Page 102 of Sweet Little Spies

Tasha was in yoga pants and a sweatshirt, like she’d tossedsomething on before coming here. Same for Zach, who was in gym pants and aT-shirt.

“What are they doing here?” Aidan asked.

“Probably trying to figure out how to fix the glasses.” Shewinced. “I supposed Uncle Ian’s going to be upset we cut off communications sowe could have sex.”

“We cut off communications so we could have a fight noteveryone would express an opinion about,” Aidan corrected. “We ignored our cellphones because we were having sex. And honestly, I’m leaving this whole part toTris, who is likely getting yelled at right now. Tash coming out wasunnecessary. Are you sure you don’t want me to stay with you?”

When she’d walked out of the shower, she’d known shecouldn’t simply slip back into bed. She was antsy, despite the orgasms. Ormaybe because of them. The intimacy, really. Being with them reminded her ofeverything she’d ever wanted out of life. But she had questions, questions shewasn’t sure Tris could answer. Or rather she wasn’t sure she would believe him.Kala was a different story. Her cousin would be brutally honest with her.

“Hey.” Tash turned and walked over. “I need to talk to Tris.And apparently Kala didn’t mention that you can’t not answer your damn cellphones. This is not a vacation. I apologize for using the glasses the way mysisters and dad did, but Adam can’t simply cut off communications when Tristanwants him to.”

Aidan held a hand up. “That was me. And I heard about thecells. We’ll be more careful about it. I’ll take you up to Tris. Carys wantedto talk to Kala.”

“A drink would be nice, too,” she admitted. “Tris insistedsomeone walk me down, and then he figured out he had forty messages on hiscell, so Aidan it was. He said I would be okay as long as I was with Ka…Kara.”

Zach frowned, crossing his muscular arms over his chest. Helooked like he’d been impersonating her Uncle Ian and had gotten good at it.“Whatever Adam did screwed up the connection between here and the safe house. Ihave to take them back to Lou.”

“I’ve got them in my bag. Let’s go upstairs and talk toTris, then we can get back to base,” Tash said and glared her sister’s way.“Don’t let her out of your sight again.”

Kala gave her a salute that managed to drip sarcasm and thentipped back her glass. “Come on, Carys. You want a drink. Pierre and I werestarting a lovely friendship when Tash came in. She’s got the righteousindignation thing down. Told you I’d get in trouble if I let your threesomelove be a private thing.”

Carys slid onto the barstool beside her. The bartender wason a landline at the back of the bar, but he quickly hung up and startedfilling an order.

Aidan gave her a wave before walking off with Tash and Zach.

“So I take it things went real south.” Kala pushed her emptyglass slightly away and sighed. “I was kind of hoping that fight would end insome nasty, soul-fulfilling sex. Guess I was wrong. The world sucks.”

“Of course it ended in sex.” Carys kept her voice low,though there were only a few men sitting in the back of the bar at this latehour. “And it was…everything. But it’s still right there between us. I need tounderstand why he did what he did, and I think you might be able to tell me.”

The bartender moved their way. He was an older man withthinning gray hair and dark eyes. He smiled as he slid a cocktail napkin infront of Carys. “Tu as un ami?”

Kala didn’t hesitate to reply. “C’est plutôt unefamille. Je pense que nous allons faire une autre tournée. Elle aura ce quej’ai.”

Pierre nodded. “Certainement. Donnez-moi un instant.J’ai besoin d’une autre bouteille.”

Sometimes she forgot how smart her cousins were. It was easyto chalk them up to simply being weapons the Agency pointed and shot, easy toput them against Lou and not see their brilliant minds. Kala had spoken Russianearlier, and now she’d apparently been conversing in French with the bartender.“I took four years of Spanish, and I can barely order a beer.”

Kala sat back as Pierre disappeared behind the bar. “Well, Ijust ordered another round of vodka tonics. Don’t worry. Though it hurts mysoul, I asked him to go easy on the vodka since I’m working. And all he has isFrench vodka. What the hell kind of place is this?”

“A very French place.” She didn’t mention to hervodka-loving cousin that she deeply preferred grape-based vodka to potato. Itwould potentially start a war. “And thanks. I love a vodka tonic.”

“I know.” Kala turned in her seat. “I might need twenty ofthem since I have to explain this to you again. He thought he was protectingyou. He was dumb about it, but that’s kind of how guys go.”

Carys shook her head. “It’s not about the Agency stuff. It’sabout The Court. With Tris gone, going to the club was more of a social thingfor me and Aidan. We went and talked to our friends and spent time in privacyrooms. I didn’t feel some deep need to find another Dom.”

Kala shook her head. “But you did need him. You needed hisdominance.”

“I didn’t think about it at the time. Maybe I was too upsetto really think about what was missing. I don’t know. I want to understand whyhe needed to top someone else.”

Kala’s eyes closed, and when she opened them there wassympathy on her face. “I can only tell you why I have to. Believe me there aredays I wish I wasn’t wired like this.”

She’d come down because she’d thought Kala might be able toexplain this in academic terms. She’d never thought her cousin would open upthis way. She was almost afraid to ask questions because it might scare heroff, but she had one she couldn’t ignore. “Because Cooper’s a top, too?”

“There are many reasons, but I suppose that’s one of them.”Kala’s eyes were dark in the low light. She’d put in colored contacts beforethey’d left for the hotel, and it made her look even more grim than usual. “I’mnot sure I got to choose.”

“What does that mean?”

She seemed to think about whether she wanted to continue.Pierre came back carrying an elegant bottle. He used a corkscrew to cut throughthe wrapper and then came the pop from uncorking, proving the vodka not onlywasn’t Russian but was high-end stuff.

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