Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 132657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Her eyes narrowed, and he could feel her suspicion. “Special?”
“All right.” He couldn’t do this here. She needed to be focused. He knew this was the simple part of her mission, but she still needed her head in the game. “You’re right. We’ll talk about this in the morning. Should I find a better place to park?”
“We’re fine here. I told her to meet us out front. She should be out in a couple of minutes.” She stared at him for a moment. “You’re not telling me something.”
Well, no one said she wasn’t smart. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow morning. I’ll tell you everything, but you should know it doesn’t change the way I feel about you. I have some things in my past we need to discuss, and I haven’t felt right sleeping with you when you don’t know everything.”
Her jaw went tight, and all that sweet acceptance was gone. “You’ve been lying to me.”
And this was why he wished he never had to have this conversation. He wished he’d met her in an organic way, without Jensen between them. Just hearing her say Jensen’s name made him anxious.
“Not lying, exactly, but I haven’t told you the whole truth,” he hedged. He wished he had more time. “You don’t know everything about my time in the military.”
She didn’t know why he’d gone into the military. Not fully. It had certainly been about money, but mostly about the deep and abiding brotherhood he formed with Jensen Wiley.
She glanced down at her phone, the suspicion fleeing. “I can handle it if you did bad shit in the military. Half my friends are literal spies. And I’m not supposed to talk about that. If I can be friends with Kala Taggart, I assure you I can handle my boyfriend working some black ops in the military. It does explain why this bothers you. I’m sorry about that. I still don’t get what could have happened in your military service that means we need therapy before we fuck.”
There were times when he adored her put-it-all-out-there personality. This was not one of those times. “Because I’m serious about us. I’m serious about you.”
She softened, looking back up at him. “I’m serious about you, too. But we need to figure out the whole sex thing because it’s been a long time for me, and I’m ready to get this train moving. She’s coming down. I told her exactly where we are.”
He took a long breath and looked out the front window. The street was quiet at this time of night. There was a light right next to the building Miranda lived in. It was a two-story apartment building set back from the street. They were parked at the front of the building, the parking lot behind them. They were in an older part of the city with big trees and houses and not a lot of traffic.
Harlow looked out over the street. “I still think we should keep business and our relationship separate. You didn’t enjoy this evening.”
“Did I have fun checking out an unsafe club and talking to douchebags who are probably criminals? No. Will I do it again because my girlfriend is a private investigator? Of course I will.” If she didn’t murder him after he told her why he was here.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea in this case,” she said quietly, her eyes on the street in front of them. She was obviously waiting for the moment when Miranda appeared. She hadn’t been this tense with the mom, but then the mom hadn’t seemed to be in danger. “I think there’s a lot going on there, and I probably need a partner.”
“I thought I was your partner. And Ruby. You have two partners.”
“You were cover for me tonight. It’s different,” she corrected. “Ruby is absolutely my partner, but I need her on the outside. Also, despite the fact that we make a gorgeous couple, no one believes our ‘we’re together’ act. We’ve tried it a couple of times, and we always get called out. Even at freaking Costco. I tried to put her on my card. They wanted a marriage license.”
He chuckled at the thought of Harlow and Ruby trying to ensure they got cheap bulk coffee and paper for their office. “I still don’t understand why you suddenly don’t want me going back to that club. I overheard you talking to the big guy. You told him you were going back in. Won’t they be confused about why you’re not with your Dom?”
“I’m going to tell them we had a falling out, but I still want to explore the lifestyle,” she explained. “It will be so much easier for people to talk to me.”
“And to hurt you, to take advantage of you. It’s why you wanted me to go with you in the first place.” He didn’t like the thought of her going into that club all by herself. He’d seen the way the men looked at her. It wasn’t a safe place. It wasn’t The Hideout. He also didn’t like the thought that she’d been planning this the last few hours.