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)
She started walking the way Charlotte led, glancing back to ensure no one was listening. “He claims to have connections in South Korea.”
“Maybe, but you should know he lies a lot. They all do.” Charlotte led her across the grand hallway and back toward a smaller room. “The board members are a lot like a nest of snakes, but most of them have held their seats forever, so the Malones know how to handle them. Tell me something. Has Deanna shown her claws yet?”
“She’s taken a swipe,” Nina replied. “I’m fairly certain she set the PI on us, though apparently she tracks JT’s phone.”
“They are a little on the codependent side. JT lets her run a lot of his day-to-day life, but he is super private when it comes to anything outside of business.” Charlotte opened the door. “It’s why this can actually work. JT dated a woman from Sanctum up until a few months ago and Deanna never even knew her name.”
He'd had a sub? She wasn’t sure why the thought surprised her. She knew he was a Dom and he had been for a while. Why wouldn’t he have had a sub or two?
She’d never had a Dom. She’d played and had sessions with some of the Doms at The Garden, but she’d never worn a collar.
“That’s good to know.”
Charlotte opened the door and there was already a conversation going on.
“You need to talk to your monster, Ian,” Alex McKay was saying. “She doesn’t have to be mean to Cooper.”
Tag rolled his baby blues. “Seriously? What did she do now?”
“She told their whole class that Coop has cooties,” Alex complained. “He doesn’t anymore. We got rid of the lice, that might I point out, Kala gave him. She was ground zero in that particular outbreak.”
Charlotte leaned over. “Kala might have found a cap in the trash outside of the club. She decided to wear it. Then she took it to Alex and Eve’s and put it on Cooper. It was not a fun time.” She walked fully into the room and addressed Alex. “I’ll talk to her about that. You know I think it’s because she’s got a little crush on Cooper.”
Ian put a hand on his stomach as though something was going to come back up. “No, she doesn’t. The only thing my baby girl is crushing on is life itself. She’s killing it at karate. All she was doing was warning the world that Coop had the nits.”
“Carys told me Coop had been talking to another little girl when Kala made her announcement.” Eve McKay rounded out the foursome, all of them dressed for the cocktail party. It was a bit intimidating to be around Eve McKay. Charlotte Taggart tended to view the world as one big soap opera being played out for her pleasure, but Eve took everything seriously and through a psychologist’s eye.
She hadn’t been at McKay-Taggart and Knight for very long. Was Eve here to ensure she wouldn’t screw things up?
Charlotte nodded as though she’d thought that was what had happened. “Alice Diaz. She’s adorable, and I couldn’t figure out why Kala hates her until now. And she’s definitely crushing on Cooper no matter what Ian says.”
Ian had his fingers in his ears. “Lies. Lies, I tell you.”
Alex stood near Ian. “No one wants that to be true less than I do.” He glanced Nina’s way. “Sorry. The kiddos are starting to show signs of pairing off, and it’s freaking the rest of us out.”
“I thought it was funny when it happened to Sean,” Ian said with a frown. “He’s going to end up with Jake and Adam and Liam for in-laws if he doesn’t shut that shit down. As for my baby girl, Kala will be too busy saving the world ninja style to date. I’m afraid I’ve given up on Kenz. She’s too much like her momma. All I’ve asked is that she bring home an American.” He shuddered. “I couldn’t handle it if she brought home some stuffy Brit or worse.”
“What’s worse than a stuffy Brit?” Alex asked.
“Canadian,” Ian retorted. “With their politeness and weird bacon. I fear the Canadian more than any other.”
Charlotte was the one rolling her eyes now. “Can we cut the kid talk and focus on the actual Brit in our midst?”
Big Tag grinned. “Nina’s not stuffy. I heard she took her last bullet like a champ. Avoided the roofie the bad guy slipped into her tea but took one to the chest.”
“Well if I’d known he was going to shoot me, I would have had the tea,” she admitted and held up the wine she’d taken from one of their suspects. “Speaking of drinks, I’m not about to drink this. It’s probably fine, but once roofied, twice shy and all that.”
Charlotte took the glass from her. “I can find something for you. This house has a bar in almost every room. I’ve always liked the Malones. How is it going between you and JT?”