Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
“But I want the dates, too.” He sounded a bit hollow now. “Unless you don’t want anyone to know.”
She sat up, breaking his hold on her. She needed to look at him, make him believe. His back was against the headboard of the bed, so she straddled him and felt his cock start to come back to life against her inner thigh. She put her hands on either side of his face and looked him in the eyes. “I love my family. They do not have any say in who I see or date or sub for. TJ and I are close, but we stay out of each other’s dating lives. Otherwise, he would have gotten many a lecture from me over how he treated Lou. Of course now that they’re finally together, he’s so into her I doubt he’ll even notice I’m dating someone. My father, on the other hand, will be twelve kinds of up your ass, and not the way you think.”
“I think he’ll probably want to know what I’m doing with his daughter. He’ll likely want to know why a spy is hanging out in his baby girl’s bed,” Zach replied. “He’s a Taggart. He’ll be overly protective and probably sarcastic about it.”
Oh, it was nice that he didn’t know everything. “Haven’t spent much time with my dad, have you? No. That’s my mom. She’s the one who’ll ask how this whole thing works since you’re playing the spy game. My dad will want to know when the wedding is and what’s your favorite Taylor Swift song.”
Zach winced. “Really?”
She nodded. “Oh, yeah. You’ll love Mom. She’ll growl a lot and threaten to bury you alive if you hurt me. She means that, but she’s pretty reasonable about what constitutes hurt. The torture and death thing only applies in the most dire circumstances. But my dad is serious about wedding planning, and he’s not getting a lot from TJ and Lou. They seem happy to wait for a while.”
“All your brother needs to be happy is Lou and a never-ending supply of snacks.” His lips had curled up. “But your mom would be right about the spy thing. I’m gone a lot, but I want to see you when I’m here. I’ll be here more often if I have my way. And honestly, this is not a job I plan on doing forever. At some point I want to put down roots and enjoy a life that doesn’t include people shooting at me.”
“Well, then you should rethink seeing me, Sir, because that seems to be a theme lately.” She frowned. “I don’t like being kidnapped and threatened with death all to get my bestie’s attention.”
He flipped her over and loomed above her. “What?”
She thought everyone knew about her dance with death. “A couple of weeks back Daisy got into some trouble with a cartel, and they ended up doing the whole gun to my head thing because I wanted some fresh air. I was babysitting that night for Sanctum, and I don’t know if you have been informed but sometimes babies make a lot of poop. I needed the fresh air because Michael and Vanessa’s baby girl recently started solids. It was a lot. A lot, Zach. But not like so much I would be willing to be kidnapped to not have to change another diaper.”
He was perfectly still. “What?”
He did not seem to be following her. “It was cool. Daisy distracted the bad guys with her boobs, or maybe it was her hootch since she was full-on unclothed, if you know what I mean. Then Nate killed a bunch of people and my uncle laughed his ass off and my mom yelled at me about something called situational awareness and my dad brought me a glass of wine and everything was okay.”
Zach rolled off her, his arm going over his eyes as though he couldn’t stand to see the world for a moment. “We’re not going to do that again. I can’t take it, sweetness. No one’s after Bri, right?”
“I think Bri is safe. She’s like a nun. That’s what they call us. The nuns of The Hideout.” She hated that nickname.
His arm came down, and the sexiest smirk hit his face. “You are not a nun. Let me prove it to you and then we’ll go get dressed and I’ll take you out for waffles. I heard it’s what a bunch of the Doms do.”
And he wanted to be normal. It was clear to her that he wanted a break from the dangers of his life. He wanted her to be a safe place for him. “I think that sounds lovely. Both ideas.”
He was on top of her again. He moved with the grace and quickness of a predator in his prime. “But first, you’re going to tell me the whole story. All of it. Except you can skip the poop part. And then when we go out you’re going to tell me why I might be the one good thing. I want to know everything about you, Devi. Everything.”