Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22821 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22821 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
"And secondly—-"
His gaze lowers to my lips.
No way. He can't possibly—-
"A kiss."
And yet he has.
"You really want to kiss me even knowing what I am?"
"Yes, I really do want to kiss you even knowing what you are, and that's...a mafia goddess?"
I am not going to laugh.
He rubs his jaw again, and I am so, so insanely tempted to beg him to keep doing it because I've never seen anything sexier.
"Not accurate enough?" he asks. "Then how about...mafia goddess with a killer bod?"
No, I am still not going to laugh.
"Your choice if you want to take it literally or figuratively—-"
Oh shit, I think I am going to laugh.
And so I do, and when I see his eyes twinkle as he watches me dissolve in stitches—-
That's when I finally get it.
So that's why.
The reason Thomas thinks this guy is my perfect match is all spelled out in the way his eyes simply don't stop twinkling no matter what I throw at him.
This man will never be scared of me, and I'll never be scared for him.
It's all a person like me can ask, really, and it helps me muster the courage to look straight into his eyes as I strive to meet his first condition.
"I promise."
I won't ever think of myself as a mess.
"And now it's your turn," I add.
Don't keep pushing people away, Kay.
"Kiss me."
Chapter Five
A weird thing happens as soon as I say the words, and when I see his dark eyes start to twinkle—-
This can't be happening.
"I hate to be the one to break this to you—-" It's his gentle voice again, and since I've always been a quick learner, I now know that sound means I'm in trouble.
"But yeah, asking me to kiss you made you blush."
I touch my cheeks, and my skin absolutely crawls at how hot they feel.
Yuck.
Just yuck, yuck, yuck—-and whoa!
I almost have my gun out from under the table when he suddenly grabs hold of his chest like he's been shot.
"What is it?" I demand.
"You really are a killer, aren't you?"
Has he suddenly lost his mind? Or his memory, at the very least? That we both know what it means to kill is the main reason why Thomas has set us up for a blind date, duh.
"And what makes it even more incredible is how you have no idea of what you're doing." He looks at me with chagrin, and it's my first time to feel intellectually disadvantaged. What, darn it? What am I missing?
"It's your cheeks—-"
Aaargh!
This guy is unbelievably fast, and before I even realize he's done something that can get his fingers yanked out of their sockets, he's already managed to lean forward, pinch my cheeks, and chuckle as he leans back against his seat...and out of my reach.
"What do you think you're doing?" I hiss.
"You only have your cheeks to blame." He shrugs as he says this, and I'm weirdly distracted by the massive breadth of his shoulders. "Seeing them all rosy like that has been fucking killing me."
The penny finally drops, and my skin doesn't just start crawling.
The last time I felt this strongly was when I learned about Brenda and my brother-in-law being murdered. It was like having rage completely consume me, but this time...
Shit.
I feel like I've been thrown into a horrifying ocean of shit, and I'm just as horrified at the possibility that I might even hear more of those cringe-worthy lines in the future.
"How can you say that and still consider yourself sane?" I ask seriously. "It's the grossest thing I've ever heard."
"I know," he says with a grin. "But it got the job done, didn't it?"
What job? Is he an assassin now, and his first assignment is to have me die in disgust?
"You looked like you wanted to throw up when you realized you were blushing, and while you do look cute when you're grossed out—-"
Did he just describe someone like me as...cute? Not beautiful, but...cute?
"The thought of you suffering didn't actually sit that well with me—-"
Oh no.
"So I figured I should do something about it."
This is bad.
All those unexpectedly sweet and terribly misguided gestures of his finally make sense, and I look at him with genuine concern. "You're a killer with a soft heart."
"And that's a bad thing in your book?" His lips twitch at the end, but that only makes me worry over him more.
"It is very much a bad thing, yes." I look around us, and all the empty seats only adds to my gloom. "I know you've booked all the seats in this train, and I thought at that time it was great foresight on your part."
"Isn't it?"
"I thought you were doing it to have as few witnesses as possible, in case one of us ends up killing each other."
"But instead, you realize...what?"
"That you just wanted to avoid having any innocent people get hurt, what else?"