Page 86 of Sweet Little Spies

Yeah, he was going to let TJ figure it out for himself. Healready had to watch his own sister get lovingly mauled by a large piece ofAustralia on a regular basis. When he’d tried to “protect” her… Well, he’d beenthe one who’d needed protection.

“Come on,” Tris said, reaching for Carys’s hand. “I’ll tellyou everything about Tara and we’ll go over the op one more time. By this timenext week, we’ll be home and I’ll be out of this.”

Aidan said good-bye to his father and followed them out ofthe lounge. One more week and they’d be free.

“Dude, you know she’s my sister, right? What is happening?”TJ asked. “I’m very confused. Dude takes one little nap…”

“Take care of her,” Sean shouted out, standing next to Liam.

“Always.” He and Tris managed to say the word at the exactsame time.

It was good to be back in synch.

* * * *

One more week and she would have a decision to make.

Carys looked around what her uncle had called their safehouse. It was a big house outside of Montreal proper. She, Aidan, Tristan, andKala would go and stay at a hotel downtown tonight, but the rest of the teamwould be staying and monitoring the situation from here.

“Mr. Miles, I can’t tell you how excited I am to get to meetyou.” Tara Hahn was roughly thirty, with dark hair cut in a chic bob. She waspretty in an intellectual fashion. A little like people had described Carysherself over the years. The Agency employee had been waiting when they’dentered the safe house, and she’d immediately pulled Tristan and Zach away fora brief meeting before introducing herself to Uncle Ian and Aunt Charlotte.

The whole flight she’d had one of them at her side and oneacross from her. They’d traded seats about halfway through, Tristan complainingbecause he hadn’t gotten to molest her the way Aidan had. It had been sweet,and he’d proceeded to make his uncle grumble about chastity and why none of theyouth have it. She’d gotten off the plane and held both their hands as they’dsat in the back of one of the big SUVs that had picked them up.

And the minute Tristan disappeared with Tara and Zach, allof her suspicions came back, shaking the peace of the last few days.

“It’s nice to meet you, too.” Adam had on his smoothestsmile, the one he used for what Carys liked to call his groupies. He was famousin the tech world for his innovative software designs. Adam had spent the wholeflight either talking in low tones with Ian and Charlotte or staring at hislaptop. He was serious about fixing this situation. “I understand you work techfor my son. I kind of thought my son worked tech himself. When he explainedwhat his place on the team would be, he told his family it would be behind acomputer.”

Tristan sent his father a look that was half pleading andhalf annoyed. “Papa, you promised.”

A hand came up, waving him off. “I’m adjusting.”

“Tris is too good to be a simple tech,” Tara announced.“He’s the best agent I work with. I’ve been trying to convince him to leavemilitary intelligence and concentrate all of his talents on his Agency work.He’s brilliant in the field.”

So while Tristan might see her as nothing more than acoworker, it was obvious Tara had a crush.

“I certainly wouldn’t say brilliant,” Tris countered.“Otherwise, we wouldn’t be in the situation we’re in today. Do you haveanything new on the men who tried to kill my girlfriend and partner? By theway, this is Carys Taggart and Aidan O’Donnell. It was their wedding.”

Tara frowned. “They were getting married, but she’s yourgirlfriend?”

So he hadn’t talked about her? It was a huge surprise.Tristan was the one who never worried about what “society” thought of him orhis relationships.

Zach threw his big body on the couch with a grin. “I want tosee how he explains this.”

TJ had apparently had his talk with Zach and they were coolbecause TJ sank down beside Zach and offered him half a PB and J. “Me, too.Continue.”

“You know they’ve been explaining since they were freakingkids.” Cooper joined them. “They should be good at it by now.”

Tristan ignored their audience. “I’ve been in a relationshipwith Carys and Aidan for a long time. It’s a lot like my parents’ marriage.I’ve told you I have two fathers and a mom.”

Tara seemed flustered at the idea. “Well, you mentioned yourparents had a third. I understand the implications of the term. I thought itwas like a fun thing your mom did to spice up her marriage. I certainly didn’tthink you would call your mom’s lover dad. I mean it’s obvious who your dadis.”

“His dad is Jacob Dean,” Adam said, going cold. Carys barelystifled a whistle because she’d never seen Tristan’s papa be anything butsmooth and polite. Tristan’s dad was intimidating for sure, but his papa wasthe sweet one. Now Adam reminded her he’d once been a commando, too. “He refersto me as Papa. It was too confusing when he and his sister were kids. Jake andI rock-paper-scissored for Dad. I think he cheated. I knew the minute ithappened Big Tag would give me shit about it.”

“Because it makes you sound like the dad in a Disney filmset in medieval France.” Big Tag proved his hearing hadn’t gone since he wasyelling it from the kitchen. “Are you going to break into song, Papa?”

Adam’s eyes rolled. “See. I knewthatwouldhappen.”

“I’m only saying, it’s clear you’re Tristan’s biologicalfather. He looks exactly like you,” Tara attempted.

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