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)
“Or I could come up to your room,” Ben replied, his eyes on the cobblestone street in front of them.
It was a warm night, and the tourists were out in droves. There was soft lights and music coming from the cafés and clubs around them, but they simply moved as quickly and quietly as they could.
“I don’t think my handler wants you up there.”
“I don’t think I care what your handler wants,” he shot back, his face in a deep frown. “Maggie, we should talk. This is bullshit.”
She took him around to the garden entrance. It looked all perfect and normal unless one caught the signs that there were like twelve cameras on them. It didn’t matter. She needed to get through the next couple of minutes and he would go away and she would be alone again with her righteous anger.
The evening hadn’t gone the way she’d hoped.
What had she hoped for?
The gate closed behind him, and she saw the shadow of Lou moving from one of the upper floors toward them.
“Tell me what I’m missing, Maggie.”
He was half hidden in shadows, the willow tree behind him and the moon above.
Damn, but she should have taken him to the front porch. It was bland. It didn’t look like a place where the hero and heroine of her latest romantasy obsession would talk about their dragons or the vampire nation rising. “It doesn’t matter.”
She turned, and he caught her elbow. “It does to me. Maggie, tell me one true thing.”
Her heart constricted. “I’ve told you lots of true things, Ben.”
“And have you lied?”
“Of course I have. We’re spies, and we don’t work for the same agency. We’ve both lied and we’ll continue to lie.” Which is why it would never work no matter how much her heart wanted him. They might be able to have a brief affair, maybe hook up when they were working together… Except that half the time he was working with Kala, and wouldn’t her twin lose her shit if Ben reached out and grabbed a boob because he thought she would respond to him?
Kala would respond with a bullet.
Why the hell couldn’t she fall for one of the guys at The Hideout?
Lou appeared and seemed to feel the gravity between them. She gave Ben a nod and a half smile and took the thumb drive. “I’ll be back with a copy.”
She turned and walked in the house.
How many people were watching them now?
She moved behind the willow, pulling him to a spot where she knew the cameras wouldn’t catch them. “What do you think you’re missing?”
“I want to know what you mean when you talk about your submissive part.” His jaw was tight as he said the words. The moonlight caressed him, the shadows painting his gorgeous face in stark lines. “All I’ve seen is the part that wants to tell a man what to do.”
Kala. Though that wasn’t what she was trying to do. Kala needed control. Kenzie required something else. “It doesn’t matter whether you believe me or not, but I’ve never topped a man. There’s a part of me that longs to submit, to find a lover I trust so much I’ll kneel at his feet and let him treat me like a sweet fuck toy.”
She heard him groan.
“I dream about having hours and hours where I don’t have to be in control, where I don’t have to worry about anything but making my Master happy.” She could hear the stupid longing in her own words. “Where I can be naked and never once worry he’ll use it against me because I’m his and he would never allow anyone to hurt me. Not even him. That’s what I wish I could get, but I’m starting to think it’s nothing more than a pipedream.”
“I don’t know.” The words came out gravelly, as though he had to force himself to speak. “You said Dare and Tash are happy.”
“They aren’t us,” she replied with a bittersweet sigh. It felt good to be here with him in the moonlight, but they had such little time and he was… She wouldn’t call him the enemy, but he couldn’t feel the same way about her and do what he’d done to Lou.
Her father was right.
“You think we don’t get a happy ending?” Ben asked.
“Not with each other.”
His hand found her wrist, and he drew her in. “I don’t know that I accept that. Fuck all, Maggie. Half the time I want to murder you and the other half all I want to do is lay you out and feast on you. I want to get into bed with you, and I don’t think I’ll ever get out. Tell me you don’t love Cooper McKay.”
Every word went straight to the wistful girl part of her that longed for him. “I don’t love Cooper. Not the way you mean.”