence, he’s allowed to work all overthe place. He works with military teams and Agency teams, but he doesn’t shareinformation between them. I don’t know entirely how it works, but I knoweveryone’s frustrated with him. Unless they’re all lying to me and they’re inon it.”

“I know the twins. They would find a way to tell you if theyknew something. If they believed this would all get sorted soon, they wouldhave found a way to…” His father frowned. “Oh, I hope this wasn’t Kala’s way offorcing you to postpone the wedding. Sometimes that girl likes to play god. Iwouldn’t be surprised if she found someone she didn’t like and set them up todo this knowing damn well we’d shoot an encroaching helo down.”

His cousin could be ruthless. “I don’t think so, Da.”

“Oh, she could do it,” a deep voice said. “If my daughterthought she could help her cousins out and get rid of someone who annoyed herat the same time, she would set it up. She believes in multitasking, however, Iassure you she wouldn’t have put the kids in danger.”

Aidan looked over and the man, the myth, the legend himselfwas standing there, and he wasn’t alone. Tristan was beside him, looking worsefor the wear. His security uniform was wrinkled, and his usually perfectlymessy hair was just messy. He had a small cut on his jawline, and there weresinge marks on the sleeve covering his left bicep.

He hadn’t thought to check on Tristan. Damn it. He’d been sofucking angry he hadn’t done his job. “Did you get hit?”

Ian huffed and slapped a hand gently upside Tristan’s head.“He’s fine. He got a taste of what could have happened because unlike thesmarter members of my team, he forgot to duck when the bullets went flying.I’ve trained you poorly. Come Monday you’ll be back in school. After a coupleof spontaneous sniping attempts, you’ll get better at ducking.”

“I didn’t want to let them out of my sights,” Tristancorrected and frowned at Ian. “They could have gotten away.”

“They could have put a bullet through you,” Ian argued,though there was an oddly cheery expression on the man’s face. Like hegenuinely enjoyed the chaos.

It had been odd, realizing Tristan was standing over them asthe gunfire seemed endless. He’d been covering Carys, but he’d gotten a look atTris looming over them like a stalwart guardian.

It had been that moment Aidan had known things would beokay.

So why was he still so fucking mad? It rolled through himand took everything he had to keep under control. This wasn’t him. He waslogical and cool. This rage he felt wasn’t going to fix their problems. Itwouldn’t help Carys. “And did you honestly think the helicopter could hide?Like where would it go?”

Tristan’s eyes narrowed, and Aidan knew he’d poked the Dominside his friend. “Well, it showed up pretty fucking fast, so I figured itcould manage to leave in the same fashion. Would you like me to perform yournext surgery? Since we all seem to know how to do the other person’s job.”

It was good to know he could still slide under Tristan’sskin. It oddly made him feel seen. He probably needed therapy but for today itfelt good, and he was going with it. “Somehow I think my job requires a littlemore skill.”

“Are they going to throw down?” Ian whispered the questionto Aidan’s dad. “And do we think they’re going to fight, or is this going inanother direction?”

Tristan’s eyes rolled. “We’re not going to fuck.”

“It might help,” Ian threw out with a shrug like he didn’tsee the problem.

The problem was it never came up. They’d never talked aboutpotentially exploring the boundaries of the relationship. When Carys teasedthem, they always shut her down. “Our kink was never each other. It’s alwaysbeen about the girl. For one of us. Tristan kind of comes and goes, and mostlyhe goes now.”

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