On Her Master's Secret Service (Masters and Mercenaries #4)(83)

“What the hell?” Adam asked, standing up from his computer screen.

Kristen staggered to the couch. “It’s nothing to worry about. I got into a little fight.”

Eve rushed to the kitchen and wrapped some ice in a towel. She hurried back. Kristen was pulling back her hair. There was a nice knot on her forehead. “Is your cover blown?”

She took the towel. “I don’t think so, but I have a dead bouncer in my trunk. He caught me coming out of Chazz’s office. He thought I was trying to steal something. He made an offer to not turn me in.”

Eve could guess what that had been. “So you jumped him when he got you alone for sex?”

“Is anything broken?” Sean asked.

Kristen shook her head. “I don’t think so. He was a heavy f*cker. I had to stuff him out a window so no one could see. It was really only my innate knowledge of pulleys and levers that saved my ass. Well, that, and a perfectly placed stiletto through his eye socket.”

Adam’s eyes widened. “You killed him with your heel?”

“No, dummy. I was talking about a knife. I told him I would do him in one of the private rooms. I have weapons hidden all over that club.” She held the ice to her forehead. “Damn it. I promised myself I wouldn’t kill anyone again. Jerk-faced * couldn’t respect my fake need for vagina. No, he had to prove what a man he was. He promised he would turn me straight.”

Sean smiled knowingly at her. “Which agency do you work for? Look, I’ve got my smiley face on so I’m not angry at all. But if you’re trying to tell me you’re a mild-mannered journalist who just happens to be able to shove a thin blade in precisely the right way and with the right amount of force to kill a man, then you don’t have much respect for my intelligence. Are you domestic or foreign?”

Kristen closed her eyes. “Sean, I’m not what you think I am.”

“He thinks you’re Agency. I kind of do, too,” Adam agreed.

“I am not a spy. I am no one’s operative,” Kristen said in a low voice. “I am not now, nor have I ever belonged to, any government agency and certainly not the CIA.”

Eve kind of believed her. There was more than one reason to learn how to really defend oneself. “But you’ve been hurt before.”

Kristen’s eyes found hers. “Yes, in ways you can’t imagine. I learned how to defend myself at a very young age. I had to. I don’t hide weapons because some CIA handbook taught me to. I hide them because growing up I knew if I didn’t have a way to defend myself, I would very likely not see another birthday, at least not one where I was whole. Can we move past my shitastic childhood and talk about what I found?”

Sean’s jaw was a stubborn line. “Fine, but I’ll figure you out and I probably won’t be wearing my smiley face when I do. And I swear to god, if you hurt anyone on this team, I will make sure you pay.”

“I’m sure your brother would be right behind you,” she said absently.

“You know he would. Think about that before you make your next move.” Sean had gone positively arctic.

“You think I don’t think about it every f*cking day?”

Eve needed to chill them out before Sean and Kristen went after each other. Despite the fact that she didn’t know a damn thing about the woman, she trusted Kristen. “What did you learn, sweetie?”

Kristen’s eyebrows rose, and she turned to Eve. It was so easy to see the eager puppy on her face. She wanted to be one of the girls. She so deeply wanted friends. Eve watched as Kristen stopped herself, drawing her hands together and folding them on her lap. If Eve had to bet, she would say Kristen had wanted to reach out, to hold Eve’s hand. “I got into Chazz’s office. I knew I wouldn’t have long. I got in. I looked at his calendar. I got out.”

Eve moved toward her, offering her the affection she so clearly longed for. She held out her hand. “And what did you find?”

Kristen leaned forward, reaching for Eve’s hand. “He’s got the day after tomorrow circled. It says he’s meeting with Mikey. We can get him, Eve. I’ll help you. I’ll be right there beside you.”

Nothing in her eyes made Eve think she was lying. Eve threaded their fingers together. This was what Kristen so deeply desired, a sisterhood, a family. “All right. We’ll wake Alex up early and let him know. We’ll be ready for him.”

She had a day to profile him, to figure out how best to go after him. She wouldn’t sleep. It wasn’t her job to be the avenger. It was her job to give Alex and Sean every bit of information they needed to know.

And Kristen. She just knew it. Kristen would be a warrior. Kristen needed to help.

Sean frowned. “All right then. Are you hungry?”

Kristen shrugged. “I could eat.”

Sean shook his head and walked back into the kitchen.

Adam yelled after him. “Hey, you’re willing to cook for the woman who won’t tell us who she really is but not me?”

Sean didn’t look back, just started buttering bread. “She didn’t try to sleep with my wife.”

Kristen shrugged. “I haven’t seen her. Who knows? I might.”

Sean just chuckled.

Kristen leaned in, whispering. “I really wouldn’t. I really do still love the man I lost. I can’t…I can’t think of anyone else.”