You Only Love Twice (Masters and Mercenaries #8)(39)

Ten drained the Scotch. “I’m going to need another.”

She reached out and covered her brother’s hand with hers. “You saved me, Ten. I know it might have ended up costing you your relationship with Taggart, but you saved me.”

“Tag and I have an understanding.” His hand turned over and grasped hers. “I tell him everything and he only gets to punch the shit out of me ten more times. He’s holding them in his back pocket for when he needs to let off some steam.”

She didn’t like the idea of Taggart jumping her brother. “No.”

Ten shook his head. “It’s fine. No broken bones. That’s our only rule. You stay out of this. You let me handle Tag the way I need to. I made mistakes. Big mistakes.”

“You made them for your family.” She’d caused him to make some of those errors.

“And he’s protecting his. Speaking of the devil.” Ten nodded as Taggart stalked into the room. He was carrying a duffel bag of some kind and there was a grim look on his face. “Nice place you’ve got here, Tag.”

“You motherf*cker. You got into my Scotch.”

Ten immediately shot him the finger. “I need more. My spleen hurts, damn it.”

“*.” But it was said in that guy way that seemed almost affectionate. He took the empty glass from Ten and stepped over to the bar. “And that’s not the good stuff. That’s a twenty-five. I’ve got the fifty hidden. I think we could both use middle-aged Scotch. Phoebe, could you join me? I’d like to go over the rules of the club with you.”

There were rules? She thought the only rule was to not let Jesse get horribly murdered. She glanced at Ten, who nodded and then joined Taggart at the bar.

“So I take it the crying every time I came close was a protective measure,” he began.

No one said he was a dummy. “It was a way to make sure you didn’t spend too much time with me. If you had spent any real time with me, you likely would have seen more than I wanted you to. I quickly figured out you’re an intolerant bastard. A couple of hysterical fits of tears and a dash of drama and you didn’t want to be in the same room with me.”

“Nice play. It won’t work on me again. So, what’s your poison? Don’t tell me you don’t have one because all spies drink. It’s a rule.”

“Vodka tonic.” If she was going to have some kind of discussion with Big Tag, maybe she did need something.

“I thought you were more a margarita girl.”

So Jesse had talked about her. “Phoebe Graham drinks margaritas and pi?a coladas. Phoebe Grant drinks vodka.”

A single brow arched over his stark blue eyes. The man could really convey serious judgment with that one brow. “Damn, you’re going to hurt Jesse’s feelings.”

“I think I already did that.”

Taggart huffed a little. “I was talking about the fact that Jesse finally had someone to drink those fruity things he likes so much with. That boy never met an umbrella drink he didn’t like.”

She could imagine how Tag teased him about his love of pi?a coladas and mai tais. “You have to stop making fun of him.”

“Then how will he know I like him?” Taggart expertly sliced and twisted her lime. “I don’t think you’re going to have a lot of say in Jesse’s life once you dump him.”

Of course he could convey tons of judgment with words, too. “I’m not dumping him. We were never really together as anything more than friends, and now I have to leave. My job here is done.”

“Oh, I think he feels like he’s been dumped. Maybe not dumped so much as betrayed and gutted.”

She hated the guilt that flooded her system. She’d f*cked up so badly. The first rule of the game was to never make it personal, but she’d failed at that before she’d even begun to play. “I never meant to make him feel that way.”

“You care about him?”

“Yes.”

“Then spend the next few days proving it.”

She just managed to not roll her eyes his way. “And how should I ‘prove it,’ as you say so eloquently?”

Taggart laughed. “Hey, women think sex is purely physical for a guy, but for most of us, it’s really how we express shit.”

“You mean like feelings?” She loved the way Taggart went slightly green at the very word.

“Yeah, that’s what I said. Look, Ten told me about your husband. I hope you don’t hold it against him. He’s really good at keeping secrets. I didn’t even know he had a family.” He slid the vodka tonic her way and then turned and opened a small door revealing his Scotch. “I’m not telling you to f*ck Jesse, although you would probably both feel better, but I get that you’re going to be a nun for the rest of your life. That’s cool. It’s a choice at least.”

“Screw you, Taggart. My life, my choice. You just don’t have any idea what it means to lose someone.”

There was that judgmental brow again. “Really?”

She’d forgotten about his wife. It was easy since she was alive and such a part of his life now. “Fine. You do and you chose to deal with it differently. I don’t judge you. You should understand how I feel. Do you honestly believe you could ever love another woman? If she hadn’t come back, would you have found someone else?”