Page 42 of No More Spies

“I’m worried if I put you down, you’re going to run away,”he admitted. “And I don’t want you to run away. I think we need this. Both ofus.”

Yes, they needed to indulge so they could both move on. “Idon’t care what they say, Coop. This is a private thing between the two of us.Which is why we should have stayed downstairs. No one would think anything ofus holing up in a room together on the dungeon floor.”

“We should negotiate.” He set her on her feet, not takingthose big hands off her until he seemed certain she was stable.

She was anything but. Her heart rate had tripled, and shecould feel her stupid nipples hardening because there was every possibilitythat he was about to see them, and they wanted to put on a freaking show.“There’s nothing to negotiate. We have sex when we’re horny and that’s that.”

“We have sex when it’s convenient and we’re around eachother, and we’re free to have sex with anyone else who catches our eye?” Coopermanaged to make the question sound like an accusation.

Did he think she was trying to trap him? “I thought you saidyou weren’t sleeping with anyone else. If you want someone else, you should gofor it.”

“I wasn’t talking about me.” His jaw was a stubborn line ashe got into her space. “I won’t take another woman while I’m in your bed. I’llbe utterly devoted to you and your pleasure. I’m talking about you, MistressKala.”

She barely bit back a laugh. She’d obviously done anexcellent job at building her reputation as a sexual powerhouse. It was good toknow Cooper had an ego. Sometimes she thought he was far too perfect. He didn’twant anyone to think she was cheating on him. Which she wouldn’t be becausethey weren’t together, and he should have thought about that before he paradedthem through the dungeon. “I’m not your girlfriend and I’m not your submissive.However, I can agree to not sleep with anyone while we’re sleeping together.”

It made sense. There would be way less drama and no need toworry about things like sexually transmitted infections. From him, obviously,not her since she hadn’t and never had wanted to sleep with anyone except him.

Would sleeping with Cooper awaken a sexual animal insideher? It was an outcome she hadn’t considered but could actually work in herfavor. She’d always worried about her lack of sexual response to anyone buthim. What if getting a taste of him opened her up to sex in all its variousflavors? She might be normal. This might help her be normal in one thing.

Cooper stood there, staring at her, and she couldn’t quitename the emotion in his eyes. Or she was afraid to because she sometimes didn’tget the same cues her sister and friends picked up on. Was he changing hismind?

“I’m here, and now I don’t know quite what to do,” he said,his words cutting through the silence. “I feel like I’ve…like we’ve dancedaround this forever, and now I’m a little scared I won’t live up to what youexpect.”

Good news for him. She expected nothing except awkwardnessand probably disappointment. And yet she was still going to have this time.“Why don’t you kiss me? Forget I’m Mistress K. Treat me like you would anywoman you want to sleep with.”

“Never.” His hands were on her cheeks, brushing back andsinking into her hair. “You are not any woman. You arethewoman.You’re Kala, and I can’t ever forget that.”

She would have said something back, something like… Shedidn’t know what she would have said. Hopefully something sarcastic to breakthe emotional cocoon she found herself in, but it could have been somethingstupid and sappy because she felt it. He saved her by lowering his lips to hersand kissing her for the first time in over a freaking decade.

They’d only had three months of this. Three months wherehe’d put his hands on her and she felt like the woman she wanted to become.When Cooper kissed her she felt safe and normal. She felt like the Kala shewas, and that it was okay to be her.

She knew now that was an illusion, but she sank into thatkiss. For a moment, she allowed herself to be fifteen again, the world laid outin front of her, with all the roads still open and waiting for her to choose.She let her hands find his lean waist, brushing past the leather of his vest tosoft, warm skin.

She followed his lead, the same way she had when they werekids. He was dominant but it didn’t bother her. This man would never harm herphysically. She trusted him with her life, so when his tongue dragged acrossher bottom lip, she opened her mouth. His tongue found hers, and her whole bodycame alive. So often her body was nothing more than a tool, a weapon she usedagainst the enemies. She trained it, fed it properly, maintained it, but nowshe realized she’d been missing something essential. Every inch of her skinhummed with need and he’d barely touched her.

He kissed her for what felt like forever, and the world fellaway. The thoughts that were always in her brain, picking at her and nagginglike incessant insects, were silent now, and she was nothing more than a bodymeant to touch and caress and kiss.

“I’m never going to be able to last, baby,” he whisperedagainst her lips. “It’s been too long and I want you too much. So I need to getyou across the finish line first. Turn around.”

Normally the bossiness would bug her, but she wasn’t theexpert here and he was. So she turned and let him loosen her corset and drag itoff her. When his hands slid up to cup her breasts, she practically meltedagainst him. She let her head fall back on his shoulder as he played with hernipples.

“Have I told you how fucking hot you are?” He growled thewords against her ear. “I can’t watch you work without wanting you. Hell, Ican’t be in the same room without wanting to fuck you, baby.”

He hadn’t talked like this when they were kids, and thewords felt jarring, a reminder that he thought she was used to this, that hebelieved she was the sexual being she presented herself as. It was easy to turnand kiss him again. When he kissed her she could pretend the years that hadpassed between them weren’t an ocean she had to find a way to navigate.

His fingers slipped under the waist of her shorts, easingthem down.

She was comfortable with her body. It was certainly not thefirst time she’d been naked in front of a guy. She’d brought plenty of dumbasscounteragents or dudes she needed something from up to her room and gotten themcomfy and distracted. Boobs were great distractions. But this was usually themoment she knocked the guy out. Or killed him when he decided it was a greattime to attack.

She was naked in front of Cooper. He’d touched her before,put his hand between her legs and rubbed, but this was different. This feltmore serious. Or less serious because it meant less, because they both knewthis wasn’t forever.

She had to shut the voices out or she would lose it. Shemoved into his arms and went on her toes, pressing her lips to his again.

She let him take the lead and found herself on her back inmoments, Cooper’s big body covering hers as he pressed her into the mattress.She’d worried his weight might bug her, but she liked it. He felt warm andreassuring. He kissed her, his tongue delving deep, and then pressed kissesdown her neck and chest until he caught a nipple in his mouth, the sharp tugsparking something deep inside her pussy.

Desire. She’d thought she understood the word, thought sheremembered how it felt to be young and to think she was in love, but this…thiswas a drug she could get addicted to. This was a wave she could ride and for awhile be outside herself, be someone else. There was no future for them, butfor a brief moment, he could be hers.

He sucked her nipple until her hands fisted in the comforterand she groaned, her toes curling. Then he worked his way down her body,kissing along her belly until he was right above her pussy.

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