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)
Again. Terrible spy. The good news was she could distract her cousin. “If you let Kenzie pick your wedding dress you’re going to look like Little Bo Peep. She will drown you in lace and put you in a hoop skirt.”
“Wait. What? Why would she… Oh, shit. She won’t be dressing me. She’ll be dressing herself. She’s in a whole ‘woe is me, the world is against my love’ phase because she hasn’t talked to Ben in a couple of weeks. Devi, you have to help me.”
She settled on a bale of hay. “That I can do.”
* * * *
“As-tu reçu le message que j'ai envoyé?” Lacey asked over a breakfast that consisted of pretty good potato hash.
While Zach missed meat, he had to admit Lacey was good with plants, and Devi had started taking over some of the cooking as well. Her cornbread muffins were tasty this morning.
Did you get the message I sent? Lacey had asked. In French. Which Devi did not speak.
Devi looked up at Lacey. “Are you okay? You know he only speaks American. I would have called it English until I landed here in Wales, and it is not the same. Not in any way.”
Lacey snorted. “It’s simply a difference in saying and phrases. Everyone speaks English. Arthur is the only one clinging to his Welsh, and il y a des choses qu'il vaudrait mieux garder entre nous.”
There are things it would be better to keep between us. Yeah, probably, but he promised he wouldn’t leave Devi out. He turned to her. “She asked if I got her message. She’s got a good line on where my mom is staying.”
Which was with a group of underground green activists somewhere in South America.
“Really?” Devi asked. “So you could find her soon.”
Lacey sighed. “No, but we’re closer. I think I might be able to make some kind of contact in the next couple of days.” She looked to Zach. “You don’t think we should have a way to communicate that doesn’t involve her?”
“Rude,” Devi said with a frown.
He pointed Devi’s way. “What she said.”
Devi sat up and gasped. “Wait. Zach speaks French?”
He could give her something else. It might not help his case much, but he felt like showing off. And not keeping things from her. Besides, this would give her something not even her cousins knew. “Ya govoryu po-frantsuzski i po-russki. A Leysi ne govorit. Ya ponimayu, chto ty govorish, milaya.”
Devi stared at him. “Znachit, my mozhem govorit', i ona ne poymyot, o chyom my govorim.”
He nodded her way. “Nash sekretnyy yazyk.”
“Our secret language,” she said with a smile, giving him back his words.
“Well, it’s not secret.” Lacey had her I’m-going-to-murder-someone face on. She really was a vegan version of Kala Taggart, which was likely why he got along with her so well. “It’s Russian, and no, I don’t speak it. You know the only reason he learned it was to be able to listen in on your uncle’s talks. I’ve heard he speaks Russian, and so do many of his team members.”
If Devi was phased by the accusation, she didn’t show it. She simply shrugged. “Why do you think I learned it? Hey, if my cousins don’t know you speak Russian, have you heard some shit you want to share?”
Oh, so much. “Yeah. Let’s talk about that guy Ben your cousin likes.”
Devi leaned in, and he knew he had her. If only for an hour or so.
Week Two
Zach turned over and stared up at the ceiling.
He might need to contemplate the sofa because it was rapidly becoming clear that it would be less uncomfortable than lying in this bed with Devi night after night.
He had made contact with his mom today. Well, he hoped it was his mom. Someone claiming to be his mother had sent an email to an address only she should know. It was something they set up years before. He’d sent so damn many letters there. Letters that told his mom he loved her. Detailed his Army life. Talked about meeting Cooper.
Somehow, he thought she would never actually read them.
Be careful. He’s looking for me, too. Tell Lacey I’ll be in touch.
The first words he’d heard from her in years.
“You’re thinking too loud.” Her voice was husky and sweet.
And just like that his cock was hard. Although it seemed like his damn perpetual state these days. She walked in a room, he got hard. He smelled the soap she used? Hard. Heard her laughing or yelling at the geese for scaring the massive mastiff with PTSD? Hard and harder. “Sorry. I’ll try to stop.”
The room was dark with a new moon and no city lights to provide ambient illumination. If they went outside there would be a blanket of stars overhead, but here it was all silky darkness made warm with her presence in bed beside him.