The Laughing Assassin [Assassin's Diary] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Jennifer Willows

  She was so enthralled with their mutual lusts that she threw herself at him with each thrust and rebounded only to come back full circuit again. This was agony and ecstasy all rolled into one mass of desire and potent lust. One thing he knew was he was so gone on her, nothing mattered but this. Nothing could come close to how right this felt.

  There was a certain spice in the knowledge that the hands that grappled his body were capable of justified homicide. She was so delicate that the sight of her so open to his covetous desires made him want to never stop fucking her.

  * * * *

  Jaden was a mass of emotions. At first the sex was too much, then, on the other hand was not enough. She was unable to take a breath without the pervasive scent of Jonah mingled with the hint of native flora just beyond the window. The two opposing aromas merged together into a heady incense she drowned in. He was everything, and she was insubstantial beneath him. Her mind was now thoroughly owned by her senses’ maiden voyage into the vulgarities of sexual sensation. His body covered her completely, his hands possessed her entirely, and she was only able to react to him.

  Her hips were catapulted from his with every movement, and she loved it. The force of their bodies was cataclysmic, and she was unsure why she couldn’t breathe. She was inhaling, but she couldn’t find a single oxygenated molecule to keep her brain functioning. He was everything in these moments, her only tether to reality, her only hold on sanity, and only he was able to keep her mind and body together. She was too saturated from satisfaction to do anything more than be present for the pillage. The feel of him inside her was amazing, and now she knew what it truly took to make a woman scream.

  It took a man willing to work for it.

  No matter how hard she bit her lips, she couldn’t hide her pleasure. He was there the entire ride and watched her descent into base pleasance with a smirk born of the devil. The best part of the entire mating act was the fact that he was her equal in all ways. He was just as strong as she was and he could take the blows that their mutual choices in life would unleash on them. He was powerful enough to match her and even surpass her in some areas. It had been many years since any man was capable of beating her mixed fighting styles.

  The lust between them was a fight in its self. Their bodies made war with each other, even as their hearts kicked the same rapid cadence. She never imagined the ways she could moan and groan for more erotic torment. Jaden never imagined she would be an animal in heat, with her lusts exposed nakedly before another person.

  Jaden gasped, and she felt light-headed. Jonah dipped his mouth back to hers and fed her a breath of air. She took the oxygen gratefully and snaked her tongue to meet his, their dry mouths meshed as one. She could feel the orgasm about to hit her over the head. It was immense, and she didn’t know if she could deal with the entire onslaught of endorphins rushing her from all angles.

  The feel of him inside of her was amazing and sublime as he filled every inch of her deliciously. Every movement he made was echoed somewhere deep within her. She angled upward in the hopes of reducing his devastation, but she was too close to keep him away. He was too omnipresent for her to keep the impending implosion at bay. Why was she so enthralled? What was he doing to her?

  She knew what he did even if she couldn’t explain it or completely understand it. Jaden’s body was one tight mass of need, and she tried to run from the forces that overwhelmed her. She jerked backward, forward, even sideways, attempting to evade the plunge of thick cock that invaded her. But he took her anyway in hot passes of his shaft that sent her skyrocketing to nirvana.

  “Oh yeah, Jaden. Take it.” She took it like a champ, even though the thrusts were angry and frantically paced as he plumbed the depths of her flesh like a madman.

  “Ohhhh—” That was the only thing she was able to utter, as she had no language left in her to speak her pleasures aloud.

  She clenched around him, every muscle clasped on him, and her pussy gushed wetly, the inner muscles contracting over his assaulting cock. She held onto him with every fiber of her being and let him take her body to peak. Jaden tried to keep the burgeoning scream inside her throat at bay, but nothing could stop her from vocally expressing the desire that rolled over her flesh. It burned her from the inside out, sating every carnal urge that brought her to this point. Even when every nerve stopped singing, he kept on, and she could feel the tension begin again. But then she realized it wasn’t beginning as the next climax was just a jump off from the first one, then the last one, or just another one.

  Jonah owned her pleasure, and the ownership of her was in no way greedy or selfish. He just gave and gave, more than she thought possible, yet she accepted more of him. There was nothing of lovemaking in the harsh thrusts of pelvis, even as there was something tender in the rough motions. As if he wanted something more from her, for her, than a simple orgasm could depict. He could have that, too, and anything else he asked her for.

  Hell, at this rate he didn’t even have to ask.

  But on the heels of her third consecutive climax, he had to be beyond holding back. She knew he couldn’t keep the mad pace up any longer as the motions slowed to a gentle rock and grind that she mimicked. The movements seemed to nurse her pussy even as she was sure that it was supposed to work the just the opposite way. Jonah buried his face into her neck and grunted his pleasure along with her name. The condom expanded and knocked against her clenched walls. That was all it took to spur on another climactic aftershock that she couldn’t hold back from.

  She didn’t remember falling asleep, but she had at some point, and when she woke, the sky was now a plethora of beautiful color that heralded the sunset. In the last ten years Jaden couldn’t recall such a sound sleep or remember waking up and feeling as good as she did now. The only thing missing was her lover, and even the fact that she looked for him was enough to banish the joy of afterglow. Damn it, she thought, why does it have to feel this way?

  Why do I feel so weak and needy when it comes to him?

  Then she had to get back to herself with the reminder that she was a deadly force to be reckoned with. And not a sniveling shell of woman. But no sooner than she gave the chastisement and looked up, he was there in the flesh.

  Why does he look so good? The man was akin to a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Americone Dream on the hottest day of summer.

  “Sorry, baby, I didn’t want you to wake without me.”

  “It’s fine.” She shrugged off the sense of well-being that overcame her at the sound of his voice and the sight of him. Jonah had shrugged on a pair of fresh board shorts during his absence. She would bet money there was no underwear beneath the fabric to hold his erection from seeking her cunt if either of them desired a second round.

  She knew she sounded waspish, but she couldn’t keep the sardonic tone to herself. Her bad attitudes tended to be like colds. She shared them. One thick brow raised, but he didn’t say a word. Instead he let the expression speak for itself. It was as if he asked her what was wrong, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of explaining herself or her mood.

  Although, wisely, he didn’t press the issue.

  But what he did was even more devastating than mere words could be. Jonah strolled over to her and clutched her close. It had been too many years since the warmth of a male had enveloped her, and she detested the fact that she finally knew what it was to feel safe with another person. Especially as it was Jonah, a man stronger than her, able to take anything she could dish out with her bare hands. If she was the law-abiding type, she would be registered with the state as the lethal weapon she was. She fought the closeness of the bond she felt with him, but her resistance felt futile, as if their relationship was already forged and there was nothing she could do about it.

  His embrace told her he understood what she felt, but that he was already done pondering over the uniqueness of their connection. The silence spoke volumes and almost whispered that he accepted her, no matter what that entailed. That was even scarier than ev
erything else she worried about.

  Chapter Eleven:

  Radio Killer

  Jonah woke to a feeling of contentment like he’d never known before as a grown man. His eyes were closed, but he could feel Jaden’s pattern of deep breathing and hear the gentle splash of rain as the beads splashed against the window. No woman had ever put him to bed like a big-ass kid. But Jaden did so with little effort, and only after one climax nonetheless.

  He had high hopes that their lengthy absence would go unnoticed or at least unremarked, but he knew that someone had to run interference today. Otherwise, one of the team would have already woken him with some issue regarding the compound. But he would take the radio silence as long as it lasted.

  He rolled from bed gently and let Jaden sleep. He knew she rarely felt safe enough to enjoy a full night’s sleep or even enough to feel well rested. For some reason, he wished she would feel safe with him. Safe enough to be herself and not Commando Barbie complete with kung-fu grip. But he knew that would take time and trust that he hadn’t earned yet. She had already earned hers. He knew her better than she did herself. He discarded the sodden condom hanging from his soft cock and used the bathroom. When he came back, she was already beginning to stir, and something told him that she was going to angle for an argument when she came to.

  Jonah was right. At first, Jaden stretched her well-used frame and smiled. Her eyes were closed, but her hands roved over the sheets as if she sought him. When she opened her lids, he stood just inside the doorway and waited to see who he was about to parlay with. Would she be the taciturn woman he was anticipating, or would she be the fiery lover he’d just sampled a handful of hours ago? Or another facet of Jaden he had yet to meet?

  He apologized for leaving her alone, but that seemed to make her burgeoning attitude worse.

  But even with abrupt sarcasm that emitted from her in waves, he felt the emotional tie binding them. He was a hard man, but that was because he’d never had anything to be gentle for. Never had anyone who could use that side of him, until Jaden. She was hard on the outside, but he knew that beneath the stone shell she encased herself in, there was another woman hidden inside that needed his gentility.

  If only she would let him touch and taste that woman, he could unite her, unite them. He wrapped her in his arms and held her. There was nothing to say in those moments. The simplicity of offering himself was all he had to give. He had no way of knowing what she was thinking, but she fought the affection halfheartedly. He let her struggle for a moment. She could escape if she wanted to. He didn’t block any of his pressure points or vital organs. If nothing else, he wanted her to know he trusted her with his life, and eventually, she would believe the same about him.

  “Tell me something about yourself.” He just wanted to hear her voice, and he hoped the conversion would slow her skittish heart down.

  Jaden asked, “What do you want to know?” That was simple. He wanted to know everything.

  “Whatever you will share with me is enough for now.” It would have to be. Rushing her would do him little good and eradicate the fragile bridge she allowed him to build between them.

  “I like Lalaloopsy dolls.” He laughed. But wondered, what in the hell was a Lalaloopsy doll?

  “What’s that?” He’d only know if he asked.

  “It’s a doll made from plastic, but designed kind of like an old rag doll. You know the ones with button eyes?”

  “Yeah, my sister had one. But my favorite personal possession as a kid was a tattered piece of blue blanket.”

  By that point she had calmed down and even chuckled along with him.

  The conversation went on, with inane bits of personal trivia bandied about until their bellies reminded them that they had one another for lunch. While that was the best midday meal he could imagine, their metabolisms were too high to go without consistent fuel.

  After a quick dinner, everything was fine between them until he made the mistake of asking her to sleep in his bed. “Come to bed with me.”

  “No thanks, I’d rather sleep in my room.”

  She walked away from him at that point, but he knew she was irritated with him. Her back was ramrod straight, and her hands tightened into half-assed fists. He let her walk away because he knew at this point she had shut down mentally and there was nothing he could do to stop her. But when he rolled around in his solitary bed two hours later, he wondered if she fared any better than he did. It only took a moment for him to creep slowly toward her room a mere two doors down from his own.

  He listened in an attempt to hear if she was sleeping or not. If she was, then he would leave her be. Jonah couldn’t hear anything, and he opened the door wide. She wasn’t in bed, but he didn’t hear her leave the room. The moonlight barely penetrated the dim, and it took a moment for him to spot her. She was a tiny bundle on the floor beside the bed, opposite to the window and, of course, on most easily defendable side of the room. She didn’t move or make a sound, but he knew she was awake. If she wanted to sleep on the floor, that was fine with him. He’d slept on plenty of surfaces much worse than hard wood.

  Jonah strode to the side of the bed and lay down next to her. She didn’t speak, either in criticism or approval. If she was going to be silent, so would he. But he knew she was happy to see him, as she offered him a portion of her blanket. He took the fabric and her as well. She weighed next to nothing, and he placed her on top of him, letting her use his body as a mattress before he wrapped the blanket over her back.

  She was asleep within minutes as Jonah could hear her breathing change to a soft putter at each exhale. It only took him a few minutes after that to drift off as well.

  The next morning the sun was bright and eagerly shone in the window. But in the nest of blankets, for once, Jonah found he resisted waking. He just didn’t want to. Jaden had other ideas, and she took a deep breath before she planted her hands on his chest and sinuously stretched upward in a cobra.

  Her toes touched the floor next to his shins, and she bent her back into downward facing dog. He knew some yoga, but he was no guru by any stretch of the imagination. There were several moves he incorporated into his workout due to fact that he had to become flexible to get the most out of his body. But that was the extent of him, yoga, and where the two met.

  * * * *

  The next two weeks found them working side by side more often than not. Jaden was now on the same status as Jonah. That meant the sparring matches were usually either exhibitions with the two of them, or she had to give handicaps just to train with the other team members. She got to show Jonah some of her computer-based tricks, and he gave her a few pointers as well.

  They still slept side by side, as he refused to let her be anywhere else.

  They spent fourteen days fucking, fighting, and finagling intrigue in no certain order, and she desperately needed a breath without him in it. He took over everything around him without even trying. It was as if she was unable to keep the most basic of her needs to herself, not even tampons without him taking care of it. Although he was gentle with her, and for some reason she loved that, too. No man could ever be such a perfect combination of tough, affable, and sexy.

  He never questioned her aversion to beds for resting, merely laid with her wherever she chose. There was no way she could stop the wreck she knew was coming. She was in too deep with him, and even now she couldn’t imagine letting him go in just another short month. But there was one part of their working arrangement that she conveniently forgot, or at least she ignored in the hopes that it would go away.

  After she made the trip back from her bakery, she was going to come back to a dominant and not her Jonah as she knew it. He was supposed to begin his dungeon training while she was away, and the idea of enslaving herself was enough to make her sick. Not that she was pure as the driven snow or anything, but what woman could consent to being a man’s slave? Everything about the concept seemed disgusting somehow.

  She packed her bag up quickly, but the o
ne she carried today was going be an overnight bag only, as there she had no need of clothing back home. It was a few days before the wedding, and she had to get back to the bakery to prep the final batch of cakes for the event. Kris was excited per her last Skype message, which consisted of a bunch of screeching and bouncing instead of an actual conversation taking place.

  When Jonah drove her to the jet, he was silent, and she knew he wanted to come with her. But this trip was going to be much faster if he stayed behind and let her get the work she needed finished. At least then, she would be distraction free and mentally focused on their common goal.

  Plus, I need the time away from him.

  The few days away were a beacon that radiated serenity just over the horizon. But even with that logic, when the plane took off she held her breath as if Jaden wished to carry the last taste of his scent within her lungs for as long as possible. The flight was thankfully uneventful. Not even turbulence marred the sunny and smooth sailing home. Only her attitude was able to mar her glorious day. She landed back in town and was back at the bakery just over four hours later.

  When she exited the taxi, Kris was already waiting for her, and the happy girl skipped in delight at the curb. This had been the longest they had been separated since Jaden met her at Jourdain’s Basement O’Terror.

  As she entered the bakery, she was surprised. The place was just as polished as she left it. Even the kitchen had been reorganized. Even stranger was the fact she liked it. Well… she liked it after she mulled over the differences for a few moments. Before her travels to the island, she more than likely would have flipped at the idea of someone else taking care of her own establishment, of having someone else make the decisions and changing things around. But she had learned to share her day-to-day burdens after having Jonah at her beck and call these last days.