Page 56 of No More Spies

Cooper McKay was laid out on her bed. Naked. And there weredaisies. On his dick.

Oh, damn. “Tell me my father didn’t put flowers on yourpenis.”

She stood there for a moment because of all the ways she’dthought the night would end, this hadn’t even been a thought. Like she’dcontemplated what she would do if aliens attacked but only because she’d gottenthe dude from Bliss’s weekly newsletter warning of impending mating seasons forsome alien life-forms. It was weird, and she kind of dug it.

But this… Nope. This was a total surprise.

Cooper’s arms were splayed out, the restraints coming fromunder the mattress—a setup that absolutely did not belong to her. His headturned. “No, the daisies are from your sister and Bri. They’re kind of dicks.Like leave a man some dignity. Nope. Your father is the one who tied me down.There was a sheet involved at one time. Did you know your dad trained your dogto pull the sheets off naked dudes?”

Her father was such a menace. “I think he just taught himhow to retrieve stuff.” He was naked on her bed. Naked. She forced herself tostare at his face. “What are you doing here, Cooper?”

His gaze went grim. “I’m here for you, baby. What happened…We didn’t go about this the right way.”

“Is there another way to go? We fucked. It didn’t go well.We’re not compatible.”

“Yeah, it might work like that if everyone was the same andneeded the same things sexually.”

Of course. It was her fault, but then she knew it.

“Don’t,” he said, his voice going deep. “You listen to meand not the negative voices in your head. There is nothing wrong with a couplenot being able to go from zero to penetration in a heartbeat. You tell mesomething. If one of your subs talked to you about this, would you tell them togive up? If they said they truly cared about their partner and wanted it towork, what would you tell them?”

“To talk to each other. To try new things.” She would likelyread up on sexuality and try to help them through the problem.

“Why can’t you give yourself the same grace, baby? Youdeserve it, too. Unless you want to tell me you don’t care about me and youdon’t want to try.”

This…this was her out. This could be payback for everythinghe’d done to her over the years. For every time he’d made her feel small andunworthy. Even though she knew it wasn’t what he’d meant to do, the feeling hadbeen real all the same. All she had to do was tell him she didn’t give a shit.

He stared at her with such earnestness.

What did she want? Petty revenge or a couple of months withhim? Did she owe herself grace?

Why was her father such a weirdo?

“What do you think we should do? Is this an invitation for asession? Are you submitting to me, Cooper?” She wasn’t sure she wanted that.

“If that’s what you need,” he offered. “I’ll give youanything you need. If you want to whip my ass, it’s yours. I don’t think youunderstand how far I’ll go for you. I’m not the scared kid I was when we werefifteen.”

“I doubt you were afraid. You were embarrassed.”

“I was afraid,” he corrected. “I was afraid I wouldn’t liveup to what my parents expected from me. I didn’t understand what they expectedfrom me. I thought I had to be the best at everything, and that includedsocially. I thought if I was the golden boy, they wouldn’t care that I don’tlook like them.”

He’d thought that? Damn. She made fun about her emotionlessstate, but she could actually feel emotion well. It was kind of gross and notsomething she could ignore. “Because you were adopted? You thought they wouldonly love you if you were perfect?”

It was kind of hard to keep her eyes on his face. He wassuch a beautiful man. She’d seen him in leathers and without his shirt on.She’d seen him in shorts, playing sports, with his whole body glistening withsweat, but there was something about him laid out that made her insides shake.Her pink parts.

Hadn’t she learned she wasn’t sexual? Except she could feelan ache begin low in her pelvis.

Her sexual organs were eternally optimistic, it seemed.

“I did, but I grew up and realized they love me. For who Iam. They don’t need me to carry on their DNA. They wanted a kid to love, and Iwas lucky enough to be that kid,” Cooper said. “I was insecure. I was young. Iknow I hurt you and I never meant to, but I did. I need you to understand thisright now. I don’t want anyone but you. I want you because you are everything Ineed in a woman. Even the frustrating parts. I think this whole let’s-have-sexthing might be a way to get me out of your system before you move on, and I’mwilling to take the risk. But you should know what you’re risking, too.”

Every word threatened to shred all her plans. “What am Irisking, Coop?”

“Me winning. You can try to fuck me out of your system, butthe whole time I’ll be plotting and planning to find a way that I’m so burrowedin, you won’t ever be able to leave me behind. I’m going to make you love me,Kala Taggart. I’m going to be the one thing you can’t ever compromise on.”

She was fairly certain she’d never heard any threat asterrifying as the one Cooper had just issued.

I will let him know how much fun we have with you.

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