by Goode, Ella
He grabs me, lifting me from the ground and setting me on the counter. He’s always so freaking fast. I rest my hands on his shoulders, still having to tilt my head back to look at him. His glasses are long gone, letting me look directly into his gorgeous blue eyes.
He may not be a man of many words but I can see everything in his eyes. It took me a while to learn how to read him but now that I know how, it makes all the difference. He doesn’t hide anything from me. If I ask him something he’ll tell me. There are still some things I leave alone.
“It went well?” he asks.
“I think you already talked to him.” I let out a small laugh. My dad showed up a day after the murder at my apartment complex freaking out. Daman and his superpowers calmed him down. Everyone got a whole lot calmer once the cops started sharing more about the handyman’s murder along with what they found on his computer.
I don’t think the cops are actively looking for anyone in particular. The list of suspects was way too long. They had found so much incriminating evidence that it sounded as though they were leaning towards it being one of the victims of his crimes or possibly a victim's family member getting their own form of justice.
“He also thinks it’s a good idea that we live together. Said after everything that happened, it would make him feel better knowing you’re safe.”
I try to stop the laugh but my whole body shakes with it.
Daman has been saying I should move in with him from almost the first night I crashed at his place. I do practically live there now. Yet, taking all of my stuff over there is really making it final. It feels like a new chapter of my life is starting.
“He knows I’ll look after you. That I’d do anything to keep you safe. Always.” He leans down, his mouth brushing against mine in a soft kiss. This is true. Daman will make sure not a hair on my head will ever be harmed. My dad either has some sort of trust in Daman or he’s learning he doesn’t have much of a choice in what I do in my life. It is mine to live.
“Incoming!” Trin shouts as she walks through the open front door. Two moving men are carrying a giant desk. She decided to turn my room into an office. I told Daman that I’d be a dick if I just moved out on her. Before I could tell him no to moving in with him, he was paying off not only my share of the rent but Trin’s, too.
I have no idea how much money he made as a hitman but I don’t think money is something we’re going to have to worry about. Not that it matters. All I want is to spend my life with him by my side.
“Don’t be doing it on the kitchen counter.” Trin winks at me.
“Then I guess we should go.” Daman throws me over his shoulder, making me laugh as he carries me out of the apartment and down the stairs. I think I got everything I needed. It’s not like I can't come back. I try to lift up, but Daman smacks my ass so I smack his back in return.
“Put me down, Clark.”
He smacks my ass again. This time it’s a little harder. I squeeze my legs together, the sensation of his hand going straight to my clit. I hear him mumble a curse as he puts me down onto my feet.
“In.” He opens the car door. I can tell from the look in his eyes this is not the time to tease him. I jump in the car, wanting the same thing. Needing him as much as he needs me.
“Drive faster,” I tell him when he pulls out into the road. He glances in all his mirrors. Sometimes I forget what he used to do but I know that part of him will always be alive in some way inside of him. He’ll always be watching. Always be ready to protect me if need be. It’s built into him.
He pushes on the gas. I reach over, rubbing his thigh, growing impatient, as though we didn't go at it like rabbits this morning before we got out of bed. He keeps his eyes on the road as his hand slips between my legs. I don’t even try to feign innocence. I spread my legs a little wider, needing his touch more than anything.
“This is mine.” His hand slips inside my yoga pants as he cups my pussy before his fingers find my clit. “Tell me.”
I arch my hips up, trying to get the friction I need, but he withholds pleasure from me waiting for me to answer. “It’s yours.” His fingers rub me slowly, teasing me. “It will always be yours… Clark.” I smirk, knowing that he can see me out of the corner of his eye. He pulls his hand out from my pants. I cry out his real name as he licks his fingers.
“Put it back.” I wiggle in my seat.
“I want to taste it.” He’s out of the car before I realize that we’ve even parked. He pulls me into our place, pinning me to the wall.
“We’re home,” I say against his mouth.
“I will be in a minute.” He pulls my pants down my legs, causing my shoes to go flying before he’s pinning me back to the wall. He fumbles with his belt as he kisses the breath out of me. In one thrust he’s deep inside of me. I gasp as he growls into my mouth.
“I thought you wanted to taste me.” I nip at his bottom lip. He holds himself still, deep inside of me, and I know he’s fighting for control. He’s a big man but I was wet and ready for him. My body was made to take him.
My nails dig into his back. I wish we were both naked but this works for now. I have all the time in the world to make love to Daman. Right now is all about need and I need him.
“Babe.” I clench around his cock, my body telling him what I want.
“Move.” I bite down on his lip harder this time. He growls louder as he starts to pump in and out of me. My orgasm is already pushing down on me and I cling to him as I come. I try and hold back, but I was too close.
Being pinned between him and the wall is taking everything to a whole new level as he pumps in and out of me. The orgasm rolls through me as his warm release spills deep inside of me. I bury my face in his neck, trying to catch my breath.
“I’m not done.”
“I know,” I breathe out. We are far from done. We are just getting started. This is our beginning. A new and different life together. There is so much for me to show him and for him to show me. The world is ours for the taking and I know Daman will show me all of it. My back hits the soft mattress as Daman remains deep inside of me.
“I love you.” He brushes the hair out of my face, causing our eyes to lock.
“I love you, too.” I lift my head, my mouth meeting his. I kiss him with everything I have. I don’t care if he was a killer. All I care about is that he’s mine.
Epilogue
Daman
“That’d be a good spot to set up your kill shot.” I point to the Palantine Hill. “You’d have an unobstructed view of the Forum. The problem would be what kind of weapon to use. With the velocity and distance needed, an arrow might be your only choice.”
Trudy, my two-year-old, gnaws on my thumb in response.
“Yeah, we should poison that arrow just to be safe.”
“You two are having an intense discussion,” says Quinn. She comes to take a seat by us, adjusting her camera.
“Ah, we’re just discussing the landscape.”
“Mmm-hmmm,” my wife replies, not believing a word I’m saying. She fiddles with her camera and then leans back to take a picture of Trudy and me.
“Smile for your mama,” I say to my daughter.
She continues to chew on her thumb. Quinn takes the photo anyway.
“I’ve got more pictures of the top of her head than of her face,” she complains.
“She’s camera shy.”
“She’s stubborn.”
“No lies detected,” I admit. Trudy has a mind of her own, even at two. She does what she wants, when she wants. Right now, the pad of her thumb is the most interesting thing in the world and she’s unimpressed with the fact we’re sitting right outside one of the greatest architectural feats in the world.
Quinn takes a couple more pictures of us and then tucks her camera into the case by my foot. She leans back and points her face upward, looking every bit like a beautiful flower basking under the sun. We’ve been together for six years now. Since college, we’ve spent our time tr
aveling. Quinn’s camera has taken photos of us hiking in the snowy Andes, swimming in the clear waters of the Maldives, walking along the path of gods overlooking the Amalfi Coast.
Along the way we had Trudy. Our friends expected us to settle down—or I should say Quinn’s friends. I’m still suspicious of everyone who wants to be near us. My past experience makes me leery of trusting people, particularly around Quinn, whose existence is what I get up for in the morning.
But Quinn loves traveling and I love Quinn. Trudy’s not hard, anyway. I tuck her in the carrier, stick a couple of diapers in a bag, and we’re good. Someday we’ll settle down. I’ll build a giant garden. Quinn will set up a language school. Trudy will terrorize the neighborhood boys. Until then, we’re nomads, traveling the world, eating local food, and enjoying the cocoon of love we’ve made for ourselves.
“So what were you really talking about?”
“Ahhhhh—” I stall for time and try to think of a plausible story.
Quinn rolls her head until she faces me. Her beautiful face is lit up with a knowing smile. I cave.
“I was talking about hits. You know the Italians were really bloodthirsty,” I say as if this explains away the things I was talking to Trudy about. “They killed a pope. Some guy whacked the emperor. I’d have fit in good. Shit, they even carried out a whole massacre in a church.” I leave out the part where the plot failed and the assassins were hung from the windows of a palace in the middle of Florence, but, damn, those were some juicy stories the tour guide told us up north.
Quinn laughs. “I guess that’s why we keep coming back here.”
“That and because you speak the language.” Quinn studied the Romance languages in college, but since we’ve started traveling she’s gotten almost fluent in about four of them. It’s easy to travel with her because of it.
“In my defense, I did say my favorite place so far was the gardens at the Villa Borghese.” Those were astoundingly beautiful.
“Not because you learned that there was a sculptor assassin?”
“No, but that was cool.” I’m not going to deny I have a predilection for that shit. I spent almost a decade dealing with death. I’ve come to terms with it and, thankfully, so has Quinn. These days, I’m busier with diapers and pacifiers, but there have been times my past skills have come in handy. We had a run-in with some asshole in Amsterdam who tried to feel Quinn up when she was waiting to use the toilet. I took him out behind the pub, broke all ten of his fingers and his nose. He’s lucky I didn’t mangle his dick but Quinn felt that the finger thing was a fair punishment.
Trudy’s head starts to droop. I loop our travel bag over one shoulder, tuck my daughter’s small body to my chest, and help Quinn to her feet.
“Come on. If we can make it back to the hotel in the next fifteen minutes, we can have some alone time.”
“Oh? And what will you do with that alone time?” Quinn teases.
“Things. Many things. Dirty, twisted things that I can’t put into words because our daughter isn’t sleeping yet.”
Quinn’s laugh spills out into the open space. Heads turn and people stare because she’s gorgeous and happy and the whole world wants a piece of her, but she’s mine. I gather my woman under my arm and kiss her, squishing our daughter between us. Quinn tastes like sunshine and joy. Her love has filled all the dark corners of my life and washed my past sins away.
We kiss and kiss and kiss until Trudy squirms and lets out a sleepy protest. Reluctantly, I release Quinn’s mouth. Her lips are shiny red and her face is pink with desire. My hand slides down her arm to capture her fingers.
“Come on, baby, let’s go.”
She lays her head against my shoulder. “I love you,” she murmurs.
Love really isn’t a good enough word for what I feel for her, but it’s all I have. “I love you, too.”
There’s good in this world and most of it is within the circle of my arms. I’ve never done jack shit on this planet to deserve her or Trudy, but I have them both. I’m a lucky bastard, I know this. Maybe the skills I learned early on weren’t for nothing. After all, somebody competent needs to be protecting these treasures. And, for all my faults, the one thing I can do well is guard Trudy and Quinn. Nothing will ever hurt them as long as I’m still breathing and even if I have to go down that dark path again to keep them safe, I will.
“I can feel you thinking,” Quinn says. Her hand rubs along the small of my back.
“Yeah, about how lucky I am.”
“And?”
“And how I’d kill to keep you safe.” It’s a dark admission but those are my honest thoughts.
“I know.”
I pull up short. Her frank acceptance surprises me. “You know?”
“Of course. It’s why I feel safe. It’s why I love traveling. There’s no place I can’t go without you by my side. I sleep well at night. I don’t worry about anything during the day. I used to feel bad about putting that burden on you, but then I realized that’s how you love me and if you didn’t get to protect me, it would get you down.”
Her assessment is so on point that I’m shocked speechless. She grins and winks at me. “You’re the sweetest, Daman.”
“I’ve killed people and maybe not all of them deserved it.”
“You did what you had to do to survive and quit before it took your soul. You’re a good man, my love. I’m proud to be your wife.”
A thick lump grows in my throat. I start walking—fast. Beside me, my wife giggles into a fist. I don’t need to ask what she finds funny. I know her like she knows me. She always thinks it’s hilarious whenever I get slightly uncomfortable by her praise. It’s something that I never really experienced before I met her. I never understood what love or happiness were until I first had Quinn and then our beautiful daughter. What started out as a killer crush with Quinn has turned into a life worth living.
* * *
What’s next? First of all, did you read Killer Love yet? If not, download it right now! Please. :)
As for the next book, I’ve got something cooking in my oven. It’s taking a little longer than I’d hoped. I think the holidays got away from me. Stick with me, though, I have more stories coming your way. Keep your March open because there will be more from Ella Goode. I love you and thank you for all your support!
Ella
Also by Ella Goode
Killer Love
Secret Baby
Oh Snowy Night
FU High: Ace of Hearts, Deuces Wild, and Two of a Kind
Loyalty Card
She’s the One & My Only One
Spark
Priceless
Smooth Kisses, Sweet Kisses, Saved Kisses
Finding Home & Bring Him Home
Captured, Kept, Stolen
Make Me Yours
She’s All Mine
Pretty Prize
Three of Us (Twins #1) and Belong Together (Twins #2)
Their Private Need (Michigan, Easy and Annie)
His Bold Heart (Chelsea & Wrecker)
Her Secret Pleasure
Captive Ride
The Last Christmas Present: Billionaire Holiday Romance (a Daddy story)
The Wolf’s Mail Order Bride
Beauty in Summer
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Copyright © 2020 by Ella Goode
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