Page 42 of Sweet Little Spies

“So now they know you’re The Jester.” She was confused.Maybe because her brain had been churning all night. She was still in shock. Itwasn’t the best time to absorb years’ worth of mission information.

“We don’t have confirmation anyone knows anything.” Trisstopped, his arms crossing over his chest. “I think they were likely after TJ.You were listening when Big Tag explained what happened in Germany?” He sighed,softening slightly. “Of course you didn’t. You shut down and then our scenedidn’t work, so you’ve stayed shut down. I don’t suppose you’ll let me spankyou until you cry.”

She’d thought about it. “It won’t work. I need more than asimple spanking and more time than I’m willing to give you tonight.”

His brows rose. “Tonight?”

“The twins told me The Hideout is open tomorrow.” Beyond howpissed she was, the idea of playing with him again… Well, it all swirled aroundin her brain like a toxic cocktail waiting to do some real damage. “My firstinstinct is to tell you and Aidan to find a sub and have fun.”

Tristan’s jaw clenched. “We would never. There’s one womanin the world for us. You know that, right? You realize if you walk away, Aidanand I break, too. You seem to think you’re some sort of ancillary arm of myfriendship with him. You’re not. You’re the base of our triangle. You leave andwe fall apart. I’ll make a deal with you.”

She barely managed to avoid rolling her eyes because sheknew exactly what he was about to say. “You’ll think about letting me on the opif I play with you tomorrow night.”

He chuckled, though it wasn’t an amused sound. “Oh, Ithought you knew me.”

“I do.”

“You’re going to have to accept that the last few years havechanged me. I’ve got scars you’ve never seen before, baby. On the outside andthe inside, and I’ve always known there was one person in the world who couldeven start to heal them, and it’s not Aidan. No, I wasn’t going to offer yousome tiny deal. I’m pretty sure this is beyond my fucking control unless I wantto never be allowed to come home again.” He stared down at her. “If I wasn’t aselfish bastard, I would do it. I would call in a couple of favors, and yousuddenly wouldn’t have a choice about the safe house. No one would. Not evenUncle Ian.”

“You honestly believe you can outmaneuver my uncle?” As faras she could tell, Uncle Ian and Aunt Charlotte were in control of everythingconcerning their team. To her they were fun relatives. Uncle Ian was goofy andhad a ton of dad jokes and was way too sex positive, while Aunt Charlotte wasexactly the kind of woman they all wanted to grow up to be, but she’d learnedas she got older there was another side to them.

It was hard to believe Tristan could go up against them.Would dare to go up against them.

“I know I can. If I want to shut this down I can, but I’masking you not to make me,” he said quietly. “I need you to think this through.What I’m offering you is training. I’ll train you so if I can’t find a way outof this without losing my whole family, you’ll be safer.”

“The twins are going to train me.” She felt the need toremind him of a few truths about her life. “Though you should remember myfather put me in karate when I was six. I have a brown belt.”

“And I have a black belt. I recently used it in a fightwhere my opponent was trying to gut me,” Tristan shot back. “When was the lasttime you practiced?”

Years. It had been years, and he knew it. “It’s been awhile.”

He let a moment go by before sighing. “I’ll talk about work.I’ll talk about what’s happened and why I did what I did.”

She hadn’t expected the offer. “I thought it wasclassified.”

“Well, it is, but if you’re going to be a part of this, youshould know.”

“I thought you were going to talk me out of it.”

His head tilted slightly, acknowledging the truth. “I am,but I’m not going to force it if you agree to my terms.”

“That I sleep with you.”

“That you play with me,” Tristan corrected. “Think about it.You need a session, likely more than one. You play with me and Aidan and Ianswer your every question openly and honestly.”

Well, the man knew how to tempt her. “It won’t changethings. I’ll admit I don’t know how long I’ll be able to stay mad at Aidan, butI don’t think I’ll ever trust you again. I’ll always be waiting for you toleave me.”

“Then you don’t have anything to lose. Then you can takewhat you want from me and walk away at the end. You can know how much it’sgoing to hurt me if you leave. Show me everything I’m going to miss because Ifucked up.”

“But there’s no guarantee you won’t pull the whole mission?”She could see all the ways he could wriggle out of the position Aidan had puthim in.

“That’s the risk you take. What do you say, Carys?” It wasmore of a challenge than a question. “You get anything you wantinformation-wise out of me. No holds barred.”

There were a few problems with his offer. “You could lie.”

“Ask me something. Something you think I would lie about.”

“Have you been with someone else?” She wasn’t sure shebelieved him. Or maybe it would make everything easier if he admitted he’d beenunfaithful.

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