Charmed: A Masters and Mercenar - Lexi Blake Page 0,40
CIA operative Tennessee Smith to his private elite team. Though you were never formally CIA, you worked exclusively for them for a solid year before Mr. Smith was fired. You chose to leave the Navy and begin employment with McKay-Taggart where you’ve worked the last several years. Did they offer you a position in the Agency?”
A single brow had arched over Michael’s eyes. “They did. They offered me Ten’s job, but I would have been working under a man known as Levi Green. I didn’t like him. I also had seen how they treated their operatives. I knew it would be hard to go back to straight military work.”
“You had a taste for the spy life.”
“I had a taste for using my brain and not having to merely follow orders.”
She suspected there was far more to it, but she wouldn’t press him. “Tell me something. Was it expected that you would come home and run the business side of Malone Oil while JT worked the research and exploration side?”
A slight flush to his cheeks told her what she needed to know before he said the words. “Yes. That was the plan. I couldn’t go through with it.”
“So you left JT to handle the whole thing?”
“JT loved the company. I did not. It wasn’t my thing. I get to have a life of my own.”
“Then have it, Mr. Malone, and stop trying to force your brother into the same mold your parents tried to force you into. He’s perfectly capable of following my orders. He’s competent to do this job. Stop trying to treat him like he needs protection.”
“He does,” Michael insisted.
“That’s what I’m here for. If you need me to, I’ll send you my dossier.”
He frowned. “This is the part where I really wish I could bounce that right back at you, but the truth is I didn’t study you. I trusted Ian and Damon.”
She’d rather thought that was the case. “Tell me why you weren’t worried about your father, but you’re terrified for your brother.”
“Because my father would let you do your job. My father would understand that you’re here to protect him. My brother is a great guy, but he’s got a real thing about protecting women.”
“He assures me he’ll be fine hiding behind me if the bullets start to fly.”
Michael shook his head. “He won’t. He’ll jump right in front of you. He’ll tell you what you want to hear. Hell, he might even believe it, but I know him. You’re sleeping with him, right?”
“I didn’t know who he was when I went up to his room that first night,” she began.
Michael held up his hands as if conceding. “Hey, no judgment here. You’re both adults. But you have to know he…” He stopped himself. “JT isn’t the kind of man who has a lot of one-night stands. I often joke that he’s got a biological clock and it’s ticking hard. He can get in deep really fast. Another reason to take me instead.”
Except it could truly hurt JT if she asked him to do it. And there were other problems with that scenario. “You don’t know the business the way he does. You might be able to pretend to be him in a casual way, but what happens when they get down to numbers?”
“I can work my way through it,” Michael insisted.
“I will take care of him.”
“He might not let you.” Michael took a deep breath and seemed to come to a decision. “Look, we had this friend growing up. Her name was Dana.”
Yes, she’d heard the name before. JT hadn’t mentioned her again. They’d talked about a lot of things over the days they’d spent together, but until earlier this evening neither had mentioned prior relationships. She’d been so curious about Dana since the name had been said with deep sorrow. “He loved her?”
“Not exactly, though I think he always figured they would get married one day. She was our father’s best friend’s daughter. We grew up with her. Our parents always talked about Dana marrying one of us and joining our families. JT thought it would be him. I don’t think he ever loved her. Not in an in-love way, but they were close when they were kids.”
She got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. There could only be one reason for that aching sorrow she’d heard in JT’s voice. “She’s not around anymore, is she?”
“She was a lot like me. I know I seem hard on my brother, but I