Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 37793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
“Is that right?”
“Yes, dear,” he breathed out, and I saw how big his pupils were, like he was drugged, lips parted, cheeks flushed, looking like he absolutely needed to be kissed.
“You wanna go to the bathroom with me?”
“Classy,” he grumbled, scowling as he followed me upstairs.
“You’re the one who looks like you’re into me.”
“Yes, well, it seems like it’s going to be a lifelong affliction.”
“That sounds pretty good,” I said with a sigh, walking him to the seat next to Hannah’s boyfriend, Jake, and pulling out the chair for him.
Everyone at the long table greeted us happily, several of the executives getting up to come around the table to shake my hand and say hello to Kurt. It was such a warm welcome, so very different from the lukewarm, barely tolerable one I received downstairs.
Hannah returned then from downstairs, where I was guessing she had diverted to the ladies’ room. As she came up the stairs, she waved at Kurt’s acquaintances—I couldn’t even say estranged family, as other than his mother, they were nothing to him—and I was surprised that they waved back. But then, when I thought about it a moment, that made sense. She was Aaron Sutter’s goddaughter, so of course they returned her gesture.
To me, it was different. To me, Hannah was irresistible. I didn’t see her as an extension of anyone. She was simply her.
I had made every effort to keep her at arm’s length. I had been cold, aloof, responding to only yes-or-no questions, and yet…nothing worked. There was no fighting the warm draw of her compassion and charisma once you were taken by the current. I had told Finn that, my friend and colleague, the guy who protected her when I was deployed. I said, you’re going to like her, you’ll see.
“She’s annoying and bossy, and by the way, I don’t carry boxes. I’m her bodyguard.”
I had kept quiet as he vented, pacing in front of me in my office.
“This is all your fault,” he assured me. “You treat her like a princess, and now she expects that from everyone!”
He had no idea when he started what he was talking about. He didn’t know that someday we’d all be working for her.
It turned out that didn’t matter because he fell head over heels in love with her brother. Like, all the way. Like gone. And so seeing Hannah through her brother’s eyes, and those of her family, that was it. The thaw had begun, and now suddenly he looked forward to spending time with her as well. He still didn’t schlep packages, but that was okay. I did it. He didn’t have to.
Taking a seat next to me, she did what she always did when we were sitting side by side—she leaned in and rested her chin on my shoulder.
“Stop that,” I insisted.
But she didn’t. She never did. And when I turned to check on Kurt, I noted his smile was back.
“Don’t encourage her,” I warned him.
He didn’t listen.
THREE
AUTUMN AT THE B&B OF HORROR
Iwas torn between puking and hyperventilating. Or both. I hadn’t made up my mind yet.
“I have to make a call,” Dante Cerreto said even more calmly than he had the seven times before.
My brain was going to explode. “This is my wedding!” I yelled at him again, as I also had seven times before. I then turned and repeated myself to Chris Mancuso, whom I was glaring at as well.
Chris was my mentor when I first became an Army Ranger, taught me everything I knew, and had always stressed that a good day was when you came home alive. When I was still on active duty, I was surprised that even though he was out—without resigning; one day there, one day gone—that sometimes when my sat phone rang or my comms went live, it was still him on the other end. How did that happen? More importantly, how could it?
Once my clearance was high enough, I understood. He moved from the Army to the CIA, killing for the good of the nation until he knew where enough bodies were buried—as he’d been the one who put them there—and could finally step away completely. Much like with Darius Hawthorne, killing them only opened the box and closed nothing. They had contingencies atop contingencies, and the glut of secrets coming to light was not survivable for too many people. Easier to let Chris go where he wanted and do as he pleased, especially since he just wanted to live a quiet life in Spain and take the occasional contract to kill someone the world would be better off without anyway. Better to leave him be.
All that flew out of the window at the moment as again, my mentor—and nowadays my friend—squinted at me.
“This is so not my fault,” Chris said defensively, pointing at the man tied up and gagged, sitting on the floor between us with the wall at his back. “Carmello Ortiz sent this guy after Dante, not me.”