Hitman's Hookup: A Bad Boy Romance (13 page)

I turned over his words in my head, trying to move all of the pieces into place as best I could. “You didn’t want to save that guy in the restaurant. Because he was your target,” I said slowly.

Cruz gave a curt nod by way of answer.

“I have to get out of here,” I said, feeling my breathing picking up again. “I can’t be here with you. I can’t. You’re a murderer.”

“Lily. If you walk out of this hotel room, you’re dead. You’ll be killed. The person they sent after you; she wins. She always wins. The only chance you have is with me. I promise you that. I know you have no reason to trust me. But I brought you this far. You have to believe I’ll keep my word.”

“Yeah, Cruz? And what’s the
plan,
exactly? We run away to Santa Fe and I look over my shoulder for the rest of my life?”

“The plan is that I get you someplace safe and then I go and take care of this,” he replied.

“Well, why not here? Isn’t Chicago as good a place as any to hide me?”

Cruz shook his head. “No. It’s not far away enough.”

“Far away enough from
what?
” I screamed exasperatedly.

“Do you know who Patrick Romano was?” Cruz asked me.

I shook my head and bit my lip. I had no idea.

Cruz took a few steps closer to me. His body seemed to be vibrating with anger. “You accidentally killed the biggest drug runner mastermind on the eastern seaboard. I’m guessing it’s his boss who wants your head on a fucking platter.” His face softened as he saw the abject terror in my eyes. “Romano was a bad, bad guy. His drug money is linked to weapons overseas. Weapons that kill innocent people. You can’t feel badly about killing him.”

I let the words sink in over me. “My brother was in the military,” I said softly. “He died in combat.”

“Romano’s cartel funds insurgent groups in the Middle East,” Cruz whispered, stepping closer to me. “There’s a chance that your brother died because of Romano.”

I felt myself shaking. “No, don’t make this right,” I retorted. “We can’t play God like that.
You
- you can’t play God like that. You can’t justify what you do, or what I accidentally did.”

Cruz shook his head. His arm muscles were rippling. “You play God every single day of your life in that hospital. Don’t tell me you don’t understand how I do what I do.”

I shook my head violently and held up my hands. “That is not the same and you
know
it.”

“Oh really?” He took three long strides and pinned me against the wall with his body the same way he had in the cinderblock room at the sex club. He whispered into my ear. “You don’t feel your heart beating faster when you’re in control in that operating room? Knowing that a single slip of the knife is the difference between life and death? Knowing that
you and only you
are in control?”

My heart was pounding with him standing over me. I took his words in and tried to hide myself from the truth.

But I couldn’t hide.

He was right. I did play God.

And I fucking loved it.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CRUZ

I didn’t know how I pulled it off, but somehow I convinced Lily to head upstairs to the rooftop bar with me after our screaming match. I wasn’t going to drink anything but I thought that she might enjoy getting hammered after the last few days of intense stress.

It turned out I was right.

The glass rooftop bar at the apex of the Wit Hotel was world-renown for its views. It was a perfect seventy degrees even as the sun was setting. The glass roof had been retracted to let in the night air, and the lights of the city were coming on around us. It was a fairly large crowd for a Wednesday night in September.

“It’s busy,” Lily said appraisingly as we crossed the dance area. She was reading my mind.

“People getting in all the good weather they can before the Chicago winter sets in, I guess,” I muttered to her.

She was wearing an all-white sundress that looked like it had its own light source against her dark, gorgeous skin. She’d let her hair down – literally – and the long, black braids were splayed out across her clavicle. Heads turned as she walked to a small table in the corner.

“People are staring at you,” I said bemusedly as we sat down.

She laughed and shook her head. “They’re staring at
you
, you mean.”

“I knew the second I took you out of your apartment you’d be a liability. You don’t exactly blend in. You radiate light.” I leaned in closer to her to smell her lotion. The radiant warmth of the setting sun reflected off the building across from us and into the air. Her scent mixed with the breeze off of the lake. It smelled like heaven.

Lily still wasn’t ready to concede to me, even if she’d agreed to come up here. She turned her head to look at the view.

“Corner table, huh?” I asked her.

She gave me a dark look. “I’m not exactly feeling sociable, Cruz.” She twirled a handful of braids in her fingers. “I don’t know how you can be so relaxed sitting here right now. We’re on the run from
assassins
.”

I shrugged. “I might look relaxed, but I’ve already clocked thirty of the fifty people in here right now. I know where the exits are. I know that guy at the bar knows how to handle himself.” I paused, letting my words cascade over her.

She squinted and tilted her head. “That’s from
The Bourne Identity
,” Lily said with a knowing look.

I laughed. “I can’t enjoy a movie portrayal of my line of work?”

Lily put her chin on her palm. “Are you like him? Trained to be just another number? Secret government operative?” She bit her lip. I could tell she was loosening up despite her better inclinations. She hadn’t said much when I told her we were alike, but I knew the look of recognition that cascaded over her face said it all. She knew somewhere deep down that I was right. We were in the same profession.

“An assassin never kills and tells,” I replied lightly.

Loud, booming music suddenly filtered through the speakers. A few people cheered. Blue and purple mood lights turned on in the bar. “I’m guessing that means it’s drink time,” I said to Lily, shuffling off the stool and onto the ground.

“Vodka tonic,” Lily said easily.

I leaned down and whispered in her ear. “You better still be here when I get back.” It was supposed to be a joke, even if there was a good bit of truth in my words.

She held up three fingers. “Scout’s honor,” she replied drily.

I walked over to the bar and ordered a club soda for me and a vodka tonic for Lily. I leaned against the counter and looked around the room. People were already filling the dance floor. One woman in the corner was already crying, her friend holding onto her.

“It’s a little early for that, don’t you think?” said a feminine voice to my right.

I turned to see a busty redhead with skin like porcelain. She inclined her head toward the women in the corner. “Long night up ahead for her,” I replied casually.

The redhead put a glass of amber liquid to her coral-gloss-coated lips. “You here alone?” she asked.

I shook my head. “Nope,” I replied shortly, hoping it would actually hold her off. Some women liked the word
No
more than they liked the word
Yes
. I pegged her for the former.

Her hand on my arm a moment later confirmed that my suspicions were more than accurate. “You could always ditch her,” she purred. “Or
him
, I guess. If you lean that way.” She winked at me.

I laughed. “Yeah, really not interested,” I said again. “You’re really not my type.” The bartender came back just in the nick of time with my drinks. I left the glowering redhead and ducked my way through the dancing mob over to Lily.

My stomach dropped through my feet when I looked over and saw a white guy with curly blonde hair standing over her. She looked pissed. I reacted instantaneously, flying across the bar to where she was sitting. “Hey, asshole, get the fuck off her,” I hissed.

The guy grinned at me. I thought about the twelve ways I knew how to kill him with well-placed jabs to his skin. He’d never even see it coming. I took a breath and slammed the glasses on the table, getting as close to him as I could. “I said,
back the fuck off
.”

The guy laughed in my face.

My anger wasn’t holding well. I threw my shoulder into the center of his chest, pinning his arm behind him and shoving him against the wall. I’d knocked the breath out of him with that first maneuver. He was nearly hyperventilating. “I said get the fuck out of here. If I so much as hear you mouth-breathing in a ten-mile radius of this hotel, I’m fucking killing you. You got that?”

The guy nodded and waved his hands in surrender. I stepped away from him and looked back for Lily.

She was gone.

I ran out of the club and into the hallway. She was near the elevators. “Wait!” I yelled. She rolled her eyes and held the door for me. “You okay?” I asked.

She shook her head. She was trying to keep her tears from showing but I could see them hanging behind her eyes. “I’m really fucking not,” she choked out.

I stood there awkwardly. “I think I miscalculated what would make you feel better tonight.”

“You think?” she spat. Then her shoulders started heaving and the tears fell down her face. She surprised me by wrapping her arms around me, choking out sobs.

I held her to my chest and breathed into her hair. “Shh. It’s going to be alright. You’re fine. You’re fine.” I rubbed my hand in gentle circles across her back. It was what my mom did for me when I was upset as a kid. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirrored walls of the elevator. It wasn’t often I saw myself like this: as a comforter and not a murderer.

I held Lily close to me as our floor number dinged. “You want me to go back and kill him?” I asked lightheartedly.

Lily looked up at me with her tearful brown eyes. I saw with relief that she was smiling.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

LILY

I blew my nose into a tissue, attempting to collect myself as best as I could. I didn’t mind crying in front of other people but I drew the line at getting snot on a hot guy’s t-shirt.

Even if that guy was a serial murderer.

I flashed back to my telling Ally that I was certain he was anything but that. I laughed in the bathroom, which nearly turned into round two of tears in my state of emotional exhaustion.

Cruz ducked his head in. “Everything alright?” he asked.

I tossed the tissue in the trash. “I froze. I never do that.” I leaned on the bathroom counter. “Upstairs, when that drunk guy came onto me; normally I have no issue dropping assholes like that.” I motioned to Cruz. “You know. You saw me at the club the other night. That guy’s hand was barely touching my ass before I was slapping it away.” I shook my head. I hated disappointing myself. I hated needing to be rescued.

“It’s stress,” Cruz said kindly from the doorway. His muscular arms were crossed over his chest, his tattoos peeking out from the edge of his fitted black t-shirt. “You’ve been through a lot. Anyone would be lucky to handle all this shit half as well as you are.”

I kicked my legs in the air, thinking hard before I let the next sentence out of my mouth. “I want to know how to shoot a gun,” I said resolutely.

Cruz drew his thumb across his bottom lip. I loved when he did that. I wanted to slap myself. I shouldn’t
love
anything that he did.

He smiled. “Alright. When we get out of the city, I’ll find someplace to teach you.”

I was shocked. “I thought you’d put up more of a fight over that.”

Cruz shrugged and grinned. Then he stared at me so hard I felt like my dress might catch fire from his gaze. “Is it wrong that I want to fuck you right now? I mean, I’m guessing that’s not really what you need or want.”

It seemed like my brain had tired before my body had. My gut gave me the answer. I didn’t need a magic dictionary word to know what to do next. I flashed him my best
please fuck me right now
face.

He was across the bathroom floor in two strides, lifting me onto the countertop, my dress fluttering up as he pulled me close to his muscled chest. I wrapped my legs around his torso, sighing with pleasure as he deposited a trail of kisses down my neck and onto my chest. He reached under my dress and pulled it over my head, throwing it onto the floor.

He ran his hands greedily down my body, pressing his palms into the skin of my bare breasts. I shuddered as his fingers found the wet, hot space between my legs. He flicked his fingertips across my most delicate places. The hard, cold surface of the countertop underneath me was exhilarating. Of all the places I’d had sex, I couldn’t say that a bathroom in a five-star hotel was one of them. I pulled off his t-shirt, running my hands over his carved body as he sucked and licked at my nipples, his fingers still playing in my slit.

I was aching for him. I needed him inside of me, but I knew he wasn’t going to let me go that easily. He smiled at me as he fell to his knees, grabbing my ass and sliding me to the edge of the countertop. His tongue flicked up and down my wetness, making me gasp and moan as I held onto the edge of the countertop, his hands spreading me apart as wide as I would go.

I bucked against his mouth, trying and failing not to scream out. I felt like I was going to fall into an abyss that I never wanted to come back from. Just when I couldn’t take another second, he stood up, fished a condom out of his pocket, and dropped his jeans. As he slid into me I felt like I wouldn’t last two thrusts.

I barely made it to one before I was careening into a vast canyon of pleasure. When I finished, Cruz didn’t stop. He grabbed both my tits with his hands and massaged them greedily as he moved in and out of me in a rapid motion. I didn’t think I would come again, but I was wrong.

We fell together into bliss, hanging on to one another as tightly as we could.

***

The sun had fully set and the lights of the city were blazing all around us in the glass-walled bathroom. We were sprawled on the cold, hard floor of the bathroom next to one another in complete silence, trying to collect ourselves as best as we could.