He shifted over closer to her and put his hands on her thighs. The warmth spread through her body like wildfire. As she looked into his eyes she cupped the back of his head and laced her fingers through his soft hair. His fingers slid the silky fabric upward and found her naked. Her breath caught. She didn’t wear panties to bed and tonight was no exception. She tilted her head back and looked up to the ceiling.
He took her hand and placed it over the bulge in his thin boxers. “I want you so bad. Can you feel how much I want you?”
The hardness of him in her hand was more than she could stand. She wanted him more than anything she’d ever wanted. She stroked him through the fabric and felt him grow even more. His mouth claimed hers. Rough at first, then gentle and so sweet that his kisses touched her very soul. Like she was home, like she belonged.
They only stopped long enough to remove the little clothing they had on. Reid gave as much love and energy as he took. He was an amazing lover and she never wanted their love making to end. She belonged in Reid’s arms and couldn’t deny it any longer.
After they were both breathless and lie clinging to each other, it didn’t matter if she was the Julianna that Reid had loved or the Julianna that didn’t remember her past. In that moment, she was his and he was hers.
It was good to be vulnerable, to finally just give herself to someone without worrying about enemies and evils. And then all the emotion that she’d been trained to push down for the past six months came rushing out. She sobbed on Reid’s smooth, strong chest. And the tears were real, from deep down. He held her and let her cry until there were no more tears to fall, then he placed kisses all over her face.
“Feel better?”
She smiled. “Yes, I do.”
“Good, because I intend to make it my mission that you feel good from now on.”
How could she have ever forgotten a man like Reid Castleton?
***
Reid paced the small hotel room. Making love to Julianna last night had been awe inspiring. Different than before. Better. He hadn’t thought that possible, but it was. And because of that, confusion and guilt were weighing on him. It was as if he’d cheated on old Julianna with new Julianna. How did that even make sense? He had been the one trying to convince Julianna she was the same woman as she always had been, but last night had taken him for a loop.
Was it her that had changed or was it really him? For half a year, even after he thought she was dead, he hadn’t strayed. Making love to his fiancée was embedded in his brain. Then why did last night top anything he’d ever experienced with her before? Maybe it was the adrenaline in them both, the frustration over what they were going through. Guilt had nipped at him last night when she’d brought him to new sexual heights over and over again and for a second he didn’t care if she remembered the past. He’d hoped she stayed this new and improved version of herself. Jewels looked over at him and smiled.
Son of a bitch, he was a bastard.
She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “We have to find Boss and put an end to this. I’m ready to live life again.”
The warmth of her soft skin was a reminder of all they’d shared the night before. “We will. I promise you.”
“I was thinking about my file and what it said, that I was going to be a police officer.” She paused and looked out the window to the cloudy sky. “Have you thought about where we go after this is all over?”
“You mean, have I thought about what it would be like to arrest the bad guys the old-fashioned way instead of executing them on the spot?”
“Yes, I mean it’s not like we can put kick-ass assassin down on a resume.”
He hadn’t given it much thought. His main concern was getting them both out of this thing, whatever it was, alive. “We’ll figure it out later.”
She removed her arms from around him. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to get some more ice for our sodas.”
Reid started to tell her he’d go instead, but he didn’t want her to think he couldn’t trust her not to run away. “Okay. Watch your back.”
She paused in the doorway to grab her gun and the ice bucket. “Always.”
Two minutes passed and Julianna hadn’t come back. The hair on the back of Reid’s neck stood up. He grabbed his Glock and counted sixty more seconds. There was no way it took longer than three minutes to fill an ice bucket right down the hall. He opened the door and peered out. Silence along with an empty hallway greeted him.
He made his way down to the ice machine room. His heart dropped when he saw a man slouched over in the corner, a gunshot wound to the head. Melting ice scattered all over the floor. Reid bent over to check the guy’s pulse and caught a reflection behind him in the soda machine. He turned and connected his elbow with the man’s skull. He knocked him unconscious, but didn’t kill him. Panic surged through him. “Julianna?”
“Julianna!” Frantic, he ran down the hall searching for her. His heart raced faster with every step down the stairs and into the lobby. His eyes scanned the parking lot. He felt as though he couldn’t breathe. He was too late.
She was gone.
Chapter 8
Julianna swirled the drink before turning around and handing the glass to her mark. Nicholas Sutherland was an illegal weapons dealer and had to be stopped. Lives were in danger. He winked at her and took the poisoned scotch. The guy actually thought he’d be sleeping with her soon. He’d be sleeping alright… for eternity. She smiled as he tipped back the glass and drained the glass. Her job was complete.
Coldness and darkness enveloped her. And pain. Julianna struggled to open her heavy eyelids. Something wet and sticky ran down her face. Her head throbbed and stung. She brought her fingers to her hairline above her forehead. It stung.
Blood. Her blood.
Her whole body ached. She’d been attacked from both sides. She’d gotten a shot off on one of them, but the larger one hit her with something. The metal ice bucket she’d dropped, maybe. Feeling the vibrations and from the size, she guessed that she was inside the trunk of a luxury-sized car.
The man was going to kill her and dump her body. Maybe the only reason she was still alive was because he had to grab her before Reid came after them. Or maybe she was bait. Panic rushed through her body. She wouldn’t let them lure Reid to his death. He had to be alive.
She couldn’t handle it if she lost him too.
The speed of the car told her they weren’t on a highway… she could escape. Instinct took over. She ran her hands along the metal between the taillights for a trunk release. Her fingers were frantic, but found nothing. Remaining calm, she pulled up the thin carpet along the driver’s side and yanked on the cable. She pushed up on the trunk a crack. No moving cars were in sight from her meager view of the street.
As soon as the car slowed down, probably for a light, she climbed out of the trunk and rolled onto the street. As much as her body protested, she ignored the pain and ran as fast as she could. She didn’t look back when she heard the car screech to a stop.
Before the man could catch her, she ran toward an alley. She dashed in between the two brick buildings. The motion made her dizzy, but she kept moving forward. Every screaming muscle in her body didn’t stop her from climbing over a fence.
Once back on the pavement, she looked back to make sure she lost the guy. Confident that she had, she slowed down to catch her breath. She touched the gash on her head again. Still bleeding. She wiped her oily hands on her jeans without looking. She needed to get help fast. Pushing away the faint feeling, she peered around one of the buildings to gather her bearings.
If Reid was still alive, where would he look for her? She had three options, his foster brother’s church, which was probably about an hour on foot. The sketch artist that had gone gaga over Reid was maybe thirty minutes away. Option number three, Weasel, fifteen minutes tops. Though she hated the thought, Weasel was her best option and would ask the least questions.
***
Re
id rushed back into the hotel. When he got back to the ice machine, the man he’d knocked out was gone. Son of a bitch. He pulled his sleeve down and used it to remove the dead guy’s gun and wallet. If they guy followed ETE 7 protocol he wouldn’t have any identification on him. He opened the wallet. Just as he thought, no ID. There was a small puddle of blood in the center of the space—he ran down to their room to get something to wipe it up, just in case it was Julianna’s. They didn’t need the local homicide investigators after them. God, he hoped the blood wasn’t hers.
His heart thumping, he opened the door and rushed to the bathroom for a wet towel. As he was about to leave the bathroom, a shadow appeared outside the room. Julianna wouldn’t be sneaking up on him. Without hesitation, Reid dropped the towel and aimed his Glock lower than normal. He fired off a few shots. He wanted the enemy incapacitated, not dead. At least not yet. Reid dodged back behind the wall, barely escaping the other man’s line of fire. He listened. The sound of a fall followed by guttural grunts and swearing. Reid came out with his finger on the trigger.
The hit man was on the carpet bleeding from his thigh and stomach. Reid kicked the gun away that had fallen from the man’s hand.
“Where is she?”
The bald man in his early thirties clutched his abdomen, red seeping through his fingers. The man was losing too much blood. He didn’t have long to get what he could out of him. “She’s dead.”
“No, she’s not. If you tell me where they took her, I’ll call you an ambulance before you bleed out on this nice carpeting,” Reid lied.
“I’m not going to live, so why don’t you just put me out of my misery?”
“Not until you tell me where she is.”
“If she’s alive, she won’t be for long.” His voice was raspy.
He kept his calm, summoning all his training. “Look, Boss is a liar. You have no idea what’s going on.”
“I know exactly what’s going on. You and that slut are traitors.”
Reid stepped on the man’s thigh, pressing the bullet deeper into the wound. Satisfied he was inflicting more pain on the SOB.
“I hope her dea—” His head slumped over and his bloody hand fell to his side.
Anger surged through Reid as he checked for a pulse. The guy was dead. There wasn’t much time; he had to clean the crime scene. He ran back down to the ice machine and wiped the blood and the melted ice off of the floor. He quickly rushed back to their room and wiped down everything they’d touched, then grabbed their clothes and Julianna’s brush and lip balm. He tossed their stuff into the bag, except for his cap which he put on his head.
He gathered the dead guy’s wallet and gun. Same deal, no ID. He carefully wrapped the guns and wallets inside a towel and put them into the bag. With one last look, he opened the door with the soft cloth he’d been carrying around to clean prints. He took the stairs and headed to the first floor. He pulled the fire alarm and waited for people to trickle out into the lobby.
He knocked on the door marked security. No answer, so he picked the lock. He grabbed the footage of the last couple days and left the room. Sirens were closing in. A crowd of people huddled together in the lobby. Reid calmly exited the hotel without a backward glance. Messenger bag clutched in his hand, he grabbed a taxi and headed to the one place he hoped Julianna had made it to. Jewels was alive, she had to be. She’d the same training as he had, she would escape.
***
Weasel opened the door and Julianna fell into his arms. “Shit! What happened to you?”
She didn’t know how she’d made it there without losing consciousness. “I need to stop the bleeding. Do you have a clean shirt?”
His eyes widened and he froze with fear.
“Now, kid!”
He ran over to his bed and grabbed a folded T-shirt. He handed it to Julianna.
She pressed the soft cloth to her head. “You have to clean my cut and stitch me up. Does your mom have any sewing stuff upstairs?”
He stared at her as if she weren’t really there. As if she wasn’t in his apartment bleeding all over his one clean shirt. “What’s happening? Where’s Reid?”
“We can talk about that later. She wanted to close her eyes. The urge was getting stronger. “Alcohol. Sewing needle, boil it.”
Weasel picked up his metal trash can and puked.
Julianna couldn’t resist the darkness any longer—she closed her eyes.
***
“Jewels, wake up.”
She felt safe and cozy. She didn’t want to listen to the voice pulling her out of her warm cocoon.
The voice came again. “Wake up. I’m here. You’re okay.”
Reid’s voice.
She willed her eyes to open. Reid was holding her on Weasel’s bed like a baby wrapped up in a blanket. The man was really good at making her feel safe.
“Here, take this.” He handed her a couple pills and a glass of water. “Ibuprofen, it’ll help the pain.”
She nodded taking the medicine and swallowing it down with complete faith. She trusted him with her life. They’d come a long way since the cocktail party.
Her fingers rose to her head.
Reid grabbed her hand. “Don’t touch it. I stitched you up.”
She tried to close her eyes again.
“Stay awake.” He put the glass of water to her lips. “Drink.”
She obeyed and sat up. Her body ached and stung. “Where’s Weasel?”
Reid shook his head. “When I got here, you two were passed out on the floor. I thought you were both dead. I guess he fainted. He had a needle and thread still in his hand. After I woke him up, I took over. Good thing I knew where to find you.” He kissed her cheek. “I told Weasel we needed to crash here for a couple hours. He went to get us some food.”
Her stomach rumbled at the mention of food.
He threaded his fingers through hers. “What happened?”
“I was filling the ice bucket when two men came up behind me. One grabbed me and I dropped the bucket to reach for my gun. I shot one of them. The other hit me with something, the metal bucket, I think. My head is a little fuzzy. I think that’s what happened. It was all just so fast.”
Reid nodded. “I found the guy you hit… nice shot by the way. Another guy came after me and I got off a couple hits on him. He died before I could get your location. I wiped our prints and grabbed the security footage.”
“I woke up inside the trunk of a car. I managed to escape and came here.”
He brought her scraped hand to his lips and kissed it. “I knew you would get away.”
“How many ETE 7 members are left?”
“Just the guy that snatched you, and Boss.”
“That was too close. We both could have died. If we could only go to Senator Grant’s and—”
“We can’t. He is too public, too untouchable. He could have us thrown in jail and it’s not like we can just off a Senator without anyone noticing. We’ll have to find Boss without him.”
“I hate this. Before ETE 7 turned on us, my job was so easy, clean. I thought I was doing something good. I never doubted that ETE 7 was the right side to be on.”
Reid ran his finger along her arm. “Me either. Boss concocted a great picture in our heads like we were some kind of super heroes. The more I think about it, I think he was behind that explosion that took you away from me. What I can’t figure out is why he bothered to keep you alive. Why didn’t he just let you die?”
Reid really knew how to sweep a girl off her feet. “Gee thanks.”
“I’m serious. It makes no sense. Why keep you alive, only to have a hit ordered on you?”
“I don’t know and my head hurts too much to think about it right now.”
“I brought you something.” He held up the messenger bag and opened it.
“My clothes?”
“I made sure there was no trace of us at the hotel. I grabbed the other assassins’ wallets and guns, too.”
She kissed him on the cheek be
fore stripping out of her ripped, bloody shirt and pulling on a clean one.
The handle turned and Reid pointed his Glock at the door.
Weasel walked in holding a bag and drink carrier. “Don’t shoot.”
Reid lowered his gun.
When Weasel saw Julianna his face reddened. “Hey, sorry about that, I’m just not used to seeing a woman bleeding. Or anyone… bleeding.” He sat the drinks down and dumped the bag out onto the desk. Three cheeseburgers and three sacks of fries spilled out.
Reid grabbed Julianna’s and handed them to her. “Five second rule.” He winked.
It was no time to be picky. Julianna unfolded the cheeseburger paper and ate a bite.
Weasel took a mouthful of fries. “So, who are you guys? Like CIA or something?”
Reid looked at Julianna. If only. “Or something. Look Weasel, we owe you. But we can’t tell you anything, understand?”
He shrugged and shoved the cheeseburger into his mouth. They ate in silence.
Between the ibuprofen and food, Julianna started feeling better. She turned to Weasel. “Don’t worry about it. I hate the sight of blood, too.”
He grinned. “Thanks. Just as long as whoever did that to you isn’t coming after me.”
“I’m positive that I wasn’t followed. You’re safe.”
Reid crumpled his food wrappers into a ball. He took out his wallet and counted out five hundred dollars. He wanted to trust Weasel to keep quiet, money never hurt. He gave the cash to the kid. “This should cover your trouble.”
“Thanks… I think.”
Reid held out his hand to Julianna. “Do you think you are strong enough to get moving?”
“Yes. We should go.”
“We better go back to taxis for a while. If Boss found us at the hotel, he’ll find us again.”
“Okay.” Stealing the cars made her feel bad anyway. She might have erased people for a living, but she had morals.
Chapter 9
Julianna sat on the hotel bed rubbing antibacterial ointment on her scraped hands. She’d already dabbed some on her stitches. If it weren’t for her thick sweatshirt and jeans, she would’ve suffered from more than just a few scrapes on her hands. She cringed—the ones she had were bad enough. Although, she did have four nasty bruises on her thighs and arms.
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