Our quarters are spacious by military standards. They have a bedroom, a sitting area, and a bathroom large enough for two people who’ve learned to appreciate shared space. I guide her to the bathroom door, then turn to face her directly.
“I need you to wait in here,” I say, my voice dropping to the tone that makes her pupils dilate. “Keep the door closed. No peeking. No questions. Just be patient until I call for you.”
“Cooper, what are you?—”
“That’s an order, Eliza.”
The command cuts through her curiosity like a blade. Her breath catches, and she nods, understanding that something significant is happening even if she doesn’t comprehend what.
“How long?”
“Ten minutes. Maybe fifteen.” I cup her face gently, thumb brushing across her cheekbone. “Trust me?”
“Always.”
The simple word carries the weight of everything we’ve been through together. Trust earned through bullets and blood, through submission and dominance, through choosing each other against impossible odds.
She disappears into the bathroom, and I hear the soft click of the door closing. Time to work.
The costume was delivered yesterday while she was in analysis meetings—a favor called in from a theatrical supply company that doesn’t ask questions about unusual requests from clients with government credentials. Bronze-colored leather chest piece, short battle skirt, and sandals that lace up the calf. Not historically accurate, but perfect for the fantasy that’s lived in her mind since long beforewe met.
I change quickly, checking the mirror to ensure everything is properly in place. The leather feels strange against skin accustomed to tactical gear, but the psychological transformation is immediate. Not Cooper McKenzie, Cerberus operative, but something more primal. More commanding.
The crop was harder to source—quality leather, perfectly balanced, designed for control rather than punishment. It fits my hand as if it were made for this moment, this woman, this culmination of everything we’ve discovered about each other.
This is the moment where fantasy becomes reality. After everything we’ve been through, everything we’ve shared, I’m eager to bring her deepest desires to life.
“Eliza,” I call, voice carrying through the quarters with unmistakable authority. “Come out. Now.”
The bathroom door opens slowly, and she steps into the main room with the careful movements of someone who knows something has changed but doesn’t yet understand what.
Then she sees me.
Her gasp fills the silence—pure shock, pure recognition, pure desire all wrapped into one breathless sound. Her eyes move from the bronze leather to the crop in my hand, understanding blooming across her features like a sunrise.
“Cooper,” she whispers, my name barely audible.
“Strip.” The command cracks through the air like a whip. “Everything. Now.”
Her hands move to her clothes—the decision already made the moment she saw me transformed into the living embodiment of her deepest fantasy. The brilliant academic disappears, replaced by the woman who’s been waiting her entire life for a man strong enough to command her completely.
When she stands naked before me, when vulnerability and desire war in her expression, I extend my hand toward her.
“Come here.”
She moves without hesitation, crossing the space between us with the grace of someone who knows exactly where she belongs. When she reaches me, I cup her face gently, thumbs brushing across her cheekbones as I look into eyes that hold perfect trust and infinite hunger.
“Kneel,” I say softly, but the command carries absolute authority.
She sinks gracefully to her knees, looking up at me with an expression that makes my chest tighten. This isn’t just fulfilling her fantasy—it’s mine too. Not the anonymous encounters in bars with women whose names I never learned, whose faces I forgot by morning. This is Eliza, brilliant and brave and mine in ways that go deeper than physical desire.
She belongs to me now, and I to her. Not just for tonight, but for all the days that follow.
I reach down, cupping her chin and tilting her face until our eyes meet. In her gaze, I see everything—the academic who decoded Phoenix’s secrets, the woman who chose danger over safety, the partner who’s found her place beside me.
“Serve me,” I command, voice rough with need and tenderness. “All of me.”
Her hands move to the leather battle skirt with reverence, understanding precisely what’s expected, exactly what she’s dreamed of providing since long before she knew my name.
