Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 149641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 748(@200wpm)___ 599(@250wpm)___ 499(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 748(@200wpm)___ 599(@250wpm)___ 499(@300wpm)
“Lou is at the site. I busted into the feeds,” Kala admitted. “You had comms off in the car. Did you forget what that asshole did to Lou? Are your girl parts in charge tonight?”
She thought seriously about turning them off again. She kept her face a careful blank.
Ben wrapped an arm around her, his voice barely a whisper. “Is it Tash? Does she have anything?”
Well, she couldn’t say no, it was her asshole twin who had a burr up her butt about the Canadian. Like didn’t her sister want her to be happy? If she ever got her shit together with Cooper, Kenz would be thrilled.
Of course, Cooper had never placed her sister’s best friend in danger.
Kenzie had never actually had a friend like Lou. For a long time that friend had been Kala, but after they met Lou, so much of her twin’s energy and affection went to her. And Kenzie never complained, never tried to oust Lou because she knew Kala needed her.
She just wished Kala needed her sister, too.
“It’s Tash,” Kenzie lied. “She’s watching. She’s not saying anything of importance right now. We should get a glass of champagne.”
The event was being held at a castle that was usually a museum, but tonight it was decked out, and she wondered how it would have looked when the king was in residence. Did Croatia have a king? Now that she thought about it, Croatia might not have existed back then. She thought it might have been Yugoslavia then, but that wasn’t the point. The point was she could see all those medieval ladies and gentlemen dancing and feasting and falling in love.
And having dysentery and no human rights and stuff, but again, not the point.
Ben would have been a king, and she would be the lovely servant girl who caught his eye. The good girl who was saving herself for marriage and a family. But he would take one look at her and claim droit de seigneur. The right of the lord. The one that meant any medieval lord could claim a night of sexual rights over one of his servants.
Of course, he would end up falling madly in love with her and they would have an epic love story that crossed continents and set the world on fire, and he would defy society and his family to make her his lady.
“Maggie?” Ben asked. “You okay?”
“Kenzie, I swear to god if you are writing some kind of romance novel in your head because you’re in a romantic castle with lover boy, I’m going to punch you right in the face when you get back,” her sister vowed. “Hey…”
“Sorry.” It was Lou’s voice that came over the line now. “I cut her off. It’ll take her at least half an hour to figure out what I did, so let’s get this op going. The target checked in earlier, and I have eyes on two men who could potentially be the meet-up. They’re both in the ballroom.”
It was time to work. She was sure she would catch hell from her twin when she got back, so she should concentrate on the job and get through this.
“We should dance. You promised me you would dance with me,” she said like a good trophy wife should. With a pout that proved how indulged and coddled she was by this man.
Except she wasn’t indulged or coddled by anyone. She was supposed to be tough and competent, and sometimes it was so exhausting.
He stared down at her for a moment. So few men could tower over her. She found it intoxicating. “What were you thinking about? Don’t tell me the op. I know what your face looks like when you’re concentrating on work. This was different.”
He knew what Kala’s expression looked like. It rankled that she had to share this, too. She loved her sister. Loved her like she was a part of her own body, and they had their strengths and weaknesses. Kala would lay her life down for Kenzie, but she’d never had to share the way Kenz did. Kala was broody and dark and often uncompromising. It hadn’t endeared her to other kids. So Kenzie shared her friends. Kenzie lost friends when Kala got annoyed with them. Kenzie always included her sister no matter how much it hurt.
She didn’t want to share Ben. Not even a little. Not even when she was mad at him and sure it could never, ever work, she hated the idea that half the time they’d “spent” together had been with Kala.
“I was thinking about how fun it would be to role-play here. You could be the lord of the manor and declare sexual rights over me, your lovely but lowly serving girl.” She took a breath and turned to the ballroom where a stringed quartet was playing. “We should dance.”