Page 55 of Spy With Me

Why was he in the barn? Like there was a perfectly finebedroom. That was full of cats.

So the barn it was.

And she wanted to know what he’d been doing in the barn. Hercuriosity wouldn’t let her walk away. She had to know.

It didn’t have to mean anything. It didn’t have to touch hersoul.

She pushed through the doors and the barn was quiet, thesound of soft rain on the roof the only noise.

“I’m up here,” he said, and she realized he was on thesecond floor. She rarely went up there. From what she could tell it was used tostore things they didn’t work with every day. It was mostly empty.

Except even from here she could see Zach had made somechanges.

He had taken off his shirt. His big chest was on beautifuldisplay, and his jeans hung low on his hips. His hair had grown out since he’dgone on the run. That dark silky hair had started to brush the tops of hisears, and she had the most insane desire to run her hands through it.

She took a deep breath and started up the ladder.

He was waiting to help her, big hand coming out to hold herown.

“What made you change your mind?” She was pleased with howsolid she sounded. Like this was no big deal.

He made sure she was steady on her feet before he backedaway. “A friend gave me some advice. He thinks I might regret never taking thischance with you.”

She wasn’t sure what the wordchancehad to do withit. “I told you what I was willing to do weeks ago.”

He nodded. “Yeah, that’s the chance I’m taking. You wereopen and honest that this is going to mean nothing. That you need a physicalrelease and I’m handy.”

“You’re not fucking handy, Zach. There is nothing convenientabout you or the situation we’re in.” It was a ridiculous assumption. “I onlymeant that I know this isn’t going anywhere, so I’m not opening my heart toyou.”

“And I am. And that is what I am risking.”

“You don’t have to. I’m being honest with you.”

His hand came out and he touched her, really touched her forthe first time in days. Not a brush of his hand as they passed each other or acaring caress or those moments in the early morning when her brain was fuzzyand she wanted to stay asleep because his arm was over her waist. There wasintent in the way he took her chin in hand, forcing her to look up at him. Shewas tall, but Zach made her feel petite.

He also sometimes made her feel like an idiot, so she shouldremember that.

“The question is are you being honest with yourself.” Heloomed over her, his big body so close all it took was to reach up to touch hischest. Feel the heat of his body, the softness of skin over hard-earned muscle.

“And if I am?” She wasn’t going to lie and say she was sure.She wasn’t. She wasn’t sure of anything except the fact that her body wasstarting to heat up. From the minute she read that note, she’d felt again. Notfear or anxiety. She’d felt the slow hum of her body awakening, theanticipation of getting her needs met. Of letting go for a few hours. LettingZach take over.

Her body trusted this man implicitly. She wasn’t sure abouther heart.

“Then I’ll deal with the consequences, sweetness. I don’tknow how much time we have, but I want to spend it with you. Being with you theway we really are.”

A Dom and sub. The man he was and the woman she was. “Thenwe start, Sir.”

“Zach.” His fingers tightened slightly around her chin, andhe moved in. “No Sirs. I want to hear my name. I’m not some random Dom in aclub who wants you for a night.”

No, he wanted her for however long they had. “Then we shouldstart, Zach. Is this our play space?”

He stepped back and gestured around. “I spent the afternoonrenovating. I had to be creative, but the good news is I can be handy. Arthurhelped. He’s surprisingly good at building furniture, and we had some suppliesI didn’t know we had.”

It wasn’t like a plush sofa or a luxurious chaise lounge,but he and Arthur had created what looked like a spanking bench. She walkedover and tested it out—comfortable, it was solid. “Did Arthur know what he wasmaking?”

She felt like she could breathe again. Making the decisionto take this time with Zach was a huge weight off her shoulders and her soul.The key was taking what she wanted and not giving up anything that would hurt.

Or maybe just understanding that this would hurt like hell,but it would be worse if she never had this time at all.