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)
It was not how he wanted to spend his morning. He needed more time with her.
He held up his phone. “You’re Nina Blunt. You work for McKay-Taggart.”
She let out a sigh of obvious relief. “They sent you an email with my dossier.”
Yep. He’d read it the day before, but she didn’t need to know that. “I guess we have a lot to talk about.”
She shook her head and walked around him to get her shoes. “We do, but I got a call from my boss. The CIA agent we’re going to be working with is in town and wants to meet right away. I need to get to the office. Perhaps we can talk later this afternoon. We can definitely talk about how this is going to work. Girlfriend would have been easier than fiancée, but we have to go with it now. You need to contact your parents in case the assistant decides to ask about our out-of-nowhere engagement.”
“They’ll treat you better if they think you’re going to be a member of the family,” he said.
“You shouldn’t concern yourself at all with how they’ll treat me.” She managed to make what should have been a suggestion sound like an accusation. “I can handle whatever they throw at me.”
There had been another reason for him changing her plan. “I probably wouldn’t bring a girlfriend to something like this, and my employees would know that.”
She nodded as she slipped into her heels. “All right. Well, we’ll need a good cover. We can discuss it at the office.”
“Or we could talk about it over dinner,” he suggested. He could see the no on her face, but he had a counter. “We need to spend time together. Look, I know this is weird, but I was coming back up here to ask if I could see you again. I don’t see how this changes anything at all except that we don’t have to take a week or two before we go on an actual date.”
Her eyes widened and she grabbed her purse. “It changes everything, Mr. Malone.”
Oh, she was upset, and he wasn’t sure what that was about. He only knew he wasn’t going to let it stand. But he could give her some space. For now. “I look forward to seeing you this afternoon, Ms. Blunt.”
She rushed out the door and he admired her very lush backside as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed his brother’s number.
“Hey, I just got off the plane. Everything okay?” Mike asked.
“I slept with my McKay-Taggart contact and she’s freaked out about it.” It was best to own up to everything when it came to his brother. “And you’re going to tell me why.”
He could do his research, too.
After his brother stopped cussing.
Chapter Four
“All right, everything is ready and you’ve got all your new ID that identifies you as Nina Banks, but we’ve hit a snag and we’re probably going to have to redo it all under a new name,” Big Tag was saying. “Did you get the email I sent out?”
Nina sat in the conference room at McKay-Taggart. Unlike the London office, this one wasn’t set in a gorgeous botanical BDSM club like The Garden. The Dallas office was sleek and modern, reminding her this was all business and she shouldn’t be thinking about the gorgeous man next to her as anything but a client. JT Malone had shown up long before she’d thought he would, walking into the conference room with his twin, Michael. His identical twin, though it was easy to tell them apart. Michael was grave and serious, where JT’s smile lit up the room.
She forced herself to focus on the authority figure. “Yes, sir. I got it this morning. I don’t think it will be an issue and it won’t require a new name. I think the best cover would be going in as Mr. Malone’s friend. From what I understand, plus ones are perfectly acceptable at this retreat.”
Charlotte Taggart sat next to her husband and a single brow rose over her intelligent eyes. “Really? I was going to go with journalist. You’re a reporter writing a story about young business leaders and how they’re shaking up Wall Street. I can put it out there that you’ve interviewed Andrew Lawless from 4L and a man named Seth Stark. They’re both willing to back up the story if anyone asks.”
That was an excellent cover. Truly bloody excellent, and she couldn’t use it. And she couldn’t tell Charlotte why she couldn’t use it. What was she supposed to say now?
The silence lengthened, and Nina fought the urge to stand up and walk out. Her brain was blank. She was better than this. The man next to her was short-circuiting all her best instincts.
“That won’t work.” JT came to the rescue. “Everyone knows I don’t talk to reporters. I’ve got a thing about it. Right, Mike?”