Page 83 of Hidden Agendas (Tempting SEALs 4)

“Now why the hell are you in my house?”

“Eating your cookies, watching your television, and ogling your man?” Kira suggested helpfully.

“With a gun?”

“Oh yeah. There is that gun.” Slender shoulders shrugged. “I flew home last night on a Homeland Security flight and camped out on your couch, just to see if anyone got curious or whatever while you were gone.”

Emily fell back on the bed, stared up at the ceiling, and tried not to feel betrayed. She didn’t succeed. She did feel betrayed. She had known Kira for two years now and had never suspected that she was an agent for Homeland, or that Emily was an assignment rather than a friendship.

“You’re an agent for HS.” It wasn’t a question. “How did Dad manage to pull that one off? To get you here on such an extended mission?”

“Because he’s on the National Security Committee as well as the Drug Enforcement Committee and several oversight committees. Besides, I live in Atlanta anyway and I’ve been on leave recuperating from a wound for the last eighteen months, so it all worked out.”

Staring at the ceiling wasn’t a bad thing. Emily traced the small butterfly effect of the design above her with her eyes and reminded herself that she wasn’t young enough to be able to excuse a temper tantrum.

But she wanted to throw one. She wanted to scream and rage and demand that every damned one of her father’s minions get the hell out of her life. She’d had enough of them. Was sick to her back teeth of them.

She had that pesky friendship thing to deal with where Kira was concerned though. And that damned sex thing with Kell. She couldn’t exactly tell them to piss off, now could she?

“You’ve lived here for two years,” she pointed out to Kira.

“Yep. I have.” Kira’s weight settled on the other side of the bed before she laid back as well, her head settling against the mattress several inches from Emily’s. “Your dad suggested the condo when he found out I was looking to move from my dark little apartment in town. The rest was added extras.”

“I knew there was a reason I shouldn’t like you.” Emily wanted to pout, but she hadn’t really pouted in years, and the effort to remember how just seemed too draining right now.

“Yeah, you gave it a good fight.” Kira chuckled. “But I’m persistent. Besides, we are friends, Emily. I’m a good friend to have too. I know how to use a gun.”

“So do I.”

Silence met her statement.

“Cool.” It was obvious by Kira’s tone that she didn’t believe her.

“Mac Tackett’s indoor shooting range and proficiency challenge,” Emily stated.

She felt Kira’s head turn, felt her eyes watching her.

“Senator didn’t tell me about that,” Kira mused.

“The senator doesn’t know. His lackeys did. But it’s amazing how Mac can convince those big guys that they would heartily dislike losing a member.”

“Uh-huh. I know Mac.” Kira turned her head back. “Well, I was watching your back then.”

“You were following orders.”

Kira was quiet for long moments. “I was your friend as well, Emily.”

Friendship. Relationships. There was a twist to all of hers that she was finding unacceptable. Everyone loved her as long as she was agreeable. Everyone but herself. And now that she wasn’t agreeable anymore? What now?

“Don’t ever come into my home like this again,” Emily told her, feeling the resolve that began to harden inside her. “Not without my permission or my knowledge.”

Kira sighed heavily. “Unless ordered to?”

“If ordered, you better inform Dad you’re going to need hazard pay. Because next time, I’ll make you wish you had waited on the front steps.”

She should get up. She should shower. She should see about fixing lunch, because she was hungry. But she lay there instead, stared at the ceiling and tried not to think about guns, bullets, and knives coming out of the dark.

“I bet I could take you,” Kira decided suddenly. The feel of her head turning had Emily restraining her smile.

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