Assassin by Day

by Tessa Robertson

  Hearing his words makes me both giddy and guilty. I shouldn’t accept what he offers, but I can’t stop myself. “You’re too good for me,” I resolve, fully tangled in his arms.

  I want to stay there for all eternity, but the open gash on my front tells a different tale. “Can we get out of here? Being cooped up for so long makes me agitated.”

  Eddie withdraws his embrace and offers me a forlorn look. “Even though you saved me, the FBI has to detain you. They want to question you about your mother’s whereabouts.”

  “I don’t know where she was heading. She’s not stupid enough to tell me.”

  I place my hand over my injured side. Dear God, how has he not noticed the blood pooling at my feet?

  “Isn’t there another way? I’ll go anywhere they want. I just need to get out of here.” I link my free arm in his. “And I’d prefer if you came too.”

  He mulls over my request then nods. “I suppose I could check you out of holding if you stay with me.” His expression crosses over to wary.

  He doesn’t believe I’ll stick around long enough for a pizza to cool. It’s a valid apprehension. I’m a wildcard when it comes to relationships. One minute I’m at the altar, and the next I’m shooting my fiancé point blank.

  “I won’t go anywhere.” I lean up and kiss his cheek. “You’re all I want to run to.”

  A cunning smile crosses Eddie’s face that makes my heart quicken at the mere sight. I can’t recall the last time we were together in a Biblical sense. It’s been years. Eddie never wanted me to take advantage of my open relationship with Alexei, even with him. That little part of my genetics will be something I need to work on in the months, no, years ahead. This might be the bullet wounds talking, but I want to make a life with the injured man beside me.

  “But first, can I get a mother fucking medic in here? I’ve lost more blood than the Virgin Mary.” I groan when a trickle flows to my shoes.

  Eddie’s features cloud when he scans my torso. “How long have you been bleeding?” He pulls my shirt up and curses.

  “Since the two Stooges left,” I remark, wincing when he reviews the wound.

  “Shit! I didn’t even make sure you were all right when I arrived.” He yanks the door open and calls for a nurse. “You should’ve told me sooner.”

  “Hold up, we’re at a hospital?” I ask, surprised when a nurse dressed in blue scrubs shows up at the door within seconds of the request.

  Eddie motions for me to come toward him. “Yeah, sorry. I couldn’t tell you where we were.”

  The nurse mutters under her breath and I catch the tail end when she mentions the ‘filthy Americans’. “And we’re in Russia?”

  “Yes, but just until we’re done here. Since you’re under my care, the next plane out is ours.” He nods to my side. “Once you’re bandaged up.”

  The nurse roughly tears my bloodied bandage off and cleans the gash. Typical Russian hospitality. “Great, the sooner the better. I’m tired of running. All I want to do is fall asleep and not worry about someone barging in on me.”

  Eddie kisses the top of my head. “I promise you’ll get to sleep in as many days as you want once we’re home.”

  I let out a relieved breath. Virginia sounds like heaven compared to the places I’ve been the last months. Buena Verde wasn’t bad, but Russia is a thorn in the ass. The simplicity of Richmond sounds so good right now, but it also sounds like returning to the past. I don’t want to move backwards. I crave lunging forward in life. Speeding past the horrors of the last fifteen years to the silver-lined clouds in the distance.

  “Maybe we can move somewhere new.”

  Eddie’s face wrinkles into a broad smile. “I think you’re onto something. I could go for some relaxation. Somewhere tropical?”

  “Tropical sounds perfect.”

  He winks at me, and I feel my cynical heart lighten. This man is my dream come true. Eddie Harper is either the dumbest or the smartest man I know. Fuck, I’m lucky.

  The nurse finishes and leaves us without a word. I review her needlework and nod. It’ll do.

  Leading me to the room opposite ours, Eddie signs my discharge paperwork. The agent inside doesn’t seem thrilled to let me out of my cage, but he doesn’t have the final say.

  “Let’s go before anything else happens,” proposes Eddie, and I can’t agree more. He wraps a long arm around my waist, and I sense the tenderness seep through my shirt.

  Knowing his body is also healing from the riddling of bullets, I cautiously loop my arm around his hips. My fingers brush against his sidearm. The fact that he’s carrying it sends my heart into a plummeting tailspin.

  “Why are you wearing your gun?” Since I’ve known Eddie, he’s never kept his gun on his body. Not once. On the side table by his bed yes, but his hip, no way.

  We come to an intersecting hallway and he pauses. “We haven’t found your mother or Demetri yet. I can’t help but think they’ll come for you once you’re out of our custody.”

  “Which is why they held onto me,” I piece together. It makes sense to keep my confinement hidden while Alena is on the run.

  “I want to get out of sight and drop off the planet. Change my name, change my nationality, I don’t care, just give me a new life.”

  Eddie leads me out of the hospital. He scans the tundra, but sees nothing out of the ordinary, so we proceed. “I think I can arrange something. In fact, I’m one step ahead.”

  My puzzled brow makes him chuckle, so he guides me to a parked car. Opening the door, he points to a manila envelope on the seat. “Those are the documents for your new life.”

  I slip into the car and snatch the envelope to review the forms. “Welcome to the world, Mrs. Danielle Jones.”

  I chuckle at having a normal name for a change. “And Mr. Jones is you, I presume?”

  Eddie climbs in next to me and nods before the driver pulls out of the parking lot. “As it turns out, yes.” He holds out his hand. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Pete Jones, your husband.”

  “You can’t possibly believe this will deter her,” I argue, but giggle at the notion of the bland titles to start fresh. “She won’t stop until she finds me.”

  “I know.” Eddie places his arm on the headrest above me and leans in. “But for today, we’re on our honeymoon, Mrs. Jones. Enough business talk. Where in the world are we going?”

  So many places pop into my mind. Aruba, Jamaica, and Hawaii top the charts, but those will be the first places searched. I recall scanning through maps in my bedroom as a child. I read about hundreds of cities that would suffice for our secretive getaway.

  “Curacao,” I decide. “It’s a small island in the Caribbean. They won’t look there. Well, not until we’ve moved on.”

  Checking my arms, I add, “I can get used to the beach and a dark tan.”

  Eddie closes the distance between us. “Then Curacao it is.” He catches my bottom lip with his teeth and nips friskily. “Anywhere with you is where I want to be.”

  My heart pounds furiously. I better not pop my stitches again in the moments to come. All I want to do is kiss him into oblivion.

  Grabbing his face, I kiss the corner of his mouth. “Me too. More than you know.”

  I meet Eddie’s dazzling blues and immediately lose myself in him. If I’m forced to live in the tropics with someone and never look back, I choose Eddie every time. He mirrors all I crave in a man plus some. He’s a marvel. One I’ll never let out of my sight.

  His kiss sends me to a world without spies or family members brought back from the grave. Now, he knows my faults and loves me more despite them. What more could I want?

  “Stop thinking so much,” Eddie’s gravelly voice insists when I fail to match his energy.

  “Sorry, I was thinking about how insane you are to love me.”

  He grins and kisses the tip of my nose. “Well, if that’s case, send me to the asylum with you.”

  I chuckle against his lips. “We can do that anytime. Right now
, I want to kiss you until our minds are wiped clean.” Engulfing his lips with my own, I don’t give him the chance to reply. He does it with his lips, his body, and his entire soul.

  If today is the all I have with Eddie, I’m glad to spend it in his arms. Unfortunately for me, I need to stop thinking like that because five minutes into our drive, the car is t-boned by an SUV.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Fuck whoever thought up the brilliant idea of running away from the skhodka. Oh, wait it was me. Mine and Eddie’s. My eyes pop open. “Eddie?” I scan my surroundings, but all I see is darkness. Where’s Eddie?

  A mild sway accelerates my heartrate. No doubt about it, I’m on a boat. I’m on a boat, motherfucker. Ah, humor, it never gets old.

  I try moving my hands, but find them bound. Judging from the texture, it’s rope. My head pounds from the proverbial smashing due to the collision, whatever day it occurred. Who knows how long I’ve been out?

  “Hello?” I call first in English then Russian. The United States wouldn’t crash into us to capture me. Russia, on the other hand, makes it routine to do precisely that.

  “Fuck whoever tied this knot like a motherfucking prick boy scout.” I strain against the rope. “Damn cock sucking twats.”

  “Glad to see you still swear like a Russian,” a voice echoes from the darkness.

  Craning my neck in the direction the sound was produced, I let out a disgruntled sigh. Fuck my life. Out of the frying pan and into the skhodka fryer.

  I sit up as a ray of light meets my eyes. “Oh, hey, Demetri. I’d say it’s nice to hear you again, but I’d be lying. I’m really trying to turn things around in that department.”

  The warm glow of the lantern in Demetri’s hands casts steady light on me now. I shield my eyes from the brightness, spying him among the shadows.

  “You couldn’t let me go, could you?” I bite back more words pressing at my throat. My face screws into a glower the longer I stare at his gorgeous mug.

  Demetri places the light between us, and I scowl at him. His face filled in with scruff again. Damn him for knowing I like that shit. I keep my eyes on my hands. The knot isn’t too bad when I see it in the light. Give me half an hour, an hour tops, and I’ll escape the binds.

  He scratches his neck as if thinking of his next words. “No. You’re meant to be with me, Mishka,” he settles on in Russian. He could’ve said something else. I wouldn’t have minded anything else except that.

  “God, you’re infuriating!” I set my jaw when he smirks. He needs to stop doing things I like. Those little tidbits remind me how much fun he is when rocking my head against the bed post, and I really need to stop thinking that. Come on, brain! I love Eddie not Demetri. I think.

  “Plus, Alena needs you,” he adds then produces a knife. He slides it between his fingers, careful not to cut himself. Eyeing me with humored caution, he asks, “If I cut you free, will you promise to not run?”

  I shoot a malicious grin at him. My bullet wounds fester and he’s worried I’ll bolt. I won’t get a mile before collapsing. He knows this, so why plague me with the question? Because he’s a dick.

  “Sure,” I respond, and he slices the rope away from my wrists.

  Without thinking twice, I flick my elbow into his nose. Hard. Blood sprays from it like a broken pipe. My act releases the fragile stitches. I hear the sickening rip along with the crack of his nose. We’re both suffering thanks to my action.

  Returning to my spot, I sit cross legged. “See, I didn’t run.”

  Demetri’s face goes from brooding to laughing in a matter of seconds. The brute thinks this is funny? I should’ve hit him harder.

  “Dammit, Mishka. That’s why I fell in love with you.” He pinches his septum. “You’re spunky as hell and not afraid to show it.”

  I toss him a disapproving leer. I’m damned if I slug him and I’m damned if I act like a church mouse. I give up. I don’t know what he wants. “Where’s Alena?”

  “She’s waiting upstairs. I asked to cut you free instead of one of her soldiers.” He wipes the blood from his nose. He didn’t get it all, which annoys me. “I thought we could chat first.”

  “And what’re we chatting about? Our pending nuptials, perhaps? Or a plot to assassinate a well-known actor in Hollywood?” I spit venomously, not knowing where Eddie is hidden. Panic quickly overwhelms me the longer they keep his fate from me. The poor man has been through enough thanks to me. I wouldn’t blame him if he’s cursing my name at this very instant.

  “Not quite, but we can circle back to the nuptials part.” He stands and offers me his hand.

  I glare at it like it’s laced with poison. “I won’t bite.” He grins and shoves it closer. “More than you beg for.”

  Delirious shivers run down my spine at his sultry innuendo. He’s aware what he fucking does to me. He’s turning on my sexual deviancies again, and I hate that I love it.

  “You won’t get me ever again,” I promise through clenched teeth. “I’m Eddie’s and his alone. Return him to me this instant.”

  He shrugs as the door opens. “I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”

  My stomach drops like a ton of rocks. Oh, my God, they killed him! Shit! Fuck! Dammit! Every other curse word! I can’t control my body as it increasingly shakes. “What did you do?”

  “Nothing that can’t be reversed.”

  “Then, you didn’t kill him?”

  “Of course, not. But we may have left him stranded on an island.” Demetri pushes me through the door. “Jack Sparrow style.”

  Shock rumbles in my gut. “You did what?!”

  “Don’t worry. He’s safe. Enough.” He tosses me a forced smile. “Alena insisted on keeping him breathing.” He nods to the stairs. “If it was up to me, I wouldn’t have left him with a heartbeat.”

  “No, you wouldn’t, asshole.” I regrettably climb the stairs with him close on my heels.

  “What’s the plan here? Prod me into a ploy against humanity?” I glance over my shoulder. His face remains unreadable. Super.

  I attain the last step and see Alena awaiting us. Lovely. Mommy dearest is here to spill her wicked plan and my role in it.

  “What’s it going to be, Mother?” I inquire, reaching her. The room is full of her henchmen or whatever you want to call them. I recognize a few, but don’t bother addressing them.

  Alena looks to Demetri then to me. Her face dips from pleasant to perturbed at my handiwork. “Mishka, what happened to his nose?”

  Shrugging, I shoot Demetri a coy grin. “Why would I know? I don’t control your puppets.”

  Alena’s eyes darken, but I’m not swayed. “You two always did butt heads as children.” She pulls Demetri in close with one hand and me with the other. “It was adorable then and it is just as much now.”

  “Sure, it is,” I scoff. “Wait until you see what I do to him later. You’re going to love it.”

  She offers me a motherly glance then chuckles. “It’s of no matter.”

  Gingerly, she pats his cheek then bops his nose. “He’ll heal, but not in time.”

  “In time for what?” My interest is piqued at her vague entry.

  Alena meets my eyes and I feel a chilling breeze. Already, I don’t want to hear her next words. She smooths my hair in a motherly fashion.

  “You and Demetri are getting married.” She points to the man in the corner. “Now.”

  I don’t have time to react. I don’t have time to flee an inch. I’m hauled to the makeshift altar whether I want it or not. I meet Demetri’s eyes. They’re pitiful and guilty.

  Out of all the outcomes I thought my life would come to, this is absolutely not one of them. I think Eddie’s going to be a little pissed when he finds out about a marriage.

  Then again, I could reach for the knife in the small of my back and plunge it in a throat or two. I shove my option to the side. I can’t kill anyone. Not yet.

  I place my hand on the tracker in my hip. The small chip the CIA implanted i
s intact, which gives me momentary relief. They’re keeping tabs on my whereabouts. I expect them to show up any minute. Unless, they want me stranded with Alena. Crap! Yeah, that makes more sense. Why rescue when you can use me?

  “Oh, and if you’re looking for your knife, I took it,” Alena scolds, yanking on my arm.

  “Well, shit.” I’m standing in front of the man who supposedly is ordained to marry people. When I review his scuffed clothes and blue cap, I assume he’s the ship’s captain. Well, he isn’t fantastic-looking. Most men aren’t, though, at first glance.

  “And you’re good with this?” I question to Demetri standing beside me. He looks too goddamn attractive despite the dried blood on his upper lip.

  Demetri tilts his head to me, and I’m torn between wanting to bash it with my skull or shove it between my boobs.

  “We were destined to marry, Mishka. We may as well start now. Too many years have been lost already.”

  “Right because we were supposed to get married what, last year?” I recall, sorting through my memory of our childhood engagement. Pretty sure twenty-six was our wedding due date. He shakes his head but a smirk remains on his face.

  I don’t believe in this destiny bullshit. It’d mean my life is a ploy. No, I create my life. I won’t let it unfold the way my mother wants it to.

  “Fuck this,” I proclaim, not bothering to mute my disdain.

  Demetri grasps my hands and pulls me closer. The almighty captain or whatever you call him begins the robotic vows.

  “You already love me,” he whispers. I narrow my eyes, but he continues. “And you love what I do to you, so stop fighting.”

  I huff when the skipper pokes my arm. “I wouldn’t dream of saying no,” I mumble, aware of the reason for his bony finger.

  Alena clears her throat, but I disregard her. This is as shotgun of a wedding as they come, so I’ll drag my feet as much as I figuratively can to prove my contempt. I sneak a glance around the room. Yep, a few guns are primed and ready if this goes haywire.

  Grinning, Demetri repeats the correct words. The bear of a Russian signs himself then points to us. I can practically hear Alena’s blood race knowing we’re officially hitched. Splendiferous! A kiss is all that remains. I peer at Demetri’s smug lips. If they weren’t so kissable, I’d clout him again.