Page 1 of Sweet Little Spies

Prologue

Carys Taggart stared at the man she’d loved since they werechildren. Well, one of them. The other sat beside her, but he’d done nothing todeserve her death stare.

They sat on the balcony section of one of Dallas’s finedining establishments, located in an equally luxurious hotel, overlooking thecity lights. It was elegant and somewhat private, and she wondered if this waswhere it all finally ended. At least he’d chosen a beautiful spot to end whathad felt like a lifetime love affair.

“It’s not forever.” Tristan Dean-Miles was a gorgeous manwith dark hair and green eyes. He was six foot three, and over the last fewyears had gone from gangly computer geek to muscular soldier.

She missed her computer nerd so damn much. The nerd wouldn’tbe leaving her. The hacking-obsessed young man she’d adored wouldn’t bestanding in front of her breaking all of his promises. She felt inexplicablyweary, and it wasn’t because she was in her final year of medical school. Thestress of taking the USMLE was nothing compared to sitting in this restaurantwatching the man she thought she’d marry let her down. Again.

“That’s what you said last time.” The other man she lovedlooked as tired as she did. Aidan O’Donnell. Six foot two, with lean muscle hehoned in the gym and by running.

Her life was complicated.

“I know,” Tris replied, a deep patience in his tone. “I’msorry. I know I did, but things have gotten…complex.”

She’d known they would have trouble when Tristan hadannounced he was going into the Army instead of grad school. They’d had plans.Plans they’d made when they were stupid kids who thought they could make arelationship like this work.

She sat there in the middle of the fancy restaurant Tristanhad likely picked either as an apology for what he’d been planning to say or asa shield so she couldn’t yell at him. Either way, she sat there feeling like apiece of herself had broken off, and she wouldn’t get it back.

Just because Tristan’s parents had made it work didn’t meanthey could. Tristan’s unique family had made what they had feel somewhatnormal. But there was a reason the world wasn’t full of happy threesomes.

“Complex?” Aidan’s jaw had taken on the hard line sheassociated with his stubbornness. It always tightened when he was workingthrough a problem he refused to give up on. Even when the “problem” had toldthem again and again he didn’t want to be solved. “What is that supposed tomean? Tris, we’re supposed to get married in a few months. We agreed when wefinished medical school, we would make this thing legal and start our family.”

It was what they’d always dreamed of. At least she andAidan. They would get through school, marry, and move in together and starttheir lives. They would do it without shame, and anyone who didn’t like itwould be ruthlessly extricated from their group.

“There is nothing I want more, but I have some things I needto do before I can settle down, and it might mean staying away from the two ofyou for a while.”

“So you did it.” She knew what he wasn’t saying. This hadbeen her fear for months now.

“Did it? Baby, all I’m doing is my job.” Tris looked soreasonable. He looked like a young man from a good family in his well-tailoredthree-piece suit. Unlike Aidan, Tristan came from money. A lot of it.

Her family did well, too, but not like Tristan’s. Aidan’swas upper middle-class. He hadn’t worried about college or medical school, buthe’d eaten his share of ramen noodles and worked some heavy-lifting part-timejobs.

Tristan could have done anything he wanted to. Had any jobin the world. He could have taken his place at his father’s side and learnedhow to run one of the top investigative firms in the world. Miles-Dean, Weston,and Murdoch specialized in locating people who were lost or who didn’t want tobe found. The company did well, but it was his parents’ creative endeavors thathad made them wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. Between his father’ssoftware innovations and his mom’s best-selling novels, there was little theDean-Miles family couldn’t afford. Tristan could be here in Dallas with them.

But something else had called to him.

“It’s a job you don’t need,” Aidan pointed out. “Look, Iunderstand you’re enjoying the adrenaline rush of being Army intelligence, butwhere does it end? You said you wanted to spend the last couple of yearsworking this out of your system. I got it. Medical school is a lot, and youthought we wouldn’t have time for you.”

She would have made time. Even if it had been nothing morethan holding him while he slept.

“I didn’t join the Army because you weren’t paying enoughattention to me.” For the first time Tristan’s calm looked slightly rattled. “Iwent in to see who I could be. To test myself.”

“Is testing what you’re doing now?” Aidan had on slacks anda jacket, but he hadn’t bothered with a tie. He was the more casual of her twolovers.

Of course there hadn’t been a lot of sex. Certainly notlately. She had two boyfriends, and it had been months since she’d seen someaction. Tristan had been gone, and she and Aidan had been studying or working.They often fell asleep on the couch while trying to eat dinner and watchingsome random sitcom.

She’d told herself everything would change when Tris camehome. His contract was up, and surely he’d had enough of being apart. She’dtold herself Tristan would come home and the world would feel right again.

“What I’m doing now is serving my country,” Tris repliedresolutely. “You should understand. Your father served his. Carys’s wholefamily did their time. I don’t question your reasons for spending four years inmed school. And have you thought about what happens when you pursueresidencies? Are you going to turn down a great one because it’s not in Dallas?Or will you ask Carys to make the sacrifice?”

She huffed. “Do you think we haven’t talked this through?I’m in obstetrics. I can learn what I need to in almost any city. Aidan’sshowing amazing promise as a trauma surgeon. Of course I’m going to follow himif he ends up in a top program. The truth is he’ll have some pull if they wanthim badly enough.”

Aidan was the shining star of their class. She was okay withit. There wasn’t any jealousy between them because she was doing exactly whatshe wanted to do. Specializing in high-risk pregnancies.

“So we’re all supposed to follow Aidan?” Tristan got to oneof their problems.

“No.” This was why it couldn’t work. Why her father worriedso about her.

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