Page 49 of Sweet Little Spies

He stalked off down the hall.

“Mom was happy when Daisy deleted Tess.” Brianna walked intothe kitchen. She was dressed for brunch in a pretty sundress and strappysandals. She went on her toes and kissed her father’s cheek. “And I think itwas Daisy. Dad’s systems are complex. Only some crazy chaotic crap could haveled to her being deleted so completely. Kala’s good, but not that good. Loumight be able to, but she would never delete so much work. Ever.”

“Or it was Aunt Chelsea,” Carys pointed out. “If anyoneknows how to take advantage of a situation, it’s my aunt. I know she sent Daisya cookie bouquet.”

Aidan pointed her way as he pulled down two mugs and startedpouring coffee. “I’m going with the Chelsea scenario. Daisy knows nothing aboutprogramming.”

His sister had gotten into some crazy situations, but shecertainly wouldn’t destroy someone’s work. Well, she wouldn’t mean to. He foundthe creamer in the fridge.

He’d missed this. On the weekends they used to come here orthe gang would come to the rambling house he’d shared with Coop and Tris, andthey would all somehow put together a big breakfast on Saturday mornings andtalk about what had gone down at the club. Carys’s brother Lucas would show upwearing the clothes he’d worn the night before, and he would actually cooksomething. They would all just be. He and Tris would crowd Carys while theywatched movies and the twins argued and Lou set up games for them to play.

Then residency had started and the world had been a blur andhe and Carys had barely managed to see each other, much less their friends whowere like family.

“Well, if it was Chelsea, I don’t want to know.” Adam hadgone into business with Carys’s aunt a long time before. “I prefer to believeit was Kala, and Coop’s right. She’ll love having a reason to upgrade all thesecurity here. Maybe this time she’ll even get an actual guard dog. Hey, yoularge cuddle bug. When was the last time you ate an intruder?”

Bud 2 ambled in, his tail wagging like this was the best dayof his life. Every day was the best for Bud. He set his head on Carys’s lap,and she started to pet him.

If he was a big hairy, lovable dog, maybe Carys would pethim, too. He poured some Italian sweet cream into her coffee, making sure itwas the right color. A lush mocha brown. He liked his black but Carys neededsome sweet, and she wouldn’t want breakfast for another hour or so. She neverate right after she woke up. He hoped there were some eggs and toast. He couldwork with eggs and toast, especially if Tris was heading to his parents’ place.Tris ate like a horse. Aidan moved to the table and placed the mug in front ofCarys.

“You didn’t…” Carys sighed and put her hand on his. “Thankyou.”

“Of course.” When he sat down next to her, she didn’t moveaway. It was how they started most mornings these days.

Wake up, shower, make coffee, go over notes, go to work,rinse, and repeat.

“So your parents never told you how they met?” Adam asked.

Carys took a sip and then sat the mug down. “Of course theydid. Dad was investigating Mom’s boss, and he saved her from him.”

It was a way easier story than his parents’. “My dad wasalso investigating Mom’s boss, but he kind of got close to her so he could getintel. When he finally told her, Mom had some problems with it.”

Adam grinned. “I remember it well. Your mom was pissed. Shewalked right out of the privacy room at the club we were at wearing verylittle, according to Ian.”

“I do not need to know that part,” Aidan insisted. He knewthey’d met in London during an op. In his logical brain he knew it likely meantthey’d spent some time at the BDSM club called The Garden, but his “they’re myparents” brain skimmed over some pieces of knowledge.

“Well, your dad was honest with you. Sean is not tellingCarys the whole story.” Adam sat back.

Bri grabbed a coffee. “Have you never read Mom’s book aboutit?The Spy Who Left Me. There’s a movie and everything.”

Carys frowned. “Of course I have, but Aunt Serena addeddrama. I know it’s loosely based on what happened, but it is fiction. She hadto add some stuff in. It’s not like my dad lied to my mom and slept with her sohe could get…”

Carys stopped, her brain seemingly working through somenot-great scenarios. She stared at Adam.

They might need some whiskey. “Do you want me to make itIrish for you?”

“But in the movie the character who was like you…also likedmy mom,” Carys said carefully to Adam.

It could be so rough to realize your parents had these wholelives before they were moms and dads. Lives where they did dumb shit and madebad choices. Like how his dad had slept with half of Dallas before he marriedMom. His parents talked a lot, and the older generations’ relationships hadbeen messy.

Kind of like they’d been young once, too, and somehowsurvived it.

Adam sighed with a shit-eating grin on his face. “Oh, yourmom was hot. I can discuss your mom’s hotness because Serena agrees with me.Grace Hawthorne was a goddess on the club floor. Yeah, I totally tried to hitthat. Almost wrecked my friendship with your dad over her.”

He got up and went for the whiskey.

“But it’s fiction. Aunt Serena writes fiction,” Carysinsisted. “Like there’s this scene in a pool… I mean the pool scene didn’thappen in real life. It couldn’t have. My mom wouldn’t… She wouldn’t swimwithout her bathing suit.”

Like Carys didn’t? It was kind of hypocritical, but hewasn’t about to point it out to her. He’d already slept on the floor one night.He had hopes the club might work out for him tonight.

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