by Lara Swann
Leo spoke before I could. “I was thinking, if we did go back, maybe we could settle somewhere else. It would be safer, regardless of what assurances we receive, and…maybe it would be nicer too.”
His hand ran through my hair, stroking and playing as I let him speak. I hadn’t realized he’d been thinking about this so much. “I always liked the East Coast - there was never much work to keep me there for long, but it was the sort of place I could see myself settling. We could keep these beautiful views, the nice climate…but we’d be in America. Our child would be in America.”
A thrill ran through me at the idea, a sudden sense of rightness settling over me. I looked up to him, grinning. I wasn’t sure how he did this - work out my problem and fix it in one smooth motion, but he’d almost made it an art form over the last year. I never had to worry about anything when I was around him.
I hugged him tightly to me and nodded. “I love it. We should…we should think about it. But yes. I think it’s wonderful.”
His hand clasped the back of my head and he bent to my ear to continue. “Maybe we can have a proper wedding ceremony over there too.”
My mind flitted back to a few months earlier, by the sea in Portugal when he’d proposed and we’d had a wedding party all in one day. As far as I could tell, it had been an entirely spontaneous gesture. He’d gone out to buy ice cream, had been gone for long enough I was starting to worry, and then came back insisting that we had to eat the ice cream at the highest spot on the cliffs surrounding the coast.
His proposal there was one of the happiest moments of my life - especially as it was followed by my favorite ice cream and then a trip down to a secluded cove by the sea, adorned with flowers and soft blankets and the most beautiful food. We’d spent the whole night out there, eating and drinking and talking and laughing - running out to play in the sea and then returning to the privacy of the cove when our teasing became a little too effective.
I shook my head as I pictured it. “No. It was perfect. I don’t want anything else.”
We’d agreed to leave the actual signing-the-documents marriage part for if we returned to the States, but as far as I was concerned I’d had the proposal and the party. And the following weeks had definitely seemed like a honeymoon. Hell, the whole year could have counted, but those weeks were special. Like these ones had been.
I couldn’t possibly imagine wanting some tiny, staid ceremony with people who barely liked us. “We’ll toast it with Jay when we get back - the rest of them don’t deserve a look in.”
I could feel his smile creasing the side of my neck. “When, hmm?”
I grinned too. I’d decided the moment he’d suggested it, even if I felt like we needed some pretense of thinking about it.
“What will you do there? On the East Coast?” I looked at him with interest.
I knew he had no intentions of being a hitman anymore, and wouldn’t go near the mafia again. He had enough money not to worry about it, but I could picture him picking up all sorts of trades for fun.
He gave me a smile that lit up every part of his face. “I’m going to be a Dad, Alessa. I’m going to make sure my child has every little thing I never got growing up.”
My heart fluttered in my chest, and he squeezed me against his side as we turned to the sunset again.
It was an absolutely breathtaking display, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before we headed back inside.
Not when I had everything I’d ever wanted standing right next to me, just waiting to be enjoyed.
THE END
This copy of Hitman’s Captive also includes a bonus copy of HARD – keep reading to enjoy it!
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BONUS BOOK: HARD
A Military Stepbrother Romance
Prologue
Bella
I heard the click and pushed the hotel door open in one quick movement, refusing to give the butterflies dancing in my stomach any chance to make me hesitate.
I want this. I’ve wanted it for months.
That didn’t change the way my eyes darted around when I finally drew up inside. The dimmed lights of the spacious room let me skip over the rich furnishings quickly - taking in the sophisticated, traditional decor and forgetting it a moment later.
At least until I saw the bed. That large, four-poster monstrosity immediately brought to mind what I was doing here tonight, and my eyes flitted away and back within a few seconds, alive with the same anticipation and hesitancy that had plagued me all night. My heart rate jumped as I took it in, and I tried unsuccessfully to tell myself that I wasn’t nervous.
A low chuckle interrupted my thoughts, drawing me to a sight that always banished my doubts and hesitations.
“So, you actually showed up.”
Seth leaned easily against one of the pillars of that extravagant, over-the-top bed. His half-naked form gleamed in the low light, shadows highlighting rock hard abs and a body more powerfully sexy than any eighteen year old had a right to be.
He shifted slightly and his muscles flexed under my gaze, inviting my eyes to run down to the light spattering of hair that arrowed temptingly under his jeans.
Smart jeans - a nice dark gray with an impressive lack of rips or tears. For Seth, that counted as dressing up. The corner of my mouth turned up as I pictured the Principal’s face earlier that evening when he’d shown up in jeans and a shirt to our black-tie graduation ball - I was sure he’d be refused entry for the outrage, but only an hour later he was sauntering across the dance floor, the attention of every girl there regardless of what he chose to wear.
Somehow, Seth had always been able to get away with anything.
His hot gaze sent lust shuddering through my body and gave me confidence in my own sensuality as the heat of his expression seared me.
It was easy to rise to his challenge with a quick quirk of an eyebrow, the role feeling familiar and natural as I ran my eyes obviously up and down his hard, taut body, letting one hand settle on my hip.
“I thought I’d see what all the fuss was about.”
His eyes smoldered as they looked at me, every line of his body dangerous - and unbelievably sexy. He shifted closer with a predator’s grace and I found my breath caught as it always did, pulse beating hard in my ears.
Instinctively, I wanted to rush to him, let my hands touch the firm heat of his muscular chest while his arms encircled me - but I couldn’t move.
Lust was already building within me, everything we’d ever done rising through each movement and gesture now and promising so much more. I stood, caught helplessly, as he approached.
That slow, sexy smile as his eyes read everything in my expression lit my panties on fire, making me fight not to moan aloud as his hand cupped my chin, a gentle finger caressing my cheek while he tilted my head to hover moments from his lips.
His body held apart, he took me with just that one contact holding us together - a sweet, sensual kiss warming my eager lips, keeping it slow and steady as I longed for more, ached for more.
Oh god…
I was already gone. I tried to take it further, to push hard against his mouth, but that one hand and devilish body controlled me utterly, forcing the slow pace as he kept me in that chaste kiss for an age.
By the time his soft lips opened to let his tongue dance with mine, I was lost in the one simple, powerful sensation he was giving me, everything hinging on that sweet penetration, on that almost-innocent joining of our bodies while my pulse started beating with need in my center.
Just as I was sure I was going to have to throw him down on the bed myself, he withdrew, looking back at me with eyes that sparkled with amusement on top of our shared lust.
“Well?”
/>
This time I did moan, not even trying to pretend my customary display of aloofness.
“God…dammit…”
I pressed against him, my hands exploring his strong muscles unreservedly while I let my lips graze his neck, tongue darting out to taste his flesh as his hands came around to grip my ass hard, rubbing my soft body against the thick wall of his - the sweetness he showed only to tease turning instantly to a burning need that I knew would take me over completely.
I smiled against the skin of his neck, shooting him a glance as my hands hovered around his hips, taking a deep reassurance in how solid he was.
“I liked you in that shirt, you know.”
He chuckled again, the roughness of it stirring my blood as his lips brushed across my temple.
“Too bad, baby.”
Yeah, he wasn’t going to be caught wearing that again - not even for me.
A girl could hope…
He drew back and ran his hands down my smooth satin dress, chasing the fabric as it tucked in close to my body. The floor length gown was a regal purple, darker lace covering the tops of my breasts until it met the silken material, the long dress following my curves until mid-waist when it dropped sensuously to the ground, layers of amethyst that shifted as I walked to give a glimpse of the darker layer underneath.
It flattered me in all the right places, and I’d never felt as sexy as I did that night - my graduation…and, if I kept my nerve up, another milestone I was longing to pass.
“I’ve been picturing stripping this dress off you all night.”
His dark promise thrilled me, but I found myself latching onto that spark of amusement between us - a light touch that provided some relief to the intensity that threatened to overwhelm me.
“But I spent so long picking it out…”
One strong brow rose over those deep gray eyes and his mouth teased mine again while he watched me.
“Oh? Surely the most important factor when picking out a dress is how quickly it will make others want to get it off you.”
I scowled up in mock outrage, pushing one hand ineffectually against his muscled chest as I drew myself up.
“Maybe among the people you know, jackass, but I can assure you I’m not that type of girl.”
The quick banter slipped out easily, a bigger part of our relationship than the red-hot desire - the top-of-the-class ‘good’ girl and the notorious bad boy who couldn’t stand each other. When he’d shown up at our school at the beginning of the year, I’d made it obvious how disgusted I was with how quickly everyone had seemed to fall over themselves for a few cocky, arrogant muscles. But for some reason, that disdain had only drawn his attention.
I’d put it down to the perverse desire for something he couldn’t have, and shot down every mocking jibe he sent my way. Until our initial dislike slowly grew into a reluctant respect for the others’ quick-witted responses, the competition heating until we somehow moved beyond that simple understanding of our enmity.
And then he’d kissed me. Sure, I’m convinced it was just another trick to get a rise out of me, but it was the first decent kiss I’d ever had…and after that, we couldn’t stop ourselves.
We poured our passionate dislike into every touch, every kiss, every stolen, secret moment - until my body raged for him at night and my blood lusted after that hard, infuriating body I’d held myself so aloof from. And surprisingly, he didn’t push us further - despite that devilish reputation, our little teases played out for months without a single suggestion for more.
Or at least - not a spoken suggestion. His body…well, that was hell-bent on convincing me.
Which meant that tonight had been my idea. The intelligent, driven academic girl. The butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-her-mouth good girl. The frigid, stuck-up bitch girl. Inviting the most outrageous, inappropriate piece of delicious man-flesh to the hotel room her father had paid for.
The father who would never approve of his good, obedient daughter’s wild behavior.
And my father was right about that, of course. I knew that. He always was. But that couldn’t stop the driving lust, the endless curiosity - and surely, I couldn’t be expected to go off to university still a virgin? Not that I was going to ask my father that particular question.
With a brief frown, I tried to push him out of my mind, the thought of his disapproval sending a shimmer of unease through the hot lust I’d been enjoying just a moment ago.
He’ll never know. And you’ve done everything else he could ever have expected…
Seth’s voice deepened with amusement while his hands explored the smooth dress he was so keen to have me out of, bringing me back to the moment I wanted to lose myself in as he stroked my ass with a firm confidence that had me rocking back against him, his mouth stealing kisses from mine as he murmured into it, turning our easy banter into something more as he stroked the pure desire simmering within me.
“So high and mighty, Baby-Bella, perhaps I should do something to take you down a notch…”
I shuddered at his words and let his mouth take mine again, meeting him with every movement as my body pressed hard against his.
I could feel my chest rising with every quickening breath I took, my breasts sensitive and desperate to be free of the restrictive dress to take the attention he promised so much of. I’d only felt his tongue against them once before, and that had been what finally drove me to insisting on this night.
His hands found the zipper to the side of the dress the moment I raised myself on my toes to murmur in his ear.
“God, Seth…do…”
He laughed again, but it was strained this time, his own desire thick in his voice, and the knowledge of what I was doing to him drove my need even deeper. One smooth movement opened the side of my dress and his head dipped to kiss along the laced edge still holding up at the top, my hands balanced against his broad shoulders as I threw my head back and let him have what he wanted.
He gave a couple of quick tugs of my dress down, before raising his mouth back to me in a frustrated growl, his body pressing up against mine, hips rocking and letting me feel his thick need for me for the first time.
God damn.
What I felt there was far bigger than I’d anticipated, and even as I felt myself clenching with the need to feel him deep inside me, my nerves danced through me again.
“How do I get this damned dress off you?”
His mouth covered mine as he spoke, teasing and nibbling at my lips while I tried to reply, breathlessly gesturing with one arm.
“Over my head.”
Before I’d quite understood just what my answer to that question meant, he had the bottom of the dress in two hands and was drawing it up and over my shoulders. It slipped past me with an ease I wasn’t expecting and suddenly I was standing before him in only the thin, laced material of my panties and bra, my elegant high heels suddenly seeming to enhance my vulnerability instead of the sexual confidence I’d felt only moments before.
My face flushed instinctively as I found myself both trying to cover my exposed body and push him away with a glare.
“Hey—!”
“You asked for it, babe - and see, it worked. Not nearly so smarmy now are you?”
His grin sent both lust and fury spiraling through me and as I stepped forward to explode in indignation he folded his arms neatly around me, pulling me back into him and letting me feel the sudden heat of flesh on flesh.
Electricity sparked between us and I shuddered with the sudden intimacy as every part of me longed to feel him all over. The warmth of his body overtook me and I couldn’t help burying my head against his chest, inhaling his musky male scent as I let my arms find his the hard muscles of his back.
My sputtering embarrassment subsided into a moan as his hands glided across my sensitive exposed skin. He came down to nuzzle at my bare neck, the roughness of his stubble contrasting with his soft lips to make me breathless all over again before he raised his head to look me in the eyes.
It was strange for a moment, having it tumble down around me out of my usual practical tie, but the look in his eyes was making me feel like a different person tonight.
“You look so beautiful like this…Belle…my beauty.”
The whispered caress touched something inside me, making my heart squeeze with a sudden longing I couldn’t name. He’d only called me that a few times - the one name that didn’t seem invented to wind me up - and every time I’d seen that strange look in his eyes.
Before I could stop it, my mind turned to the one place I’d promised myself I wouldn’t go tonight, the words slipping past my lips as I felt him slowly stepping forward, taking me backwards until the full weight of the bed was behind me - the significance of what we were doing hitting me again.
“Seth…what is this?”
His eyes clouded over instantly, and though his body was just as close and warm as it had been before, I felt his mental step back. His slow, arrogant smile covered whatever had been between us for an instant and he kissed me with a rough desire that drove any further thought from my mind.
“We’re having fun, baby…somehow we haven’t killed each other yet and I’m not bored, that’s all.”
I knew that - hell, I didn’t even want it to be more than that. I couldn’t stand this guy, and he definitely wasn’t long-term material. All I’d wanted was a memorable first-time experience - and from all the rumors, I had no doubt how well he would provide that. But sometimes when he looked at me…I gave myself a mental shake of the head, letting myself rise to the light, teasing tone he’d take again. I kissed him back, my hands reveling in the hard feel of his body under me before I shot him a sharp look of my own, a matching haughty smile spreading across my lips.