Honey and the Hitman
Page 29
“Let him talk.”
Ethan shook his head. “No, that’s not what I did.”
“Good. That’s good.” Seth nodded earnestly. “They always kill the money man.”
David rolled his eyes. “Jesus, Seth.”
“What? They do.”
“They’re not going to kill me,” Ethan put in. He laid the cinnamon roll back in the box; his stomach was too knotted up for food. “I’m on good terms with the family. The guy last night, well, he sort of went rogue.”
“The two guys who hauled him out last night. Who were they?”
“They work for the big boss, but I never got their names.” A ghost of a smile hovered over Ethan’s lips. “I was calling them Short and Beady and Tall and Beady.”
A little spark of humor lit David’s eyes. “Yeah, I can see that.”
“They took him away?” Seth polished off his bear claw. “Where’d they take him? What’re they going to do with him?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask,” Ethan admitted, “but I’ve been assured he won’t be bothering us again.”
“Who assured you? The big boss?” Seth asked.
“Yeah. The big boss.”
“Who for some reason you don’t want to name,” David added.
Ethan glanced at David. “It’s probably better if you don’t know his name.”
David’s gaze stayed steady and cool. “You don’t trust us with it.”
“It’s not a matter of trust. It’s not,” Ethan insisted when David snorted. “It’s a matter of wanting to keep you out of it. Trust me, you don’t want to be involved. Not in this.”
“Aren’t we already involved?” David countered. “You trusted us enough to give us each a weapon, to have your back last night. To have Honey’s back.”
“That’s a point,” Ethan muttered.
“We know how to keep a secret, Ethan.”
Ethan glanced at Seth. “And if Sadie threatens to make you sleep on the sofa when you say you can’t tell her?”
“Shit.” He looked pained at the prospect of another night on the couch but nodded resolutely. “I’ll deal. Sadie understands loyalty. She’ll come around.”
Then he pointed a finger at Ethan. “But if she boots me, I’m coming over to sleep in your guest room. That couch was hideous.”
That startled a laugh out of Ethan. “Fair enough.”
“So.” David arched a brow. “What’s his name? The big boss.”
“Marco Giordano.”
Seth, who had just taken a sip of coffee, spit it right back out again. “Shit. Shit. Are you kidding me?”
“Dammit, Seth.” David grimaced at the leg of his jeans, now decorated with coffee and spittle.
Seth barely spared him a glance. “Sorry. But did you hear him?”
“I heard him.” David grabbed a napkin from the doughnut box and blotted at his pants.
“You’re not surprised,” Ethan noted.
“Not really.” David tossed the used napkin onto the porch. “Those guys last night weren’t very subtle.”
Ethan choked out a laugh. “I know. Goon Number One, Goon Number Two.”
“You worked for Marco Giordano.” Seth was back to gaping.
“No. I did some work for the family, half a dozen years ago. I’ve never met Marco Giordano.”
“What kind of work?”
Here’s where it got tricky. He could lie—and they’d believe him. But he couldn’t swallow it. These men were his friends, and David had a point about trust. But he couldn’t tell them the whole truth without jeopardizing not only his future here, but also their lives.
“Look, I don’t want to lie to you. My life before I came here...” He ran a hand through his hair. “Let’s just say it was less than exemplary.”
“That covers a lot of ground,” David observed.
“I know.” Ethan looked him in the eye. “I know it does. Part of the reason I came here was to get a fresh start, to find out what I wanted for the rest of my life. I figured I’d stay with Aunt Winnie for a few months, get some R&R, come up with some ideas for the next step. I never expected this would become home.”
A faint smile curved David’s lips. “Is it?”
“Yeah. Yeah, it is. A lot of that is Honey,” he said. “But it’s also you guys, and Dunbar Construction, and this quirky, goofy little town. I want all of it.”
Seth grinned. “Aw. We love you too, bro.”
Ethan choked out a laugh. “Part of me just wants to bury what came before. Tuck it in a box, stick it in a hole, and pour concrete over it.”
Seth nodded. “Like Elvis.”
Ethan just stared. “What?”
“Elvis. When they buried him, they poured concrete over the coffin so nobody could dig him up.” He glanced at David, then back to Ethan. “You guys didn’t know that?”
David shook his head. “You’re an idiot.”
“What? That’s what they did. Google it if you don’t believe me.”
David looked at Ethan. “You were saying?”
“Ah...that part of me wants to bury my past. But I pulled you guys into that mess yesterday, and my past is where that came from. So, you’re entitled to know.”
David shook his head. “We don’t need to.”
“You don’t?” Ethan said at the same time Seth said, “We don’t?”
“Nope.” David gestured with his coffee cup. “It means a lot that you would tell us. That you would trust us with that. But a man’s entitled to his secrets.”
“Dude.” Seth punched David on the shoulder. “Don’t you want to know?”
“Not really.” He shrugged. “But I have to ask. I know you said yesterday’s mess is handled, but what I want to know is if it’s likely other messes are going to follow you around?”
“No.” Ethan hesitated, debating, then shrugged. “There’s always a possibility, I guess, but it’s not likely. This was what you might call extenuating circumstances.”
“Then we don’t need to know.”
“Man,” Seth complained, but he was grinning.
“One thing, though.”
Ethan’s head was reeling. “What?”
“You don’t have to tell us,” David began, oddly hesitant now, “but you should tell Honey. If you guys are going to be together—”
“I know. And I already did.”
“All right, then.” David leaned around Seth and nipped the second bear claw.
“Hey, I was going to eat that,” Seth protested.
“Snooze, lose.”
Seth scowled as David bit into the pastry with relish. “You suck.”
“Guys.” Ethan waited until they’d both turned to face him. “Thanks. Thank you.”
David swallowed. “We’re friends. Friends back each other up.”
“Yeah, man.” Seth clapped him on the shoulder. “It’s all good. But you still gotta give me something I can tell Sadie.”
Ethan let out a short laugh. “Let me talk to Honey first. We’ll come up with something.”
Seth winced. “Make it fast, would you? I’m going to have to avoid her until you do.”
“I’ll talk to her as soon as I get home.”
David pushed to his feet, coffee in hand. “You guys got plans tonight?”
Ethan tossed the used napkins into the box with the doughnuts. “Don’t think so.”
“Come to the house. Seth and Sadie are coming by, and I’m going to grill. You can bring the beer.”
Ethan smiled. “That sounds great. I’ll talk to Honey, make sure she’s up for it.”
“Good.” David leaned over and grabbed the bakery box out of Ethan’s hand. “And I’m taking these.”
Seth laughed, the sound ringing out in the morning air, and Ethan couldn’t help but join in.
After so many years of being alone, it felt a little strange to have friends. The kind of friends who had his back without hesitation, who offered help without question. The tightness in his chest was strange, too. A funn
y kind of pain that didn’t really hurt and somehow felt good and right, even when it made it hard to breathe. He got the same strange tightness when he saw Honey smile or heard her laugh, or watched her sleep in the early morning light.
He pulled in a deep breath and felt that sense of rightness expand with his breath. It was good to have friends.
* * *
When he pulled up to the house, the neighborhood was just waking up. The next-door neighbors had set up a sprinkler in the front yard, and several neighborhood kids were decked out in swim gear, their shrieks echoing down the street as they played. A jogger ran past, sending him a jaunty wave as she went. The sun was bright, the day already heating up, and on the front porch, Honey sat with Milo’s head in her lap, taking it all in.
He stepped out of the car. “Hey.”
“Hey, back.” She smiled at him as he started up the walk. “Is that my doughnut?”
“It is. And your coffee. You can have both for the low, low price of one kiss.”
“Just one?” She tilted her head up, humming with pleasure as his mouth brushed hers. “What about a tip?”
“I’ll get my tip later,” he promised with a leer, and she laughed.
“This first.” She snagged the doughnut from him and using her elbow to keep Milo back, took a bite. “Fat and sugar and awesome. Yum.”
Ethan lowered himself to sit next to her, giving Milo a firm nudge when he tried to wedge between them. “You’ve got a little...” He tapped the corner of her mouth.
She flicked out her tongue to capture the fleck of crème. “Is it gone?”
“Not quite.” He leaned over for a slow, thorough kiss, then lifted his head to smile into her eyes. “Now it’s gone.”
Her eyes twinkled back at him as she plucked the coffee from his hand. “Charmer.”
He merely grinned.
“How’d it go with the guys?”
“Good. It went good.”
She sighed. “Men. Would it kill you to give details?”
His grin widened. “Women. Would it kill you to accept a simple answer to a simple question?”
“It might,” she said soberly and made him laugh.
“They were...awesome, actually.” He shook his head, still a little in awe of the loyalty and acceptance he’d found.
She gave him a little nudge, her smile smug. “I thought they would be. How much did you tell them?”
“I wasn’t going to tell them anything; I was going to make something up.” He shrugged. “Then, I couldn’t. It just didn’t feel right. I was set to spill the full story—my past profession, the reason Damico was here, all of it—and David said they didn’t need it. That knowing I would have told them was enough.”
“They’re good people.”
“Yeah.” He turned his head, taking in her soft smile. “They are. We have to come up with something to tell the girls, though. Apparently, Sadie made Seth sleep on the couch last night when he wouldn’t give her the details. He said if she does it again tonight, he’s coming over here.”
“They have a really uncomfortable sofa.” She sipped her coffee. “We’ll come up with something. And you’ll have to decide what you want to tell Winnie and Jacob when they get back tomorrow.”
“Yeah.” He brooded over that for a moment, then sighed. “Might be easier just to tell them the truth.”
“That’s up to you.” She bit into her doughnut again.
Ethan watched her eat, a thoughtful look on his face. “I can’t tell everyone. It isn’t safe.”
“I know.”
“But maybe the inner circle. The guys, the girls. Winnie and Jacob.” He frowned. “I don’t want to lie to them, either.”
“They already know something’s up,” she reminded him. “They’ll keep your secrets.”
“I know,” he said, and he did. “But…”
“You don’t want to let them down,” she guessed.
He shrugged, somehow feeling like a little boy about to confess to his parents. “Yeah. I mean, I know Winnie’s not my mother, but she’s my only family. And Jacob…”
“I know,” she said with a gentle smile. “They love you, Ethan. It’ll be okay.”
He out to twine their fingers together. “You think so?”
She squeezed his hand. “I know so.”
“Well, they’re not due back until tomorrow, so I have some time to think about how to tell them. But we can tell the others tonight. David invited us for dinner. He’s going to grill, and Seth and Sadie will be there.”
“Seth will be so relieved,” she said, and Ethan laughed.
“I want to go to the carnival today, too,” she said as she polished off her pastry. “It’s the last day.”
“I’ll win you another—what was it?”
“Stuffed animal of dubious quality.” She laughed. “I think I want a yellow octopus this time.”
“Who wouldn’t?” He brought her hand to his lips. “I want to move in.”
She blinked. “You do?”
“Yeah. I want to move in, and soon, I want to marry you.”
A smile lit her eyes, though her mouth stayed sober. “I want a big, fat, diamond ring.”
His heart seemed to soar in his chest. “Is that right?”
“Yep. Bigger is better.”
“I’ll remember that. I love you, Honoria.”
She tilted her head to rest it on his shoulder. “I know. I love you, too.”
And together, they rose to get on with the joy of living.
~ The End ~
Thank you for reading Honey and the Hitman! I hope you enjoyed Ethan and Honey as much as I enjoyed writing them. Ethan is my first professional killer, and I’m sure if a real assassin were to read this book, they could point out any number of things about the profession I got wrong. I suppose I could’ve found a hired killer to interview for realism, but honestly, I like Ethan just he way he came to me: flawed, bored, morally questionable and thirsty for love. He deserved his happily ever after – because after all, we all do.
Honest reviews are always appreciated – if you’d like to leave one, you can do so at Amazon, Goodreads, or your favorite e-book retailer.
Many thanks!
~Hannah
About the Author
Hannah has been reading romance novels since she was young enough to have to hide them from her mother. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband—former Special Forces and an OR nurse who writes fantasy fiction and acts as In-House Expert on matters pertaining to weapons, tactics, the military, medical conditions and How Dudes Think—and their daughter, who takes after her father.
Hannah loves to hear from readers. You can find her most often on Twitter, sometimes on Facebook, and she occasionally checks her email.
Other Titles by Hannah Murray
Jane and The Sneaky Dom
The Devil & Ms. Johnson
Tooth and Nailed
Knockout
One Hit Wonderful
A Toy Story
Secrets Vol. 27 – The Boy Next Door
Their Perfect Fit