Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Rene closed the door behind him and he was left with the one woman in the world he shouldn’t be alone with, the one woman in the world who could wreck him. And there was a whole dungeon down there they could play in.
No. He wasn’t going there. Not even if she wanted to. Which she wouldn’t because Kim wasn’t into the lifestyle. She was vanilla.
Except hadn’t she always been open to anything he wanted to try? Hadn’t she been the one to push him to keep things sexy between the two of them?
She set her duffel down on the bistro table and moved to the small pantry. “Are you hungry? I can probably put something together. Oh, thank god we’re in France.” She pulled out a bottle of wine. “It’s a Pinot. I know you prefer beer.”
“I’ll drink anything right now.” He shouldn’t, but if there had been a bottle of Scotch, he might have sucked it down like water. “It’s been a day. You know we’re going to have to talk about it.”
He’d given her time, but they would have to go over what Levi had done to her, what he’d said. He knew that fucker, and Levi liked to talk, so he had likely discussed his plans with her.
“Talk about what?” She opened a drawer and came back with a corkscrew. “I mean we probably have a lot to talk about. It’s been ten years, after all.”
“We’ve talked since the divorce.” It might have been one of their problems.
“We’ve argued. You’ve yelled and I reacted. That’s not a discussion.”
“Well, I didn’t think there was anything to discuss after you got my brother killed.”
She stopped, going still as though she needed a moment to absorb the blow.
His anger was his greatest flaw. He knew, but he couldn’t quite tamp it down. “I didn’t mean to say that.”
“But you still believe it. That’s good to know. We were halfway civil in England. I almost hoped you’d forgiven me.”
His jaw actually clenched to keep the words in. How could he forgive her?
Her eyes came up. “You might as well say it. You know you want to. You’ll feel better if you get it off your chest.”
But he wouldn’t. That had been their problem. He’d raged at her time and time again and it never seemed to quell his anger. He shoved down the need to rehash their old issues. Why should he bother when they had so many new issues to get through? “I would rather talk about what happened today.”
She pulled the cork and went to work finding glasses. “I’ll write up a report. I think it’s safe to say Levi is back in good with the big bosses.”
He took a long breath and forced himself to sit on the couch.
It wasn’t comfortable. It was kind of lumpy.
“Yes. I think we can safely say whatever was on the files we picked up here in Paris was enough to get them to overlook everything Levi’s done in the last couple of years.” Like work with drug dealing generals and shoot operatives who didn’t agree with him. The Agency had picked teams and it looked like everything had come up Levi’s way.
She poured two glasses of the wine. “I know what he has. The question is will the Agency admit they have it.”
“What is that?”
She put the glass in front of him, moved her duffel to the floor, and sat down across from him. “There was a ton of information about who McDonald worked with. Some real. Some placed in there for blackmail purposes, like me. But the other thing you need to understand is that Levi has the formulary for McDonald’s drug.”
He felt the hairs on his arm stand up. That drug had taken everything from the Lost Boys, and he’d prayed they’d destroyed it utterly. “Tell me it’s not the final formulary.”
“No, but I worry that’s out there somewhere.”
He happened to know otherwise. “I’m going to tell you something that I hope you don’t feel necessary to share with the Agency when you get back.”
Her eyes widened. “Get back? I don’t think my job will be waiting for me at the end of this. Once you get burned it’s very hard to rejoin, and I wouldn’t ever move up again. You know that. They offered to let you return but you walked away. I always wondered if that was more about giving me the finger than not wanting your job back.”
“It wasn’t about you.” Seeing her had been the only reason to remain at the Agency, even though he’d known how unhealthy it was to stay around her. “It was about…everything. It was about what happened in Africa. It was about what happened in Mexico. It was about my brother.”
“If it was about your brother then it was about me. You can’t separate the two of us in your head anymore.” She stared at the wall behind him, her eyes a bit glassy. She suddenly shook her head and her eyes cleared. “I won’t be going back to the Agency. I don’t know what I’ll do, but even if I managed to get rid of Levi, there will always be people there who hate me. After what happened this morning, I don’t think I can trust anyone there. So you can tell me anything. Despite our trouble, I’ve always been on your side.”