Hitman's Captive: A Bad Boy Romance

by Lara Swann

“Okay.” He turned back to whatever he was doing on the laptop.

  Resisting the urge to mutter in annoyance, I turned and disappeared into the bathroom down the hall, carrying the the pile of clothes with me.

  He didn’t even force you to stay in the same room as him.

  Of course, I should be glad that his guard was relaxing. Maybe since I hadn’t tried anything on our trip to Jay’s he was starting to trust me a little more. Or maybe it was just that the front door was locked anyway, and my brief glance around the bathroom told me there was nothing obvious to help me escape. Sighing, I shrugged off the shirt of his that I’d borrowed - forcing myself to ignore the strange pang at losing his masculine scent around me - and stripped down to my underwear.

  The clothes Jay had given me didn’t quite fit, but they were good enough. They seemed a little baggy on me, but that was probably a good thing, as I could make that work. At least they were obviously women’s clothes this time. I glanced at the hat and glasses with a roll of my eyes, but took them back into the main room with me.

  Leo didn’t look up at my entrance, sparking my irritation again. I was done with waiting for him to tell me something.

  Instead, I went to stand in front of him, putting one hand on my hip and raising an eyebrow expectantly. “Well, how do I look?”

  I wasn’t expecting much - over-large clothes weren’t too flattering - but when he glanced up, the familiar heat was back in his eyes. My skin prickled as I met that gaze, and I felt an answering heat building inside.

  See? This is why that attention was a bad idea.

  “You really want to know what I think about that, princess?” He smiled slowly, eyes dangerous.

  “Well, I…” Somehow, my challenge faltered in the face of that response.

  He put the laptop to the side and stood up, predatory grace making my blood hot as he walked over to me, coming close enough that our skin was only inches apart. I should step away, I knew, but I couldn’t make myself break that gaze.

  His knuckles lifted my chin as he spoke, voice low and mesmerizing. “You look stunning in a way no other woman possibly could in over-sized, ill-fitting clothes.” His eyes sparked with humor, and the corner of his mouth turned up as he looked down at me. “Though I preferred your first ensemble, princess.”

  I swallowed, unable to help myself with the heat of the moment. He took his slow time looking me over, and I was left wondering how I could have ever thought his interest had faded - and wishing that maybe, perhaps, it would have been better if it had. Then I wouldn’t have such traitorous feelings about it.

  Then he turned and settled back onto the sofa and I was left struggling to breathe evenly. His eyes lingered on mine, even as he dragged the laptop back into place.

  Well, at least you have his attention now.

  I cleared my throat. “So, how did this morning go? What’s the plan now?”

  The heat in his gaze shuttered off almost immediately, and I was suddenly looking at a face that reminded me Leo was an unknown killer, not someone who set my blood on fire.

  He shrugged at my question. “I have to get some things sorted.”

  Vague and unhelpful, of course.

  I started to press, but he sent me a look that chilled any of the remaining heat between us, and I sighed instead, glancing around the room.

  “So what should I do?” I cursed myself as I said it for how that sounded. I didn’t need him to tell me what to do - I just wasn’t entirely used to being completely left to my own devices. Within the confines of whatever this house provided, anyway.

  “Whatever you want.” His voice was distracted now, and I sighed again.

  I couldn’t see anything helpful as I looked around. There was no TV, so I drifted over to a shelf that held a few books and what looked like a pack of cards.

  “There’s really not much to do here, you know.” I was pretty sure I filtered most of the exasperation out of that.

  “Sorry - wasn’t exactly planning to entertain.” His voice was low and unconcerned as his brow furrowed in concentration.

  I wished I knew what had him so absorbed, but took the hint and with a deep sigh pulled out a couple of the books.

  Crime stuff, it looked like. Not my sort of thing, but I guess it was better than nothing…so long as there were no gruesome murders or kidnapping, maybe it wouldn’t give me nightmares. Maybe.

  The rest of the morning was long and uninteresting. The book I’d picked wasn’t scary, at least, but dull enough that I found it hard to get through and had turned to playing solitaire on the floor instead.

  By the time my stomach reminded me about lunch, I was glad for the simple diversion.

  “Hey - are we ordering more in for lunch?” When I looked up at Leo, he wasn’t so wrapped up in what he was looking at anymore, instead staring distantly into space.

  What was wrong with him?

  I wanted to pretend that I was concerned purely to try and find some advantage, but something else tugged at me. Whatever he was doing, he didn’t look happy about it.

  He ran a hand through his hair and shook himself as he finally noticed me, some of the life coming back into his gaze. “Ah, there should be pasta and sauce somewhere.”

  He shut the laptop and walked over to the kitchen, rattling around the cupboards there and eventually emerging with a couple of pans and the food he’d mentioned. I followed, more because I was bored to death of solitaire than because he needed help with the food.

  I leaned back against the counter as I watched, feeling a little grateful that I was eating something other than fast food.

  After giving him a good few minutes of silence, I asked again. “So what’s the plan?”

  He exhaled with a mixture of amusement and exasperation, glancing at me in between stirring the sauce - tomato something, from the smell and color. “What makes you think I have any reason to tell you anything, Alessa?”

  I grunted in annoyance as I considered that - he had a point, maybe, but for some reason I’d expected to be involved.

  “I don’t know.” My tone was somewhere between sarcastic and insistent. “Maybe because I have a very vested interest in the outcome of all this.”

  He only shook his head as he started scooping out pasta and sauce into two different bowls. He handed me a fork and sat down with his own dish.

  I spent a nice moment contemplating stabbing him with it, then sat down and started eating instead, meeting an amused glance that told me he knew exactly what I’d been thinking.

  He didn’t answer my question though, and I was annoyed enough that I didn’t speak to him for the rest of the afternoon - not even to complain at the tediousness of it all.

  First terror, then embarrassment, now boredom? There are worse problems, right?

  Even so, it put me in a foul mood by the end of the day - made even worse by the book I’d finally continued reading. What had started out dull became more and more horrific, until I was left terrified and upset by the end, regretting ever picking the thing up in the first place.

  I had just about settled my frayed nerves when Leo interrupted to ask about dinner. Another takeout - this time from some Chinese place.

  He’d remained distant and unhelpful all day - not that I’d bothered to pay him the attention to care. Occasionally he disappeared to make a couple of calls, or got up to pace irritatingly around the room, but since he wasn’t interested in telling me anything, I refused to waste my energy being concerned by how on edge he seemed.

  Life under my father’s strict rules was seeming better by the moment.

  It took until we were headed up to bed again, and I was feeling ready to yell and scream just to break the static monotone of the day, for him to finally say anything to me. And what came out when he did, did not make anything better.

  He picked up the thread of our earlier conversation as if there hadn’t been a day’s worth of silence in between. “Jay said the city isn’t safe anymore - whatever I do next, I’ll need to do i
t from somewhere else. I’ve spent the day planning things out, and tomorrow we’ll leave for Chicago.”

  “What?!” My mouth dropped open and I stared at him, trying to fight the sudden panic. “I’m not going to Chicago!”

  While I was still in New York, there was a good chance that my father would find me - and I knew this city. If I somehow managed to escape, I’d be able to work out where I was and find somewhere safe to go. In Chicago, I didn’t stand a chance - Leo could do anything to me and no one would ever know.

  Breathe.

  Leo was giving me an amused smile, and I knew what he was thinking - it wasn’t like I’d consented to being here, either. But in my own way it felt like I had when I’d made the decision to stop trying to escape last night.

  “We don’t have much choice, princess.” The usual cocky humor was in his voice, but I could hear the weariness underneath it as well, suddenly reminding me of how little sleep we’d had.

  Today hadn’t been easy for him either, and I didn’t miss the use of the word we. It looked like he didn’t want to leave, either. Maybe that was what had been upsetting him?

  Damn it, why do you care?! If he doesn’t want to leave, he can do whatever the hell he wants - you’re the hostage here!

  “So what about me? You said you’d let me go as soon as you figured out who wanted Viktor dead - but now you’re fleeing to Chicago!” I was trying really hard not to exclaim about this, but I could feel my voice rising at the edges as the fear I’d felt yesterday came back again.

  Leo stepped closer, almost as if he wanted to reassure me - as stupid as that was. “I said I’d let you go once I’d sorted this. Whether I sort it here or in Chicago - however it works out - when it’s done, I’ll let you go.”

  I didn’t believe him. Maybe it had been one thing when he’d thought he could clear it all up here, but in another city? All that distance away? It simply made no sense not to take the easy way out - and for a killer like him, it was obvious what that would be.

  “Hell, I’ll even pay for your ride home. I said I’d let you go, and I meant it, Alessa.” He must have seen something in my expression, and the words jolted me, something about them ringing true. Why would he talk logistics if he had no intention of following through?

  Either way, the idea of leaving still terrified me.

  I shook my head. “I have no reason to believe you’ll keep your word, Leo.”

  He paused for a moment, seeming almost surprised at my suspicion. “I’ve never broken it.”

  “Sure thing - you kill people for a living and take me hostage, but I’m supposed to just accept that you’re honest when you say you’ll let me go?” I scowled up at him.

  A muscle twitched in his jaw as he gritted his teeth, but his eyes were distant, looking beyond me as my words washed over him. Then he snapped his attention back to me, something grim and dark in his expression.

  He gave an echo of that cocky smile, but his voice was low when he started speaking. “Okay, princess, let me give you a reason. Unlike the life you know, growing up on the streets doesn’t give you much. Or anything, really. Nothing to take pride in, nothing to care about - so you end up making it for yourself. In yourself. And that was one thing I gave myself - I made my word iron. Something important about me, something I could stick to and use to guide me through whatever other shit I did. Guys got to know about it, too - might have been one of the things that kept me alive. After all, if I say someone’s dead…that starts meaning something.”

  His words reverberated through me, and I felt an instinctive horror at the grim picture. I didn’t know anything about this man - where he’d come from, what he knew. I guess it made sense, that he grew up on the streets and in gangs. That was how you came to be a killer, right? But something in me twisted at the knowledge of what his life had been.

  His gaze bored into me, and I tried not to shudder, the weight of it all pressing down until I didn’t think I could stand this conversation anymore.

  “Is that all you ever think about - killing and death?” It might not have been the most fair thing to say after he’d told me something so personal, but it was how I felt.

  He blinked at me, and to my surprise some of the dark intensity from his expression faded and changed, his mouth curving in that arrogance I’d become used to. As it slipped back over his face - knowing what I did now of what was underneath - I wondered whether it was, in part, a mask. Something to disguise the rawness beneath.

  His body stepped closer in one seductive movement, and then his hand was curving around the side of my face again, tucking my hair away. Despite the horror I’d felt only moments earlier, I had to fight not to lean into the warm callouses of that hand, my body wanting to sway forward and feel every hard muscle in evidence under his shirt.

  “Ohh no, princess. I promise my word is good for more than that.” His eyes lit with a dark heat as they lingered over my body. “See, if I tell you that I can give you more pleasure than you ever dreamed possible…that I could make you cum a dozen times on my hands, mouth, cock…that you only have to ask, and I’ll make you scream for me…well, you can be sure that’s all true, too.”

  My pulse skyrocketed. No one had ever spoken to me like that before. I dismissed my earlier momentary thought that the arrogance was a cover for something - no, Leo was just that god-damned cocky. Heat flared inside me, followed by a throbbing ache between my thighs as my mind replayed those seductive, dangerous words.

  His mouth hovered inches from mine, those blue eyes blazing with a lust that matched the burning deep inside me.

  Oh god, oh god, oh god…

  I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t feel this. It was wrong. He’d kidnapped me!

  But damn, I’ve never seen such a powerfully handsome man in my life…

  With effort, I jerked back a pace, shaking my head and trying to clear it, unsatisfied promises whispering along my skin with echoes of what his hands would do.

  “So that’s it? You’re dragging me to Chicago because you want me like that now?” It was meant to come out as a challenge, a clear rebuttal of everything he’d just said - but instead the breathy whisper that left me made it sound like I was hoping for exactly that.

  His smile came back as he met my dazed expression. “You know I’ve wanted you since the moment I first saw you, Alessa - but no, that’s not why you’re coming with me to Chicago. Though since that’s the second time you’ve asked…I’m beginning to wonder whether it’s what you want.”

  The growl of his voice sent shivers down my back and I gasped in a deep breath. Why the hell was this so difficult? One man should not be able to do this to me - especially Leo.

  With effort, I recalled what we were supposed to be talking about, desperate to move away from this conversation.

  “Fine! I believe you’ll keep your word about letting me go.” I threw it at him, still hating the idea of going to Chicago, but unwilling to spend another moment in this conversation.

  Leo clearly didn’t feel the same way, giving me a far-too-naughty smile. “Good. And does that mean you believe everything else I promised you, too, princess?”

  “Argh!” I stepped back again, shaking my head and retreating into the bathroom. I slammed the door before he could say another word.

  There was a low chuckle through the door behind me, and cursed him as I moved around the bathroom, taking a few minutes before I could calm down enough to pay any attention to what I was doing.

  At least he didn’t insist on me leaving the door open tonight - after what had just happened, that would have been too much. My heart still pounded hard in my chest, and I felt uncomfortably needy between my thighs. I wasn’t used to this at all, and I had no idea how I was supposed to hold up against that kind of talk. Especially when I’d secretly dreamed of a man who would give me everything he’d just described—

  I cut that thought off and turned on the tap, letting the cold water and rushing noise block out some of what he’d said.

&
nbsp; I was afraid I’d never be able to forget it. That I’d compare those claims to whoever my father next selected—

  Oh god-damn it! Forget it, Alessa. Just. Stop. Thinking.

  It took much longer than it should have for me to emerge from the bathroom, and I was hoping that by the time I came out, the lights would be off and I could slip into bed without looking at Leo. The fact that he was going to be right beside me for the night was hard enough to deal with.

  Except when I tentatively opened the door, he was leaning against the wall opposite, obviously waiting for me. I gritted my teeth, fists clenching as I prepared to deal with whatever else he might say.

  Instead, he headed past me for the bathroom, and I let out a sigh of relief - until he added over his shoulder. “If you change your mind - that offer is always open, princess.”

  The door shut behind me before I had a chance to retort, and I was left breathing hard and trying to forget his words. I didn’t need to know that. I was not going to have sex with my captor. It was probably all just some asshole mind game to distract me from trying to get away now he’d told me about Chicago.

  You don’t believe that for a minute.

  Ignoring the inconvenient inner voice, I turned the light off and crawled into bed, trying to relax myself enough that I could possibly consider sleep.

  When Leo slipped in minutes later, I tensed, but he didn’t say anything more, and apart from the weight of his powerful form on the bed, I could at least try to pretend I was alone.

  My mind swirled between fear at leaving New York City to a raging desire that seemed impossible to quell, until I was sure I’d never manage to sleep tonight. Just when I’d convinced myself of that, I found myself starting to drift - the lack of sleep catching up with me until my body’s exhaustion overtook even my tumultuous mind.

  Chapter Nine

  Leo

  I jerked out of a light sleep to Alessa crying out next to me.

  Heart racing in alarm, I looked over to see her thrashing beside me. My eyes adjusted quickly to the dim room, and I could make out the covers caught around her lithe body, with the shirt of mine she’d worn to bed twisted among them and sweat gleaming on her forehead. I frowned as I watched her, not sure what to do. I guessed she was having a nightmare, but I had no idea whether she’d want me to wake her up - was it a good thing to be woken from something like that only to face your kidnapper?