Master No (Masters and Mercenaries, #9)(23)

“I can’t answer that question yet, Tag. Maybe it was a kidnapping,” he replied as though it didn’t matter. It was another intellectual puzzle to be solved and not something that kind of made his gut clench. “Her father’s got a couple of important votes coming up. Hell, it might have been because she’s a rich girl and Daddy would pay.”

“She’s pretty,” Tag said before calling over a waitress.

“She’s all right.” She was f*cking gorgeous. He’d watched her as she bought the lip-gloss and then answered her phone. He wasn’t sure who she’d been talking to. He’d get the report on that later. Erin had bugged her phone a long while back. He could listen to the recording and hear her talk in that practical way of hers that seemed to do something to his dick. He’d hung back, pretending to be fascinated with scarves.

She was gorgeous and he’d been way too long without a woman.

“Hey, if this is going to be hard on you, let me send Case in. He’s kind of got a thing for her. Case really wouldn’t mind getting in bed with her. Ah, there it is.” Tag turned to the brunette. “I’ll take a Scotch. The one Sean keeps in his office.”

The waitress nodded. “I’m supposed to tell you that you’re a greedy son of a bitch and then get it for you anyway. Also Macon’s got lemon madeleines in the back.”

That seemed to make Big Tag incredibly happy. “Thanks, Ally. I have no idea what that is, but I’ll look forward to it, and tell Sean that just for that, make it a double.”

Ally smiled and walked off.

“There what is?” He had no illusions they wouldn’t go right back to their increasingly uncomfortable conversation.

Tag sat back. “For a minute there, the mask fell away and you were ready to stab my brother through the heart.”

“Don’t.” He wasn’t falling for this shit. “Don’t you play cupid here, Tag. You think I don’t see through you. Everyone else here thinks you’re the big bad, but I know what you are. You’re a meek teddy bear dressed up like a grizzly. You’ve been declawed, brother, and you want the rest of us to be just as * whipped as you are so you manipulate and put people in positions where they have to couple up, and then you walk home and polish your f*cking halo. You aren’t doing it to me. I’m not falling into that trap.”

“What would you like to bet on that? A thousand?”

“A thousand dollars?”

Tag nodded. “Yes. I have to go big. Have you seen what college costs these days? I have to make sure those girls get into Ivy League schools or they’ll end up on the pole. I can’t have my girls on the pole, man. Chris Rock was right. I got a mission in life now and it’s keeping my baby girls away from skeevy dudes who go to strip clubs.”

“You used to go to strip clubs.”

“Exactly. No way I want my baby girls around any dude like me. Or you. Or Alex’s kid. I see the way he looks at my girls.” Tag eyed him as though sizing him up. It made Ten nervous. “When was the last time you were around a real woman? The last few months don’t count because you distance from the women at the office. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

Tag seemed to notice everything. Didn’t he have anything better to do? “Not that it’s any of your business, but I met a woman in a bar last week.”

He’d been out of sorts. Talking to Faith every day made him feel…weird. He’d needed to distance so he’d gone to a bar the previous Friday night, and within an hour he was back at some blonde’s place. He couldn’t remember her name. Wasn’t sure he’d even asked. He’d steered her straight to the bedroom, ready to lose himself the way he always did. Sex had been his thing for most of his life. Since he’d been sixteen and figured out how good it made him feel, he turned to women when he got restless. He’d gotten the blonde out of her clothes, laid her back on the bed, and was going to get out of his own when he’d looked down at her and seen someone else.

He’d seen Faith.

Yeah, he wasn’t about to tell Tag he’d made an excuse and walked out the door and spent the next week yanking his own dick.

Tag’s eyes rolled. “I wasn’t talking about getting your rocks off. I was talking about being with a woman. Talking to her. Having a relationship with her.”

“You know how easy it is to have a relationship in my position? Yeah, working for the Agency, never knowing what continent I’ll be on tomorrow, that’s been a breeze for keeping a woman around.” Had Tag lost his damn mind? “And hey, the Agency wanting me dead is another plus in my win column.”

“Have they tried anything?”

Ten kept waiting. He’d been careful while he’d been out of the States. He’d spent time in Saudi, Iraq, and Pakistan while building his intelligence about the network Senator McDonald had put together. He’d been totally off the grid and constantly watching his back. It was easy in that part of the world.

It was harder here. He had a solid paper trail thanks to Chelsea. He had backup thanks to his old team and McKay-Taggart. He had babies in the room next to him. He had freaking two-hour Skype conversations with Faith McDonald where he told her lie after lie about his life and she talked about saving kids in Africa. The world was soft here. This was where they would get him.