 by Lexi Blake.jpg)
Total pages in book: 148
Estimated words: 139606 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 698(@200wpm)___ 558(@250wpm)___ 465(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139606 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 698(@200wpm)___ 558(@250wpm)___ 465(@300wpm)
Dare Nash knew exactly how his week in Sydney was going to go—attending boring conferences to represent his family’s business interests and eating hotel food alone. Until he falls under the spell of a stunning and mysterious American woman. Something in Tasha’s eyes raises his body temperature every time she looks at him. She’s captivating, and he’s committed to spending every minute he can with her on this trip, even if her two friends seem awfully intense. His father will be arriving in town soon, and he’s excited to introduce him to a woman he could imagine spending the rest of his life with.
When Dare discovers Tash isn’t who she seems, the dream turns into a nightmare. She isn’t the only one who deceived him, and now he’s in the crosshairs of adversaries way out of his league. He can’t trust her, but it might take Tasha and her family to save his life and uncover the truth.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Chapter One
Tasha Taggart looked over the rowdy bar and wondered for the one hundred and thirtieth time what the hell she was doing. She wasn’t this girl. She wasn’t the girl who stepped into a bar looking to pick up a guy because she needed affirmation.
She wasn’t a girl at all. She was a woman, and she wasn’t looking for affirmation. She was a whole-ass grown woman who ran a CIA team. And that CIA team included her twin siblings who were smart and also terrifying to handle and no one had even died yet. Well, no one who wasn’t supposed to.
She was about to start a mission where she would subsist on takeout and hide in the shadows of whatever safe house the Agency was willing to put her up in, so she deserved some sex. She deserved a night out before she went back to the shadows. Tomorrow the op would start in earnest, and she would spend all her time staring at a computer screen and trying to keep everyone alive. Yes. That was why she was standing here in a slightly disreputable bar in Sydney wondering if her boobs looked good.
“Just so you know, your boobs look great,” a cheery voice said.
She looked at one of her wingmen for the night. Louisa Ward hadn’t taken the same ridiculous care with her appearance that Tasha had. Lou wore jeans and a T-shirt that proclaimed Never Trust an Atom…They Make Up Everything. Her hair was in the same messy bun she always wore, and she hadn’t bothered with her contacts. Her brown eyes were framed by overly large glasses that looked like they could have been worn by Sir Elton John himself.
Such an adorable dweeb and so deeply important to the whole freaking world, though no one really knew it. Lou had left a life of academia to join the team, and she’d already changed the way the Agency worked by adapting tech to fit their needs.
“Of course her boobs look great. Who do you think dressed her? You should have let me dress you, too.”
Sometimes she wished Lou wasn’t so great at tech. The glasses Lou wore were a part of the high-tech communications tool she’d helped create. It allowed the sister who was not there to just keep commenting anyway. Kenzie was stuck at base, so she’d made sure she could keep up via Lou’s glasses and the microphone that would allow them all to hear her. She touched the earpiece her sister had insisted that she wear. “Hey. I thought this was for emergencies only.”
Kenzie’s voice came back over the line. “This is an emergency. I am bored and Coop and Tris are watching something called rugby, and I thought it would be more interesting than it is because I read a thing where sometimes the players shove a finger up the opposing player’s butt to throw them off a little, but you can’t see that. And if it’s happening, then these dudes are seriously excellent at handling butt stuff because their faces do not change. They are like the most experienced subs at The Hideout on butt-stuff night.”
They didn’t actually have one of those. Tash was fairly certain that every night was butt-stuff night at the club a couple of members of the team had formed. It had started in the unattached garage at the rambling house Cooper shared with two of his best friends, and they’d recently pooled enough money to buy a building they were renovating. She loved The Hideout.
“Is she talking about the rugby rumors again?” Kala leaned in, whispering in Tasha’s ear…or rather her earpiece. “You are such a perv. I can’t believe I’m considered the wild one.”
Kala and Kenzie were her sisters. They were fourteen months younger. Perfect twins. If one looked at them, they wouldn’t be able to tell the two apart. Right up until their mouths opened, and then it was righteously clear who was who.
Kenzie was sunshine and puppies and yes, a smidge of sexual perversion—who could blame her—while Kala spoke mostly sarcasm and genuinely enjoyed knife fights. Seriously. Tash had seen her start a couple because the op was taking too long. There was not an ounce of patience in Kala’s bones.
It wasn’t easy being their handler. It was as easy as breathing to be their sister.
Sometimes. Now was not one of them.
“You know I didn’t want any of you to come with me. I’m just getting a drink before we start the op,” she said quietly.
Kala’s brow rose, and for a second she looked so much like their dad it hurt. “Sure you are. That’s why you let Kenz pick your look-at-my-boobs top.”
God, she was so glad her father was hours and hours away sitting on a beach in Loa Mali, probably perving on their mom because that was what he did when he wasn’t running his highly successful security company or working for the CIA.