Page 32 of No More Spies

“Rest, Kala,” Drake said. “I know you’re super woman, butyou went through something traumatic and you need…”

“I told you. I’m doing the therapy.” Her hands fisted on thetable. “I saw all the doctors. I’m doing everything the Agency asked me to do.”

“We’ll prep for providing protection for Dr. Shaw’s family.”Cooper knew what he needed to do. Give her a job. She didn’t relax. The jobfocused her. “And we’ll try to find Zach’s aunt. We’ll stick close to the MTbuilding, and Lou can work in her lab.”

“Great.” But she sat back, and her shoulders came down fromaround her ears. “Logistics. Awesome.”

He leaned in, his voice going low. “And we have some otherprojects we’ve neglected.”

She turned his way slightly, her mouth curling in a smilethat went straight to his dick. “Naughty subs. We should probably talk throughthe scenes we’ll run this weekend.”

Yep, he hoped the meeting lasted a while because he had ahard-on.

“All right, let’s get to work.” Big Tag stood, reaching outa hand to his wife. He always reached for her at the end of a meeting. Or adinner. Or because they were sitting next to each other. The group started tobreak up, but he sat.

Mostly because of the hard-on and the utter hell he wouldget from everyone if they noticed. But also because he wanted to reach for herhand, not because she couldn’t stand on her own. She was a force of nature. No.He wanted to reach for her hand so she would know she wasn’t alone. So he wouldknow he wasn’t alone.

“You coming?” She stopped at the door.

“In a minute.” He pretended to be looking up something onhis phone.

And she was gone.

But this weekend, they would play, and he was determinedthat this time around, they wouldn’t stop.

Chapter Six

“I never realized how bad Zach’s childhood was.” Four dayslater her sister sat across from her in The Hideout’s locker room. Kenziewasn’t dressed for play this evening. She’d chucked the slacks and blouse she’dworn to work in favor of leggings and a sweatshirt that hung off her leftshoulder, exposing a scar she hadn’t earned. It was the mirror to the one onKala’s shoulder. She’d come by it in a knife fight she’d almost lost a year agoin Beijing.

Kenzie had carefully studied the wound and then had Trispush the knife through when Lou and Tasha had balked. It had been Aidan whostitched her up, but he thought it had been an accident. That’s what Kenzie hadtold him.

That scar bothered her. Not because Kenzie hadn’t come by ithonestly, but that she’d felt the need to come by it at all. Kala had arguedthat they could cover her shoulder. They’d been born perfect twins. Despite thefact that her parents would tell everyone there was no way they could befooled, they had and still could be. But time and life had changed them in theslightest ways. Kenzie sometimes had way more of a tan, and Kala had to dragher ass to the tanning salon. Kala had more scars, and Kenzie kept taking thoseon, too.

What had felt like sisterhood at first was starting to feellike a cage.

A couple of days of intense therapy with Dr. Gallagher hadher thinking.

“I don’t think he told us a lot of truth.” Kala turned backto the mirror where she could see her own scar because she was already in acorset and boy shorts, with five-inch heel boots that came over her knees. Shewas currently curling her hair. It was a 180 from how they spent most of theirnights in the locker room. Kala tended to get ready simply and quickly,slicking back her hair since she wasn’t there to have sex or attract a man.

She stared at the mirror. She looked a lot like her sisterexcept Kenz didn’t wear black on the dungeon floor.

Would Cooper like her in lighter colors?

“Do you truly believe he was sent in to hurt us?” Kenzieasked.

Kala rolled her hair around the large barrel iron, giving ita spritz to hold the curl better. “I know he was sent in to report back to somepeople who don’t like Dad. I’m not sure if he was specifically there to causetrouble so they could dissolve the team, but if he was, then he kind of suckedat his job.”

Because he’d saved them way more than once. Because he’dbecome one of them.

“I think he got in and he liked us,” Kenzie said with awistful sigh. Sometimes she thought her sister had been born in the wrong time.And place. She should be dressed in some frilly gown, staring out over themoors of England, waiting for her lover to return from war or something. “Iknow he admired Dad. I think he wanted to be one of us.”

“Yes, that would have given him far more access.” DeviTaggart settled into the chair beside Kala, putting her makeup kit down. Shewas in an emerald corset and shorts that made her legs look a mile long. “If hebecame a Taggart, he would have had access to everyone in our family. Have youthought about how convenient that could be for a man like Huisman?”

Damn. She hadn’t actually seen her cousin since she’d gottenback. She’d been too busy recovering from what that asshole had done to her.Including starting PT since she’d seriously strained a couple of muscles andjoints. The paralytic had worn off before the drugs that tortured her veinshad, and she’d been left to spasm and jerk, her body trying desperately toexpel the drug.

And her heart stopped, and stupid Ben Parker had to bringher back. Now she couldn’t hate him the way she properly should since he wasconstantly perving on her sister and that meant her, too, since he didn’t knowthere were two of them.

“I don’t think it was like that,” Kenzie said with a deepsympathy.

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