by AJ Sherwood
The tension eased and Ari relaxed against him, trusting more of his body weight against Carter. “You sure?”
Obviously the right call. Carter made a mental note to trust Ari’s body language more than his words. “Yeah. Trust me, you’re plenty sexy, hon. I just want to figure us out a bit more before we try hopping into bed.”
“Fair enough.” Ari lifted his head and kissed him, this time with a languid heat that hit Carter right in the gut.
Making out like teenagers for a while was absolutely fine with him. Carter sank into the moment and enjoyed.
He didn’t expect Ari to stay, and the assassin didn’t. It would be a while before Ari relaxed his guard enough to sleep next to Carter. Carter was fine with that and didn’t make a fuss when Ari retreated to his room. He’d expected to wake up alone but instead when he opened his eyes, he found a little girl’s chocolate brown eyes staring right back at him. Carter jolted—seriously, how did she get on the bed without waking him?!—and blinked several times to clear the sleep out of his vision. “Morning?”
“Good morning,” she greeted with a gamine grin. “Daddy’s making eggs and pancakes. He’s singing too. You must have made him happy.”
Now that he was awake, Carter could hear some sort of Italian pop song being sung at full volume downstairs. That was Ari? He had a rather nice voice. He blinked back to the child inquisitively poking at him. It pleased him she felt comfortable enough to tease, so he poked her back in the stomach. Remi giggled and squirmed, a happy grin on her face. Carter wasn’t a fool—these two came as a package set. A wise man would act accordingly. “Well, I’m certainly trying to. I know you pushed me to ask him out, Remi, but how are you feeling about all of this?”
She regarded him thoughtfully for a long moment, something undecipherable whirling behind her eyes. Then she waved him in a little closer. “Can I tell you a secret?”
Carter propped himself up on one elbow before he leaned in playfully. “Sure, what?”
“Daddy’s not really my dad. We’re not related.”
Everything in him froze. Carter never, in a million years, expected to hear that. He searched her face, looking for some hint of deception, and instead found aching truth. His mouth searched for an appropriate response and instead came up with, “I’d never have guessed that. You two adore each other.”
That made her smile, although bitterness lingered in the edges. “My mother abandoned me when it got too hard for her. She said no decent guy wanted a woman with a kid already in tow. When she left me, my stepfather started hitting me. It got…bad.”
Carter’s hands started shaking in rage. He didn’t have a lot of buttons, but kids were definitely at the top of his list. Any type of abuse wasn’t to be tolerated, and he was quick to stop it if he saw something going on. He grabbed her and hauled her in, holding her tight because right now, he needed to hold her. He needed to hold onto something before he went hunting for a target. Remi didn’t utter a peep of protest, snuggling in instantly. God, the idea of this child being beaten on a consistent basis—Carter’s vision went red. “Tell me the bastard’s been dealt with.”
“Daddy killed him. Then he said he couldn’t leave me there, and asked me to come with him.” She pulled her head free from his chest and that happy smile of hers was back in full force. “I’ve been with him six months now. It’s been the best six months ever.”
God, no wonder. The things bothering Carter, the habits he saw of a child who had been abused and neglected, and the way all three men orbited around her. It all made sense with this information. He stroked a hand down her hair. “I’m really glad, Remi.”
She patted his shoulder, still watching him like a hawk. “I don’t want Daddy to be like her, where she can’t find a good man because of me.”
Another piece of the puzzle slotted into place. It had seemed strange Remi would act as matchmaker, but if her adoptive father hadn’t dated since the day he took her in—and Carter would bet his eye teeth that was the case—then of course she’d leap on the opportunity Carter represented. “I really like him, Remi. But you know, I really like you too. You come as a package set, and I know that, okay? I don’t want one of you without the other.”
She liked that answer and gave him her smug feline grin again. “Okay. Come downstairs, Daddy sent me to fetch you.”
“Roger.” She pulled out of his arms, bounced off the bed, and darted out the door. Carter strangely felt like he’d just passed some sort of test. Actually, that was likely exactly it. He had to remember he couldn’t look at Remi and think of her as a normal eight-year-old. This was a kid who had grown up rough until an assassin adopted her. She was, by default, much more mature than her years.
Carter ran a hand roughly over his face, facial hair rasping against his palm, and wished he had time for a quick shower before breakfast. He needed a few minutes for all of this new information to settle. Unfortunately, he had the fifteen seconds it would take for him to get downstairs. Which would have to do.
Sighing, he threw the covers back and walked downstairs, straightening his grey checkered pajama pants as he did. They always got a little twisted in his sleep. He didn’t bother to put on a shirt, because in this household, he saw no point. Everyone was settled around the breakfast bar, plates in front of them, except Ari who still slaved away over the stove. Ivan wolf-whistled as Carter walked into the kitchen, and even Kyou looked up from the phone in his hand long enough to take in the view. Okay, so maybe he should have put on a shirt after all.
Ari looked up and gave him a once-over, mouth crooked in amusement. “Morning?”
Carter likely didn’t look entirely awake yet. He was awake, just a little dazed with information overload. Carter couldn’t help but look at Ari and see a different man. A man good enough at his core he not only protected a little girl, but sacrificed his own convenience to raise her. Would Carter have done the same in his shoes? He wasn’t entirely sure. Knowing Ari had made the man even sexier, and Carter hadn’t thought that possible. It might be challenging right now, them trying to figure each other out, but god. If he could have this man, it would all be worth it.
But that wasn’t a conversation to have with an audience, so he set it aside for now. Carter stepped in and pressed a quick, chaste kiss against Ari’s plush mouth, lips lingering. “Morning. Some of that for me?”
“Yours is waiting on the bar.” Ari smiled and returned the kiss before swatting him on the back, urging him on.
“Damn, they’re cute,” Ivan sighed happily. “Makes me want to get one too.”
“Which?” Kyou asked, not looking up from his phone. “A boyfriend or a mercenary?”
“Boyfriend, of course. I don’t appreciate that doubtful look on your face right now, Kyou.” Ivan glared at his friend as Carter slid into his seat. “I’m a good boyfriend.”
“Sure. You just drive them all crazy because they’re going from heart attack to ulcer with you.” Kyou passed Carter the maple syrup without prompting and went back to eating through the rest of his pancakes.
Ari flipped off the stove eyes and fixed his own plate before turning and setting it on the bar. They were out of stools, all of them occupied, but Ari seemed content to stand and eat. “Don’t you two start. It’s too early, and I haven’t had enough coffee for that argument.”
By which it sounded like they’d argued this point before? Carter bit into his bacon and silently observed. It seemed the right moment to stay out of it and not ask.
“Daddy.” Remi’s head came up, and she regarded her adoptive father with a cant of the head. “What was your first job?”
Fork paused halfway to his mouth, Ari regarded her in turn. “Where did that question come from?”
She sighed and rolled her eyes. “I just thought of it.”
“I swear I don’t understand how your mind works…but okay. First job, huh.” Ari rocked back on his heels and thought about it. “I think I was ten. The lady next door was going on vacation and she wanted
me to come in and feed the fish. I did, followed her instructions exactly, but by the time she came home again, the fish were all dead. I was kinda panicked, I won’t lie, but it turned out she didn’t like the fish. They were too much hassle, only she couldn’t tell her kids that. So she’d turned off the filter and then paid me to come in, cover her tracks. I got twenty dollars, and she was able to get rid of the tank.”
Remi giggled. “Fish? Really?”
He winked back at her, dark eyes twinkling. “Gotta start somewhere, sweetheart. Alright, you done? Go shower, then. We’ve got a full day.”
Nodding, she hopped off the barstool and thundered upstairs, sounding more like an elephant than a child.
“Your first contracted murder was fish, huh,” Carter said doubtfully, putting air quotation marks around the word ‘fish.’
“I know how to make things kid appropriate,” Ari protested.
He got a room full of doubtful looks.
Ari glared back and groused, “Your expressions right now are very judgey, and I don’t appreciate them. Ivan, eat your breakfast. We have to figure out how to get you into Knowles.”
“And if you say one word about a bedsheet, I will jab this fork in your eye,” Kyou threatened with a warning shake of the utensil. “A proper plan this time.”
Ivan sighed gustily. “You take all the joy out of life.”
19
Ari
If Ari were being honest with himself—and he tried to avoid that when possible, it was painful—he was a bit nervous. Just a tiiiiny, little, barely measurable, teensy weensy nervous. Normally his dates ended in someone being stabbed or shot, but he liked Carter. He didn’t really want to put holes in him. Rather the opposite, really. But Ari was operating out of his norm and his instincts didn’t know what to do in this case.
Assassins, if they lived long enough, developed certain instincts about people being in their space. Deadly instincts. Ivan and Kyou didn’t register as ‘danger’ to him and hadn’t for years. They’d worked together too long for him to think of them like that. Remi never had. She was too defenseless to be a threat to him. Even with those wicked elbows of hers.
Carter was the weird mix of potentially dangerous but disarming. He had all of the training and lethality to get Ari’s guard up, but the past six days had proven he was also very good at disarming Ari’s instincts before he could punch a hole in his windpipe. The man deliberately moved in Ari’s space in such a way to broadcast no-threat. And every time he came in close, then separated without harm, it disarmed Ari a little further.
Trust. It took time to build, no question. Carter was also very good at laying down the foundation for it. He must be, because Ari hadn’t once felt alarmed or instinctively lashed out at him. And that was a miracle, right there. Half the time, things didn’t end well when a man approached him the way Carter did.
For the first time in a long while, Ari felt like he actually might have a chance with someone.
Of course, he had no time to really think about it, not when the job demanded his attention. And his curious, smug eight-year-old. She met him in the kitchen, interrupting his thoughts, with a comb and a rubber band in her hands. “Ponytail?”
Ari sighed gustily. “Kiddo, that didn’t work out so well the last time I tried it. How about I comb it out and we wait for Uncle Ivan to get out of the shower?”
“Okay,” she agreed easily.
Lifting her onto a bar stool, he started at the bottom and carefully combed her hair from the bottom up. Something else he’d learned after acquiring a daughter—hair should be combed from bottom to top. Top to bottom created tangles and crying little girls. He avoided repeating that mistake at all costs.
As he combed, Remi informed him, “I told him this morning.”
Ari paused with the comb still in her hair. “Told who what, gattina?”
“Told Mr. Harrison you adopted me.”
It took a second to compute, and Ari took the comb out so he could spin her around and have the rest of this conversation face to face. “You did? Why?”
“’Cause he needed to know.” Her mouth closed into a stubborn tilt that never boded anything good.
Ari studied her expression carefully. Something in her eyes and body language hinted her motivations went deep. Remi hadn’t been casually passing along information to Ari’s potential boyfriend. She’d been testing his reactions. If she were telling Ari now, then did that mean Carter passed? “Yeah? How did he take it?”
“He was glad. He didn’t like that I was being hurt either. I think,” here she spoke like a sage, years older than her actual age, “that if I’d talked to him instead of you? He’d have done the same thing.”
“Rems, I’m one hundred percent sure you’re right.” It factored largely into Ari’s attraction. Morals were sexy. Who knew?
“You’re not mad I told him?”
Ari suddenly wished he’d had a chance to down a second cup of coffee before he’d been ambushed by this conversation. “No, honey, I’m not mad. Surprised you said anything, but not mad.”
She relaxed, the tension bleeding out of her body language. “Okay.”
Kyou interrupted them by popping his head into view. “Just got a call that the shirts are ready.”
“Alright. I’ll go and grab those after I’ve got Remi’s hair done.”
Waving him off, Kyou approached. “I’ll deal with hair. When you get back, we’ll have a proper strategy session. I don’t want to use the same tactic to get Ivan in for a looksie. Too many times, and they’ll catch onto the breech.”
That was Ari’s fear as well. “We’ll think of something. Be back in a bit, Rems.” He pressed a quick kiss to her forehead and went searching for the keys. And Carter. Not that he needed Carter to pick up the shirts, but it’d be nice to steal fifteen minutes and make out in the back seat. Kissing the man last night had proven to be absolutely brilliant. He was definitely up for a repeat.
The keys were not where he expected them to be. Frustrated, he went looking for his windbreaker with the thought he’d possibly left the keys in the pocket. You’d think, with only a duffel of clothes, he wouldn’t have to constantly search pockets.
It was soft, barely discernable, but the scuff of a boot against the carpet snagged his ear. Ari whirled on instinct, rolling across the bed and snatching up the gun he had on the nightstand. It was in his hands, aimed at the doorway, finger on the trigger, before he realized who had just snuck up on him.
Carter dodged a half-step back, both hands up in the air in a non-threatening way. “Ari! Just me.”
It took a second to realize what he’d almost done. Then Ari sagged back, remorse heavy and sour in his gut. Oh god, he’d nearly shot Carter. “I’m so sorry, I just…it was just instinct, I didn’t even realize it was you.”
Carter slowly lowered both hands. Even though his eyes were still wide, face flushed, he shook his head in disagreement. “No, that was my bad. I promised not to sneak up behind you, and here I did just that.”
Still feeling shaky from the mental image of the damage he’d almost inflicted, Ari put the gun carefully on the bed. Breathe. Breathe, you didn’t shoot him. Breathe.
“Hey,” Carter said gently, coming in closer. “Hey, wasn’t your fault. My stupid fault, yeah? I need to make noise around you when I’m approaching.”
“You’re as bad as Ivan, he moves like a damn cat too,” Ari tried to joke through a closed throat.
“Occupational hazard. Come here.” Carter reached out with gentle hands, enclosing him in a comforting embrace.
Ari went, because even as strange as it felt to be hugged, he needed it. He liked it, too. Nestling his head next to Carter’s, he snuggled into the crook of the man’s neck, inhaling the warm, clean scent of him. Ari stood there for a long moment and just breathed. It felt good, this embrace. Calming and assuring in a way he’d never felt before. Eventually, his heart stopped beating a crazy rhythm and his breathing wasn’t all over the damn map. Now tha
t his initial spike of adrenaline had died down, relief rocked through him. He hadn’t shot Carter, despite being startled out of his skin. He’d held in that initial reaction of attack long enough for his brain to get a word in edgewise. It gave him a measure of control—despite all his fears, despite being jumpy, he hadn’t actually done anything harmful. Ari was, strangely, proud of himself. Maybe he was getting a handle on this after all.
Against his ear, Carter murmured the question, “You were looking for something?”
“Yeah, the SUV’s keys. The shirts are ready, and I was going to pick them up.”
“Ah. I think I saw them on the bar downstairs. How about I go with you? I want to talk to you about the revelation Remi dropped on me this morning. Without coffee.”
Snorting, Ari pulled back an inch. Carter really was patient. Ari thanked everything he could think of for it. “Yeah, she told me about that. Come with me. I planned to take you with me anyway. If we’re lucky, we can steal fifteen minutes in the back seat.”
A slow, lazy grin crossed Carter’s face, making him look a little foxy. “I’m sure we can manage more than fifteen minutes.”
“We’re pros, after all,” Ari deadpanned back and honestly felt glad to be back on his usual footing with the man. “Come on.”
Leaving the house wasn’t quite that simple. Something about having a child never made the exit of a house quick and easy. But Carter held all questions until they were safely in the car and driving away.
“You really killed her abusive stepfather and then adopted her? Just like that?” Nothing about Carter’s tone indicated judgement, just amazement.
“Yeah. Basically. She stalked me for ten minutes on a bad street, at night, even knowing what I was. Then she hired me to help her with two dollars of pocket change. It still blows my mind she did that. I liked the kid’s gumption, really. And I grew up in foster. I know how bad it can be, if you’ve got crappy guardians. I didn’t want that for her.” Ari paused at a stop sign and stole a glance at his face. Carter was listening—just listening. No judgements forthcoming there. It opened his mouth and made him confess something he’d never, ever said aloud. “I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing, to be honest. Maybe it’s selfish to keep her, I don’t know. Maybe she’d do better with a regular family.”