At first I thought he was just pissed and I was about to let him have it, until I saw the real fear in his eyes, he was terrified.
"I was never in any danger Shane."
I ran my hand up and down his back soothingly; I could feel the pounding of his heart through his jacket.
Fuck, I'd really scared him.
"Take care of that."
He ordered his team before dragging me out of the room.
We took the emergency exit out the back and he had his phone to his ear as we went around the side of the building.
"Any sign of this fuck yet?"
I guess that was a negative because he hung up the phone with a furtive 'fuck'.
I was gently placed in the front seat of the car he had waiting, my seat belt buckled for me before he climbed into the driver's side.
All this was done with not one word to me, I kept watching him out the side if my eye as we drove through the empty streets.
We drove into the underground garage; I was once again helped out of the car, all the way up in the elevator he kept his hand in the small of my back but he didn't look at me and didn't speak.
"Shane..."
"Ssh...."
He kissed me then like I was his last link to life, like he needed me more than air, it was a toe curling, and heart consuming kiss and it scared the crap out of me.
He was not acting the way I expected him to.
Back in the apartment he walked straight to the en suite bathroom and ran a bath.
I sat on the side of the bed confounded. What the hell was going on?
He undressed me and led me into the bathroom, still not a sound.
Helping me into the tub, he got undressed and climbed in behind me, drawing me back against his chest.
His hands came under my arms to rest on my stomach and with a deep sigh, he laid his head back.
My Body stayed stiff for all of two minutes more before I relaxed.
As we got ready for bed, still in total silence I kept calling his name, he kept kissing me into silence.
In bed he drew my body under his, his lips traveling from my neck down to my nipple, where he licked and sucked me until it was rock hard before moving onto the other one.
His large hand made its way down between my thighs, two big fingers moving in and out of me as he made love to my breasts with his mouth.
Lifting his head he took my lips in a kiss as his fingers quickened their pace inside me. When I came, it was long and soft and sweet.
When he climbed on top of me and entered me with our eyes held, it was beautiful magic.
"I love you Arianna."
"I love you too Shane."
Our bodies moved together in perfect sync, his hands on my body bringing me to fever pitch, his softly whispered words of love going straight to my heart.
"There's no one more beautiful or more desirable than you, there never will be."
"Oh..." I felt myself tighten around him.
"I'm going to love you forever beautiful. Will you marry me?"
He took my finger and the ring into his mouth and bit down as he thrust faster into me. I had to wait until I could breathe again before I could give him my answer.
"Yes...yes I'll marry you."
Prince of The City
"You're an assassin aren't you?"
It was morning; I had laid awake half the night thinking about what I'd seen. The guys had called in to report that Ricci's body had been disposed of.
We'd had someone pretending to be Teresa call upstairs to say she wasn't feeling well and that I was sending a replacement, I had one of my other managers go in to finish out the shift.
No one was any the wiser, after a few days I'd plant the rumors that she left because of my engagement to Mouth I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to believe.
Now here we are still in bed, still wrapped around each other and I have no idea how to deal with this shit.
There's no way you can cloister that shit, it's inside of her, I saw it with my own fucking eyes. No matter how much she claims she never wanted to be a part of this life, it was as much a part of her, as it was I.
"Are you.........an assassin?"
She looked at me for a long time until tears formed in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.
"Dad thought I should know all the ways to protect myself, there was always someone after us so from the age of five I've been trained in most hand-to-hand combat starting with Tae kwon do. I know most of the Eastern arts, I can dismantle and put a gun back together in under a minute and a half but I'm still working on that.
My specialty is the bow and arrow; I started taking archery classes when I was about eight or nine.
My first kill was at fifteen; one of dad's enemies sent one of his goons after me. He tried to get me at school. I broke his neck with my bare hands then got sick all over him, dad and uncle Al came as soon as I called them with the cleaner.
They took me home and took care of me until my aunt Charlotte got there then she took over. We never talked about it, only at night when the nightmares chased me from sleep; dad would hold me and rock me until I calmed down again.
After that I made a promise, I'd only kill to protect myself or my own, I don't like it Shane, I hate it, every time I've done it I've lost a part of myself, but there's something inside me that whenever one of my loved ones are in danger, I go into this other place in my head.
I lost my mom I won't lose anyone else I won't lose you."
She hugged me tightly as I put together the words she'd said. Fucking killing machine, what the fuck?
I wonder if she realized she'd just described a stone cold killer? The zone she was trying to describe, that place she went to in her head, the kill zone.
And it was my job to tame that shit, fuck my life, I'd rather take on the fucks who were out to get me than try to keep this one chained.
Fucking Mouth, she looked so fucking innocent too, the girl barely reached my chin, but what I'd seen last night, fuck, if I wasn't getting out of the business I'd hire her. I wasn't telling her that shit though she was a handful already no sense in encouraging her murdering ass.
I wonder if Poppy knew about her special talents? I wouldn't put it past him, with her being a silent killer and me being the fuck the morherfuckers type, they had a match made in mafia heaven.
One thing was for damn sure, I had to hurry up and get my shit together before mouth killed off half the fucking city.
Chapter 8
"Where does it end Arianna?"
"What do you mean?"
"When will you have killed all your enemies, how many others are there?"
"That's not fair."
"It's a legitimate question, obviously you don't care how I feel about it so I'd like to know if this is going to be a lifetime thing, or will you get tired of it soon?"
"Shane why are you talking this way, I thought you'd understand... I thought..."
"What's the point of me going legit if you're going around being a killing machine? Maybe we should both just say fuck it and carry on as before.
We'd kill everyone who opposes us, take over the whole Western faction and parts of the Midwest, why stop now..."
"Shane stop it, that's not what I'm doing..."
"Let me ask you something, what do you think love is?"
"What...what do you mean?"
"If you love someone do you want the best for them or the worst?"
"The best of course."
"Do you think it's best that you be a part of this, something that you admit chips away at your very soul? I know how that feels Arianna, I live it, do you honestly think I could want that for you?"
Do you think I object to you doing this because you're a woman? No baby, I didn't want this for my little brother after I got into the life either, for all that he's a fuck up.
I always thought I wanted to be in the life, I wanted to be like Poppy, I thought it made me tough, a real man, but that's not true. I could be a janit
or and still be a real man.
I had two extremes in my life as examples, my dad would lay down his life to save another, he believes strongly in preserving life, Poppy, Poppy was from another time, another belief.
It wasn't always killings and gang wars; it used to be about family, that's long gone now.
"Regardless of all that, I've come to a decision."
I felt her stiffen against me, she probably expected me to give her an ultimatum, but I was beyond that, this was way more serious than I'd ever imagined.
The woman I had given my heart to was more than just the mouthy baggage I'd come to know, there was a whole lot more to her than that, but what I knew was that she did not choose this life, it had been forced on her by necessity, she was still carrying this torch because she thought she had to.
I was about to make a play that could blow up in my face, but there was no way we could go on like this, I couldn't live with it, it just wasn't in me.
"You're done..."
"What?"
I pushed her head back down on my chest.
"You're done, I'll take over whatever you have to finish in Chicago, I know your strength, I've seen it, I know you're not weak, I respect your strength, be strong enough to stand down Arianna, this became my fight when you became mine, my woman, my responsibility.
Don't make me have to waste time fighting you and our enemies at the same time, you won’t win, you've come to the end of the road.
You've been testing me all this time and I didn't even see it, you wanted to see if I could take care of you, that might not be your exact thinking, but you can't deny you've been testing me, your father and uncle missed that step, they didn't see the little girl who just wanted normal, they applauded your achievements without realizing that you were just doing what you thought was expected, well now I'm telling you, you don't have to do that shit anymore because I've got you.
It's my place to protect you and whatever children we might have, don't get me wrong, I'm proud as fuck that you can handle yourself, but I don't ever want you to have to, so I'm asking you, pass the torch Arianna, let me finish this fight, you’re free."
She didn't say anything for so long that I thought she had gone to sleep, I wouldn't put it past her, but then I felt the wetness against my chest.
"Mouth?"
I tried raising her head to see if she was actually crying but she held on tighter until I felt the slight tremors in her body.
I wrapped both arms around her drawing her in tighter, turning to my side with her held tightly in my arms, I let her cry it out.
Chapter 9
"You can't tell dad and uncle Al." She laid with her head on my chest.
"Never." I rubbed my hands soothingly over her, kissing her hair, my poor baby.
"They'll feel guilty and I don't want that."
"It's okay baby." I dried her tears with my fingertips.
"I love all of you always, everything you are baby."
She was through crying thank heaven, I can't stand that shit, it drives me crazy.
She'd just revealed herself to me, told me all her secrets and in doing so she'd shown me so much more. She'd shown me that she needed as far away from this shit as possible, which meant I had to step up my game.
Her whole youth had been taken up with this bullshit; she should never have felt like she had to be a killing machine in order to survive.
I can't imagine Anna or Sophie living that way, I wanted her to have what the women in my family had, pampering and frivolity, days of shopping and long lunches with friends not a care in the fucking world other than where was the next big sale.
Getting her hair and nails done just because, all the things the girls and ma took for granted, I would see that she got that, all of it.
That was for later though, right now I needed her, needed to feel her warmth wrapped around me, to reassure myself that she was here and whole and mine.
We started with slow kisses and soft touches as I murmured words of love and admiration in her ear; I felt the need to show her just how much she was loved, how much she touched me, what she meant to me.
With her ring hand clasped in mine, our eyes connected, I eased into her until she had all of me.
"My sweet, sexy, little warrior princess."
She liked that, if the tightening around my cock was any indication.
"Kiss me...." I teased her with small strokes as she fought to pull me all the way in again.
She raised her head until her lips touched mine, divine.
That shit went right through me, proving to me once more just how completely I was gone, so gone that she could own me with a kiss.
Her soft hands clutched at my back as I rocked into her, somehow the sight of that ring, my seal of ownership on her finger, made this so much more, like everything was intensified.
I wanted to give her soft and sweet, she needed that, but my body begged me for more.
Animal.
I gritted my teeth to hold back the demands of my wayward libido, even as I pulled out of her and clamped my mouth over her heated sex.
She lifted her hips, taking more of my tongue into her as her fingers tugged my hair. My dick was oozing pre cum all over the sheets as I rubbed myself against them. I needed to calm the fuck down before I hurt her.
Where this wildness came from out of nowhere was a mystery, but it was here and it won't be denied.
I needed to fuck, to claim, to overpower, it was like a beating in my blood.
I forced her to orgasm with my tongue before getting to my knees and turning her none too gently onto her hands and knees.
I pounded into her making her whole body shake, she screamed and looked back at me, eyes wide in surprise.
I'd never quite fucked Mouth like a wild animal before; she'd brought this out of me, this need to take my place as man, to own her in all ways. I needed to conquer.
"Take it..."
She grabbed ahold of the rumpled sheets as I battered her pussy from behind, with my hand on her neck keeping her head down in the mattress, her ass in the air, her pussy stuffed full of my cock she was exactly where I wanted her. In submission.
"Shane...what...oh merciful..."
I used more force in my thrusts as her hips pushed back against me, she was wet and hot and so fucking good.
"Cum...." I commanded her.
Moving my hand, I bit into her neck as I flooded her insides with cum, causing a chain reaction in her.
We came calling for each other.
My life was one of peace for all of two hours, maybe, what made me think this shit would be any different was beyond me.
No sooner had I left the apartment to go get started on what the fuck I had to do than the twins were calling me to tell me what she was up to.
What part of stay your little ass in the house until we catch this finger fuck guy she didn't understand I don't know.
I picked up the phone to call her.
"Where were you off to sneak?"
"My apartment, I need to get some of my things, in case you haven't noticed since you dragged me off to your cave I haven't been back to get my necessities."
"You had a chance to do that and you used it to sneak out and go work at the club, or did you forget that?"
"That was then, this is now...
I hung up the phone, she'd argue me to death otherwise, I was satisfied that the men could keep her in check while I saw to things, they'd assured me that they knew her fighting style now and that they'd just been surprised when they'd seen her in action, but they were satisfied that they could handle their shit.
I'm having a meeting with the three murdering bastards, as I'd grown fond of calling them, it was time to put this shit to bed.
I'm giving mouth one more week before dragging her ass to the doctor to confirm her pregnancy, I hope to heaven that she is and that it keeps her little ass out of trouble.
Why couldn't I have fallen for a sweet little even-tempered girl whose only thou
ght in life was pleasing me?
Even I had to laugh at that shit, I'd shoot myself in the fucking head within a week. With my mouthy one there was sure to be enough excitement to keep me going for at least the next sixty years.
If she let me live that long, she was going to be pissed when she found out what I had planned.
Too fucking bad, I wasn't playing when I said she was done, I knew her game now, if she needed me to prove to her that I was man enough to protect her then I'll just have to show her.
She was going to be a pampered spoilt wife if it killed me.
Chapter 10
I watched them as they walked into my office, three middle-aged men, well one a little older than that.
From their carriage and demeanor you'd swear they were the CEOs of some fortune 500 company, no one would ever guess that they built their empires on sweat and blood, literally.
You couldn't see the steel that held their backs up, just what they wanted the world to see. Men of means, men with purpose.
I have a lot of admiration and respect for each of these men, for what they've achieved by fair means or foul.
I'm the expected heir to their achievements, me and my soon to be wife and children.
It was good that they'd instigated change or else there would've been a rift as I was now at that place where I too wanted change.
I wanted to run an empire that I could be proud of, that my children could inherit without fear.
I'm not turning pussy, don't get that shit twisted, but I do want to spend the rest of my days as more of a businessman and less of a criminal.
I wanted that for Ari more than I wanted anything else, wanted her free of all this shit; I'll make that happen even if I have to knock some heads together.
"Come in and sit down gentlemen."
"Flanagan." Alphonso was the first one in.
"Hey boy." I wish her father would stop calling me that shit but it wasn't serious enough to warrant a confrontation.
"Junior." Poppy had a smarmy smile on his face as usual; I wonder how many times he wore that same look even as he pulled the trigger?
The Assassin (The Spitfire Book 3) Page 4