Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 149641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 748(@200wpm)___ 599(@250wpm)___ 499(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 748(@200wpm)___ 599(@250wpm)___ 499(@300wpm)
He wasn’t going to have some kind of therapy session. “No need. It’s been made plain to me that we’re not going to get along. All I’m asking is don’t walk up to me like I’m your friend and we can joke about how silly and childish my woman is. If you can’t say kind things about her, keep your damn mouth shut.”
He was well aware it would be far smarter to play nice with Kenzie’s relatives, but he couldn’t right now. He wasn’t thinking about the mission. He’d spent hours holding her and listening to her and watching her sleep. When he’d been with her, her head on his chest, her arms around him, he hadn’t thought about that other Kara. Even though they’d had sex it might have been the only time since he’d discovered her secret that there was no anger in him directed at her.
But there was some anger for her. He wasn’t sure any of them saw how they marginalized Kenzie, but he wasn’t going to do it, and he wasn’t going to joke about it.
“Hi, Ben.” Lou rushed by, her bag over her shoulder. “I’ll be right out, babe.”
TJ strolled up, an indulgent look on his face. “Sorry, she got caught up working with Lucy on the op. They found some stuff about deliveries or something and now Lucy and Sami are heading to Northern France to do surveillance.”
“I thought none of us were going for a few days.” Ben didn’t like plans changing. He didn’t want to get stuck with Oliver. He might kill the fucker.
“Like I said there was some kind of shipment. Apparently Lucy’s been tracking equipment that could be used in producing the anthrax variation, and one of the addresses matched a property on the list from Nepal. They want to check it out. They haven’t left if you want to go with them.”
Hell yeah, he wanted to go with them.
Hey, Kenz, I know we’re in a delicate place but fuck playing. I want to work.
Somehow he didn’t think that would go well for him.
She needed this in a way he was only now starting to understand. In a club she could shed all the weight she carried on a daily basis. She could shine all she liked because she kept it there. She could unleash the part of her that longed to be the center of things, the part she sacrificed because she loved her family.
If she loved him, would she mold herself around him? Would she choose him? He would make her the center of his world, his reason for existing. He could give her that. He didn’t have a family. She had too much family. Could they be enough?
“Hey, we need to talk because Ben is under the mistaken impression that Kala hates him,” Cooper was saying to TJ.
TJ chuckled. “I don’t know if that’s mistaken.”
They started to argue but the door Lou had walked through opened and Kenzie walked out.
Completely naked.
Her hair was down, curling around her shoulders, which were back as she walked with careful pride. Her eyes were on him, no one else, and he could feel the heat from where he stood. It threatened to burn him up.
But there was also a coldness to her. Like she was half expecting him to reject her, and she would handle it like the queen she was and move on to the next Dom.
He felt his jaw drop and then the most compelling need to cover her the fuck up. He kind of wanted to tackle her and wrap her up in long skirts and turtlenecks.
“Oh, shit,” TJ said, his face falling. “Ben, if she’s doing this it’s because something hurt her.”
“Damn it.” Cooper ran a hand through his hair as Kenzie brazenly walked toward them. “Something’s going on. I need to talk to Kala.”
He’d picked out her fet wear from what she’d brought. He’d been clear what he wanted from her.
Was she being clear about what she needed from him?
“Well, hello, gorgeous,” a deep voice said. “Kenz, you are looking supremely sexy this evening.”
Oliver. Ben watched Kenzie’s lips turn up as though the compliment did something for her.
She was feeling vulnerable, and her beauty was one thing she was confident in. Or maybe it was her skin she was comfortable in. Maybe without clothes she wasn’t playing any part. She was Kenzie not Kala, because Kala would never walk through a club naked.
She needed this, needed him to play his part as her Dom because this was a place where she could toss off those clothes and be perfectly safe. Her chin was up like she was daring him to act on his impulses. To prove he was one more man who was going to put her in a cage and not let her shine the way she wanted.