Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 137176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
From a kiss.
From his kiss.
I forced myself to break the kiss long enough to draw in some much-needed air. I was already pulling Cass’s mouth back down to mine when he whispered, “JJ.”
It wasn’t that he said my name… it was the way he said it that had reality slapping me in the face. His voice was soft, sweet, needy… relieved.
He might as well have followed Sully’s example of how to get my attention. A bucket full of cold water and a couple dozen ice cubes.
I shoved Cass backwards.
Hard.
Only he didn’t have far to go because at some point when I’d taken control of the kiss, I’d taken control of him too because his back was plastered up against the side of his car and I was the one pinning him there.
“Oh, Jesus,” I croaked as I stepped back and wiped my hand across my mouth.
Thankfully, Cass didn’t say anything or try to take me into his arms again. I couldn’t read his expression at first but there was no missing the moment when whatever thing had caused him to kiss me in the first place disappeared. His face hardened as he glanced at the hand I’d wiped my mouth with and then he was gone. In his car, tires squealing, engine roaring.
Gone.
Sharp, blinding light hit my right eye and then my brain was on fire as flames licked along my scar. It was all I could do to remain standing. I had no awareness of anything but the agonizing pain in my head. There was no image this time, but it didn’t matter. I knew the cause.
I had no idea how long I stood there for or if anyone drove past me. It could have been minutes or hours before the stabbing pain behind my eye eased enough for me to take stock of my surroundings. My gun still lay on the shoulder of the road, the clip a few inches away. My jacket, which the hot sun had turned into my own personal oven, was rumpled and pushed off my shoulders just the slightest bit. Had I done that or had Cass?
Fuck, what difference did it make?
My phone began vibrating in my jacket pocket, but I didn’t answer it right away. I needed to get my shit together first. I laughed harshly. It was a little late for that. I’d just made out with the man who’d killed a federal agent, the witness he’d been assigned to protect, and the innocent child who’d been too young to really understand what was happening. Cass had murdered all three in cold blood, but he’d fucked up when it had been my turn. He’d left a witness.
Though I really hadn’t been much of one. Cass’s bullet had seen to that.
I grabbed my gun and put the clip back in. I searched out the bullet that Cass had ejected from the chamber and added it to the clip.
An approaching car had me pulling myself together so I once again looked like the professional I was supposed to be. I was surprised to see that it was the SUV I’d been riding around in for the better part of a week.
“I told you not to come back for me,” I grumbled when Axel stepped out from behind the steering wheel.
“And I told you to call me in five or I would be coming back,” the good-looking guy responded. The man should have ticked all of the boxes on my roster of guys that I wanted to fuck for real.
He wasn’t on it.
No one was.
Well, no one had been.
“Did you get the guy? The tail?” Axel asked. I could hear our outraged client yelling from the back seat about being late for something, but I drowned out the rest of her words.
“Yeah… wasn’t a tail. Just some harmless kid in his dad’s muscle car hoping to get her attention.” I motioned toward the back seat. “I’ve got his information so we can run background on him if we need to.”
Axel held my gaze for a moment, his dark eyes searching out my words for any lies. I kept my cool as I made my way to the passenger side of the car, but my thoughts were consumed with wondering how long Cass had been following me for and to what end. If he’d wanted me dead, he’d had every opportunity to do the job and be gone long before anyone appeared to witness the event. I’d only noticed his car the day before and while I’d been sure it was him based on the Mustang alone, I’d had to be one hundred percent certain. The second I’d seen him that morning as we’d reached our charge’s house, I’d confirmed it was him and had begun planning how to confront him.
I hadn’t had any legal reason to stop him, but legalities hadn’t been my first concern when I’d realized the man who’d tried to kill me two years earlier, a man I’d ironically trusted with my life at that time, was following me, probably to finish the job.