Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Yet, as nice as it was, they needed to focus on the problem at hand.
As Kai drove the car out of the crowded park back toward the house, Devlin sighed and said, “You lied to the police.”
The corner of the assassin’s mouth tilted up on one side, reminding him vaguely of Gabriel’s superior smirks. “I told a few lies.”
“I’m talking about the woman. You recognized her.”
Kai’s eyes widened, but he didn’t take them from the road as they slowed for a stop sign in a short line of cars. “How did you know?”
Now it was Devlin’s chance to smirk at his smug companion. “I didn’t. Not really. Just a feeling, I guess.”
“That’s not reassuring. I didn’t think my skills of deception had grown rusty.” Kai turned onto Devlin’s street and slowed as they wound down the shady block toward his home.
His heart sped up and he took a deep breath. If Kai could admit that he needed to hold Devlin, then maybe he could be brave enough to say this. “Maybe I like the idea of you not being able to lie to me. It makes me feel special. Like I’m not a job.”
Kai remained silent until he pulled the black rental sedan into the driveway and placed it in park. He sat there for a moment, the engine still running while a steady stream of cool air slipped from the vents. “I don’t wish to lie to you. You are very special and not a job to me. But…I am very bad for you.”
Devlin turned in his seat so that he was facing Kai, barely hiding the grin that wanted to spread across his lips. “Why don’t you let me worry about what’s bad for me? I am an adult, and I have managed to get to the ripe old age of thirty-six by making those decisions for myself.”
“I have also seen the collection of unhealthy foods you have hidden on the very top shelf of your cupboard where Jake cannot reach. I think your ability to make wise choices is questionable.”
“Hey! You can’t expect a man raising an eight-year-old to survive without the occasional bad day Ding Dong.” Devlin went to poke Kai in the shoulder, but Kai captured his finger with lightning reflexes, gently wrapping his fingers around the digit and holding it prisoner.
“No, I wouldn’t. But your occasional Ding Dong isn’t going to get you killed.”
Dear God, he needed to kiss this man. It wouldn’t take much to lean across the center console and press his lips to that perfect mouth. But that mouth was now saying things that made kissing wrong.
“The dead woman was another message to me,” Kai admitted, sending a chill through Devlin.
“What’s the message?”
“That I don’t know yet. I used her as a decoy in another contract that I completed in Portland about three years ago.” He paused and shook his head. “I was sure no one knew about my brief association with her or even the contract I was involved in.”
“What are we going to do?”
Something that vaguely resembled a smile flitted across his lips but was gone too quickly. Devlin guessed he was reacting to his usage of “we.” Whatever. There was no way he was letting Kai do this alone. He was most definitely involved now.
“I need to leave town briefly. Talk to someone who prefers to not use telephones and email.” Kai seemed to hesitate, licking his lips. “I’d like you to come with me. I worry about leaving you alone, and I don’t want to take Gabriel and Justin off Jake’s care.”
“Well, leaving town with you would probably cut down on the number of dead bodies being left around town for me to find.” Kai frowned and looked as if he were about to apologize, so Devlin pushed forward. “When do we leave?”
Chapter 6
The second body rattled Kai. He’d completely expected another corpse to appear as if the killer were tossing about taunting breadcrumbs for him to follow. The problem was that he’d not expected it so soon or for it to be discovered while Devlin was out of his sight.
Now he was left with this crawling sense of panic. The killer had likely disappeared before the appearance of the first cop, but this person had most definitely been there when Devlin had discovered the body. He’d watched Dev, knew his routine.
How hard would it have been to kill Devlin then? Not very. Dev had no idea how to protect himself.
And in the blink of an eye, he would have lost this sweet man.
Not that he knew if Devlin was actually on the killer’s hit list, but Kai didn’t want to take any chances with Devlin’s life.
From here on out, they were going to be attached at the hip. No more worries about Devlin’s need for space or privacy. At least, not as long this person was running around free.