DON’T HURT MY BABY: A Bad Boy Hitman Romance

by Zoey Parker

  “Toro will be pissed,” she tried. “He’ll be furious if he knows you touched what’s his.”

  The big man laughed. “Who do you think I paid to get in here? Only fifty bucks. Would have paid more for a hooker.”

  He had his hand on her, spreading her wide, when a piece of shadow darker than the rest broke off, and something slammed into the man’s head. He was knocked off Tess, who scrambled away for the second time in just a few hours. The big man tried to fight back, but he seemed to take a few more hard, vicious hits, and he dropped. Tess was shaking harder than she had been when Toro delivered his beating; she could barely breathe through the panic. Her body felt filthy, violated, and she just wanted to rip a hole in the side of the world and disappear through it.

  The second, shadowy figure stood for a moment, surveying its work, and then turned to Tess. She let loose a little scream without knowing it, and the shadow made soothing noises. She knew that voice, knew it was safe, but the panic didn’t abate. Not until he turned on the light and his face was there with her, opening up the darkness.

  “It’s me,” he said. “Hey. It’s me. It’s going to be okay.” He held his hands wide, and he used the kind of voice people used to talk to small children and frightened animals. She wanted to believe it, but it was too much. She curled up into a ball, her shredded clothes falling loosely around her body, and let herself rock for a while.

  She heard more voices in the room, but she didn’t look up. Milo wasn’t fighting. If Milo wasn’t fighting than there was nothing for her to worry about. He kept her safe. He had, and she knew he’d continue to do so. She buried her head, and she rocked back and forth, and she waited for it to stop.

  When a voice came close to her again, it was a woman’s voice. She spoke English with a soft accent, her voice carrying a musical sort of tone. “They hurt you.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. That made it easier to nod, somehow. “Myself as well,” said the voice, and that somehow let Tess look up from her knees. The woman before her had dark skin, lined, and jet-black hair threaded with silver. “I too have been hurt like this,” she said. Her voice took on a quiet, calm assurance. “This pain is not forever. It hurts now, my heart, but it will not hurt like this forever.” She reached out her hand, and after a moment, Tess took it. “My name is Ruta,” the woman said, “but you have known me as Silk Road.”

  The words didn’t make sense, and Tess didn’t have time to make them make sense. A voice she hated split the room.

  “This is just fascinating,” Toro said.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Milo’s mind went from calm concentration to incredible anger when he heard Toro’s voice. He’d seen enough of girls being mistreated – between his own knowledge and Ruta’s descriptions as they traveled – to be utterly enraged. He’d seen everything he needed to see for that. But Tess had been hurt, and while he’d hated Toro for the other girls, he hated Toro more intensely for this. Perhaps it was indecent to be more enraged on behalf of the woman he cared about, but perhaps it was just human nature. There wasn’t an easy way to tell, and all in all, he didn’t much care. He turned slowly, his hands curling into fists.

  “Interesting isn’t what I’d call it,” Milo said. It was easy to keep the rage out of his voice; he’d spent years practicing. He’d watched his last brother murdered just a day before, and had lived in total terror for the last several hours, worried about what would happen to his woman and his baby. If not for training and practice, he’d be shouting. “I call it, you’re about to be killed for what you’ve done.”

  Okay, that was a pretty cheesy line, as these things went, but he hadn’t practiced for this moment. He’d been focused on calming Tess down, reassuring her that she was safe. It hadn’t occurred to him that she might not want those things from him. Not yet, Ruta had warned him. She will want your hands in time, but trust me when I say that she may need the hands of another wounded woman first. Try not to be offended, if it comes to that.

  He’d promised to try. At least Toro gave him something else to think about.

  “It will be interesting when she has to watch you beaten to death by my men,” Toro said.

  He pulled a cell phone off his belt clip and dialed a number. Milo kept silent as Toro lifted the phone to his ear. He delighted in the expression on the obsequious man’s face as whatever guard captain or security chief he was trying to call didn’t pick up. He tapped a button, presumably to end the call, then tapped another number. The same thing happened. His face went red, but whether it was with anger or fear, Milo couldn’t tell.

  “All your guards are down, Toro,” Milo said. “There’s the bastard you brought in here, but…”

  Toro turned and saw one of Ruta’s men choking out the last guard Toro had. Toro’s face went redder. “What—”

  “How it happened doesn’t matter,” Milo said. “The point is this. We walk out with the girl. You walk away from the drug trade. I’ve spoken to Silk Road, and they will even allow you to keep the wealth you have amassed. But you don’t deal again, not in drugs or in flesh. You do, and I will personally find you, and I will personally cut off your balls and stuff them down your throat.”

  “You spent so long trying to find me this time,” Toro blustered out, “what makes you think you’ll have such an easy time finding me again?”

  “Because this time you won’t have a master assassin like Bastille covering your tracks.”

  Milo had seen the documentation himself. Bastille had erased records of credit cards, masked cell phone signals, done a thousand things that an idiot like Toro would never have thought to do. Bastille was trying to draw Milo out so he could have his revenge. Without that, Milo would have dealt with Toro the day after he left the penthouse.

  The man kept trying to puff himself up, but it was such a clearly foolish effort that Milo couldn’t even be bothered to care. Another man he might have threatened. Toro, he just stared up and down and tried not to laugh.

  “Which will it be, you miserable excuse for a human being?”

  “Fine,” Toro spat.

  Milo’s eyes narrowed; he was almost positive that Toro had no intention of doing either of the things he had just agreed to, but given the choice between murdering a man in front of the mother of his children and coming back here to end Toro in the middle of the night, he would easily and happily choose the second option.

  Ruta had found Tess clothes that weren’t falling to pieces and had helped Tess into them. Tess was still visibly shaken, but she was moving under her own power now. He’d take her to the hospital first thing, and they could make sure the baby was fine. Tess looked up then and gave him a shaky smile, and he felt something lighten in his heart.

  Which, because Toro was a fool, was when he came at Milo.

  It was an idiot move; a moment before, cool and impassive Milo might have just stepped aside and used an armbar to drop him to the floor – let the other man run himself into Milo’s fist, break his nose, and move on. Milo who was in love had no such kindness in him. Milo in love was Milo protective. He let Toro run himself into Milo’s fist, yes, and he broke the son-of-a-bitch’s nose, sure, but that wasn’t where it ended. He followed Toro, spouting blood, down to the ground. He let his knee drop onto Toro’s crotch, hearing the man give a wet scream as his genitals were smashed under Milo’s knee. He slapped Toro, hard, with the back of his hand making blood spray in the direction of the door. He heard Tess give a little scream, and he didn’t care. Ruta had her. He had this. He needed to deal with this.

  Toro tried to punch him; Milo caught his arm and with a simple twist, dislocated his elbow. After that, there wasn’t any more fighting. Milo had seen the bruises that lined Tess’ arms and legs, the dark purple mark on her cheek. He didn’t care whether Toro had put those on her, or one of his men had done the deed itself, it had happened under Toro’s watch; Toro needed to pay.

  Milo beat the man until he stopped moving, and then he beat him a little more for good measur
e. He felt two hands on his shoulders, and his fists stilled. He came back into himself, and he went utterly still. He hadn’t wanted this. He hadn’t wanted Tess to see him in any sort of state, but like this? Beating a man to death with his fists? He felt the blood now cooling on his face, the wetness dripping off his hands. Some of it was his; he felt where his own knuckles had broken open on Toro’s bones. Never hit a man with a closed fist, they said, and it was true, but he hadn’t cared. Some things were more important than they were smart.

  His head hung down; he didn’t want Tess to see him like this. Shooting a man was one thing, but this? Blood-spattered and enraged? Not like this.

  “I told him,” he heard Tess say. There was nothing angry or disgusted in her voice, just a calm, quiet surety. “I told him you’d kill him with your bare hands.”

  Something in him lurched with a quiet, desperate hope.

  “Come on,” she said. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Ruta had enough connections within the local police to sort things out. The slaughter at Toro’s safe house went down as rival drug lords, and everyone moved on. Police didn’t tend to look too hard when scumbags died – not unless those scumbags had been lining their pockets. Toro was an out-of-town scumbag, and the authorities didn’t care. Ruta arranged things, and Tess and Milo drove out of town with clean hands.

  Ruta came to visit them in their pretty home a year later. Tess had gotten the hang of decorating by now; each room had different themes, but she loved each of them. She took Ruta on a tour, showing her the bright and sunny living room, the quiet study where Milo had set up his own accounting business, the library where she was working on her college courses – now that she’d gotten her GED. And, of course, the baby’s room.

  Tess hadn’t been able to come up with a theme for the nursery, so she’d ended up with a little bit of everything. The mobile above the crib was cartoon themed, but the walls were a light yellow, painted with rainbows. The rug on the floor looked like a character from her favorite science fiction movie. Tess mostly didn’t care what the furnishings in the room looked like, though; the point was the little girl in the crib.

  When Tess and Ruta peeked into the room, Sarah was already awake. She’d learned to pull up, and Tess had just dropped the crib down to its lowest level a few days before. She didn’t know if Sarah was a climber yet, but given that she had her daddy’s wicked grin already, Tess figured it was better to be safe.

  “Oh, Tess, she is beautiful,” Ruta said as Tess leaned over and picked the baby up. She turned so that Ruta could see her, but Sarah pressed her face into Tess’ neck to hide. “The pictures you have sent me did not do her justice.”

  “She’s my baby,” Tess said. The wonder of it still struck her sometimes. The her of a year ago couldn’t believe how much had changed. She wondered if she could have gone back in time to that girl stepping into the bath and explained to her how much was about to change. Tess was quite sure she would have laughed and flipped future her off. There was just no way it could all be believable.

  “She’s gorgeous,” Ruta said. Tess tried to pass her the baby, but Sarah was having none of it. Ruta laughed and waved her off. “We have plenty of time to get used to each other,” Ruta said. “If I’m to be abuela to her, then she must take her time.”

  “I’m glad you’re moving closer,” Tess said. “Are you sure the girls will be alright though?”

  Ruta nodded. “My business has been handed over to a new Silk Road, just as it was once handed over to me. I am too old and tired to go gallivanting around, murdering old men who get in my way. It is time for me to settle down with my family. My business never allowed that to happen. It is well that you and Milo need someone here.”

  “I’ll show you the apartment over the garage later. I did some decorating in there, but, of course, we’ll set it up however you like. It’s your home, and I want it to feel like home.”

  “Thank you, my heart. Let’s go downstairs. Perhaps if I give this sweet baby some of my meal, she will decide to like her abuela better, do you think?”

  Sarah peeked out from Tess’ neck and gave the older woman a big smile, highlighted by two bottom teeth that had just recently come in.

  “I think that might be just the thing,” Tess said, laughing at her daughter.

  They went downstairs and settled down. Ruta offered Sarah a strawberry, and after a long and suspicious look, Sarah took it. After that, Sarah had no use for her parents – Milo came in when he heard Ruta’s big, boisterous laugh – and wanted only the woman with the strawberries.

  “I will take her out into the yard to play,” Ruta said. “You two, go.”

  Milo and Tess glanced at each other, and Ruta laughed. “Have you had a single moment alone together since this precious girl was born? No, I thought not. Go. I have the child.” There was a wicked twinkle in the older woman’s eye. “Go on.”

  Milo took Tess’ hand and tugged her upstairs, even as she glanced back at the baby in Ruta’s arms. He dragged her into the bathroom and gently pushed her towards the shower.

  “Are you saying I smell, mister?” Tess said, laughing.

  “No. But when was the last time you had a shower until the hot water ran out?”

  “Mmm,” Tess said, pulling her shirt off over her head. “Probably not since I was in labor.”

  “Exactly,” Milo said. He stripped his shirt off too, and Tess raised an eyebrow.

  “Isn’t this how we got started?”

  Milo grinned. “Yes. And didn’t we have so much fun with it?”

  She shivered, remembering how he’d dragged her out of the bath and fucked her up against the wall, harder and faster than she’d been ready for. What he’d done to her in the hotel room… They hadn’t had a chance to do anything rough or luxurious in months, and she missed it. Even their vanilla sex was gorgeous, but she was ready to be fucked.

  “Come on in, then,” she said.

  “I wasn’t giving you a choice,” Milo said, stripping off his jeans and boxers. His voice was already a snarl, his cock half hard between his legs.

  Tess was barely under the spray of the water before his hands were on her. He yanked her back, trapping his cock between her ass and his hips, turning her so that the water spray hit her tits. His fingers slipped between her folds, and his attention was immediate and unyielding. It had been so long since he’d been rough with her, and that alone had her edging towards orgasm in moments.

  “Milo—”

  He laughed in her ear. “Come as fast as you want this time, gorgeous. I’ll give you a better one once you’ve recovered.”

  The orgasm that rolled through her was piddly and nothing compared to how things had been in their hotel room, but it was also harder and more intense than anything she’d had in the few months since Sarah was born. It wasn’t satisfying, though, not in the least. It was the kind of orgasm that made her want another, and another one after that. She panted on Milo’s hands, letting him support her weight until her knees would hold her up again. Then she turned, running water through her thick hair. She didn’t expect him to drop to his knees, nudging her legs apart so that his tongue could tease open her folds.

  “Milo, what?”

  He grinned up at her, his chin wet. “Warned you.” And then he was buried in her cunt again, his fingers finding her slick opening and fucking her slow while he tortured her clit with his tongue. She had to brace herself against the wall and the shower door as he lashed at her clit with his tongue. She couldn’t come, not like this, not holding herself up with her knees going weak, but God it felt good all the same.

  “We’re not going to make it until the hot water runs out at this rate,” she managed to gasp out, and he grinned up at her, his fingers still slamming into her.

  “Not my fault you taste so goddamn good.” Still, he reached past her, turned the water to off, and carried her up and out of the shower. She laughed as he moved into the bedroom and tossed her do
wn on the bed. They’d tied rope to the headboard ages ago, leaving it lashed in place even though they never had time to play with it anymore. He pushed her to her knees, facing away from the headboard, and looped the rope securely around her wrists, her hands behind her.

  “Good girl,” he said, before slapping her left breast so hard she cried out. “Better girl.”

  “Please,” she said, eying him. “If this is what we’re doing. Please, can I ride you? It’s been so long.”

  He grinned. “God, girl, all you ever have to do is ask.”

  He stretched out on the bed, letting her move down until she was straddling him, her arms stretched out behind her. She was soaking wet already, so sliding down onto his big cock was easy. Well, easier than it might have been. She’d gotten tighter after the baby, there’d just been so little time for sex. Now, feeling him stretch her out, she was pushed close to the edge all over again. Her arms stretched behind her just made it sweeter. It was hard to balance as she fucked him, sliding up and down his shaft.