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“Like Ms. Magenta?”
She nodded. “Yes. Once again, my sisters like to play around with tradition. Personally, I’ve gone by Ms. White on occasion, usually with foreign operatives. Had I known Ben worked for CSIS, I would have introduced myself differently. I get the feeling he’s going to be a pain in my ass.”
“I don’t know about that. He seems upset that Kala and Cooper have something going. I think he’s feeling like she used him,” Dare mused. “It might make him stay away. He has no idea Kala’s not the one he’s interested in. At least I think so. Anyway, what you’re telling me is your team is different because you have ties to each other, a history together. That’s what Zach told me. It’s also probably why you get the shit assignments.”
She’d thought about that a lot, but she wasn’t willing to change things. They had to prove they could do the work. This op would not help them move that meter forward. “Probably. We’re an experiment, and one not everyone at the Agency wants to see work. They would rather have fifty Chets who’ll do anything for the mission.”
His jaw went straight. “Another rule. His name doesn’t leave your lips.”
His jealousy was something she could hold on to. “That’s easy enough. I don’t think about him much.”
It wouldn’t be the same with Dare. She worried she would think about Dare the rest of her life.
“I am sorry for what I said to you last night, Tasha,” he admitted, his eyes on her again. “Those words were meant to hurt you. They weren’t fair because while you lied to me, you never once said a thing meant to make me feel small. You did the opposite. You made me feel better than I have in a very long time. That’s my only real excuse. I hated that it was a lie.”
Tasha tamped down her frustration. “It wasn’t, but I’m not sure how to make you believe me. I tried to put myself in your position, and I don’t know that I would believe me either. Nothing in your whole life prepared you for this. Or rather it prepared you in the worst way. If I were you, I would look at me and think I was like everyone else who’s let you down.”
“Well, all those other times I didn’t get mind-blowing sex out of the experience. Tash, I’m tired. I’ve had conversations with half your family about how I should save everyone the trouble and marry you and be happy. I can’t do that right now. I can’t even consider it, but what if we don’t fight about it? What if I accept that you thought you were doing the right thing and you accept that I don’t know if I can have a relationship with you outside the parameters of this mission? What if we agreed to just be for a while?”
“To be?” She wasn’t sure what he was saying.
“To be together while we’re together, and then we go our separate ways. That was the plan in the beginning, after all. We were going to have a couple of glorious weeks and accept that was all we could have.”
Now she could see that she’d never meant to accept that deal. “But we could be more.”
“How?” Dare asked with a shake of his head. “Am I going to join your team? I don’t think so. It could take me years to deal with my family. You have a job that requires a lot of travel and leaves little time for anything else.”
“You would be surprised.” She wanted to argue with him, but he was dangling a lifeline. It might have an expiration date, but it was something. Her mother had told her patience would win this battle. “I can agree to your bargain.”
He winced. “Can you not tell your mom this is a bargain? I think she’s going to be way too proud of herself.”
Her sister had been talking. “I can agree to it if you concede one point to me.”
A wary look came into his eyes. “What’s that?”
“Can you believe that I care about you? That I did not sleep with you for the mission.”
“Can you admit that the mission was part of it?” Dare asked. “Not all of it, but part of it.”
She was so glad they’d gotten to bargaining. “Yes. I can agree that I jumped at the chance to see you again. Everyone freaked out that we would have to change plans, and I was secretly excited because there was nothing in the world I wanted more than to have time with you.”
He held a hand out. “I can agree.”
She reached out, thinking he would shake her hand, but he tugged her close. He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her like she was a comfort to him.
