Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 133213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Actually, they had a real trend of epic love stories. When she thought about it, all their parents had something serious to get through. She was sitting here thinking she was the only person in the world who ever felt this way, but she knew it wasn’t true. She was a freaking doctor, and she listened to her patients. They all had stories. They all had heartaches.
Maybe it was time to start listening to her elders. How had they gotten through it?
Aunt Erin had lost Uncle Theo to a crazy woman who’d kidnapped him and wiped his memory. They were happy today.
Aunt Charlotte had faked her own death, and Uncle Ian had been under suspicion he’d killed her for years. They were happy today.
Apparently her dad had been a massive asshole, and her mom had found it in her heart to forgive him.
And they were happy today.
“You know Dare didn’t know who I was when I slept with him,” Tasha said quietly. “I lied to him because we were in the middle of an op. I knew I was in love with him and I lied. I let my team bug his room and download his laptop. I almost lost him. In some ways, I think I would have if I hadn’t gotten shot and he had to face a world without me. We’re together today because of his generous heart.”
Kenzie sniffled.
“Nate didn’t know who I was,” Daisy said. “I stole a night of passion from my big Aussie bastard and he forgave me.”
She knew this story well, and Daisy was embellishing. “You were after his dick, sweetie. Not his secrets. It’s not the same. You didn’t cause Nate a shit ton of heartache. Just a little confusion.”
Daisy sniffed. “Well, that makes me sound like a novella. You know like when Aunt Serena needs a break from the big books. You don’t think she’d make me a novella, do you?”
Carys snorted. “Never. It was epic.”
Now she wondered if hers was epic. It had simply always been there. Aidan and Tristan had always been there, and until Tris decided to run off to the military, they hadn’t had a ton of drama. She hadn’t cared when some jealous girls called her a whore. Her parents had accepted them with relative ease.
Was she wilting in the face of the first real trouble they’d ever had?
Tristan had told her what he wanted, and she’d shut down. She’d gotten her feelings hurt and let him go.
“Hey, are we doing this or are you going to admit you remember nothing and promise you’ll duck behind me when shit goes down?” Kala had on shorts and a sports bra, her magenta-colored hair up in a high ponytail. “Because shit is absolutely going to go down.”
“Hey, Kala, you could go easier on her,” Kenzie complained.
Cooper stood up. “Maybe we should talk about this first.”
She rather thought she knew what her cousin was doing. Kala was poking at all her sore spots to point out her weaknesses. To show her how hard this was going to be.
Because she was soft.
She was a Taggart, too. Oh, if things had gone the way they were supposed to she would be Carys O’Donnell, and maybe the name didn’t change things, but maybe it would have.
She was still Carys Taggart, and it was time to prove it.
Carys got into Kala’s space. “The good news, cousin, is I can put you back together after I take you apart.”
Cooper winced. “I don’t think that’s how this is going to go.”
“Baby, why don’t you spar with Lou?” Aidan had joined Cooper.
Kala’s lips curled into a snarl she still managed to make look cover-model worthy. “Really? You think you can take me, doc? You’ve been in your ivory tower for too long. It’s fucked with your reasoning skills.”
“Yeah, well the Agency is the only reason you’re not covered in tattoos and traveling the world in a built-out school bus,” Carys shot back.
Kenzie laughed out loud, but everyone else went still as though waiting for carnage.
Lou gave her a weak smile. “I mean, she is right about the tats. You complain about it all the time. It’s also the reason she’s not pierced all over.”
“Except in the good places,” Cooper said with an entirely masculine smile. It made Carys wonder what was really going on between those two.
Kala’s eyes narrowed. “Thanks, Coop. As for my sweet, naïve cousin, let’s go.” She frowned suddenly. “And I wouldn’t build out a freaking school bus. Ewww. I would be fully tatted up in a tiny house in the middle of the forest with a small goat army. Thank you.”
And then her cousin punched her. Right in the gut.
The air whooshed out of Carys’s lungs, pain flaring as she tried to get enough oxygen.
“Hey.” Aidan stepped in front of her. “That wasn’t fucking fair.”