Page 6 of Spy With Me
She had a plan for that. She and her brother had done whatother siblings did. They carved up the club, and that map was sacred. Besides,she was pretty sure TJ would take his girlfriend Lou to a privacy room, so hewouldn’t have to bear witness to her glorious, slutty night. Because whileshe’d told her friends she only wanted to play to blow off some steam, sheintended for all that steam to blow her straight into some hot dude. Sheplanned to ask one of the babyDomsif they wereinterested in a lesson.
Then Zach Reed showed up and her nipples had gone all perkyand her libido went super charged.
He worked with her brother. He couldn’t possibly beinterested in her.
“Do you think she’s okay? Do we need to find a way to reboother?” Bri asked.
“I think that’s what the vodka’s for,” Daisy whispered back.“I know it seems like vodka follows the twins, but I think it’s just up in thebar. Should I go get some?”
Why had she done that? Devi crossed to the comfy couch andsank down. She should get dressed and run. All the way to New York. Where shedidn’t have a job or a place to live or a future since she didn’t get any ofthe jobs she applied for there. She hadn’t even told her parents. Or TJ. OnlyBri and Daisy knew she was coming out of what should have been an extraordinaryinternship, and she had no offers.
LA. The LA design houses hadn’t replied yet.
They would likely be the same. She was going to end upanswering phones at McKay-Taggart, and there wasn’t anything wrong with that,but it wasn’t her passion. It wasn’t how she wanted to spend her life. She’dwanted to design clothes since she was a kid and she used scraps of fabric tomake gowns for her dolls. It wasn’t the end of the world. She could still finda job. She simply had to work harder.
“I think she’s thinking about the jobs,” Bri whispered.
“She’s definitely thinking about the jobs.” Daisy sat downbeside her, putting a hand on her arm. “Honey, it’s okay. You still have allthe LA houses and Paris.”
She wasn’t getting a job in Paris. Or London. They thoughtshe was pedestrian. It was what one of those fuckers had called her work. Theyhad mostly been polite and said she didn’t fit their aesthetic, but a couplehad pointed out that her work lacked sophistication.
Well, she showed them. Yeah, she’d shown enormoussophistication when she’d squeaked like a mouse and run like a rabbit when ZachReed showed the slightest bit of interest in her.
“Damn it. I am not this girl,” she said with conviction.
“Which girl? Because if it’s the girl who downs vodka fromtime to time, you are definitely that girl,” Daisy countered.
Bri chuckled and sat on Devi’s other side. “She’s freakingout because she got turned down by the New York houses. She’s taking everythingthey said and making it really big and insulting and wondering if she even hasa shot at this. And yes, I know because I do it all the time. Every rejection Iget makes me wonder if I’m good enough or I’m wasting my time and I’m going toend up sitting at the reception desk at MT, waiting for the next time somethingexplodes or they get raided—which happens more often than you would think.”
“I almost got there,” Daisy said with a sigh. “I was goingto work, and that was when the assassins came and then Da wouldn’t let me workand he locked me up in a BDSM club with the man of my dreams. Good times. But Istill think I would have been good at answering the phones. I even worked on myphone voice.McKay-Taggart, this is Daisy. How can I save your life and-orintroduce you to the bodyguard of your dreams?”
“I don’t think Uncle Ian would let you say that,” Bripointed out. “He has a strict script.”
Devi waved that off. “When I used to answer the phones onsummer break I said some crazy shit and Uncle Ian fist bumped me as he walkedby. Said he had enough business as it was, and I was giving him nap time. Andyes, I’m thinking about the jobs, but I’m also thinking about the fact that Imade a complete idiot of myself in front of Zach.”
Her besties gasped in perfect harmony.
“What happened?” Daisy asked. “Did you fall? I fall a lot.Nate thinks it’s cute. If Zach doesn’t think it’s cute, he’s being a jerk. Youknow clumsy is totally in these days.”
“I didn’t fall.” It might have been better if she had, butno, she was good in five-inch heels. To her mother’s never-ending dismay, she’dstarted wearing them at thirteen, and she could jog in those fuckers. Butstill, if she’d broken a leg, it would have been less embarrassing.
Bri stood, tears in her eyes. “You asked him and he turnedyou down. You got all of your courage together to ask the man of your dreams tosimply play with you in the sex club you both belong to. And he brutally turnedyou down. He wasn’t even polite about it. He probably laughed.”
Okay, sometimes Bri’s imagination took over and Devi couldsee she was playing the entire scenario out in her head, and that was bad forZach. Bri was usually quiet and private, but when she felt like a woman hadbeen dealt an injustice, she could build an army. Prom night had been a realrevelation.
She couldn’t have Bri rallying the subs against poor Zach.The man might be in the military and on a CIA team, but somehow she didn’t seehim fighting back against that. “He didn’t laugh. He asked me.”
Daisy sat back up. “He asked you what?”
“He asked if I wanted to play,” Devi admitted.
Bri sat back down. “Well, that changes things. Why are youhere and not getting your ass happily spanked by the military hottie?”
“You do not look thrilled to get what you’ve wanted formonths,” Daisy pointed out. “Was he rude about it?”
“Not at all.” She was starting to calm down, but the lack offlight or fight adrenaline was also making her feel more like a moron. “He was…I don’t know. He was casual about it. I think he wanted to play and I wasbreathing.”
“And?” Daisy asked.
