Assassin's Mark

by Ella Sheridan

  When his tongue speared inside me, I saw stars. When he did it again, the stars exploded behind my eyelids.

  The sharp edge of teeth surrounding my most sensitive spot greeted me when I returned to awareness. “That was way too fast,” Levi gritted out.

  My chuckle was hoarse. “Not my fault.”

  A hard suck jerked my hips off the bed. Levi shook his head, sending pre-orgasmic tingles from my clit to my core to my nipples. Even my lips tingled. I recognized the sensation now, welcomed it and the oblivion it brought with it.

  Levi eased back. “That was the fault of your innocence. You’ll learn.”

  I highly doubted it.

  My eyes slid closed as I listened to Levi shift. His knees pushed beneath mine, kneeling between my spread legs. One moment I was flat on my back; the next Levi jerked me up his legs, planting my rear on his bent thighs and positioning me perfectly for his heavy surge inside my body. A scream ripped through my lungs.

  I was wet, but I was also not that far from a virgin. The tight fit had sweat breaking out on my forehead. Thank God Levi simply settled as deep as he could possibly go, then stopped. No thrusting, no withdrawal, just long minutes where my body adjusted to the thick width of his invading erection. The hard flick of his fingers against my softening nipples reminded me to breathe. When I sucked in air, he rewarded me by rolling the tender tips between thumb and forefinger, one at a time, bringing them back to rigid awareness.

  Hunger flickered back to life inside me.

  It was the palm on my lower belly that held my attention, though. Levi pressed, the weight forcing any space inside me to disappear, making the tight fit of my body around his even tighter. I was full—overfull. Overwhelmed.

  My hunger surged higher, strangling me.

  I arched into his touch, the move pressing my clit against the thatch of hair above his cock. Tingles shot through me once more. “Levi?”

  As if that was the signal he needed, he pulled back—so, so slowly, the bastard. A quick surge inside, hard enough to mash my clit against his pelvis and draw out a whimper of need, and then he was retreating again, torturously slow. His rhythm took over my world, every bit of awareness centered on the wet glide of his cock and the aching press of his pelvic bone and the hard tugs and rolls and pinches on my nipples. Nothing else mattered; nothing else existed. All that I was and all I would ever be was wrapped up in this man’s body, his actions, his heat. I lost myself in him just like I’d feared, the anticipation building and building and building until I couldn’t stop begging for relief, until my words became screams of frustration and desperation and overwhelming desire…

  Until he leaned over to kiss me, ground so tight and hard into my body that we truly became one, and my world detonated into oblivion.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The bed was empty when I woke the next morning. The sheet next to me was cold—Levi had been up for a while already. Last night’s climax could be felt in the unfamiliar soreness of my body, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t remember going to sleep. Maybe I hadn’t; maybe I’d simply passed out after that mind-blowing peak, and that had been that.

  Loss dragged at me as I slid from the bed. Would I ever get to experience the afterglow part of sex with Levi? Find out if he was the cuddling type or the roll-over-and-snore type? I’d probably never know if all the sex was like the last two times.

  And really, did I want to know any more about him than I already did? That would just be one more memory to haunt me after all this was over, and there were already more than enough.

  I trudged into the bathroom and showered. Turning my face up to the water helped blast away the cobwebs of sleep, but it couldn’t erase the questions, couldn’t quiet my overactive mind. I could add armor, though—clothes, makeup. Anything to patch up the holes last night had torn in my defenses. Levi wasn’t a good guy any more than my father was, and I was asking to be screwed over if I didn’t remember that. What was between Levi and me wasn’t love or even affection, just sex.

  Damn good sex, but still…

  When I left the bedroom, Levi was standing at the stove, his back to me. The smell of bacon and pancakes filled the air. So did curses. Despite the growling of my traitorous stomach, I approached the source of both with caution, but the closer I went, the more I struggled to hold back a laugh.

  “Did we finally find something you aren’t perfect at?”

  Levi swung around, a plastic spatula gripped in his fist like a sword. The kitchen certainly looked as if he’d gone to battle. Flour and pancake batter coated the counter, bacon grease splattered the backsplash, and both were smeared over Levi’s T-shirt in liberal amounts.

  Laughter bubbled out before I could stop it. “Need help, or have you vanquished your foe?”

  Levi growled. “Don’t push your luck, little bird.”

  Maybe a push or two was exactly what this demigod of the criminal underworld needed, just to help him remember he was part human. I smiled my sweetest smile.

  Levi narrowed his eyes at me, but I didn’t miss how they dropped to trace my body as I moved the rest of the way into the kitchen. I ignored the flame that look sparked in my belly and waved a hand at the mess. “So…what’s the occasion?”

  Levi turned back to the stove to flip pancakes. “We’re celebrating.”

  If he was this grim when he celebrated, I’d hate to see him at a funeral. “Celebrating what?”

  Starting at one end of the skillet, he began turning the bacon. “Your father’s campaign fund made a generous donation last night.”

  I blinked, the spark of happiness inside me flickering out. What had I expected? Surely not some gushing praise for screwing like bunnies after he almost killed me. Because that would be stupid. And dangerous, especially if I ignored the “he almost killed me” part. Last night had been about releasing tension and sating needs that had no other outlet at the moment. Nothing else. Remember that, Abby. No matter what happens, for God’s sake, remember that.

  This wasn’t a romance and Levi wasn’t a hero. Of course he was happy about some massively reckless step forward in his plan to take my father down.

  Did I really want to know details?

  “To whom?”

  Levi finished with the bacon and turned to prop a hip against the counter, grinning at me. “So proper. ‘To whom?’”

  I shrugged a shoulder. Being proper was a survival skill in my world.

  “To the bank account of a well-known mob boss.”

  I winced.

  “How much?”

  Levi turned back to the food. “Enough that he won’t feel like celebrating with pancakes.”

  The amount really didn’t matter in the long run—my dad came from wealth, and he was good at building his own. Whatever Levi had taken wouldn’t hurt him. It was the blow to Derrick Roslyn’s reputation at the start of his campaign that would hurt. But for Levi to reach his objective, someone had to know about the contribution.

  “He won’t let information like that leak; you know that, right?”

  Levi transferred pancakes to a plate, his lips still curved into a smile. He was enjoying this, obviously. The win, not the cooking. Too bad the course he’d set us on made my stomach hurt. “Oh, it’ll leak. Don’t you worry.”

  All I could do was worry, not that the men around me, caught up in their power games, gave a thought to that or the ulcer I was likely developing, as long as they got what they wanted.

  Levi had breakfast on the table in minutes. When I didn’t move to the place he’d set for me, a growl escaped him. “Sit.”

  As I cut into the fluffy pancakes with a plastic knife and fork, Levi set a steaming cup of coffee on the table next to my plate.

  “Cream and sugar?” As if I really needed to ask—the man knew my most intimate secrets. But something in my aching chest wouldn’t allow me to simply accept the kind gesture of providing food. Maybe the same ridiculously high-school part of me that had wanted him happy over us, not gettin
g something else over on my father.

  There is no us.

  “Cream and sugar and a splash of coffee,” he agreed, confirming the stupidity of my question.

  I stuffed a bite of pancake in my mouth and ignored my mocking conscience.

  We ate in silence, Levi seeming totally relaxed, me pressing down my resentment and frustration until I thought I’d choke. Unwilling to let the pancakes go to waste, I grasped around for a distraction. “How is Remi this morning?”

  Levi forked up several pieces of pancake. “The same.”

  “What happened to him?” Maybe if I knew that, I could make sense of the rest.

  “Your father sent someone after me. They missed.”

  No wonder he wanted my father dead. I didn’t think that was the whole picture, though. Levi had been the one to accept the job. He’d also been the target when Remi was almost killed. Guilt at bringing danger too close to his brother would be just as powerful a motivator as my father’s actions, whether Levi would admit it or not.

  I twirled a piece of bacon between my fingers. “Why was my father trying to have you killed? You worked for him, right? That would make you an asset, not a target.”

  “If I’d taken the job, yes.”

  The bacon clattered onto my plate. “You refused him?”

  Levi chewed his bite for long enough that I thought he wasn’t going to answer. Finally he swallowed, took a sip of coffee. Then, “Not at first.”

  Not a good guy, remember?

  “How did he hire you?”

  “If you ever need an assassin, I’ll tell you.”

  I snorted. “Oh, I need one now, thanks. There’s this guy that needs taking out. He has a thing for kidnapping women, so…you know…he’s not an innocent. I’ve heard you have rules about that.” Not that I fully bought the principled hit-man bit, but…

  Levi grinned at my sass, but the humor turned serious as he glanced toward the computer. “Wait till Remi’s better; then one of my brothers might do the job for free.”

  It might be too late by then.

  “So he hired you. And?”

  Levi threw me an impatient look. “Why do you want to know, Abby?”

  “Maybe because whatever happened between the two of you has totally fucked up my life.”

  “Was it really that good to begin with?”

  No. But maybe that was the sex talking.

  I thought back over the hours of my life since Levi had walked into it. Definitely the sex talking.

  Not that I’d be sharing that. But the gnawing need to understand what had led us to this moment, here, at his table, eating pancakes and waiting for the next bomb to drop, refused to let me go. “What happened, Levi? Just tell me.”

  He picked up his empty plate and crossed to the sink, and I thought that was the end of the discussion. Then, his back still to me, he spoke.

  “A couple of months ago I was offered a contract. I never take a contract without knowing everything there is to know about both the client and the mark.”

  How had he gotten information on my father? I couldn’t imagine career politician Derrick Roslyn making the contact directly; it would be far too risky. “Were you surprised that a potential governor contacted you?”

  Levi turned around but didn’t rejoin me at the table. “No.”

  Considering what he did and the fact that powerful people invariably had enemies—or obstacles in their way—that was probably the truth.

  “What surprised me was the mark.”

  “Why?”

  “He was a nobody.” Levi leaned against the counter, his hands braced on the edges at his hips. What the position did for his broad, heavy chest threatened to derail my train of thought. “A trucker with no connections to organized crime, no connections to Roslyn…no connections to anything. Clean record. Liked by his employers. Just a hard-working, middle-class, struggling trucker. He had no family, nothing.”

  “He could have hidden a crime.”

  “Sure he could’ve”—Levi shook his head—“but he hadn’t. The man was squeaky clean. If someone is dirty, there’s always a hint somewhere, and I’m very good at finding it. Very good.”

  “So this man wasn’t dirty. Why did my father want him dead, then?”

  Another head shake. Levi stared across the room, his gray eyes unseeing. “I didn’t know. Didn’t want to know. But I refused the contract.”

  “Why?”

  Levi shot me an expectant look.

  Right. Never harm the innocent. A killer with a conscience. If it was true, Levi had more honor than my father had displayed in a lifetime.

  “We both know how much Derrick Roslyn likes the word no.” A wry grin tilted Levi’s full mouth. “He set up a separate contract under a false name. Every first meet, we always have backup. Remi was my backup.”

  “And he was hit when my father tried to kill you.”

  Christ. If I’d had any hope that Levi might change his mind, drop this crazy plan to ruin my father’s life, it shattered in that moment. Levi might not care about much, but his brothers? He’d die defending them—or avenging them.

  My father didn’t stand a chance.

  A sudden alarm blaring from the computer jerked Levi’s attention in that direction. Heart leaping into my throat, I stumbled out of my chair. “What? What’s that?”

  Levi was already rounding the island on a run. “Fucking trouble.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Levi had his phone out and dialing before he reached the computer. I followed, the sound of my heart thumping in my throat blocking out his curses. The screen I’d spent so much time watching yesterday lit up just as Eli answered his cell.

  “Yeah.”

  “They’ve hacked the records.”

  Eli cursed under his breath.

  I stepped up behind Levi. “What does that mean?”

  “I set a program to watch, make sure no one accessed Remi’s hospital records who wasn’t supposed to,” Levi said grimly, taking a seat at the computer and beginning to type something faster than I could even track.

  “And they did?”

  “They did.”

  But… “How do you know it’s… How do you know it’s Derrick?” Not my father. If all of this was true and he really was the bastard Levi said he was—and I was running out of excuses not to believe him—I no longer owed the man my loyalty. I never had, really. I’d just been too afraid of the consequences of saying no.

  Could those consequences really be any worse than being kidnapped? Used? But then, my father had used me all my life, if for nothing else than to further his career. At least Levi gave me something in return. Or maybe I was justifying all of this so I didn’t go insane.

  Levi growled—at the computer or me, I wasn’t sure. “I know it’s Derrick because it is.”

  I didn’t think a man like Levi had only one enemy, but right now wasn’t the time to argue. And if my father had discovered Levi’s little trick this morning, he’d likely put the pressure on to get some answers. From what I’d gathered the past couple of days, Remi was his only access to those answers.

  Onscreen, Eli rubbed a hand across his spiky hair, his gaze on Remi lying in the bed. “Any idea on timeline?”

  “I’m not gonna risk projecting—I want him out of there now.”

  Eli’s eyes went wide, frantic. “Fuck no!”

  “We don’t have a choice,” Levi barked. “They could already be on their way, probably are. We have to get him out of there.”

  Eli waved a hand over his brother’s still form. “How the hell am I supposed to do that? He’s still in a coma, Levi. He can barely breathe on his own.”

  “Then find someone who can keep him stable, and bring them with you.”

  Kidnap someone else? A protest lodged itself on my tongue, but I looked at that screen and bit it back. Remi was lying there, so still and pale, with wires and tubes and monitors surrounding him, invading him. Completely helpless. At the mercy of anyone who came into that room.
Someone could be on their way to torture or kill him right now, and he had no defenses, nothing and no one to save him except his brothers.

  I looked at him, and something inside me crystallized in that instant. Could I choose between these men and my father?

  At that moment, I not only could; I did.

  On his central monitor, Levi brought up a series of camera feeds like Remi’s, only these showed corridors and entries around the hospital. One centered on the nurses’ station, presumably outside Remi’s room. Levi zoomed in on the desk.

  “The blonde,” he said into his phone. “Prep him first.”

  Onscreen, Eli nodded.

  I turned away. I might understand what they were doing, but I’d been on the receiving end. I knew how scared that nurse would be. Deep, slow breaths did nothing to calm the churning in my stomach. “Can’t you just ask for her help?”

  Levi grunted. I guessed that was my answer.

  This was real. Really real. Pain in my hands alerted me to the fact that, without conscious thought, they had fisted tight, the nails digging into my palms. I pressed them in harder, desperate to ground myself against the panic surging inside me.

  When I turned back to the monitors, Eli was shoving his belongings into a backpack. “Where to?”

  Levi switched screens. “Here for now. If they’ve blown you, they’ll likely find this place eventually, but we should have a few days to stabilize Remi first. I don’t want to risk an unprepared location in his state. We’ll get things ready here.”

  We? Why had Levi said we? Did he mean him and me, as if the two of us were a team working together to take care of his brother? Last night he couldn’t trust me to sleep beside him without handcuffs, and now we were a we?