Agent U7: Keegan (The D.I.R.E. Agency Series Book 7) Read Online Free Page B

actions seem stemmed from desperation yet…you’re not.” He gave a self-deprecating laugh. “It would make more sense coming from someone like me.”
    If only he knew how desperate she was to forget. To wipe her mind clean of Cyrus and his sadistic abuse. To erase the days of endless loneliness that’d seemed to plod along in mocking, infinite cruelty.
    When she kept busy, the past fell back into its coffin, silent…but not dead. As soon as she slowed down or laid her head on the pillow, it sprang from its ominous bed to taunt her.
    “I told you why, Clint.”
    Frowning, he shook his head as if he just didn’t understand. “Keegan, you could have any man you want.”
    Even you?
    “You’re talking about love,” she said on a sigh. “Like Natalie and Riordan.” Turning onto her side to face him dead on, she added, “It’s not for me.”
    Cyrus had always said he loved her. If that was the definition of love, she wanted no part of it.
    Sitting up straight, Clint’s voice took on an educational tone. Only he would turn scientist on her in bed.
    “Back in college, I did a study on the concept of love. The scientist in me just didn’t buy that it truly existed.”
    Sometimes, she’d wondered the same thing but, when she thought about Natalie and her father, all doubt fled her mind.
    “Really…?” She propped a pillow against the headboard and patted it in invitation. He sat beside her, his legs outstretched, blocking the lamp light.
    “I wanted to figure out the true definition of love, and whether it really existed. If it did, I wanted to discover why some people found it so easily, while others struggled.”
    Rising up, she propped her head in her hand. “And?”
    The words seemed to rush from his mouth, as though they were right on the tip of his tongue, as though he’d done the study yesterday and not over a decade ago.
    “In my opinion, what Western culture calls love in songs, movies and books really isn’t love at all. It’s the opposite. It’s lust, control and possessiveness.”
    That was exactly how Cyrus had treated her. He’d lusted after her in ways that still made her stomach roil, and struggled to keep her under his complete control. It had taken every ounce of strength she’d possessed to fight him, day in and day out. Yet, they both knew he always had the upper hand.
    “Today,” Clint said, “we have a much better understanding of the intricacy of human nature and the diverse motives behind everything we do. Many times people make great sacrifices in the name of love, but usually they’re meaningless because they’re done out of some form of self-interest.”
    She sat up on the bed to face him. With Cyrus, it has always been one-sided. Her needs were never considered, until he’d created Eve to slake his thirst.
    Clint’s eyes held an earnest glint, a honest belief in what he’d discovered. “I believe that love, real love, does exist. It’s the greatest power in the universe. Love is a power that can do anything, defy anything, bear anything for the sake of who or what is loved.” His energized gaze bored into hers. “I also believe that as teens and beyond, we have an innate need to seek it, strive for it, but none of us are capable of handling that much power because of our own flaws.”
    Frowning, she tried to make sense of his words. “You believe none of us can ever attain true love because love is selfless and we’re all…selfish?”
    Nodding, he said, “Even from birth, babies have a selfish need to be fed, clothed and sheltered.”
    Tilting her head, she gave him a skeptical look. “So, you don’t believe a mother’s love is sincere?”
    His gaze bored into hers. “I know my mother’s love wasn’t sincere so, I have to believe most feel the same way. They have children for selfish motives.”
    How sad. Keegan’s memories of her mother were all fond. She’d spoiled her and Natalie, and had stayed involved in their lives. Karen Meeks was a good