Chapter Ten
Cooper strode into his dad’s office the next morning with a sense of satisfaction he’d never felt before.
He had her now. Oh, he was sure there was a piece of his baby trying to rationalize the emotions of the night before, but she’d let him take care of her this morning. He’d worried she would pull away and try to pretend around her roommates, but when they’d had breakfast, she’d sat on his lap and eaten her toast as TJ had complained about all the extra people in his bed.
Like he’d noticed. How the hell did Lou get any rest when the dude talked about tacos in his sleep?
“You look happy.”
His dad stared at him from behind his desk, considering him. “I’m a little scared to know what put that look on your face. I thought you would be on your way to Stockholm. Ian told me he was sending Lou and TJ off on some classified mission. Should we warn the Swedes about him? As a country, they’re not known for their abundance of food. He could clean them out.”
Normally he probably would be flying the jet, but not today. He and Kala had dropped Lou and TJ off at the private airfield before coming into the office. Even if Tag had ordered him, he would have refused the assignment. He was sticking close to home for now, and home was one Kala Taggart. Kenzie had taken a commercial flight to Toronto and complained the entire morning. “Drake decided to go with them. He got his license a couple of years back. They’re in good hands.”
His dad stood and moved around his desk. “All right, then what’s put that smile on your face.”
He was surprised Big Tag hadn’t spilled the beans. It wasn’t like everyone at the club last night didn’t know. “You talked to Ian and he didn’t tell you where I spent last night?”
A brow rose over his father’s eyes. “He said he knew something I didn’t know in that asshole way of his but then he got a call, and I still don’t know what he knows. He had to leave Sanctum early last night. Does it have something to do with why Lou and TJ are taking on Scandinavia? I heard Kenz is on the road, too.”
The door to his father’s office burst open.
“Alex, it happened.”
His mom walked in, her eyes wide. Coop was standing to the side so she didn’t see him. “I just got off the phone with Hunter, and he said Cooper walked through the club last night with Kala in his arms. They went to a privacy room. Together. Without some sub to filter for them. He finally threw her over his shoulder and carried her away like I said he would eventually. Now I’m worried she might not take it well. He needs to be patient with her. You have to talk to him. I actually think he might need to be a bit subby in the bedroom a couple of times. How do we have this talk? Should we have this talk? He’s almost thirty. It’s going to be weird, but I’m worried he might scare her.”
Oh, what did his mother know that he didn’t? “Why would I scare her? Also, I did not throw her over my shoulder. I was a gentleman and picked her up. Her knee was bothering her.”
His mom started and stared at him for a moment.
His dad snorted and moved to the couch. “Do you know what I never thought about when I became a dad? This discussion. This one right here.”
His mom’s cheeks were stained a bright pink. It was kind of nice to know something could shake Eve McKay’s cool. He’d seen his mom be unshakable through many a family drama, but this was freaking her out.
Damn. Was it because she still didn’t think they could work? He needed to make a few things plain. “We don’t have to have any talks because I’m a man and I make the decisions about my love life. I need you to understand. I love her. She won’t let me say it yet, but I love her and I’m going to make this work. This isn’t some phase.”
His mom’s expression changed from embarrassed to confused. “Why would you say that?”
Did she remember nothing? “When we were kids, you said she was a phase I was going through. She’s not.”
His mother’s head cocked slightly as though she was trying to remember. “Are you talking about what I said the day she went missing? After she punched the pitcher who brushed you back and you were complaining about her?”
It was his turn to be embarrassed. He didn’t like to think about the dumbass kid he’d been. “I wasn’t complaining, exactly.”
His mom huffed. “You were absolutely complaining, and I didn’t say she was a phase. I said she was going through a phase. Do you think I don’t remember this conversation?”
“She does.”
His dad sat on the couch, watching them warily. “You have no idea the guilt she went through when she realized it was a fight that sent Kala walking. Your mother thought the conversation you two had at the arcade might have something to do with it.”
He didn’t want his mom to blame herself. “It did and it didn’t. But, Mom, I remember distinctly you telling me that sometimes when a person is drowning, they take down the person trying to save them.”
His mom let out a frustrated groan and sank to the couch beside his father. “I was talking about Kala. It’s hard to be different. Ian and Charlotte and I talked a lot about how the things that would make Kala an incredible woman one day made it hard for her to fit in. She looks exactly like her sister but her brain functions very differently.”
“Yes, I got this lecture from Seth last night,”
he replied. “And I had to listen since I was tied to a bed at the time. You’re right about the subby business, but I think she’ll get over it pretty quickly. What do you know about what happened that night, Mom?”
His mother took a long breath and seemed to think for a minute, and then tears welled in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, baby. I can’t. I know I’m not technically Charlotte or Ian’s therapist, but I can’t tell you because it would be a betrayal. I’m going to ask you to be patient with her. When she’s ready, she’ll tell you.”
He looked to his father, who shook his head.
“Ian’s been my best friend for far longer than you’ve been born, son. I would do anything for you, but telling you this wouldn’t merely betray the most important friendship of my life, it would hurt whatever you’ve got going on with her. If you love her, let her come to you.”
He knew this. Knew they were right. The night before he’d told Seth he didn’t want to know. But now, in the light of day, he couldn’t help but worry. She might never tell him.
“How can I fix the problem if I don’t know what it is?”
Frustration welled. They were so close.
“Fix?”
His mother stared at him for a moment. “What about her are you trying to fix, Coop?”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
His mom’s head shook. “But that’s the word you used. Words are important. Words can show us how we feel when we’re not willing to admit it. I’m very worried that you think Kala is broken and you can fix her. She is not broken.”
“Of course she isn’t. I didn’t mean it that way.”
It could be hard to be the child of a psychologist. They were always looking for something deeper. “I meant we have an issue and we can’t address it until I know what it is. I can’t know if I’m doing what’s right for her if she won’t talk to me.”
“And if she’s never comfortable talking the way you’re used to?”
his mother asked. “I’m not saying I think she won’t, but you have to be prepared for the fact that some things are hardwired into a person. Kala is a deeply loving human being, but I don’t think she sees herself in this fashion.”
He was confused. “But why? Look, I know something happened that night, but she’s surrounded by a family that supports her. I know her parents got her into therapy after.”
“Therapy only works if you understand why you need it,”
his mom explained. “I think it did work to make her more functional and it helped her find coping mechanisms, but there’s something more. Sometimes we’re born with these shadows. Like you when you were a teen. Baby, did your father or I do anything to make you think we loved you or your brother less than Vivian?”
She knew? How did she know? He’d tried so hard not to talk about it. “Never.”
Vivi was the miracle child. His mother had been told it was highly unlikely she could ever conceive, so they’d adopted Cooper first and then Hunter. Right after Hunter’s adoption was finalized, she’d found out about Vivi. Not once had these wonderful parents treated him differently than the girl who had their father’s eyes, and everything else made her their mom’s mini me.
“And yet there were times when you worried you didn’t belong in our family, that you weren’t enough for us,”
she said with flawless accuracy. “I know you never confronted us about it, but it was there. We had to give you space and time and hope you worked it out because it wasn’t about us. It was about the voices in your head. Kala inherited all of Ian’s darkness. All the things that made him a brilliant operative made it hard for him to experience true joy. We like to think everyone starts out the same and time and trauma change us, but it simply isn’t true. Kala sees the world differently, and that also means she sees herself differently.”
“Big Tag is utterly confident.”
“About some things,”
his father agreed. “Ian was always confident when it came to his jobs, but he wasn’t confident when it came to believing he deserved all the good things in life. It took Charlotte and a whole lot of therapy to make him see that he self-sabotaged and that what he viewed as anger was actually fear. You’ve only ever known Ian after Charlotte.”
“You can be her Charlotte, but you have to be patient, and you can’t view her as something you have to fix.”
His mom’s jaw firmed, and he watched her make the decision to say what she said next. “I talked to you that day because I was worried for her, too. I love Kala. We’re not supposed to have favorites, but of all the kids who grew up with mine, she’s it for me. Even when she thinks I’m uptight and too intellectual. I worried that you wanted a life she’s never going to be able to live. She’s not ever going to be your sweetly submissive wife who says all the right things and supports your career.”
What was she thinking? “I never…”
His father’s head shook. “You wanted to be the fucking homecoming king, buddy. Do you think I don’t remember the whole family helping you campaign? You wanted to be the most popular kid at school. Don’t try to deny it. You might have told yourself it was because you needed to be the best for us, but it was about you. It was about the voice in your head that said if you didn’t have a crown on, you weren’t special enough.”
“Your father isn’t saying this because he thinks less of you,”
his mother began.
Cooper had been around long enough to know what his mother was going to say next. “If I don’t acknowledge the problem, I can’t avoid repeating the behavior that got us in trouble in the first place.”
“I’m worried you still think she’s going to change and give you some kind of white picket fence life,”
his mother said quietly. “Do you want to be with the Agency for the rest of your career?”
Not really, but it didn’t matter. “I want to be with her.”
“But in the back of your mind, what does your life look like twenty-five years from now?”
His father asked the question that threatened to turn his stomach. “Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it because I know you have.”
He had. He saw himself with Kala and a couple of kids, and he would work as a pilot and she would…
Damn it. He told himself over and over that he would be whatever she needed him to be, but did he mean it?
His mom stood and wrapped him in a hug. “You need to be patient. With her. With yourself. It’s okay to sink into this relationship, but you have to be realistic. You have to be ready to compromise.”
He knew in that moment there would be no compromise. He knew it deep in his gut, a feeling he’d avoided since he was a kid and he’d felt her pull. It had always been her. In some ways, he had tried to figure out how he could have it all, have her and the white picket fence he’d thought he wanted as a kid.
Fuck it. All he wanted now was her. None of the rest of it mattered. They would have kids or not. They would stay in this life or move on to new careers when they got older. The only thing he wasn’t willing to compromise on was spending his life with her.
But he knew it would worry his parents if he didn’t at least pretend to think about what they’d said. “I will spend some time thinking about it.”
There was a brief knock and then Kala was in the doorway, her eyes on him. Her expression was blank, and he wondered exactly how much she’d heard. His girl was a brilliant spy. It wasn’t like it shocked him she might have listened in.
“We need you in the conference room, Cooper,”
she said quietly. “I’m afraid we have the footage from the police, and it’s not exactly great.”
“Kala,”
his mom began.
Kala gave her a half smile that proved she didn’t act around her family. There wasn’t an ounce of humor or happiness in her expression. “Sorry, Eve. We have to go. Lena’s here, and Cooper needs to keep me from punching her in the face. She’s extremely pleased with herself.”
She turned and walked out. His mother frowned. “She heard something. Damn it, she’s going to take it all wrong.”
And he would have to deal with it. Lucky for him, sex was now firmly on the table, and after the night before he kind of thought it might work on her. He only knew one thing.
She wasn’t getting away from him this time.
* * * *
Kala sank down into her chair, grateful someone had dimmed the conference room lights.
It was awesome to know Eve McKay still thought she was a time bomb waiting to hurt her baby boy.
Well, it wasn’t like she was planning on marrying him. It had been right there on the tip of her tongue to explain to Alex and Eve that all of her intentions toward Cooper were perfectly sexual, and they didn’t have to worry. When he found his perky former cheerleader ready to have his babies and make him all the sandwiches he could eat, she would fade away into the shadows and never be seen again.
Could she do it? The idea of walking away from her team made her heart ache, but could she hang around and watch them all get married and be happy and she would stay…Kala?
She would be a terrible mother. She wasn’t affectionate. She wasn’t sweet and kind and loving.
“Are you okay?”
Lena asked from her place at the end of the conference table. She’d been sitting in the shadows for more than twenty minutes. She’d been the one to bring them the footage they were about to review.
Kala cocked a brow and turned her way. “I’m fine.”
Lena stared at her for a moment. “Is it about the footage? I told you what’s on there.”
Lena had been waiting in her office when she’d come in this morning.
“And I know that sometimes cam footage doesn’t tell a person the whole story.”
She knew what Lena thought, but Lena came in with preconceived notions. Or maybe she herself was the one with a hard belief when she should keep an open mind.
“Do you not trust me?”
Lena asked with a sigh as though she couldn’t believe such a thing. “Drake himself sent that footage. He would be here if he wasn’t accompanying Louisa.”
Kala noted she didn’t mention TJ. Lou would be the important one to someone like Lena. TJ was just another soldier, and he could be replaced. There were certainly days when she thought about replacing her cousin, but she didn’t like the idea of someone else thinking he wasn’t important. “Of course I don’t trust you. I don’t trust anyone.”
Lena chuckled. “Now that might be the first real lie you’ve told me.”
“The first? You’ve kept count?”
Lena waved a hand. “Of course not, but I do find your honesty refreshing. Although sometimes we like to lie to ourselves. You trust your team. Maybe too much.”
She did trust her team. She knew her team. It’s what happened when you grew up together. “I do trust my team, but you should know I don’t truly trust anyone else.”
Another lie. She trusted her cousins. And most of the people at The Hideout. She wouldn’t like tell them classified secrets or shit. Especially Brianna, since she seemed to be rolling down the same road as her romance-writing mom, but she certainly trusted her. Oooo, she wouldn’t trust her brother with any of her friends because his dick was dumb and wanted to know every woman in a biblical sense.
But she would trust Seth with her life.
Yeah, when she thought about it, maybe she wasn’t as isolated and gloomy/broody as she thought she was. She blamed her parents. They had too many friends. If they’d been the proper spy parents she’d deserved, she would have been an only child—created by accident—who they carried with them around the world, never making friends, only enemies to be taken out at a later date. But no. They had to settle down and have a billion kids and dogs and make her love them all.
It was gross.
“I don’t think that’s abnormal for a woman of your talents,”
Lena said, the shadows throwing across her face. “You have a healthy skepticism. I certainly worry more about the other members of the team. I think Kenzie could be easily manipulated with the right tools. You should know I told Drake I don’t think Kenzie should be the one to deal with Benjamin Parker. I think you should handle the relationship. I was overruled.”
She bet she’d been. Even if her dad agreed with Lena, he wouldn’t hurt Kenz that way. “Kenzie isn’t as na?ve as you think she is. My twin just likes to look on the positive side of things.”
“I still think it would be better for you to manage the relationship.”
“If she did, Ben would be dead now,”
Cooper said from the doorway. He was a big, muscular shadow standing there, and she felt a rush of arousal go through her system.
She was a big old perv now. Even after what she’d heard, all she could think about was getting into that boy’s manties. She had so little time with him. Shouldn’t she take advantage before she did the right thing and gave him up to some whining sheep who would give him what he needed? Who would have a ton of kids and go to PTA meetings and not embarrass him because she was weirdly socially awkward.
Until she needed to give him up, shouldn’t she have him as many times as he was willing?
Would he be willing after what his mom said? Or was he reconsidering.
I sleep where you sleep, your arms a blanket around me.
The dark is softer when you are near.
I am unafraid and dreams are sweet, all my shadows silenced in the song of your breathing.
Where your life entwines with mine, I am safe.
Kala took a long breath, trying to banish the sudden well of emotion that threatened to swamp her. It had been so long. So long since words invaded her head like a damn Taylor Swift song she couldn’t stop playing. She resisted the urge to grab a notepad and write it down. It wasn’t like poetry would ever pay the bills, but her heart clenched at the thought of writing again. It wasn’t for anyone except her.
“Her sister has emotional connections to the man,”
Lena was saying. “It’s not a good idea to let her direct communications with him.”
“I assure you Kala does, too. But she has the emotions you think she should have about a foreign operative,”
Cooper said as he sank down next to her. “What you don’t understand is the amount of restraint she’s shown in not murdering him.”
He was being over the top. She didn’t truly want the man dead. Maybe maimed. What was a little maiming between friends?
The door opened again, and her parents walked in. Tristan had gone with Kenzie. Tasha had the day off because she and Dare were visiting wedding venues.
They were very light today, the team spread out over the globe. It kind of made her nervous they weren’t together.
See, this was why it would be easier on her own. She wouldn’t worry.
Except then she wouldn’t know where Lou was, or Kenz or Tash. She wouldn’t have eyes on her brothers.
“Well, I believe Kala can easily control her emotions in a way Kenzie cannot.”
Lena sat back, crossing one leg over the other.
Her dad snorted. “Sure.”
Jerk. She didn’t have emotions. Maybe one. She got pissed off a lot. That was an emotion. Shit. Now she had horniness. She blamed Cooper for that one. Was horniness a proper emotion? Because if it was then she’d moved from having a feeling to having feelings. With an s.
Her mom slapped at her dad’s chest, a familiar gesture. “Stop.”
Her father sat down, his expression going grim. “All right. Let’s get this done. Lena, you have the footage. I’ll send it to the rest of the team tomorrow. I want them focused on their jobs today, and I’m pretty sure this will be distracting.”
Cooper leaned over. “What is he talking about?”
So her dad had seen the footage. It wasn’t surprising. Her parents were the heart of the team, and they would get all the intel first. Though it was good to know she’d been the second of the team to learn what had happened. “It’s the footage from Rebecca Walsh-Shaw’s security cameras.”
She sat back, her stomach threatening to turn. She wasn’t going to think about what Eve had said. It wasn’t new information, so there wasn’t anything to process.
Cooper’s hand slid over hers as the grainy footage came up. The Land Rover sat in the drive in front of a nice house in what looked to be a suburban neighborhood. The time stamp read five forty-five a.m., but it was still full dark. A big figure moved into the frame briefly before disappearing.
“He knows there’s a camera there,”
Cooper murmured.
Kala stared down at where their hands were entwined. “You don’t have to hold my hand. I’m fine.”
She saw the moment her father’s head swerved around like a predator scenting prey.
She should have kept her mouth closed but that hand in hers…did something to her. Something that would hurt later. It was neither pissed off-ness nor horniness.
It was…longing.
Cooper didn’t seem to care that everyone was looking their way. “You take my dick, you get my hand, too. I do need someone to hold my hand through this because everyone is on edge, and I don’t know what’s happening. I need my emotional support grump.”
Her dad snorted, and his head shook as he sat back.
Her mom smiled approvingly Cooper’s way.
It wasn’t fair her mom liked him and his mom thought she was a walking disaster.
“Is he under the car?”
Cooper asked, moving on smoothly. Like she would just accept that he would hold her hand in public.
It felt nice. And he needed it. She was nothing if not his longtime friend. She spanked asses when subs told her they needed it. She’d done far more intimate things for the subs under her care. So it was fine to give Cooper what he needed.
“He is,”
Lena replied, and Kala could feel her judgment from across the room. “He’s good. The only time the camera catches him is that brief moment before he goes under the car. We believe he attached the bomb to her vehicle at this moment. The rest of the footage is normal until the vehicle explodes almost an hour later.”
“Okay,”
her dad said, his eyes now firmly on the screen in front of them. “I want to see the enhanced footage again.”
“Enhanced?”
Cooper whispered the question.
“Just watch,”
she replied with a sigh.
Lena clicked a few keys on her keyboard, and the video changed to a series of still shots, mostly from the beginning of the cam footage. She zoomed in on the figure who wore all black, the hood of his jacket pulled over his face, obscuring his features. She didn’t zoom in on the face, however. She went for his left hand, zooming in far enough that it was clear he was Caucasian with large hands and a scar that went from between his thumb and forefinger, trailing up to the arm of his jacket and disappearing.
Cooper’s hand tightened around hers.
“And there it is.”
Her father sat back.
Cooper let go of her hand. “It’s not Zach. Someone fucked with the footage.”
She’d thought about that, too. “I checked it out. I even took it down to my Aunt Chelsea and had her review it. She says it hasn’t been tampered with.”
“You did what?”
Lena asked, genuine surprise in her tone.
Did Lena even know who she was? “Trust but verify, and I don’t know anyone who is better at verification than my Aunt Chelsea. I think you’ll find she’s still got clearance. Though if you want to fire me, I could use the nap.”
She didn’t know what the hell she would do if she got fired. Given all the shit she pulled, she probably should have a plan B. She might go the private detective route, but her friends Harlow and Ruby already had that going. She could do the professional Dominatrix thing.
“What did Chelsea say?”
Cooper asked. “Because whoever fucked with the footage wants us to believe that’s Zach. You know he had his hand cut and had to do PT for six months after one of the first missions we ran together. He took a knife to the hand in Hong Kong.”
Yep. She knew it well. She’d known he wouldn’t think straight about this. “She said there was zero proof it was altered. It’s Zach.”
“It can’t be Zach,”
Cooper said stubbornly.
“Of course it can be.”
Her father was a realist. He moved his hand to the control panel and flicked a switch, bringing the lights back up. He looked a bit weary. “We knew he was hiding something. I didn’t think it was this big.”
“He wouldn’t kill someone,”
Cooper argued.
“Sweetie, you’ve seen him kill people,”
her mother said with sympathy. “But I do tend to agree with you that I’m not sure we should immediately jump to conclusions. Which is why we’re sending the two of you on an assignment.”
She’d expected something like this. “You want us to find his aunt and figure out if she knows anything. Shouldn’t I just go after Zach on my own?”
“You’re not going anywhere without me,”
Cooper said, his tone deepening. She turned his way, and he shrugged. “No one goes alone, and I’m the only one left. Unless you want to hang with your dad.”
It wouldn’t be bad if her dad would let her work in peace, but he would want to talk. For a dude who claimed to shove his feelings real deep, the man loved to talk about other people’s feelings. She wanted to avoid all the feelings talks. It would come, but she could put it off. Maybe even long enough that they would have broken this unwritten contract of theirs and she could chalk it up to random, meaningless sex.
Damn it. Her father would never buy it.
“He’s not wrong,”
her dad replied. “And neither is your mom. I want you to find Joyce Reed. I’ve sent her dossier to you along with a map of the national park I’m fairly certain she’s living in right now.”
“National park?”
Cooper asked.
“I might have mentioned she’s nomadic,”
her father pointed out. “I’ve had some people I know tracking her movements, and she’s definitely not doing seasonal work right now. She’ll often work the holiday season to collect the money she needs to move around. About four times a year she’ll work for a couple of weeks. She recently did a three-week stint in a town close to the Rocky Mountain National Park, and my investigators believe she’s camping there for the time being. They’ve found her van parked at the store she was working at, and the owner admitted to letting her stay there.”
“Then we should simply watch the van,”
Lena said with a shake of her head. “We don’t need high-level assets out in the wilderness. We can send someone else.”
“I want Kala and Cooper to handle this,”
her father said, turning Cooper’s way. “Read the dossier. She requires a somewhat soft touch. Joyce has seen some shit.”
“Soft touch?”
Coop asked, his lips quirking up, and then he brought her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles. “I will attempt to make up for my partner’s blunter approach.”
Her father’s eyes went right to their entwined hands, brow rising, but the bastard had a grin on his face. “Oh, Joyce will love Kala. It’s men she can be nervous around, and by nervous, I mean she can shoot first and ask questions after she’s buried your body.”
It was Kala’s time to chuckle. And not think about how good it felt to sit here with him, to have his affection in a place where someone else could see it. “Somehow I think Coop will be okay. He knows how to handle an angsty chick.”
“They’re my favorite kind,”
Cooper replied.
“I’m pretty sure from here on out they better be your only kind,”
her dad said with a smile that was only half predatory. Seventy-five percent.
“Ian,”
her mother said, his name a clear warning.
Yeah, maybe she should rethink the in-public thing. Her father shouldn’t threaten Cooper when this relationship was completely casual and had an open end date that would probably happen sooner rather than later.
“Don’t push her, Ian,”
Cooper said quietly, and he turned her way when she started to pull her hand back. “It’s hold my hand or sit on my lap.”
A weird thrill went through her. She was almost never challenged. Her siblings would poke her, but they wouldn’t ever throw down some arbitrary choice she didn’t have to make. Dom wanted to play, did he? She pulled her hand away and stared at her temporary lover. “I don’t have to do either.”
Cooper glanced between her and her father, and she was suddenly well aware that Coop was now trapped between two stubborn Taggarts. If it bugged him, he didn’t show it. He simply shrugged. “Then let’s negotiate.”
Her dad huffed, an annoyed sound. “And it’s time for me to leave.”
Her mom winked her way. “I think that’s a good idea.”
“And I don’t.”
Lena slapped her hands on the table. “Look, I get it. You’re family. But I’m here as a representative of the Central Intelligence Agency, and you are running this like some family bakery or something. The emotional connections between your operatives alone makes me want to question your leadership choices.”
“Question away, Doc,”
her father said with a shrug. “You want to fire me, cool. I would love some more golf time.”
“You’re acting like you can fire us,”
her mother challenged.
Lena took a long breath. The doc was definitely overstimulated. “All I can do is suggest. And right now I suggest that Kala remains here in Dallas. She’s doing some important work both mentally and physically.”
“I have the exercises I’m supposed to do for my knee. I’ll do them.”
She knew what she’d promised and she wasn’t going to back out, but the truth was she could use some time away from everything. Everything except him.
Negotiate.
She understood negotiations. Negotiations put things in plain words and let her know what was expected. She didn’t pick up on nuances sometimes, not when it came to the interpersonal. A contract. She loved a contract. Maybe they could talk about one between them.
Though she wasn’t his sub. And he wasn’t hers.
“Kala, I scarcely think the Agency wants to lose its most valuable young agent in the damn forest,”
Lena complained. “I don’t like the idea of you being completely dependent on McKay in a world that is utterly foreign to you. I’m trying to look out for you since it’s very plain your father is pushing this new…relationship.”
Cooper sat up straighter, seeming to decide this was a serious conversation. “First off, she wouldn’t be dependent on me. You said Rocky Mountain National, right? She spent most of her summers in the Colorado mountains. Trust me, I’ll be nothing more than the dude who carries a bunch of stuff and cleans up after us. She knows the woods. Her dad’s an asshole who dumped her in the middle of the woods and forced her and her sisters to find their way back.”
She didn’t blame him. She’d requested the test when she was fourteen, and she was pretty sure her dad had been following them, waiting in case they needed help.
“Can’t go raising soft kids,”
her dad replied. “They either came back or got eaten by a bear.”
Her mom rolled her eyes. “Yeah, because you didn’t have most of the town of Bliss watching for them. Those wildlife cameras just popped up overnight.”
She wasn’t sure who Lena thought she was. “It’ll be good to spend some time in nature. I’ll be fine, and I’ll take a sat phone with me. Well, Cooper will. Those things can be heavy.”
She kind of hoped it took a couple of days to find the woman. It would be nice to be alone with him in a place she loved. Alex and Eve would come out there from time to time, but never for the weeks and sometimes months her parents did. Once they got good Internet, her parents had spent most of the summers in Colorado.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea. I actually was going to propose that you and I go to Langley for a couple of weeks. I think you can help me with the profile of Zach Reed. Your father seems to think his aunt is going to… I don’t know, open up his baby book and you’ll know what he’s doing. It makes no logical sense.”
Her father’s eyes narrowed, and she could tell Lena hadn’t spent a ton of time around her dad. His voice went soft, a sure sign he was about to do some bad shit. “We don’t understand the same logic, Doctor. You are not her boss. I am.”
“Yes, I have a problem with that, too,”
Lena added. “Kala doesn’t need a firm hand. She’s smart and capable, and sometimes you treat her like a child.”
Her mother’s hand disappeared, going under the table and likely squeezing her dad’s thigh. Her mom’s hand was a leash, hauling back the biggest, baddest guard dog in the world.
“Baby, move back a little. I know you just bought that shirt, and blood is hard to get out,”
Cooper whispered.
He knew nothing about laundry. Blood was actually quite easy to clean up.
Her father’s eyes remained on Lena, but his words were for Kala. “Which assignment would you like, Agent Taggart?”
That was easy. “Uh, you’re asking me if I want to spend a week in the woods talking to a nomadic crone or in DC talking to assholes? I very much like a crone, thank you. I also think Lena is discounting the intelligence we can gather from talking to Zach’s aunt.”
“Really? You think you can get something from her or are you simply attempting to take a couple of days off with your new boyfriend?”
Lena asked.
Her mom sat up at those words.
Kala didn’t care. She waved her mom off. “I’m going to work and fuck his brains out. I can multitask. It’s all cool. I got this.”
Lena sighed and stood. “Well, I can see I’m not needed here.”
Her father watched the doctor as she strode away. “You two pack up. Cooper, you can take the small jet.”
He stood. “Don’t forget the first part of your multitasking is to keep your eyes and ears open.”
And her legs. Those were going to be wide open. She gave her dad a salute. “Will do, general.”
Her father shook his head and stared at her for a moment. “You know what you’re doing?”
She shrugged. Her father, she almost always understood. If it had been someone else, she would have wondered if he meant what she was doing with the op or with Cooper. Her dad? Oh, he was always asking about the most embarrassing thing. It was easy to be around her dad because he was so predictable. “Probably not. I mean, physically yeah. I think I got it down. I don’t know. I do have some questions.”
Her dad was out the door very quickly.
And she was alone with Cooper.
“So a couple of days in the woods,”
he said, his lips curling in the sexiest grin. “Whatever shall we do?”
She could think of a few things.