The Hitman Next Door: A Texas Bounty Novel

by Jackie Ashenden

  Her hazel eyes were smoky with lingering desire and the aftereffects of orgasm, her skin flushed, the light sheen of perspiration on her forehead and glistening at her throat.

  She was the sexiest fucking thing he’d ever seen.

  You don’t deserve her and you know it.

  Perhaps he didn’t. Perhaps a killer like him didn’t deserve anything. But too bad, he didn’t care what he deserved and what he didn’t. He’d told her the truth and she hadn’t turned her back on him. She hadn’t walked away. She’d taken two steps and put her hands on him instead, then ripped his clothes off as if she couldn’t wait to get him naked. As if his confession had unleashed something in her, the passion he’d always known was there if she only let it out.

  She’d accepted him, truth and all, and he wasn’t ever — ever — letting her go.

  He felt her fingers on his back, trailing lightly up and down in a gentle stroke, and since she didn’t look like she minded him lying on her, and because he loved the feeling of her against him, he didn’t move.

  “You seem very okay with the fact that I used to off people,” he murmured, after a long moment. “Doesn’t it bother you?”

  “I’m not going to lie, it kind of does.” Her fingers continued to move on his back. “I mean, it’s wrong, obviously. But I think it bothers you, too. You say you’re stone cold, Rhys, but you’re not. You care. Because if you didn’t, you’d still be doing it.” Her touch stilled. “What made you stop?”

  He put his elbows down on either side of her head, bracing himself so he wasn’t lying too heavily on her, conscious of a certain, instinctive tension coiling tightly inside him. “Why I stopped is part of why we’re here in the first place.”

  A crease appeared between her brows as she traced a light finger down his shoulder blade. “What do you mean?” Then the crease cleared. “Oh, does it have something to do with that guy who shot at me?”

  “Yes.” He let out a breath. “That guy was one of my…colleagues.”

  “Ah.” Her finger stroked over his skin again. “So what was one of your colleagues doing in my apartment?”

  “He was probably looking for me.” Rhys shifted his hand, brushing away a strand of hair from her forehead. “My last contract ended up with three so-called friends double-crossing me, because they wanted me out of the way. It took me by surprise and I barely got out alive.”

  This time the crease returned, deeper this time, concern in her eyes. “Oh my God. You mean they tried to kill you?”

  “They tried.” He allowed himself a slight smile. “They didn’t succeed.”

  “So, what? Are they trying to finish the job now?”

  He hesitated, reluctant to tell her about this last thing. But she’d told him he had to tell her everything, so he would. “I couldn’t let it go, Vivi. They were going to kill me and I had to make sure they didn’t. So I went to the bar Eddie drank at and I waited outside. And when he came out….” Rhys stopped. It felt wrong to tell her this, while she was naked in his arms, while he was lying on top of her.

  But clearly she didn't agree, because she finished quietly, "You shot him."

  "Yeah, I did." He tensed, preparing to move away, not quite able to handle the calm way she was dealing with this, but she tightened her arms around him, keeping him right where he was.

  "No, don't," she murmured.

  "I shot him in cold blood, Vivi."

  "You were defending yourself. They would have come after you, right?"

  "They are coming after me." He looked down into her clear eyes. "Eddie was the first person I took out who I didn't have a contract for. The only person. I shot him, and it wasn't till then that I realized I couldn't go after the others and do the same to the rest of them."

  She said nothing, reaching out a hand to touch his face, her fingers running along his cheekbone, her gaze steady.

  "It's like…even though I wasn't angry when I took that shot, it didn't make me anything less than a murderer," he found himself saying, even though he hadn't meant to. "And even then, right up to that point, I thought with every contract that I was doing the world a favor by taking out assholes who didn't deserve to be in it. But it wasn't till after I'd gotten rid of Eddie, that I understood. All this time I was trying not to be like that bastard Clayton, and yet in shooting Eddie without even a blink, I was heading down that road."

  "So, is that when you decided you wanted out?"

  "Yeah. I didn’t want to end up being that guy. The guy who killed without any remorse whatsoever. So I got out. Came back to Austin. I thought I'd covered my trail well enough that the other two wouldn't come looking for me, but…"

  "They didn't." Vivi’s finger returned to his shoulder, tracing patterns, her body shifting under his. “And I guess they figured out that I'm your friend and want to…use me to get to you, yes?

  "I assume so. I took out Cruz, which leaves Jason."

  "There's something personal to it, too, isn't there? It's been two years after all. Any normal person would have assumed you'd gone to ground and wouldn't be coming back."

  He let out a breath. "It is personal. Jason is Eddie's brother. I assume he's after me for revenge."

  "Oh.”

  The word was a soft explosion of breath that made his chest constrict.

  "I'm sorry," he said hoarsely. "I'm sorry I lied to you. I should have told you about this the moment I came back to Austin, but I wanted some fucking normality. I wanted to leave that old life behind. And I didn't want you to be involved, I wanted to keep you as far away from that shit as possible."

  "It's okay." Her palms pressed flat to his shoulders then slid down in a long, soothing stroke. "It's okay, Rhys. I understand. But I am involved now and there's nothing we can do about that."

  “I know.” He stared at her, letting her see how serious he was about this. “Which is why I had to take out Cruz, bring you here, get you away from Jason. I won’t allow him — shit, I won’t allow anyone — to hurt you. Understand me?”

  “I do.” Strangely, her mouth curved. “I was pretty pissed you kidnapped me to start with. But I have to say, I’m kind of okay with it now. Especially if it means I get to have you like this.” Her smile turned shy. “You weren’t the only one who had a bit of a crush.”

  Warmth flooded through him, like a jug of hot water over an icy windshield, making the cracks inside him widen. But it didn’t feel like a bad thing. More like something that had been too tight loosening, allowing him to breathe easier.

  He shifted, moving to withdraw from her. And then another realization sent everything else scattering. “Shit. I forgot the damn condoms.”

  Vivi frowned. “It’s okay. I’m on the injection.”

  Which should have been a relief, but wasn’t. He scowled. “Why?”

  “Why do I get an injection?” She gave him a searching glance, then her eyes narrowed. “Oh, you mean who else am I sleeping with, right?”

  He said nothing since he supposed it was obvious.

  “No one,” she said quietly. “I’m not sleeping with anyone else.”

  “And you’re not going to from now on, either,” he ordered, unable to stop himself. “I meant it when I said I’m keeping this. You’re mine from now on.”

  “Okay.” Her hands were stroking over his shoulders again, but he didn’t feel soothed.

  Sliding his arms around her, he gathered her close. “Good.” He kissed her throat, licked her skin. “You’re not seeing Neil anymore.”

  “I know.” She shivered deliciously against him. “I don’t want to anyway. I’ll tell him when we get back.”

  There was a pause and then suddenly she pushed against him, making him raise his head and look down at her. “What?” he demanded, not particularly wanting to keep talking.

  “When are we getting back?”

  Ah, fuck. That. “When I know where the hell Jason is.”

  She searched his face, her gaze far too sharp. “You don’t know?”

  “No. We h
ad a tail when we left Austin and I managed to lose it, but he won’t have given up. I’m trying to see if any of my contacts can pin him down.”

  “How did he find you?”

  “I’m not sure. I kept my identity secret, but someone with the right skills and a lot of determination could find me if they wanted to.”

  “Ah, right.” Her gaze flickered away, her lashes veiling any expression, but he heard the fear in her voice all the same.

  He gripped her chin, turned her back to face him. “It’ll be okay, understand me? I’ll die before I let anything happen to you.”

  Vivi’s gaze darkened. “You idiot. Don’t you see? That’s not what I’m afraid of.”

  And he did see all of a sudden. It wasn’t herself she was afraid for. It was him.

  He wanted to tell her that he didn’t matter, that her safety was more important to him than his own tainted life. But he had a feeling she would argue with him, and he wasn’t in the mood for an argument, so all he said was, “Don’t worry. I’m going to make sure we’re both okay. There’s a reason that gun’s here and it’s not because it’s safer kept under the bed. I'm going to protect us.”

  But her frown didn’t lift. She was quiet a moment, then she asked, “Would you ever have told me about your past? If this hadn’t happened, I mean.”

  He didn’t want to answer that question, because he knew she wouldn’t like it. Nevertheless, now that she knew everything, there wasn’t any point in being coy. “No,” he said. “I wouldn’t.”

  Again, that expression crossed her face, the one he couldn’t read. “Because you wanted to protect me?”

  “That’s part of it, yes.”

  “And is that why you waited two years to tell me you wanted me?”

  “Yes. I had to be sure no one was coming for me.” He let his thumb stroke the line of her lower lip, relishing the soft give of it. “But you want to know the real truth? I was afraid to change things in case I lost you.”

  Heat glowed in her eyes. “You won’t ever lose me. You’re mine now, don’t forget.”

  He firmed his grip on her chin, loving the sound of those words. “Which reminds me, you mentioned something about a crush.”

  She flushed. “Well, it was years ago.”

  “You never said anything.”

  “No, because you were my friend and I was trying to get into college, that kind of thing.”

  But he didn’t miss the flicker in her gaze; she wasn’t telling him the whole story.

  Her hands were working between them, reaching down to where he was getting hard again, stroking him, a wicked smile turning her mouth. “Let me make it up to you.”

  Her fingers brushed the head of his cock and he shuddered. “Oh, I don't think so, sweet girl.” And he reached down, wrapping his fingers around hers, halting that maddening touch.

  Vivi raised an eyebrow. “What? You chicken?”

  “No. I just told you my deal. Time for you to tell me yours.”

  “There is no deal” She shifted her hips, undulating against him. “Come on, scary man. Let me show you how good a hard-ass lawyer can make you feel.”

  He smiled. But her hand was closed around him, nice and tight, and she began to move it just how he liked, making him forget what he’d been going to say.

  And then he didn’t smile anymore.

  Vivi, wearing the last of Rhys’s spare T-shirts, sat on the couch cross-legged, watching Rhys strip down one of his guns, taking each little metal piece apart and wiping it with a rag. He was so careful, so meticulous, and there was something incredibly sexy about the competent way he handled the weapon, as if he’d done this a thousand times before.

  Hell, he probably had done this a thousand times before.

  The late afternoon sun shone through the windows, gilding his perfect body, making her glad that he hadn’t put his shirt back on, that he was sitting there dressed only in his jeans. The button was undone, his zipper only mostly zipped, revealing the cut muscles of his abdomen and a trail of curling black hair.

  God, he made her mouth water, even after the past couple of hours of intense, toe-curling sex. Because he was beautiful and she’d never realized quite how beautiful until he’d taken off his clothes.

  Oh come on, you knew.

  Yeah, okay, she did know.

  “So, what gave away the fact that someone was coming after me?” she asked into the comfortable silence. “I mean, you picked me up out of bed and carried me out of the apartment, so something must have.”

  “I put a couple of cameras in your living room.” He put the stock of the gun on his knee, examining it. “They’re connected to an app I have on my phone.”

  Vivi blinked. “You put cameras in my house?”

  He ran his fingers lightly along the barrel of the gun, a movement that she found vaguely erotic. Then again, after the past couple of hours, she was finding everything he did vaguely erotic. “It was to protect you.”

  Part of her was outraged at the invasion of her privacy, yet another part was perversely pleased that he felt so strongly about her safety. Not many people looked after her in the way he did, not now she was an adult and yes, she liked it.

  Still, it was something he should perhaps have mentioned to her.

  “Would have been nice to know they were there,” she muttered.

  “Would you have let me put them there if I’d have told you?”

  “Uh…well, no, probably not.”

  “Good job I didn’t then.” He gave her brief, intense glance. “I’m not apologizing for it.”

  She stared back. “If I find out you’ve put one in the bathroom, so help me I’ll pick up that gun and shoot you with it myself.”

  A rare smile flickered across his face, making her breath catch. “You probably would, wouldn’t you? Don’t worry. I only put up one covering the front door and the living area.”

  Vivi took a moment to consider whether she was going to pursue the argument. Then she remembered the bullet hitting the footpath and decided not to. “So what do we do now?” she asked instead. “How long do we wait here?”

  “Until I figure out where Jason is at.” Rhys leaned forward to where all the remaining pieces of the gun were spread out on the coffee table, and began to put them together again. “I’m not risking going back to Austin until I can guarantee you’ll be safe.”

  “Okay.” She bit her lip. “So how long will it take until you know?” A thread of anxiety wound through her as she went over how long they’d been out here. A couple of days already, which meant that…was today Monday? Oh crap. What about work?

  Her father would be worried that she hadn’t turned up, definitely. Especially if she hadn’t contacted him.

  Rhys’s dark eyes settled on her. “I know you want to go back, believe me, I know. But it’s too dangerous for you.”

  She folded her hands in her lap, trying to stay calm and not get impatient. “My dad won’t know where I am. No one knows where I am. They’ll worry. And then there’s the partnership thing. This is a big deal for me and—”

  “I sent him a text telling him I was taking you away for a surprise weekend.” He laid the gun across his knees and stared at her. “The partnership stuff can wait. It’s not more important than your life,”

  Vivi looked down at her hands. “I guess when you put it like that, it isn’t. But still, it is important to me.”

  “I know it is.” There was a brief silence. “Sometimes I don’t get what you’re trying to prove.”

  She tensed, the words hooking into some place inside her and digging in. “What do you mean? I’m not trying to prove anything.”

  He sat there, shirtless on the couch with the gun across his knees, the very essence of the sexy, dangerous bad boy he was. But the look in his eyes was even more dangerous. Far too direct. Far too perceptive. “Sure you are. All the clubs at school and pushing yourself to get the best grades. Then the best scholarship to the best college. Being at the top of your class. And now gett
ing a partnership.”

  Defensiveness caught at her, though why, she couldn’t quite identify. “So? There’s nothing wrong with wanting to excel and succeed.”

  “This isn’t simply about wanting to do well, Vivi. Not when you’re willing to put yourself in danger for the sake of some job.” His dark eyes were inescapable. “It’s not just about the job, is it?”

  Heat rose to her cheeks, the sense that he was peeling her open somehow intensifying. “Of course it’s not. I owe my folks a lot, okay? They…chose me. They gave me a family. And I just want to make sure that—”

  “They made the right decision?”

  Her throat tightened unexpectedly and she had to look down at her hands again, away from his sharp, dark eyes. Her parents told her over and over again, how special she was and how they were glad they’d adopted her. Unlike her birth mother, who’d made the choice to get rid of her so she could fully concentrate on her career as a heroin addict.

  “You know what it’s like,” she said, studying the backs of her hands very intently. “I mean, I didn’t get shipped around as much as you did, but it was enough to make me feel like I was doing something wrong, making some mistake somehow. And sometimes… Well, that feeling doesn’t go away.”

  “Of course it doesn’t. But like you said, they chose you. They were never going to get rid of you, Vivi. They’re proud of you. And they’d be proud of you whatever you did. You don’t have to keep trying to earn your place all the time.”

  A small, electric shock went down her spine and she jerked her head up, meeting his uncompromising gaze. “I’m not doing that.”

  “Yeah, you are.” There was nothing but certainty in his voice. “And you’re right, I do remember what it’s like to be a foster kid. Always a new family, always trying to fit in and never quite managing to do it. And then you hit the jackpot, the place where you belong, and you’d do anything to stay. To not make them regret taking you in. So you follow the rules and do everything they want, never put a foot out of line or make a mistake in case they decide they don’t like you after all and send you back.” He paused. “Am I right?”