by Alexx Andria
Being naked was preferable to having clothes stick to our bodies anyway.
I wanted to kiss away the turmoil in her expression, chase the shadows beneath her eyes.
But it wasn’t only for her.
There was something driving at me, insistent that I claim what was mine.
It didn’t matter how many times I’d been inside her, it was never enough.
I wanted so much more.
Never in my life had I suffered from such an obsession with a woman.
A part of me wanted to demand why she had this hold on me, just so I could find a way to break it.
Another part of me wanted to savor every minute like a greedy bastard.
It was the two opposite sides that constantly battered my thoughts.
I was messing with fire.
Except I wasn’t the one who would burn when it all went south.
And make no mistake — it would all crumble like a house of cards at some point.
Bree would be the one to take the hit.
I would walk away because that’s what I was trained to do.
Make no attachments.
Get in, do the job, get out.
Bree’s head snapped back on a groan as I spread her legs to slide between her thighs.
With each deliberate thrust, I watched the pleasure spread across her beautiful face, that open expression of pure ecstasy a shot of pure arousal hurtling through my veins.
Watching Bree cum was fast becoming my favorite pastime. I loved how she lost all sense of time and space, her chest rising and falling with each pant as I fucked her.
Those perfect breasts — full and ripe — bounced with each flex of my hips.
The abandon with which Bree succumbed to her own pleasure was like heroin and I was the junkie ready to tie off at a moment’s notice.
Her mouth dropped open an a moan as my name fell from her lips and I knew she was so close.
I could drag it out, tease her, but after the day she’d had...I wanted to give her this gift.
Bree came quickly, shuddering, clenching all around me, clinging to my shoulders as her long legs wrapped my torso.
I followed seconds later, needing to let go, too.
Several long, sucking breaths later, I disposed of the condom and rolled onto my side to pull Bree into the cove of my arms where she settled perfectly.
The sweat had begun to dry on our bodies, my lids starting to droop when Bree broke the silence.
“I don’t know anything about you.”
My eyes opened as I privately tensed. I never shared details about my life. To anyone.
I was a ghost for good reason.
“There’s nothing to tell,” I said. “Go to sleep.”
But I should’ve known Bree wouldn’t listen like a good girl and drop off to dreamland.
No, instead, she turned to face me, a small frown on her face.
“All I know is your name is Dexter. What is your last name?”
That was easy. “Lansing.”
“Is that your real name?”
I couldn’t lie. It would’ve been easier if I could but...damn it, Bree was in my head. “No. Well, the Dexter part is real.”
“What’s your real name?” she pressed.
“I don’t give out that information,” I answered, hoping my firm tone sent a message that I wasn’t going to budge on that score.
“Where did you grow up?”
I sighed. Twenty questions. My favorite game. “Boise, Idaho.”
“For real?”
“No.”
She made a sound of frustration. “Stop lying to me. Just tell me straight, who the hell are you?”
Instead of answering, I kissed her hard, silencing her questions under the insistent attention of my tongue.
Bree melted quickly.
I went down on her again, savoring the unique flavor that was all Bree.
She came almost immediately, keening her release with a shudder and a gasp, breathless as she begged, “No more...I might die...”
I smiled and collected her to my side where she settled like a good girl this time.
Within a few moments, her deep, slow breathing followed and I knew she was out.
But sleep didn’t find me as quickly.
A movie I didn’t want to remember kept flickering behind my eyelids each time I tried to close my eyes.
Broken bones.
Being helpless.
Vulnerable.
No one lifting a finger to help.
The first man I ever killed had been my father.
Self-defense.
My records sealed because I was a minor.
The miserable son-of-a-bitch would’ve killed me if I hadn’t defended myself.
And I hadn’t cried a single tear.
The county therapist hired to sort me out said it was shock and that I would cry eventually when it all caught up to me.
That day still hadn’t happened.
I would never cry for that bastard.
Why the hell was that memory surfacing to fuck with me?
I hadn’t thought of that time in my life for a long time.
Bree shifted in my arms as if sensing my tension.
I brushed a soft kiss on the back of her head and she relaxed on a contented sigh.
Maybe I was stressed about the possibility I really did have super sperm and right now Bree was pregnant with my kid.
I stilled as the magnitude of that possibility washed over me.
I wasn’t qualified to be anyone’s role model.
Much less a kid’s.
I would never subject an innocent to the fucked up fuckery going on in my head.
Primal awareness sharpened my thoughts as my grip tightened around her.
I would kill anyone who tried to hurt Bree.
But who would protect her from me?
16
BREE
It was an odd thing how easily I went from single and not looking to completely enraptured with a man who was quite possibly the worst choice relationship-wise.
How would I introduce him to my co-workers?
Hi, this is my boyfriend, Dex Something-or-Another. What does he do for a living? Oh, he’s a contract killer. How did we meet? Oh, that’s a funny story! He was going to kill me!
Yeah, imagine the water-cooler gossip over that one.
Not that I was a huge socializer.
Actually, being an extreme introvert, I hadn’t actually cultivated any relationships, friendship or otherwise, which was why no one probably noticed that I’d disappeared.
I frowned at the pinch of self-pity. It would’ve been nice for someone to care.
Dex stirred and his eyes opened. That still creeped me out. Most people had to acclimate from sleep to awareness but not Dex. He was instantly awake and ready to murder the minute his lids cracked open.
“Don’t think for a second that I don’t see what you’re strategy is for avoiding any questions I have,” I told him, stopping Dex’s hands from reaching for my breasts. I wasn’t going to fall for that again. He was going to answer some of my questions for a change. “I need to know more about the man I’m sleeping next to.”
A wall slammed down behind his eyes as he rolled away from me to climb naked from the bed. I sucked back a groan at the perfectly chiseled backside and tried to focus.
Thank God, he dressed quickly otherwise, his plan to continually distract me might’ve worked again.
“Dex...”
He turned, his eyes cold. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answers to, baby girl.”
Oh, hell no. He wasn’t going to shut me down like that. Not this time.
I climbed from the bed and dressed as quickly, following him into the kitchen when he thought the conversation closed.
“What could be worse than being a killer? I already know that part, obviously,” I said, getting in his way when he reached for the pantry. “I need to know more than just your fake inform
ation. All things considered, I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”
“And why is that?” he asked, bracketing me with his arms, locking me in place. There was an air of menace about him that frightened me but I wasn’t going to back down. “Is it because you think we’ve shared something special?”
The derision in his tone made my bravado shrivel. Yeah, sort of? At least I’d thought it’d been something out of the ordinary.
Apparently, I’d been laughably wrong.
I was beginning to feel I’d made a huge mistake but I was trapped.
“Oh baby,” Dex chuckled but the sound was mean. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. We’re locked together by circumstance not because we met on Match.com. There is no us, therefore there’s no need to know more than the superficial. I like fucking your tight pussy. I would go so far as to say, I like it a lot. But at the end of the day...your slick ass cunt is the same as any woman’s. So, before you start making demands, like you’re owed any sort of explanation just because I stick my dick in you to pass the time...think again.”
Tears welled in my eyes. I wasn’t a crier by nature but Dex had skewered me.
I was a pleasant diversion?
I’d given my virginity to an asshole.
Dex backed away, giving me some breathing room. “Are we clear that this topic of conversation is fucking closed?”
“That’s not the only thing that’s closed,” I spat, wiping at my eyes. “You’ll just have to find some other way to entertain yourself because this girl is out.”
I spun around so he wouldn’t see the tears starting to fall but before I could take two steps, glass shattered all around me just as Dex knocked me to the floor, his body protecting mine.
“Stay down,” he instructed in a low tone, reaching up to pull a gun that’d been tapped to the underside of the butcher block island. I gaped at how a loaded gun had been there the whole time.
He army-crawled across the glass-strewn floor to slide up the wall so he could peer from the living room window.
I was shaking from head to toe.
Not only from the fact that someone had found us but because I, sort of, wished the bullet had found its mark.
How could I have thought that Dex had feelings for me just because I gave him my virginity?
I felt colossally stupid.
And naive.
I didn’t like the feeling at all.
Reminded me too much of when I’d been a bullied kid — the geeky girl no one asked to the school dances or picked for sleep-overs.
Dex slipped out the back door. If retribution wore a face, it would’ve been his.
I squeezed my eyes shut but the image of Dex, his expression made of stone, his gaze deadly, remained.
I’d never seen that side of him.
The Dex he’d let me see was sexy, firm, with a crooked smile and a body that wouldn’t quit.
But this was also a side of him.
And that side scared me senseless.
What if he changed his mind and decided I wasn’t worth being shot at?
Would Dex look me straight in the eye as he pulled the trigger?
I was wrong — I didn’t want to die.
I wanted to live.
I wanted to find out why the hell my mom had lied to me my entire life.
Why we seemed to have wealth and yet I knew nothing of where it came from.
I needed to know who I truly was before I met my maker.
I remained on the floor, quaking, knowing that either Dex would come back alive or not.
If he didn’t, I was next.
Hell, I could still be next if Dex survived yet had a change of heart about protecting me.
I yelped as a shot rang out. Ears covered, I curled into a ball, wishing I could disappear.
I wasn’t religious, I didn’t know a single prayer but damn, if I didn’t start babbling something.
Hail Mary, Sweet Baby Jesus, The Rapture, The Ghost, the Holy Trinity, whatever works, please don’t let me die!
17
DEX
I scanned the treeline but I was fairly satisfied that the man dead at my feet had come alone.
This business wasn’t exactly built on a buddy system.
I grabbed his sniper rifle, assessing it with grudging respect. An M24 with detachable sight, an efficient weapon system in the right hands.
More skilled hands.
I didn’t recognize the dead guy but then I wasn’t the social type.
If this guy had been better at his job, Bree would be dead.
But he’d found my safe house, which meant our location was compromised.
If one opportunist could find us, more would come.
I sprinted back to the house, barking orders.
“Bree, grab your stuff, we’re leaving.”
But Bree wasn’t where I left her.
Panic sharpened my voice. “Bree!”
Maybe the sniper hadn’t come alone?
Instantly on alert, I slowly canvased the house, going slowly from room to room.
Maybe she was hiding?
“Bree, it’s safe now,” I called out to her. “C’mon, we gotta get out of here.”
“Are you going to kill me?” a muffled voice sounded from a closet.
What the...? Kill her? Was she cracked in the head? I was busting my ass to keep her fucking alive.
“I haven’t so far...” I answered on a sigh, going to the source of her voice. I opened the closet door and found Bree huddled on the floor, a butcher knife clutched in her hand.
“So far...” she repeated, her gaze narrowing.
“What are you doing?” I asked, perplexed. I reached for her but she swiped at me with the knife, barely missing my skin. “Holy shit, Bree, knock it off! We don’t have time for this fucking shit.”
“How do I know you’re not going to get tired of protecting me when you’ve already told me I’m nothing special? I’m not stupid, Dex. What if the novelty of saving me grows thin as more people start shooting at us?”
Jesus H. Christ.
I seriously did not have time for this woman bullshit.
Quick as a lightening strike, I grabbed her wrist and squeezed hard.
She cried out in pain, dropping the knife, then I jerked her out of the closet, spinning her toward the bedroom. “Grab your fucking shit. We’re out of here in ten.”
Bree rubbed at her abused wrist, tears welling in her eyes. I didn’t have the luxury of feeling bad for hurting her. She was alive, that’s what mattered.
When we got out of here alive, she could be pissed at me all day long if she wanted.
I should’ve kept my mouth shut earlier. Now she didn’t trust me.
Worse, she was afraid of me.
Way to go, Dex.
Now, instead of a cooperative captive, now I had a frightened, pissed-off skittish rabbit, ready to bolt at the first opportunity.
I’d have to fix that later.
Bree stalked past me with her bag, going to the kitchen to grab some food for the road.
Good thinking.
I wanted to tell her I was sorry for being a prick.
But I doubted she would hear me right now.
After clearing out the essentials, including any guns and cash I had stashed, we climbed into the truck and headed out but once we were clear enough, I pulled my cell and put in my secret code.
Seconds later, an explosion rocked the horizon, causing Bree to nearly jump out of the truck.
“What the hell just happened?” she asked, craning her neck to see what I already knew was happening. “Oh my God, your house just blew up!”
“All those MRE’s up in smoke,” I lamented with a wry grin but she didn’t see the humor.
“Did you just blow up your freaking house?”
“Yep.”
“Why?”
“Because the location had been compromised. Once a safe house has been identified, it’s worthless at best and a liability at worst. All my hous
es are rigged to blow if need be.”
“But what if someone sees the explosion?”
“The fire puts itself out. By the time anyone thinks to investigate, all they will find is ash. It will look like an electrical fire caused by old wiring, not so uncommon in those old houses.”
“That’s why you picked that shack,” she guessed. “And here I thought you just had really terrible interior design skills.”
I shook my head but I was optimistic that Bree was, at least, speaking to me again.
Until she said, “So, you’re really not going to kill me?”
I cast an irritated look her way. “I already told you, I wasn’t.”
“Yeah, but then you said some other things and now I don’t know if you’re lying to me just to play with me like a cat does a mouse.”
“I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it.”
She didn’t look happy with that prospect but Bree was smart, she could plainly see I was her only option for survival at the moment.
“Did you mean what you said...?”
Why couldn’t she drop it? How was I supposed to answer her question without looking like a total dick or a wishy-washy bastard?
“Answer me.”
“I was trying to protect you from getting feelings for me, Bree,” I said, the truck bouncing hard along the country road. “You started to get that look in your eyes.”
“What look?” she asked, affronted.
“That dreamy, I-think-I-love-him look and that’s just not me. I’m not cut out for that domestic shit. I mean, if you think about it, you’ll agree...I’m not boyfriend material.”
She surprised me with a snort. “Get over yourself. Like I would want you for a boyfriend. How exactly would I introduce you to my friends? Yeah, no. Besides, before you start getting a fat head about your supposed effect on me just know that extreme situations warrant extreme action. I didn’t want to die a virgin. You helped me with that. So, yeah, NBD.”
“Excuse me? What does NBD mean?”
Bree lifted her chin and cut me a dismissive look, saying, “No Big Deal.” Then she shrugged to examine her ravaged cuticles, adding, “For all I know, you might suck in bed seeing as I have nothing to compare your skills to. I can’t wait to test out other penises. Big, small, short, round...I want to try them all.”
