AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She hated her sisters sometimes. Loved, loved them, but they made life weird. “You will tell me the precise location of every bug you planted.”
“Someone finally bugged the suite?”
The door had come open, and Cooper walked in followed by Tristan and one of the largest men Tasha had ever seen. The last time they’d been in the same room together had been eight years before when Nathan Carter had come to Dallas with his parents for a visit. He’d been a tall, lanky seventeen-year-old with a sweet smile and a whole lot of Aussie lingo and plans to go into the military. The Army had packed the muscle on and turned the boy into a big old hunk of man.
“Tasha distracted the target, and I didn’t have a Brian problem,” Kala said, her attention going to the new guy as a smile slid across her face. “Nathan Carter, you grew up right, man. Welcome to the team.”
Kenzie had leapt off the couch, giving Nate a big hug.
He looked so much like his father. Six and a half foot plus, and there had to be two hundred and fifty pounds of muscle on him. Kala was right. He was going to be as hard to feed as Lou’s dad.
“Thanks for being willing to help.” The confrontation with her sisters was still playing through her head. They were right, but it felt so wrong to know that they would be listening in on all of Dare’s conversations. She was usually the one listening in. She or Zach. This time it would be Lou taking her place. Lou would be listening in on all of Dare’s secrets.
“Happy to do it. I was sitting around the flat thinking about my next move. Didn’t think I would be leaving the Army so soon.” He might have spent his first years in England, but Nate was pure Aussie now. His sister, Elodie Carter, had been born in London, but she barely remembered living there. “I’ll be honest. I was about to have my dad call yours to see if I could get on with MT, maybe. I think it might be good to get away for a while.”
He’d been in some kind of accident. At the time he’d been SASR and on a classified mission. She was sure Lou or Tristan could get the full report, but they’d decided to respect Nate’s privacy. If he wanted them to know what happened, he would tell them.
They wouldn’t give Dare the same courtesy.
Because he’s the target. Kala is right, and you’re putting everyone in danger.
Professional. She had to stay professional.
“I bet I can make that happen for you,” she promised. Her father was always looking to add to the group of bodyguards he affectionately—if sarcastically—called the “douche.” He’d explained once that if a group of geese could be a gaggle, a group of bodyguards was a douche. There was always room on the douche. “You looking to work in London or Dallas? I would offer you a job at our African office, but Ten Smith nearly murdered the last one we sent out. I think the man is only capable of working with his kids at this point.”
She’d heard the former CIA agent Tennessee Smith had once been a smooth operator who could manage anyone, but she’d only ever known the cranky guy who traded punches with her dad from time to time and told the craziest stories. And did not like to work with newbies.
“Oh, Dallas would be brilliant,” Nate answered. “I thought it would be good to be near friends. I didn’t keep up with the London kids the way I did you guys. I’m still close to Aidan, and I think it’ll be fun to see what Daisy gets up to. Haven’t actually seen her in years.”
Well, he was in for a treat because the last time he’d seen Daisy O’Donnell she’d been an awkward teen with braces and greasy hair because she hadn’t been big on the whole bath thing. Daisy was the definition of late bloomer. Nate was going to find out the girl he’d considered a kid sister was now a freaking bombshell who seemed to attract trouble.
“Daisy is the single hottest mess we have in the family.” Kenzie was grinning. She loved good gossip. “She’s a walking episode of Dateline, except somehow she always manages to find her way out of it. Like once she followed a guy she was dating into an underground club and almost got herself auctioned off and because of the social media post she’d made, the cops raided just in time, and she was celebrated for saving ten other women.”
Nate frowned. “She did what?”
“How about the time when she broke into the county animal shelter because they were set to euthanize twenty-five dogs? She got caught by the police because she did not take my advice when it came to burglary,” Kala said with a smile. “Instead of being arrested, they put her on the evening news, and that was how her parents found out their fifteen-year-old wasn’t in bed.”
