Hitman's Hookup: A Bad Boy Romance (22 page)

“Cheers!” We all yelled together.

***

Later that night, Cruz and I were entangled in sheets and each other. The ceiling fan spun lazily in the master bedroom. I could hear the ocean water falling into the sand in the distance. The wall of glass doors was open to a wraparound porch, the bedroom ensconced in the top, circular tower of the mansion. “I could fuck you in this house for the rest of my life,” I moaned, finally falling backwards away from Cruz.

“I knew you’d like this place,” Cruz said. “Especially when I saw that the rental came with someone else to prepare all the food.”

I laughed and punched his arm. “I’m going to take that as a compliment that I know what I want as a woman and
not
that I’m a terrible cook.”

Cruz ran his fingers down my breast and stomach, making my nipples stand at attention. “You’re an excellent cook. I just know that you work hard enough as it is and the last thing you should be doing on vacation is cooking. I would have cooked, but I’d much rather be free to fuck you at all hours of the day and night.”

“I do love your burnt grilled cheese sandwiches,” I teased.

Cruz feigned offense. “They aren’t burnt, they’re
caramelized
.”

I looked at his glorious body only lit by the few candles he’d taken from the outside patio after dinner to illuminate the bedroom. “You know they say the second trimester is best for a woman’s sex hormones. I’ve heard some husbands say they can’t keep their wives off of them.”

“
Wives
, huh?” Cruz asked pointedly.

I blushed and buried my face into his armpit. “Well, you know what I mean.”

Cruz put his fingers under my chin, raising my face until I met his eye line. “I was under the impression that was a certain word that you weren’t entertaining. Despite me begging you endlessly and you humiliating me in London at that restaurant.”

“You should have known better than to propose to me in public. And in front of Gordon Ramsey!” I laughed at the memory. I felt tears sting my eyes as the laughter turned to happy tears. Damn hormones. “I was sort of thinking,” I said after I stemmed the flow of cry-laughter, running my finger across the maze of tattoos on his chest. “That maybe, possibly,
maybe
I would be open now to a certain question being asked of me.” I felt lighter as the words were released into the air between us. I’d been carrying them around since I’d seen those two blue lines show up in a dingy bathroom in the middle of nowhere.

Cruz jumped out of bed. Totally naked, he crouched down next to it on one knee.

“Not now!” I shrieked, but crying in spite of myself.

His face remained serious. “Lily Marie Ellison. Would you do me the honor-” He reached into the bedside drawer and pulled out a manila envelope with a pen attached to it. He handed it to me. “Of making me the happiest man on earth-“ He uncapped the pen and handed it to me. “By signing this house deed?”

My jaw dropped, my heart nearly beating out of my chest. “Are you serious?”

Cruz nodded. “Serious as an infected knife wound.”

I guffawed. “That’s the way to my heart.” I chewed it over in my mind, trying to process. “Are you seriously saying you bought this house?”

“
We
bought this house. And the island. With cash,” Cruz corrected.

I chewed the inside of my cheek, not wanting to dare believe any of this was real. “Does it come with the chef?”

Cruz lept onto the bed and kissed me heartily. “As if I would even entertain a private island purchase if it didn’t come with a chef.”

I looked at his deep brown eyes, resting my hand on my stomach. “We could raise our kids here.”

“That was the idea,” Cruz replied.

I burst into full tears. “Yes, yes, yes!” I sobbed. Cruz pulled me into his chest. “Jesus, I was afraid you were proposing,” I sniffled.

Cruz laughed. “You thought I was going to propose? In bed?” He clutched his heart. “That cuts deep, Lily. You should know by now I’m more of a romantic than that.”

***

Three days later, I woke up from a nap in our bedroom. It was my fourth one of the day. I heard Corina and Matthew yelling on the beach. I looked out the window and saw they were playing an intensely competitive game of one-on-one volleyball.

I’d spent the last three days eating, catching up with Corina and Matthew, having wild sex with Cruz at every possible opportunity and on every possible surface, and exploring the mansion. This place was paradise. There was still an entire wing I hadn’t managed to rifle through. The house was old and needed work. But the peeling paint made it homier to me. I liked a challenge. I could be a homebody when I wanted to.

I found I wasn’t missing New York at all, nor my former life. I’d turned in my official resignation at the hospital two weeks after the incident with Victoria. I didn’t say it in my letter, but I didn’t feel that the hospital needed a surgeon who got more of an adrenaline rush at killing monsters than she did at saving people’s lives.

Although in a way, I was doing both. One bad guy down; a thousand people saved.

And I was never, ever bored.

I’d managed to make up with Ally while still keeping the details of my newfound path private. There was a bittersweet end to our last conversation. We didn’t say it out loud, but we both knew that our paths were diverging. She had a job at the hospital, a husband, and five rowdy kids. I was, to her eyes, a single woman with no attachments. We’d been drifting apart for a while. People come into your lives when you need them, or they need you. You have each other for as long as you have each other, and you both get what you need. But everything has to end eventually.

That’s what Poppy had taught me.

Sometimes you have to let go to make room. I put my hand on my belly and realized that’s exactly what I’d done.

I rubbed my eyes and realized with a start that a small table had been set up on the balcony. There was a lime green bag of candy holding down a note. The paper rustled in the breeze. I walked over to the table and picked up the bag of Sour Skittles, smiling to myself. I unfolded the note.
In the closet awaits a gown worthy of my queen.

I wandered into the enormous closet and saw a simple but stunning white silk, floor-length dress hanging there. There was a note taped to it.
Put this on and come find me in the place you haven’t yet looked
.

I nearly skipped out of the bedroom in excitement a few minutes later, the white silk clinging deliciously to my skin, the dress a perfect fit. The house –
our house,
I reminded myself - was so enormous it took me almost ten minutes to make it to the east wing. Double doors were closed with yet another note attached to it.
Inside here is the very thing you once said you didn’t want
.

Suddenly overtaken with an odd mix of nerves and excitement, I wrapped my hands around the brass door knobs and pulled open the heavy doors. The space was pitch black but for a trail of tiny, tea light candles set in Sour-Skittle-filled glass bowls. The tea light candles lit a path that led to a suit-wearing Cruz. He was grinning at me.

I bent down and picked up a handful of candy to nibble on. He laughed. The room smelled familiar; dusty and like something else I couldn’t put my finger on. But it somehow reminded me of Poppy. I finished my candy and took Cruz’s hands. I noticed they were trembling in my grasp. I squeezed them hard, beaming. “Gordon Ramsey isn’t hiding somewhere, is he?” I joked, trying to break up the tension. I peered into the darkness as my voice echoed. The room was enormous, whatever it was.

“No Gordon, but it wasn’t for lack of invitation,” Cruz quipped, his voice shaking a little.

It was endearing to see him so nervous. He took an enormous, steadying breath.

“I want to stand here and tell you how long I’ve loved you, Lily,” he whispered. He squeezed my hands. “I loved you from the moment you ate a handful of Sour Skittles at the entrance of this room.” He paused.

“That’s not very long,” I retorted with a nervous laugh.

His eyes were blazing. “I loved you from the moment you said you were having our baby. I loved you from the moment you killed that hitman and put down those towels to contain the crime scene. I loved you from the moment you stitched me up while wearing the
sexiest
fucking lingerie I’ve ever seen on a woman. I loved you from the moment you racked that guy in the sex club. I loved you from the moment you left me with blue balls on a New York sidewalk after our first date. I loved you from the moment I double tapped your profile photo. Lily Marie Ellison, I have loved you from the moment I saw you. I love you now. I’ll love you tomorrow. I’ll love you for as long as I’m breathing.”

Tears were pouring out of my eyes and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop them.

“I want to be with you here, on this island, for the rest of our lives. I want to feed you Sour Skittles and draw you perfect baths every fucking hour if that’s what you want. Along with several intermissions to go kick some serious ass and save the entire world from annihilation of course,” he added with a smile.

I couldn’t even laugh. All I could do was cry. “I love you,” I whispered.

“Lily Marie Ellison, will you make me the happiest fucking hitman on planet Earth and finally fucking marry me?”

“Yes!” I yelled, jumping into his arms and kissing him wildly.

We didn’t pull apart for what felt like hours. His wool suit fabric against my skin reminded me of our first date; of making out in the back of the taxi. I realized somewhere in our eternally long kiss that he’d probably done that on purpose. When Cruz finally set me down, I remembered that we were in a dark, echoing room. The mystery of what the room looked like was threatening to eat me alive. “What the fuck is this room?” I asked him.

He grinned and pulled out a small remote control. “I’ll let you do the honors,” he said, passing me the black square of plastic.

I pressed the red button in the center. Three chandeliers illuminated the space. I gasped. The intricately laid tile floors were dirty and dust-covered outside of the candlelit path Cruz had cleared. An entire wall three stories high made of large glass panes overlooked a steep drop off into the ocean below. The other three walls, floor-to-ceiling, were covered in bookshelves lined in thousands of books. Each wall had a sliding library ladder. I burst into tears again.

Cruz pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket. “I’m going to have to start carrying these around if the last few days are any indication of your level of waterworks for the next eight months or so.”

I took the woven handkerchief in my hands and was instantly reminded of my grandfather. What had he said to me?
I won’t always be
here
, but I’ll be around as long as you carry me in your memory.
He had been right. He was here with me now. I dabbed at my eyes. “I’m still a doctor, Cruz. Even if I’m crying while I do it, I know at least three hundred ways to kill you and make it look like an accident. So watch yourself.”

Cruz took me into his arms again. “You know; everyone fears hitmen but what they should really be worried about are doctors.”

“I wasn’t aware hitmen were popular enough in the public’s imagination to inspire a phobia,” I replied.

“Maybe not yet, but we should be.”

I sighed as I leaned against him. “I believe this is the only room in this house we haven’t fucked in yet,” I pointed out.

Cruz kissed me deeply and grabbed my ass, sending shivers up my spine. “I would gladly be
all over
fucking you but it would probably make our guests uncomfortable.”

A cheer echoed across the room. I looked over and saw Matthew and Corina standing in the doorway of the library. Corina was dressed up in a black pantsuit, her hair in a neat topknot and her makeup perfectly done. Matthew was wearing a dark suit and a smile. I looked from them, to the aisle Cruz had made, back to Cruz. “Oh my God,” I whispered, recognition dawning.

“I’m an ordained minister licensed to marry happy couples in every country recognized by the United Nations, plus a few places they
don’t
recognize,” Corina announced. “
That’s
a fun story I should probably tell you all sometime.”

Cruz gazed at me, love blazing in his eyes. “I figured you wouldn’t want pomp and circumstance. And we
are
already dressed for a wedding.”

My heart swelled looking at the ragtag group of people around me. A badass woman assassin, a slightly nerdy college kid, and a ripped, dead sexy hitman. This was a family.

This was
my
family.

For better or for worse. Happily ever after.

I bit my lip and broke into a huge smile. “Let’s do this.”

KEEP READING

Do you like free books?
Sign up for my newsletter
for the opportunity to be a part of my advanced reader team and to get behind-the-scenes looks at my writing process. Receive an early copy of my new releases in exchange for an honest review!

Like my page on
Facebook
to stay up-to-date!

Follow this link to my entire catalog.

ABOUT ME

I weave my fiction from my backyard writing studio nestled in the sunny, star-studded hills of Hollywood, California. My interests include: smart-ass, sexy men; romantic comedy movies; gin and tonics, and the Hemsworth brothers. HITMAN’S HOOKUP is my second novel following the release of STEP WILDE.

WANT MORE BAD BOYS NOW?

Included in this book as a bonus is my debut novel STEP WILDE! Just turn the page to keep reading!