“My first murder was an accident, too,” he said, then told her about Elena.
“Fascinating. I wonder…if you and Elena had never crossed paths, would you have ever killed anyone?”
“I’ve been asking myself that same question for over a decade. I still don’t have an answer. Did you feel any guilt over Liam’s death?”
“At the funeral, when his mom started crying, but that’s about all. I was done with him and ready to move on with life.”
“You mean move to Missouri.”
She nodded. “I don’t need to go into detail about Jordan and Theo’s murders. It’s not important. The heart of the matter is why, correct? You want to know why I did it. It’s quite simple, really. Those butterflies I mentioned, I’m addicted to them. And when my husbands took them away, I got a little…cranky about it, and then I was done being married.”
“Normal people would ask for a divorce.”
“I think we both can admit that neither of us are normal,” she said with a smile, then sighed. “Theo and I were going through a divorce when he died. I actually asked for one. I’d already killed two husbands and didn’t think I could get away with it the third time around. The night Theo died, we argued, then he drank himself stupid while he worked on a car he was restoring. I’d gone to the garage to make sure it was locked for the night, and that’s when I saw him. Sitting in the driver’s seat, out cold. The radio on and the key turned to the accessory position. I was so angry at him for taking away my butterflies. Instead of trying to wake him up, I started the car, then went to bed.”
“You didn’t plan any of the murders.” He rested his head against the cabinet door. “But you planned mine.”
“I most certainly planned Jordan’s. He was the only one I truly wanted dead. The idiot made the mistake of hitting me. As for you…” She rubbed the spot on his leg where she’d injected him. “I wasn’t going to let you die.”
“Why? It would’ve been the perfect murder.”
She came closer to him and touched his jaw. “I love you. When I found the photos of the women, I thought about your dark urges, then I thought about leaving.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Would you have let me?”
He smiled into her palm. “No.”
“In all honesty, and this will sound crazy, I still trusted you. In my heart, I never once believed you’d kill me.”
His body back to normal, he slid his fingers into her hair and cupped the back of her head. “Until I found out about your husbands, I had no intention of killing you. All I wanted was to love you.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry I tried to kill you. It’s been about twenty minutes since I injected you. Are you feeling better, or do you need another injection?”
“I’m good right now, but let’s keep it handy just in case.”
“You should probably go to the emergency room.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because I need to finish making love to my fiancée.”
A tear slipped down her cheek. Her gaze uncertain, she searched his eyes. “After what I did to you and my husbands, you still want to be with me?”
“I’ve murdered nineteen women and three men, and you’re still by my side,” he countered.
“I know, but…how are we going to handle this? What if you get the urge to kill? What if my butterflies die? I don’t want either of us to worry about what the other might or might not do.”
She was right. Neither of them had a great track record with the opposite sex. Then he considered the idea he’d had for their date nights. He inched her mouth closer to his. “Have you ever considered killing just for the pleasure of it?”
“Not until this moment.” Her eyes sparkled with excitement as she twined her arms around his neck. “Are you suggesting we kill together?”
He shifted her body onto his lap. “It’ll be more fun than killing each other.”
A slow, sexy smile curved her lips. “I have a feeling my butterflies will never stop fluttering,” she said, then kissed him.
He hoped that was the case. Otherwise, he was a dead man.
Epilogue
Two weeks later…
Bora Bora, French Polynesia
Tuesday, 5:55 p.m. Tahiti Standard Time
“I PROMISE TO love you, to trust you and to never kill you,” Ash said, then kissed Ivy’s wedding ring.
She curled her toes into the sand and looked into his eyes, which were filled with love and tenderness. They had been properly married earlier that day but wanted to privately exchange their special vows. “I promise to love you, to trust you and to never kill you.” She placed her lips on his wedding band, then on his mouth. With the sun setting over the South Pacific, and the waves crashing along the shore, they sealed their vows with a kiss.
“Let’s go back to our room,” he suggested. “I want to see your ass in the green bikini.”
“That’s because you can see my entire bare ass.” When they walked past one of the resort’s outdoor restaurants, she squeezed his hand. “Let’s grab dinner and a drink.”
“We can order room service.”
“I know,” she said, pulling him toward her so she could whisper in his ear. “The couple from the beach is here.”
After they were married, they spent the day lounging under one of the beach cabanas. When they’d spotted the couple in the water, Ash, with mischief in his eyes, had suggested they give themselves a wedding gift and kill the woman. She was a pretty brunette with a tiny waist and big, fake boobs. Ivy had become instantly jealous and wanted the woman dead just for existing and flaunting her curves. Hoping to make Ash just as jealous, she’d insisted they take out the man instead. Of course, Ash had protested, and went all caveman on her. She hadn’t minded since they’d ended up going back to the room and he’d made her orgasm multiple times.
Ash pulled out a chair for her, then sat beside her. After he ordered them drinks, he rested his hand on her thigh. “Have you decided to give me the woman?”
“Do you really think I’m going to allow you to fuck another woman on our wedding night?”
Chuckling, he shook his head. “Who said anything about fucking her? I want no one but you.”
“Then how are you going to do your thing. I thought you killed your victims during sex.”
“Ah, but I’m a married man now. If you were into women—”
“Don’t go there. Besides, you’re so jealous, I think once you saw a woman pleasuring me, you’d go caveman on me.”
He stayed silent while their server brought their drinks. “Okay,” he said, after the worker left. “Let’s agree that there will be no sex during a kill, unless it’s between me and you.”
She stirred the fruity looking cocktail with a straw. “I don’t even know how that could be possible.”
He laughed. “Yeah, we’d have to be inventive.” He gave her thigh a light squeeze. “Because I want our marriage to start off right, we’ll do this your way and kill the guy.”
God, she loved this man. He was so sweet and considerate of her feelings and needs. “I was just thinking,” she said, taking his hand in hers. “Marriage is all about compromise, so why don’t we compromise on this. Let’s kill them both.” The thought of being bad with Ash had her sex pulsing. “We should take our drinks back to the suite. While I’m going down on you, I want you to tell me how you want to kill them.”
His gaze turned sinfully wicked and intense. He gave her a hard, quick kiss. “I am so fucking in love with you.”
Her butterflies fluttered. “I love you, too. Now let’s go plan a double homicide.”
****
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C.O.R.E. Series
C.O.R.E. Shadow Trilogy
Shadow of Danger (Book 1)
Shadow of Perception (Book
2)
Shadow of Vengeance (Book 3)
Ultimate C.O.R.E. Trilogy
Ultimate Kill (Book 1)
Ultimate Fear (Book 2)
Ultimate Prey (Book 3)
C.O.R.E. Above the Law
Perfectly Twisted (Book 1)
Perfectly Toxic (Book 2)
Perfectly Tortured (Book 3)
Sinful C.O.R.E.
Sinful Deeds (Book 1)
Sinful Sacrifices (Book 2)
Sinful Vows (Book 3)
Psychic C.O.R.E. Series
Celeste Risinski, the heroine of Shadow of Danger (Book 1 C.O.R.E. Shadow Trilogy), is back with her own series. Join her as she learns how to deal with being a wife, mom, baker and…psychic investigator.
Celeste File: Unlocked (Book 1)
Celeste Files: Unjust (Book 2)
Celeste Files: Unforgotten (Book 3)
Celeste Files: Poisoned (Book 4)
Celeste Files: Possessed (Book 5)
Celeste Files: Primal (Book 6)
Reality T.V. Romance Series
Pick Me
Love Me
Unmask Me
Contemporary Romance
Kiss Me
About the Author
Kristine Mason is the bestselling author of the popular romantic suspense trilogies, C.O.R.E. Shadow, Ultimate C.O.R.E., C.O.R.E. Above the Law and Sinful C.O.R.E. She is also known for her Psychic C.O.R.E. series, Celeste Files. She is currently working on her next series, along with more contemporary romance novels.
Although Kristine enjoys writing contemporary romance novels, she focuses most of her energy on her romantic suspense stories, which she loves for their blend of dark mystery/suspense and sexy romance. She is fascinated with what makes people afraid, and is famous for her depraved villains whose crimes present massive obstacles for her heroes and heroines to overcome.
Kristine has a degree in journalism from The Ohio State University and lives in Northeast Ohio with her husband, four kids, and adorable mutt. If she’s not writing, she’s chauffeuring kids, gardening, or collecting gnomes. Oh, and she makes a mean chocolate chip cookie, too!
Stay connected with Kristine:
www.kristinemason.net
[email protected]
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