Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 74597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
They’d spent days going over and over their cover so they would have the same story of where they’d met, what their first date had been, how he’d proposed.
At a conference in London. Dinner in the West End. He’d flown into London after a month in the Middle East and asked her right there in her office.
He’d wanted something more elaborate, but she’d insisted simpler was better.
He’d taken a crash course in Nina and he was way better at studying her than he’d ever been in school. He knew she loved the color blue in all its shades. She found it soothing. She listened to a wide variety of music. She loved it when he nipped the back of her neck. It got her hot and ready in seconds.
He hated the fact that their days together were almost over. Despite the fact that he’d gone into the office, she’d joined him every day for lunch, and they’d made a couple of memories on his desk. He wouldn’t ever be able to sit there again without seeing her there, her head thrown back in pure ecstasy.
But today, something had shifted and he’d begun to see more of the operative than the woman. He felt a distance opening between them, and he didn’t like it one bit. “I know you wanted to talk to Big Tag. I made sure he was on the invite list. We’re also bringing out some of the leadership team.”
“I’m sure that will be helpful for your stock,” she replied, staring at the big house ahead of them. “It’s a mansion. You said it was a ranch house.”
“It’s on a ranch. It’s a house. To me that’s a ranch house.”
“How many rooms?”
“Ten bedrooms. Sixteen bathrooms. You’ll get a whole tour,” he promised.
“Your mom understands what I’m here to do, right?”
His mother probably understood far too much, but he was taking things slow with Nina. Not physically, of course. The better phrase was likely he was laying low when it came to his future plans. As far as Nina understood, they were having fun, getting comfortable with each other for the sake of the op. She didn’t know he never wanted her to take off that ring. “She thinks we’re a real fake engagement. She doesn’t know we’re a sort of dating fake engagement.”
That earned him a chuckle. “It’s a bit confusing.”
“Well, my mother’s a lovely lady.” He’d managed to avoid the introductions due to his father’s health issues. His dad was stubborn as the day was long, and he’d decided he knew better than the doctors. He’d attempted to help some of the ranch hands and torn one of his incisions slightly open. His mother wasn’t allowing him to leave the house until he was completely healed. “My father can be intimidating to a lot of people.”
“I can handle your father. I worry this is going to be too much for him. Isn’t he supposed to be resting?”
“I assure you he won’t do anything he’s not supposed to now,” JT said. “He tends to learn from his mistakes. It’s my brother I’m more worried about. Mike doesn’t think I can hack this. He’s probably going to take you to the side and try to convince you to trade us out.”
“I won’t do that. I promise you. I’m not going in without you no matter what Michael says. I trust you.” She glanced at the porch. “Who is the woman?”
He watched as a diminutive figure stepped onto the porch.
“My mother.” He loved her, but she was going to meddle. He could feel it from here. “She tracks my phone, too.”
Nina’s hand slid over his. “It’s good to have people who care about you.”
“Yeah, well it can be hell on a man’s ego when his momma calls because she’s tracked him down to a bar on the other side of the world and she wants to make sure he’s safe.”
Nina sighed. “I’m not close to my family at all, though I do care about them. I suppose we lost touch somewhere along the way. Go on, then. We should meet her. She’s right about the party. It’s going to be helpful. It gives me a reason to see Big Tag. I couldn’t exactly go up to the office since we were worried about being followed. I’ll get to spend time with our suspects before we’re with the whole leadership team. I’m sure Big Tag can tell us if it was your assistant who hired the PI.”
He took his foot off the brake and started for the house. “I know it was her. I’ll have to fire her when this is over. I hate that.”
“If she’s not the spy, you don’t have to fire her.”
But he did if she was setting private investigators on his girlfriends. He had to wonder if she’d done it before. He’d never had a girlfriend who would pick up on a tail. “We’ll see.”