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)
“How is Colton going to learn if we never put him in the line of fire? She was watching the security cams. Charlotte knew it was safe,” Big Tag shot back and then waved him off. “Did you decide to explore D/s and train because you figured out Kenzie was sexually submissive? Or because you wanted to understand my team so you can use us better?” Taggart asked.
He got the feeling if he lied, Taggart would know. “Can’t I have done both? I’m going to be honest, I didn’t start training after the Australia op. After that op, I believed Kara wasn’t a woman I could have real chemistry with since she was very aggressive and also obviously in love with Cooper.”
“Because she was Kala,” Cooper allowed. “And she is becoming more and more of a switch, but only in certain cases.”
“I do not need to hear this,” Taggart complained.
TJ was having none of it. “Then go join Auntie in the galley, Uncle. You’re the one who said we needed a man talk. Coop and I can handle this. We’ve both known Kenz for as long as we can remember, and we understand the complexities of her situation.”
A brow rose over Taggart’s icy blue eyes. “Really, so you know what the actual problem is?”
“He doesn’t understand his role as her Dom,” Cooper replied with pure confidence.
He understood it on an intellectual level.
“He’s trying to figure out when the Dom takes over and when the operative respects his partner’s choices,” TJ added.
And they said TJ was mere muscle. Ben pointed his way. “That. That part. You see, how am I supposed to manage her behavior around danger when going into danger is her literal job? I can’t tell her not to do her job.”
“Oh, I assure you that you can, and you should if she does something that could get her killed. I’ve stopped my wife from doing things she considered her job, though I don’t think you’re there yet because you haven’t even played. She’s been crazy about you for a long time and you’re both into forbidden fruit, but you haven’t spent a damn lick of time actually getting to know each other.” Taggart sat back and looked a lot like a king on his throne.
“We know each other.” But did they?
“Oh, I’m sure you know each other in a biblical sense. I wish I wasn’t. But how many dogs did she have when she was a kid? Did she like school? How close is she with her brothers? What’s her nephew’s name?” Taggart peppered him with questions.
Questions he couldn’t answer. Even though he knew he’d heard the nephew’s name. It started with a C, or was it a K like her and her twin? He was the son of one of her brothers, but he couldn’t remember which one. He was the one who should have worn a condom. He could feel his face heating, but he needed to save this. “We’ve talked. We would have talked a lot longer that night at Top if you hadn’t sent Dare in to distract me.”
He watched Taggart to see if he would admit it.
The man simply shrugged. “She wasn’t ready to tell you, and we had to save her sister.”
“I would have helped,” he insisted. Would he feel differently if she’d reached out for his hand that night and told him her secrets? Would he feel more certain of her? Would he look at these people without suspicion?
“She wasn’t ready.” Taggart’s voice had gone soft. “Not then.”
“What changed?” He was a little worried he knew the truth, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it. “Was it because Kala was injured and can’t go into the field?”
“You have to understand how careful they’ve been,” Cooper began. “How hard they’ve worked to get to this point.”
TJ sighed, his muscular arms crossing over his equally muscular chest. “What you have to understand is that they’ve pretended to be the same person for so long, I’m not sure Kenz knows who she is. I mean she knows but she doesn’t.”
“You are both a little brainless and extremely aware, TJ.” There was an odd approval in Taggart’s eyes. “He’s right. Look, Kenzie and Kala have always been these odd shadows of the other. They were completely different and also capable of shutting down and becoming one person. I know everyone views Kala as the more difficult of the two, the darker one.”
Cooper’s head shook. “Kala has always known who she is. Kenzie… I’m worried about her being out there without her sister. Kenzie is the bubbly one, the one everyone talks to.”
“Talks at,” TJ corrected. “Everyone unloads all their problems on Kenzie and almost no one knows what’s happening in her life. She’s that woman. The one who seems to be the center of everything but is actually lonely even when they’re surrounded because no one asks the sun how it’s doing. They simply expect her to shine. She doesn’t have a Lou.”