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There were several operatives who might work. Anna Jenkins worked on Chet’s team sometimes. She was sure she wasn’t Anna’s favorite person right now—teams stuck together—but she was a solid operative who did her job well, and she didn’t work for her dad, so sex was probably on the table for her.
The idea of Dare in bed with gorgeous Anna made her heart hurt, but she needed to focus on the mission. Maybe seeing it happen would help her stop dreaming about the man.
She glanced up and realized everyone was looking at her. “What?”
Kala sighed and rolled her eyes. Kenzie looked to Tristan as though he had an answer.
Lou put a hand on her arm. “Uh, Tash, I’m pretty sure we have the perfect person to send in.”
“I was thinking about Anna,” she admitted.
“You are not letting Anna Steel Nipples take your man,” Kenzie announced with a huff.
Kala grinned. “They are always on display, right? Like I don’t know how she manages that. Those headlights are always blaringly on. It’s distracting, and I don’t even like boobs.”
“Everyone likes boobs,” Tristan said. “But hers are kind of scary.”
“I think she might use them as weapons,” Zach agreed. “Definitely not a good call. I think we’ve only got one operative who will work here. Tash, you’ve got to go in.”
Pure anxiety poured through her body. “What?”
“It makes the most sense. You know the target. You’re already close to the target,” Kenzie argued. “The target is super into you, so he will absolutely invite you to that weekend getaway and you can almost surely bring your cousin for part of the party. Then you can distract everyone while Kara gets the intel we need. It’ll be fun.”
It did not sound like fun. “I’m not a field agent.”
“You’re perfectly trained, and you can handle yourself. This is an easy op,” Zach replied, looking more confident than he had before. “I don’t think we even need to call Big Tag. The parameters are the same, and Tasha is well equipped to handle herself in the field. Unless you want to call your dad and let him know we kind of fucked up.”
Kala sat back, her combat boots making an appearance on the table as she relaxed. “Lou can do all the overwatch stuff, and whichever Kara isn’t in the field can help her out. What do you say, bestie? Think you can stare at a screen and tell Tash if the bad guy is coming up behind her?”
Lou gave her a thumbs-up. “Sounds like fun.”
“I don’t know. Maybe we should call Dad.” Her father would say no. Her dad would get her out of this because the only thing she could think of that would be worse than walking out on Dare was trying to walk back in and getting rejected. Then the op would be blown, and it would be all her fault.
“We are not calling Dad,” the twins said in stereo.
Tristan’s head shook. “Nope. I’m with the Karas on this one. We open that door even an inch and the big boss will never let us close it again. He will breathe down our necks for all of time.”
She looked to Lou and Coop, who were always the reasonable ones.
“Sorry, Tash.” Coop sent her an apologetic smile. “Tris is right. You let Ian Taggart know we couldn’t handle this mission on our own and it’ll be five years before we’re allowed off the leash again. And he can’t call this a honey pot because the pot was fully invaded before the op even started.”
“You know I like to call in Uncle Ian whenever I can,” Lou began. “But in this case I think you should go for it. I think if you don’t, you’re always going to wonder. It’s probably going to blow up in your face and you’ll get your heart broken, but at least you’ll know if it could have worked.”
Lou’s plaintive words made her heart squeeze because they were as much about Lou’s situation as Tasha’s. She glanced over at Kala, who was suddenly staring at her boots. At anything that wasn’t Cooper.
“It would be better to know.” She was surprised because those words had come out of Cooper’s mouth. His gaze was steady on Kala for a moment and then he sighed. “Anyway, I vote we don’t call in the bosses. We tell Drake we have things covered and let Ian and Charlotte enjoy their vacation. All in?”
Everyone’s hand raised.
And Tasha knew she was screwed.
* * * *
Dare sat in the lobby and wondered if Kara had called her cousin. They’d met up at the coffee mixer that opened the conference. It had been a shock to see her even though Brian had warned him she would be here.
Kara had a completely different work personality. It wasn’t surprising since she was in sales and would need to be a people pleaser to do her job. She’d been happy and bubbly and only the slightest bit standoffish when it came to Brian, who’d practically drooled all over her.
