Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
She felt her jaw clench. “I’m fine.”
He reached up and brushed something off her cheek. “You’re not.”
Crying? She was fucking crying? She didn’t cry. The last time she’d cried it was because she was pinned down by a paralytic. Huisman didn’t need to tie her down to make her feel like a bug pinned to a board, studied for the amusement of others.
In a moment she was back and she felt the fire in her veins, knew she was going to die, and for the barest moment she’d been okay with it because it would free everyone she cared about. It would free him.
“Baby, stop,” he said, and then he gritted his teeth and gasped.
She went still, felt him move inside her, his warmth filling her.
Cooper pushed himself off, rolling away. “I’m sorry. Kala, what the hell happened? You were somewhere else for a minute.” He scrambled to his knees, looking down on her like she might be dying.
She was. On the inside. Of embarrassment. What had she done? She needed to play this cool. Long breath. Nothing was wrong. She forced herself to roll over, getting off the bed and going for one of the robes the dungeon monitors stocked the privacy rooms with. “It’s all good. Can’t be sexually compatible with everyone, I guess.”
She belted the robe and turned, and Cooper was still on his knees though he’d tucked his cock away. She hadn’t even gotten a good look at it. His mouth was open as he stared at her like she’d said something unbelievable.
She simply shrugged and tried not to think about how sore she was. He was big. She should have known he would be big. But it didn’t look like she’d bled or anything. She hadn’t felt some tearing sensation.
So she would make of that what she would.
She was not going to cry. He didn’t seem to want to say anything. This was going to be one of The Hideout’s shortest hook-ups, it appeared. “Now we know. It’s good to know.”
“We know nothing,” he replied, his eyes narrowing. “And I’m worried I know less than nothing. Kala, get back on this bed. We’re going to talk.”
There was a knock on the door, something that was never supposed to happen. Privacy rooms were private, and unless there was an emergency, no one was supposed to interrupt.
Thank god something had blown up or someone had died and she would feel bad about it later because right now, that knock was her salvation.
“Go away,” Cooper said in his absolute dommiest voice.
She had to admit. It was still hot, but now she knew she was only sexual in an intellectual fashion.
Hadn’t she known that all along? Hadn’t she known the loving relationship her parents shared wasn’t something she would ever have?
It was good to know.
She moved to the door.
“Kala, do not answer,” he ordered, getting off the bed.
Did he even know her? Well, she’d proven he didn’t, but he should know she didn’t follow orders. She opened the door, and her sister stood there. Kenzie was in street clothes, and that told Kala everything she needed to know.
It was time to leave this dream behind and move back to reality.
“Huisman?” she asked.
Her sister nodded, her expression tight.
“Get dressed, Coop. Time to get to work.” She walked out and didn’t look back.
Chapter Eight
Cooper sat back in the conference room they kept in The Hideout. It was meant for things like board meetings, but too often it turned a great night into a work conference. Like tonight.
Not that it had been great. What the fuck had happened? One minute he was absolutely sure she’d been right there with him, moving with him, kissing him as though they’d never been apart, and the next she was pushing him off her and he was proving he needed help for premature ejaculation.
“Dr. Rebecca Walsh-Shaw’s car exploded roughly an hour ago. It was her personal vehicle and was sitting in her driveway,” Big Tag said.
Kenzie gasped, sitting up, with tears already forming in her eyes. “Rebecca?”
Her mom sat forward. “She’s fine. She started it from inside her house so it would have time to warm up. Lucky for all of us, Huisman’s bomb didn’t take into account the fact that she always starts it before she actually leaves the house.”
“Where are they now?” Kala asked, her tone entirely professional. She hadn’t even looked his way since she’d walked out of the privacy room.
And he was angry about it. It sat in his gut. He wasn’t sure if he was angry at her or himself. He’d told himself to be patient, that she was working through something. She had been the one Huisman tortured, and his trauma from thinking she was dead didn’t begin to touch what she’d been through. But then if he’d tried to talk to her, had tried to get her to understand they could be more than an itch to scratch, she would have walked anyway.