“Ms. Monroe is here¸” Helen announces and steps aside for me to enter.

I walk in with trepidation. I really need to make it to the top four.

“Did you like kissing him?” The voice catches me off guard.

“Cooper?” I look up, confused.

He stalks to me. “Did you?” He infiltrates my personal space but I don’t move.

“Where’s Miles?”

“I don’t care where Miles is. Answer my question.”

“But …”

“Please, Kate. Just answer the question.”

“I don’t understand.”

He takes a step closer. I take one back.

“Did you like kissing him? It’s a simple question, Kate. Yes or no.” His voice is flat, monotone, but it’s not the kind of flat sound that makes you think the words aren’t important. Just the opposite. The way they’re said in such a controlled tone makes me think the answer really matters and he’s controlling himself to even ask the question.

“It isn’t a simple question. Nothing about what I’m doing is simple.”

Another step closer. One more back for me.

“Did you feel the same thing kissing him as you did when I kissed you yesterday?”

I don’t say anything.

He takes one more step toward me.

I retreat another step. My back hits the wall behind me.

Cooper leans in, one arm pressed into the wall on either side of my head. I look to the right, then the left. His stare is unrelenting, even while I avoid his eyes.

“You’re not answering me.”

I’m not sure how to respond, so I don’t. At least not with words anyway. Instead, I give in to what I’m feeling and let my body tell him the answer. My mouth closes the small distance between us and I literally devour his lips.

I may have started the kiss, but it takes less than a heartbeat for Cooper to take over. With a growl, he pins me against the wall and devours me. Wrapping my hair tightly in his fingers, his grip is so firm, I couldn’t escape if I wanted to. But it’s irrelevant, because there’s nowhere else I’d rather be in this moment.

“Wow,” I breathe when we come up for air.

“Jesus, Kate.” His voice is low and thick, chest heaving.

“No,” I whisper.

Cooper’s eyes question me.

“No, it didn’t feel like this when I kissed Flynn.”

“Who?”

“Flynn … the bachelor?”

“Oh. I’ve taken to calling him Dickhead.”

Cooper’s serious, although it doesn’t stop me from laughing. In fact, his stern demeanor makes me completely crack up. He doesn’t seem happy that I’m finding amusement at his expense. “Dickhead? Really?” I laugh.

He tries to remain serious, but I catch the corner of his mouth twitch. “I have a few other names, if you’d like to try one of those on to see if it fits better.”

I shake my head. “What did he do that made you conjure a vast dictionary of nicknames?”

“He’s in my way.”

Cooper hasn’t moved, and I suddenly realize where I am. “Ummm … where is Miles?”

“Probably on the casting couch with one of the contestants from your show.”

Miles is undoubtedly the casting-couch kind. I smile and look around. “Wouldn’t he be casting in this office though?”

“My office? Miles tries to avoid me at all costs most days.”

I pull my head back, confused. “This isn’t Miles’s office?”

Cooper furrows his brow.

“But Helen said Mr. Montgomery wanted to see me, and she brought me here.”

Cooper inhales, then blows out a deep, audible breath. “Sit.”

“Okay, now I’m ready,” Sadie says as she hands me a very full glass of wine. She kicks off her four-inch heels and settles in on the loveseat for the story of my bizarre day.

“You do realize you aren’t supposed to fill the glass to the brim, right?”

She shrugs. “I’m efficient. If I pour a half glass now, I’m only going to have to get up again in five minutes.”

She has a point. I gulp a mouthful of wine and dig in. “Cooper is Miles’s brother.”

Sadie is a lawyer—not showing surprise is her forte—but her eyes bulge when I give her the news. “We’re going to need a second bottle.”

“Picked it up on my way home.”

“So he knows you’re on the show?”

“Yep. He didn’t know when we played cards last week. But he saw the dailies from the show and recognized me.”

“And?”

“And I kissed him when we were in his office.”

“How was his office?”

“Really? That’s what you want to know. Not how was the kiss or aren’t you in breach of your contract? How was his office?”

“You can tell a lot about a man by his office.”

I gulp another unladylike sip from my wine glass. “His office was beautiful. Sleek, overlooking the city. It oozed power.”

“Nice. Bet he fucks like he owns you.”

The thought of what he’s like in bed is enough to make me lose my train of thought.

“Go on,” Sadie prods.

I don’t continue immediately.

“You forgot what you were up to because you were thinking of him fucking you like he owns you, didn’t you?” My best friend smirks knowingly.