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“She wants to go to her house to get some things and ensure nothing was disturbed.”
“If they did a good job…”
Coop chuckled. “Anabella is a big fan of Ludlum and Samantha’s—she left tells.”
King rolled his eyes. “God help us. Well, if you think it’s safe, take her. If not, we’ll keep her here. I asked Alicia to put her in the small conference room when she saw you and I head into my office. I didn’t think this would be a long discussion.”
Following King out of his office, he watched his boss head into the big conference room and took a deep breath, exhaling it slowly and reminding his dick that they were about to meet a client. He usually didn’t have that problem. But there was something different about Anabella. As frightened as she was, she seemed determined to see whatever this was she’d stumbled on through to its conclusion.
He opened the door and forgot all of his ideas about keeping a professional distance from her. She was looking out the window and dressed in a tank top and sweatpants. With a messy bun and no makeup, she was just about the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. He remembered hearing King say once that although Samantha was a knockout dressed in a corset, a thong, and all done up, he liked her best when it was just the two of them on the couch and watching a game when she was dressed in one of his sweaters and a pair of socks. Coop had a sudden vision of that same scenario, only starring Anabella and him. He had a vintage Gretzky jersey he was certain she’d look great in.
Coop was really considering for the first time that maybe he was ready to start looking for something more than just physical, maybe even more than a friends with benefits situation. The firm’s therapist had suggested as much, and Coop had made vomiting and gagging noises. But she might be onto something. Anabella was different. Oh, he had no doubt she could benefit from having a loving and patient Dom, but he suspected she was very much the kind of submissive both Samantha and JJ were—strong, sassy, and unafraid to speak her mind.
The kind of sub that needed taming, without being broken. It might not make sense to some, and a great deal of the Doms he knew didn’t want to be with that kind of alpha sub, but more and more he was starting to believe he might. He had tried to dismiss the sight of Anabella when he’d opened the door and found her experimenting with the cross. She might be a tourist now, but she also might be curious enough and brave enough to do a little exploring. Maybe he could help her figure out what Blackwood was up to and what she wanted. If she wanted one of those metrosexual guys in a suit, he didn’t have a chance. But if she didn’t—well, the possibilities were endless.
Taking a deep breath, Cooper tried to shrug off his fantasies and psych himself up to take on all of the challenges presented by Anabella Foster. He walked into the conference room and closed the door behind him.
CHAPTER5
ANABELLA
Anabella was trying to focus on the meeting with Cooper and listen to what he was saying, instead of watching how his sensual lips moved and imagining them pressed to her body or wrapped around her nipple. Mentally, she shook her head to clear it of the intrusive thoughts.
She should be paying attention; she was about to sign a legally binding contract with Cerberus, but having figured out they were taking the case and keeping her safe, she’d allowed the stress and anxiety from the past few weeks to simply float away. Coop was saying something about what they would expect her to do and how he could be the lead on her case, and how they would be heading over to her place to get some of her things. He meant to move her into the safe room here in their building for the duration.
“Anabella? Are you listening to me?”
“Um, yes, sure. We’re going to my place so I can get some things. I hate to be such a bother. I could just run over…”
“And get killed. No; we’re not doing that. Did you have a bad night?”
Bad? No, it wasn’t bad, not if you liked having your very sexual fantasies play out in your dreams starring the guy in front of her.
“Not any worse than it has been,” she said. “I guess I’ve gotten used to not getting truly restorative sleep. At least last night I wasn’t afraid to close my eyes. There are times I wish I’d never seen that file.”
Cooper nodded sympathetically. “I’ve been there. When you only sleep because you’re so exhausted that you can’t do anything else, it isn’t, as you said, ‘restorative.’ You have to find a way to relax and just turn off your mind.”
“How do you do that?”
“Different people find different ways of coping with either existing stress or that which is left over from the past. For me, I found my own way by becoming a Dom.”
“I would think sex on demand might create its own stress,” she said ruefully.
“D/s isn’t just about sex, at least not for me. But our differing philosophies on sex are not really germane to the topic at hand. Do you have any questions?”
“No. It sounded prettypro forma. But you did say that you—as in you personally?—would be providing me with round-the-clock protection? I believe you called it ‘close cover?’” Cooper nodded. “What exactly does that mean?”
Cooper breathed in deeply, seemingly to control his temper, and exhaled slowly. “Were you listening at all?” he asked with a kind of smirk.
Did men like Cooper McCullough smirk?
“Of course, I was,” she snapped. “I just think maybe you aren’t the best person to take lead on my case.”
He shook his head. “The only people who don’t believe that you’re spinning conspiracies and fraud where they don’t exist are Seth and I. King, at least, has an open mind, but the rest of them are convinced that after having me follow you around and basically run your life for a few days, you’ll fire us.”
“Is that what you believe?” she asked, trying desperately to keep the fear out of her voice.
“No. Like I said, I believe you, and the rest will come around. Right now, you, Seth, and I believe that two credible threats have been made on your life—one of which had no witnesses and the other is Seth’s conjecture based on the tapes. Once a verifiable threat is made, they’ll all come around, but until then, they believe enough in Seth’s and my judgment to take you on as a client.”
