Contents
Synopsis
Copyright
Excerpt
Title Page
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Rough
A Hitman Romance
by V. J. Chambers
Demetrius “Danger” Gallo
I’m too rough for her. I’m coarse. Untamed. Brutal.
I’m a dangerous man.
The things I want to do to her…
Things like that should never be done to a girl like her.
If it weren’t for the fact I need her hacker skills for this job, I wouldn’t allow her anywhere near me.
Because fighting my urges, well, that’s not easy for a man like me.
Kiera Quill
I’m a virgin, but I’m not a prude.
It’s only that I’ve got rules. My work comes first.
I'm here to rescue a woman from the mob.
He's here to kill a man.
We're busy.
Anyway, he doesn’t think of me that way.
He treats me like a kid sister—one who can’t get anything right.
He might be massive and masculine, with a deep, rumbling voice that gives me shivers.
But that doesn’t mean that I’m attracted to him or anything.
Because if I were, things could get rough.
ROUGH
© copyright 2016 by V. J. Chambers
http://vjchambers.com
Punk Rawk Books
Please do not copy or post this book in its entirety or in parts anywhere. You may, however, share the entire book with a friend by forwarding the entire file to them. (And I won’t get mad.)
My whole body felt weak. My pulse was thrumming inside my skin, and I could feel it pounding everywhere. My clothes felt tight. “What are you doing?” I managed. This frightened me. It felt good, but it was out of my control, and I wasn’t supposed to allow things like this to happen. And with Demetrius? I didn’t even like him.
“Tell me to stop,” he said, and he pushed my sleeve higher. He kissed me in the crease of my elbow.
I had never known that spot was so sensitive. I got shivers everywhere. My nipples stood up straight. I tried to tell him to stop. I opened my mouth to do it, but the only noise that came out was a tiny sigh.
“Tell me to stop, Kiera,” he said in a gravelly voice. “Because I’m not good for you. And you shouldn’t give in to me.”
I reached out and touched his chest. The heat of his skin radiated out through his shirt. I flattened my palm against him and dragged it over the firmness of his pecks and stomach. My hand looked so small against his body.
He kissed my neck.
I shuddered, closing my eyes. I felt small and vulnerable, and he seemed so much bigger and stronger than me, and it felt… right. Boldly, I pressed closer, putting my other hand on his body, sliding them both around to feel his back. His massive, solid, muscular back. Just touching him made the center of me twitch. I turned my face to him and parted my lips and offered myself to him.
And he claimed me, crushing his lips against mine, pulling me close.
The pleasure inside me surged.
Rough
A Hitman Romance
by V. J. Chambers
CHAPTER ONE
Kiera
“Are you talking about Nikolai Mikailhov?” I called over the cubicles in headquarters of the organization where I worked. I was the resident hacker and all around computer genius. I did what the guys needed, as long as it involved electronics.
The guys were all contract killers.
But it wasn’t so bad. We operated under a code here, and that meant only killing bad guys who deserved it. The code stipulated we’d only take hits on other killers.
Demetrius “Danger” Gallo stood up. Only his head appeared over the cubicle wall. “What?”
“Nikolai Mikailhov? The Russian mobster? You talking about him?”
Demetrius’s jaw twitched. It was a shaggy jaw. He was a bear of a man, with big, thick, burly forearms covered in fine, dark hair.
Which I couldn’t see right now or anything. I just had a vivid mental image of his body.
And not that I was attracted to him. I so wasn’t.
I mean, he was attractive, but that’s not the same thing.
I had a strict rule about not getting involved with guys like Demetrius.
He raised his eyebrows. “I don’t remember inviting you into this conversation.”
“Well, you and your cousin are talking pretty loud,” I said. “I can hear you plain as day. So, are you talking about Nikolai or not?”
“Why does it matter?”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t really, only that I just took a job from Mr. Pink offering a giant payday to take out Nikolai Mikailhov. Maybe it’s the answer to all your problems. You do the hit, save your cousin’s girl, and all is right in the universe.” I smiled at him. Honestly, I wasn’t really sure why he was having this conversation in headquarters at all.
Most guys did not hang out here as a matter of course. They would occasionally show up and check in with me, ask for my help hacking into security systems, things like that.
But Demetrius was always here. He was always hanging around me. A few months back, when there was a rogue hitman loose in the building trying to shoot us all, he was insistent on getting me out of there and ordering me around.
He was always saying that it wasn’t a good idea for me to be here alone.
But it was my place of employment for fuck’s sake.
Demetrius drove me nuts.
He sighed heavily, coming out from behind the cubicle. He approached me quickly, taking long strides with his powerful legs. Now, I could take in his entire body, from his wide shoulders to his tapered waist to his enormous hands. He was Italian, and he was all-man. Some guys have this pretty thing going on for them, but not Demetrius. Demetrius was like an uncaged beast, masculine and muscular.
But again.
So not attracted to him.
I looked down, so as not to be distracted by his stupidly sexy body.
“Look,” he said in a quiet voice once he was right next to me, “she is not exactly my cousin’s girl.” He tossed a glance over his shoulder to see if his cousin was following him.
His cousin was peering around the cubicle, straining his neck, obviously trying to hear what was going on.
“She’s not?” I said, my voice also quiet. I wasn’t sure why we were whispering. “Then why he is so gung-ho about saving her?”
“She is a girl he met online through some incredibly over-priced, Russian-mail-order-bride website.”
“What?”
He rolled his eyes. “Yes, my cousin is not exactly Don Juan, and he’s convinced himself that the only woman who will ever love him is one who doesn’t speak English.”
“But if she’s his mail order bride, then why isn’t she here? Why aren’t they married?”
“It doesn’t work like t
hat. It’s like a dating website. They talk online, and then he’s gone over there to meet her like twice. Last time, he asked her to marry him, and apparently, she accepted. So, she was supposed to be getting a marriage visa, but she disappeared.”
“Because the Mikailhovs got to her.”
“Yeah. You know about their little scheme.”
I nodded. The Mikailhovs told Ukrainian girls they were hosting a party, for them to meet rich American men. But once they got there, the women were drugged and captured. They were crammed into tiny boats and shipped off to become sex slaves. It was awful.
“Those kind of parties that they lure them with, they really exist,” said Demetrius. “It’s how Matteo met Natasha.”
“That’s her name? Natasha?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Anyway, he thinks this woman loves him and that if he rescues her that it’ll be like a fairy tale. I don’t know how to tell him that she’s only after his money.”
“You don’t know that,” I said.
He gave me a look.
“And anyway, I’m sure she’d want to be rescued,” I said. “Hell, you should spring all of the women when you kill Nikolai. No one wants to be a sex slave.”
He ran his forefinger over the indent above his lips. “I’m sure no one does, but this is all very complicated.”
“Okay,” I said. “Well, I guess I’ll put the job on the listserv then.”
Demetrius shoved his hands in his pockets, hesitating. Then he shook his head and turned back to his cousin. He started walking back.
His cousin was coming out of the cubicle. “Wait, Demetrius! You’re not going to help me.”
Demetrius glared at him. “I told you Matteo. No names.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “I know your name.”
Demetrius turned to look at me.
I shrugged. “You’re always around, and I got curious, so I did some digging. It wasn’t really hard to find out. You were the rising star of the Gallo crime family until you suddenly dropped off the map. Obviously, you appeared here.” I nodded at Matteo. “I didn’t think you had any contact with your family anymore.”
“The family doesn’t care about Matteo,” said Demetrius.
“I’m worthless to them,” said Matteo. He was a full head shorter than Demetrius with a belly that protruded over his belt and a receding hairline. “They might as well have disowned me. I tried to explain to them that I have Asperger’s, and that it wasn’t diagnosed when I was a child, and—”
“Matteo.” Demetrius held up a hand to cut him off. “You’re going to have to go.”
I cocked my head, feeling sorry for Matteo. “He came to you for help, Danger.” I might have known his name, but I was in the habit of calling him by his handle.
“No one else in the family will help me.”
“There’s a truce with the Mikailhovs,” said Demetrius. “No Gallo is going to screw that up. No one wants a gang war.”
“But you aren’t part of that truce,” I said. “You could help him.”
“You don’t understand,” he said. “The place where they keep these girls, it’s a fortress. I can’t do this job on my own. It’s at least a five-person job.”
“Well, this payday, cut five ways, is still pretty good,” I said.
“It’s not about the money,” he said. “Look, I don’t even know who I’d use.” He turned to look at Matteo. “I would absolutely need a first-rate hacker, someone who could take down all the security in that building, and there’s no one that I can think of who’d I’d trust to work with, or—for that matter—who would be willing to go up against the Gallo family and the Mikailhov family. Getting her out just isn’t doable, okay?”
Matteo peered around his cousin and pointed at me. “She’s a hacker, right? What about her?”
My thoughts exactly.
* * *
Demetrius
“Her?” I repeated. That was the singularly worst idea to come out of Matteo’s mouth today. And Matteo had come up with some pretty bad ideas as of late. “No. Just no.”
“Why not?” said Kiera, raising her eyebrows.
I looked away from her. Goddamn that girl. She made me lose my mind. Ever since I met her, I couldn’t help but be drawn to her. It wasn’t just that she was absolutely beautiful. Curvy and small in all the right places with big, blue eyes. Maybe that was what caught my eye in the beginning. But she was the entire package. Sweet and smart and funny and spunky and…
Well, anyway, she was way too sweet for someone like me.
And I meant to keep my distance. I did.
But…
“You can’t do a job like this,” I said. “Way too dangerous.”
She folded her arms over her chest. “That is just like you. You’re always on about that. You’re paranoid, I swear. The world is not as awful as you seem to think it is.”
“It’s worse,” I said, looking at my shoes. She had no idea what the world was really like, especially the world that men like Nikolai Mikailhov inhabited. I knew. I used to be part of that world too. A pretty little thing like her would get chewed up and spit out. I wouldn’t let that happen.
I might not have been a good man, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t do what I could to protect her.
“It’s because I’m a girl,” she said, lifting her chin.
“Yeah, it is,” I said, meeting her gaze.
“Do you have any idea what century it is?”
“Yeah, well, all the equal rights in the world is never going to make you have the upper body strength to stand a chance against even Matteo here.”
Her jaw dropped open.
“I’m not being sexist,” I said. “You know, you see all those movies with the kick-ass women who can take down all the men and that is just fantasy, sweetheart.”
“Maybe so, but I’m not signing on to be in a fistfight with anyone,” she said. “And don’t call me sweetheart.”
We glared at each other.
It was quiet.
Sometimes, I felt like I spent half of my life glaring at Kiera Quill. I didn’t need to come into headquarters as often as I did. I could do my job just fine without coming into the office. But I liked being near her. And besides, she really shouldn’t be here alone. She was a lone girl amongst killers. All the men who worked here were bad news in one way or the other.
So, I came in to keep an eye on her. I didn’t mean to argue with her.
But I couldn’t touch her.
Arguing with her seemed the only other recourse.
Matteo spoke up. “Demetrius, you said she was the best.”
I whirled on him. “I never said that.”
“You did. You talk about her all the time, and you said that she—”
“Shut up, Matteo,” I said darkly. Did I really talk about her all the time?
“I won’t.” Matteo screwed up his face. “Because terrible things are happening to my Natasha, and I know you don’t believe me that we’re in love, but we are. Don’t you judge what you don’t understand. If you won’t help me, I’ll go in for her myself.”
I sighed. “Matteo, you can’t do that.” He would end up dead if he tried. “You can’t help Natasha if you get yourself killed.”
“You said that Kiera was the best,” said Matteo.
“I am,” said Kiera. “You know I could handle this. I can get any security system taken down. I can do whatever this job needs.”
“That’s not the point.”
“So, you admit that I’d be the best person for the job.”
“No,” I said. “Because if you’re doing this, then I’ll spend all my time babysitting you instead of doing what I need to do.”
“I don’t need a babysitter.” Her nostrils flared. “God, you are annoying. I don’t know where you get off. You act like I’m a twelve-year-old or something, and you’re always in my face, and I wish you’d just…”
“What?” I said.
She squared her shoulders. “You should
let me in on the job.”
“You want a slice of the cash?”
“You know I don’t care about that shit. If I wanted money, I could easily get it. I’m a hacker, remember. I could siphon pennies away from every bank account in the city and have a fortune, and no one would notice.”
I snorted. “You’ve been watching Office Space a few too many times. And even if you needed the money because your grandma had cancer, I wouldn’t let you on this job.”
Her face went white. “Don’t say shit like that.”
“I’ll say whatever I want,” I said.
“Seriously, cancer is not something you joke about, you waste of space.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said, but I wasn’t. “Listen, since I offend you so much, you’ll be happy to know that you won’t be working with me on this job.”
“Demetrius,” interrupted Matteo. “Please.”
I rubbed my temples.
“Natasha is in trouble,” said Matteo. “When I think of what they might be doing to her, it makes me feel so helpless and angry.”
I looked up at him.
There were tears forming in the corners of his eyes. He bowed his head, surreptitiously wiped at them.
Gallo men didn’t cry.
I clapped him on the back. “Hey, come on, man.”
“I’ll help you, Matteo,” said Kiera.
He raised his face to her, eyes wide. “You will?”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “We don’t need him. I’ll put together my own team. I have a roster of the best hitmen in the country, and we’ll—”
“Don’t even think about it,” I growled.
She turned to me with steel in her eyes. “The train is leaving the station, Danger. Get on board or wave goodbye.”
Man.
Fuck this.
I drew in a very slow breath. “Fine,” I said. “You can help.”
She smiled, triumphant.
* * *
Demetrius
I only knew the man sitting across the table from me as Blaze. He was another hitman who worked for the same organization as I did. We didn’t know each other’s real names, only our handles. Blaze’s specialty was explosives. I thought his skills might be useful on this job.
Rough: A Hitman Romance Page 1