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“Well, since you asked so nice,” Cooper said before lowering his lips to her, fusing them together and giving her a long, luscious, lascivious kiss. None of the men watching had any doubt as to where Cooper McCullough would be spending his night or what he would be doing.
When he finally lifted his head, her eyes were sparkling with mirth and something so much more. “Don’t be too long,” she said before sashaying past him and going into the cottage.
It took a couple of hours for Cooper to come back inside. Redmond and his bully boys had left fairly quickly after Cooper kicked them out, but he’d spent some time with the guys on patrol trying to figure out how the pothead had gotten in and if, in fact, he was a junkie looking to score. He was tired and wanted to go join Anabella in bed. If she was awake, he would lose himself in her. If not, he would spoon his body against hers and take comfort in her being near.
The following morning, he slipped from her bed and made his way out to the kitchen. Coop sat down at the island and began to type a quick status report and an email to Seth, giving him some action items. Hearing a sound behind him, he turned to see Anabella stretching and yawning with her hair all in a mess walking towards him.
She was simply the most breathtaking thing he’d ever seen. He stared at her with open longing and lust and didn’t care if she saw it. He was certain a part of that performance last night had been for the benefit of others, but part of it had been real. It had to be. No one was that good of an actress. Without a word, she crawled up into his lap and cuddled against his body.
“You hungry, baby?”
“No. I’m so sorry about Redmond. I can’t believe he would just show up like that. And why would the sheriff give him information about me?”
“You have nothing to apologize for, and I don’t believe the sheriff knows who we have out here, just that we have someone in protective custody. Even if he knew who it was, he thought he’d show off for you, his buddies and whoever is paying him—it didn’t work out quite the way he thought it would. What was he like when you were together? I get that you started seeing red flags, but how was he one-on-one, as a person?”
“He was controlling, but not in a good way, and not in a way that was in service to others. He was condescending and made me feel like what I did was so far beneath what he did. He always made me feel like I didn’t matter and like I wasn’t quite good enough. I think he cheated on me once.”
“He what?” Cooper growled.
“I got an email from a woman he worked with. She said they’d been having an affair behind my back. When she heard we’d gotten engaged, she thought she should let me know. Redmond said she was an ex who’d never gotten over him. And stupid me, I believed him.”
“It’s a good thing all that stuff you said and did was an act.”
“Why?”
“Because if we were a real couple, you and I would be having a little session you might not enjoy for you putting yourself down like that.”
“What if it wasn’t an act?”
It was as if time stood still, and the world had collapsed to just the two of them. The sound of their breathing, the synchronized beating of their hearts, and the ticking of the antique mantle clock were the only sounds he could hear. When he said nothing, she tried to squirm her way off his lap. He tightened his arms around her.
“No way. You don’t say something like that to me and then just try to dismiss it.”
“I have to tell you, having said it with no response from you makes me a little uncomfortable.”
“Is that the only thing that makes you uncomfortable? You shocked the shit out of me by making my every fantasy about you come true.”
Anabella relaxed back into him, a serene smile lifting the corners of her mouth. She nestled against him. “Well, that’s all right, then. You are forgiven your momentary lapse in being perfect.”
“Baby, I am so far from perfect, it ain’t even funny. And I don’t expect you to be perfect either. So, how much of what you said out there was just to shock Limp Dick?”
“I really should tell you not to call him that, but I have to say, I’ve started calling him that in my mind. He really was a sorry sonofabitch. I guess I’d like to explore your world with you. I’ve read a couple of books which sort of changed my mind about how I saw them. And spending even the short amount of time with Miley that I have made me question what I was thinking.”
“Then we’ll take it slow and easy. Anytime you want me to stop, you use your safe word. A lot of people have more elaborate systems that act like a stoplight. But I think for now, we’ll just use crocodile and I’ll stop and check in with you.”
“It almost sounds like the sub is the one with the power.”
“Baby, people don’t understand that D/s is a power exchange—each side of the slash has an equal amount of power; it just plays out differently. Like I said, you can set the pace. I might push you on some things, but that’s what a good Dom does. I’ll make it good for you.”
She slid off his lap and walked into the kitchen. This time he let her go, grinning like the proverbial cat inAlice in Wonderland. She began to wash the pan she’d left soaking, making sure it was clean and dry before hanging it on the pot rack. As she stood on her tiptoes to hang it, she tripped over something and the pan slammed down on the hook, which somehow caused the entire pot rack with its collection of pots, pans and lids, along with the rack itself to come tumbling down with a mighty crash.
The noise and chaos resonated around in his head before everything went black and he was back there—his last mission—the one where he had been suspended between life and death.
CHAPTER13
ANABELLA
Cooper hit the floor, hands over his head and belly crawling towards her.
