Assassin's Prey (Assassins Book 3)

by Ella Sheridan

  “Out.”

  I grabbed his arms as he brushed past me. “Where’s Abby?”

  Remi kept his gaze on the door, his body vibrating with the need to escape. “Taking a bath.”

  The words sent a rush of blood to my lower belly, but I ignored it. “You know we’re gonna have to talk about this, right?”

  “About what?” Remi met my eyes finally, his own so dark I couldn’t read them. “About how much time I spend watching your woman while you’re off playing the fucking hero?”

  I narrowed my eyes at him but didn’t rise to the bait, mostly because I didn’t want Abby to hear him talking like that. She wasn’t a burden, and I wouldn’t have anyone telling her she was. And I knew Remi didn’t mean it that way. He had a chip on his shoulder directed at me and me alone; I just couldn’t figure out where it was coming from.

  And tonight I didn’t give a shit. I released his arm. “Check in with one of us in the morning.”

  He needed time? I’d give it. An entire night off. After the session with Rathlin’s man earlier, I didn’t think we had anything to worry about. Not till we dug up some answers.

  Remi smirked, but a single arched brow was enough warning for him to zip his lips. He was out the door before I could say another word.

  I locked up behind him and set the security system to on. Weariness hit me as I crossed the room. It shouldn’t; physically today had been nothing special. And yet I felt like I’d been hit by a damn two-by-four. Every muscle in my body ached. All I wanted was to forget, and my feet took me across the room instinctively, down the hall, into the master bedroom until I faced the closed bathroom door that separated me from the sweetest oblivion I’d ever tasted. I might never deserve it, but I sure as hell craved it.

  I reached for the doorknob, turned it.

  Abby lay back in the garden tub along the far wall, her hair in a knot at the top of her head, eyes closed. Candlelight flickered across her creamy skin, and I wondered for a moment where Remi had found the candles. Say what he might, he definitely had a soft spot for my woman. We all did.

  Especially me. An assassin with a weakness I couldn’t deny. I stood in the doorway and soaked in the sight of her, letting her seep into my pores all over again.

  “Stop staring, you pervert.”

  A grin flashed over my lips as I straightened. Abby’s ability to make me smile shouldn’t surprise me, but it did, every damn time. “Staring at a beautiful woman doesn’t make me a pervert.”

  Moving inside, I closed the door behind me.

  “It does if she’s naked.”

  “You like for me to look at you naked.”

  “I do.” Her smile was soft, almost lazy as she stretched in the water. Obviously the warmth had managed to ease her tension by now.

  I wanted nothing more than to climb into that tub with her and do things that really would be perverted in her eyes, but I couldn’t, not yet. Not with the stench of the job, of violence coating every inch of me. So I moved to the shower instead. Abby’s knowing gaze followed me as I turned the water on, then stripped my clothes, dropping them in a heap in the corner.

  There was something disturbingly domestic about sharing a bathroom. As if I was somehow normal, just a man living with his woman, a regular nine-to-five job, maybe a dog or a kid. None of that would ever be me, but Abby made the dream come alive sometimes. One of the reasons I’d kept myself away from her for so damn long. We both knew how that had turned out. But unlike Abby, I understood, deep down to the core of who I was, that normal would never be an option for me.

  I left the shower without drying off. Abby sat up in the tub and turned the spigot on, adding hot water to her cooling bath. I didn’t care if it was frigid; I couldn’t resist her lure a moment longer. My dick was already hard, my heart speeding up, mouth watering. The need went far beyond anything I could ever put into words. I needed her too much for her own good, but I couldn’t stay the fuck away, no matter how much I should.

  Her gaze trailed along my body like a touch—shoulders, chest, hips, cock. I was already stretched to my limit, but that didn’t stop me from swelling even more, as if my erection needed to prove how much it wanted her. The animal inside me raised its head. It had been denied the kill earlier, but here the prey was much tastier.

  I stepped into the water. Abby turned the spigot off with one hand and rested the other on my calf, sliding upward. My groan had very little to do with the hot water encasing my body as I lowered into it, and everything to do with the tightening of my balls as her hand crept higher.

  There were things we needed to discuss, decisions to be made—and argued over, if I knew Abby, and I did—but not here, not now. When her palm slipped around to cup my ass, my restraint broke.

  Resting back against the slope of the tub, I jerked her over my body. The wet heat of her core, so much hotter than the water surrounding us, slid along my cock, nearly crossing my eyes with the pleasure. When her opening met my tip, I had to drive inside. There was no controlling it. No way that savage part of me could wait.

  She wasn’t quite ready; her sudden gasp, the balling of her fists on my pecs told me that. But she didn’t protest. I felt her go tight, fighting the invasion; then, with a heavy exhale, she softened and let me in.

  And goddamn, it was good. Abby above me, enveloping me. Heat and steam and vanilla flowers filled my senses as I stared into her hazel eyes. This was as close to heaven as my blackened soul would ever be allowed to get.

  Until she leaned in, her breasts pillowing against my hard chest, her plump lips settling against mine, and proved me wrong.

  I opened beneath her. Let her all the way in. Her invasion drew a knot deep in my pelvis, curling my hips, my cock desperate to move, but I refused to give in, to rush any more than I already had. Instead I sucked lightly at her tongue, felt her pelvis tilt to grind her clit against me, and growled at the pleasure that speared through my veins.

  Abby was the one who broke the kiss. She sat up, letting me sink even deeper inside. I threw my head back, gripping her hips to hold her still. “Abby…”

  Her name came out strangled. She clamped down on my cock.

  “Little bird, stop.”

  Abby peeled my hands from her hips and moved them to her breasts. Her hard nipples scraped my palms. “Can’t,” she said tightly.

  “Shit.”

  Gripping her ribs, I drew her closer until her breasts were all I could see, opened my mouth around one strawberry-pink nipple, and sucked it in.

  Abby’s cries echoed in my ears as I devoured her. That’s what she was, a feast. Lush and tasty. I wanted to gorge on every inch of her. She writhed in my arms, but my hold kept her from doing more than squirming on the end of my cock, the constant pressure threatening to blow off the top of my head. I sucked harder, desperate to drive her as wild as I was, to get as much of her inside me as I could, but it still wasn’t enough.

  Even when I pushed her down hard, hilting inside her in one brutal thrust. Even when we exploded together, it still wasn’t enough.

  The waves of climax had barely stopped when I lifted her off my still-hard cock. I left the tub, water pouring from my body to soak the floor. I ignored it to snatch a couple of towels from the cabinet and lay them out in front of me.

  “Come on,” I rasped, reaching for her.

  Abby looked from my dark red cock to my shaking hand and stood. I helped her out of the tub, laid her down on the towels. Forced her legs apart with my shoulders. Only her taste in my mouth could satisfy the roaring inside me, the craving that burned me from the inside out despite the orgasm I’d just had. The same craving that told me the fucking end wasn’t anywhere in sight. I would drown myself in her every way I could, wipe out every part of who I was except the part that belonged to her. Only then could I find some relief.

  Chest heaving, cock throbbing, I spread Abby’s lips wide and gripped her clit with my teeth.

  “Levi?”

  The breathless edge of fear and need t
hat saturated her voice made me feel like He-man. Stronger than any gun or knife or skill I’d ever learned on the street. Stronger than literally holding a man’s life in my hands—and sometimes taking it. None of that even came close to what she did to me, and when I licked across her opening, her cream on my tongue was literally the icing on that cake. Power and pleasure filled me as I thrust my tongue deep, gathering more, sucking her clit into my mouth and nursing it to the chant of my name on her lips.

  Abby lifted her knees back and out, giving me complete access. Her hands gripped my head tight, pulling my hair as she forced me closer. “Levi, please!”

  I ate her out, desperate to gorge myself. Only when a flood of arousal met my tongue, signaling her impending orgasm, did I pull myself away.

  I was inside her before my next heartbeat.

  I have no idea when Abby peaked. All I knew was the violent need to thrust, to invade. To take. Over and over I drove inside her, finding exactly what I’d hoped for: an ocean of pleasure to drown myself in. My spine tingled, my balls drew up, and after an agony of waiting, my come exploded deep. Claiming her. Marking her in the basest way possible.

  And finally, finally allowing the peace I hungered for to fill me.

  Chapter Twelve

  “We really have to stop meeting like this,” Eli said as we walked out of the bedroom the next morning.

  Abby chuckled. “Better than meeting some other ways.”

  True enough. Abby was used to my brothers enough to know they could show up at any time, so she never left any bedroom without full coverage. Today that meant a pair of leggings and one of my T-shirts. Only problem was, seeing her in my clothes just made me want to take them back off.

  But we had work to do. Unfortunately.

  Remi sat at the kitchen table, glowering into his cup of coffee. No breakfast, I guessed. I seriously had to have a talk with him. Whoever had pissed in his cornflakes needed to die so my brother could get back to his normal self.

  The self that made something of a reappearance when Abby wandered toward the coffeepot.

  “Don’t do that, Abby. Have a seat,” he said, standing. “I’ll get it.”

  Abby gave him a smile and sat at the table. I rolled my eyes before opening the fridge in search of food.

  “I’ll do a grocery run today,” Eli said, watching as I pulled a box of waffles from the freezer.

  “I’ll start a list,” Abby volunteered.

  Was this what it would be like if Abby and I lived together? All of us falling into a pattern, each with their own roles? My brothers and I had been our own self-enclosed unit for so long, but every time Abby was with us, she fit naturally into the mix. No fussing, no friction. Well, except between me and Remi. But having Abby involved gave me a weird sense of déjà vu, one I couldn’t place—I had very few memories of my family’s time before, when a woman had been a part of us, and yet Abby just felt right.

  When Abby and I had dug into our waffles, a cup of coffee at each of our elbows, Abby’s with the perfect amount of cream and sugar, just as she liked it—I was beginning to think my brother was doing this for no other reason than to piss me off, really—Eli cleared his throat.

  “We need a confab.”

  Of course we did. I filled Remi in on what went down yesterday at our former warehouse. We were going to start running low on safe houses at this rate.

  “Want to tell us how you found the bastards before they headed our way?” he asked.

  Three pairs of eyes turned toward me.

  I cleared my throat. “I was out at the mansion.”

  Two pairs of eyes dropped to the table.

  “The mansion?” Abby asked.

  “Where we grew up.” I found myself staring at my plate and forced myself to look up. “The home we lived in with our parents was…ostentatious.”

  Abby raised an eyebrow. “So we have more in common than I knew, huh?”

  Way more. But that was a discussion for another day. “Turns out the place isn’t empty,” I said instead of answering her question. “Rathlin is definitely involved; I saw him there, along with a small army of mercenaries. They’re on to something big.”

  “But why?” Remi asked. “It’s an inheritance. Sure, it’s probably a shitload of money. And granted, they—whoever they is—seem to know they aren’t dealing with your ordinary targets. But an army? To get rid of one man?”

  “Three men,” I pointed out. “The inheritance will go to any next of kin, so despite the fact that it’s my birthday this seems to hinge on, all of us have to disappear.”

  “Still,” Abby said, “Remi is right. Chadwick is rich in his own right. An old-money lawyer like that, who’s been around for decades and only takes high-profile clients? He’s not hurting. Men like that can always pad their bank accounts, but to hire an army? That’s almost more outlay then it’s worth, right?”

  “The trust has been sitting for nineteen years, eleven since Amos died,” Eli said.

  “But even at that rate of interest, it seems excessive.” Abby shrugged. “My dad was running for governor and had serious enemies, and he didn’t hire an army.”

  “Our friend yesterday said Chadwick wasn’t the one running the show,” Eli pointed out.

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” I said. “I did see someone with Chadwick on the doorstep, but I couldn’t get a good look. Might be his partner. At minimum the man is involved somehow. If we could get some surveillance, a photo, maybe we could find out.”

  “Which makes even less sense.” Remi tipped his coffee cup back and forth. “Now he’s splitting the money. That’s even less reward for more expense.”

  All of us fell silent, considering the angles.

  “I don’t think this is just about money,” I said.

  “When is it ever not about money?” Remi asked.

  I shifted on the hard wooden seat. “The man yesterday asked if we’d read the trust. There is something we’re missing here. And I think we’ll know what if we can get a copy of it.” I cocked my head at Eli. “Would that be a matter of public record?”

  “The wills certainly would be.” His eyes glazed over like he was already deep in the wormhole of the Internet, working his magic. “They might not hold the details of the trust, but they could point us in the right direction. Certainly tell us who controls the assets. Even if the accounts have changed hands since then, it would give us a starting point.”

  For a moment I fell back in time, to that night I’d snatched my brothers from their beds, handed them tiny backpacks full of clothes and the little bit of packaged food I could find without drawing attention to myself, and helped them out a downstairs window of the mansion. What would’ve happened if I hadn’t taken them and run? If I’d stayed under my uncle’s thumb long enough to understand what had been at stake. Would I already know the secrets he’d hidden from us? Or would we have ended up as dead as my parents before we’d become a threat to his plans? He’d obviously not been worried about any threats when I’d returned at eighteen—I’d managed to bypass security and get his fat neck in my hands before he’d had even an inkling of danger.

  Which also meant he’d had no time to hide anything.

  “How much do you think Chadwick knows about how Amos operated?” I asked, not really looking for an answer, more thinking aloud.

  Eli narrowed his eyes, obviously thinking too. “What do you mean?”

  “The safe,” Remi said.

  I nodded. As boys we’d played in my father’s office every afternoon while he worked. We’d all seen him open the hidden safe behind the bookcase in that room. “Would he know about it?”

  “Probably.” Remi contemplated the cup in his hands for a moment. “All these years with unrestricted access, I’m pretty sure Chadwick has been through every inch of the house.”

  “Or whoever he’s partnered up with. They likely keep their own valuables in that safe,” Eli pointed out.

  “Getting to it would not be easy,” I said despite
the way anticipation thrummed in my veins. I’d like nothing better than to sneak behind enemy lines right beneath Chadwick’s nose. “Rathlin’s there.”

  “And Chadwick’s ghost partner,” Eli said.

  “And there’s the possibility that they’ve added another safe, replaced that one, changed the code…” Remi shrugged.

  “It would probably be much easier to break into Chadwick’s law office,” Abby interjected.

  We all turned to stare at her. She gave a little laugh as she stood, empty plate and cup in hand. “Men. Always making things more complicated.”

  I felt a smile tug at my lips despite myself. “Smart-ass.”

  Abby winked. “I’ll go take a shower and leave you all to your planning.”

  The room was silent until the bedroom door clicked shut.

  “She forgets this isn’t a friendly game of cat-and-mouse,” Remi said grimly. “They’re out to make us disappear. Her too.”

  Because she was a part of us now. Forever linked and forever in danger. Because of me.

  “She lost her home and almost lost her life a few days ago,” I reminded him. “She knows exactly what’s at stake.”

  “Does she?”

  I went cold, my body tensing against the sudden need to pound his teeth in. “Since she’s lost a lot more than you so far, I’d say yeah, she does.”

  “And whose fault is that?”

  My chair screeched as I shoved to my feet. Remi didn’t retreat when I leaned over the table, getting right in his face, but I could see a spark of something in his eyes, something I’d have to think about later. “I don’t care what your deal is, brother, but if you don’t stop with the dickhead comments, I’ll feed them to you with my fist. Am I clear?”

  A red flush rose up Remi’s neck. “Gonna take me out to the woodshed, big brother?”

  “You bet your ass I will,” I bit out between clenched teeth.

  Eli cleared his throat. “Let’s get the plans settled first.”

  It took several deep breaths before I could make myself straighten. For myself, I didn’t care. We’d had rough patches, beat each other up, and come out the other side stronger than ever. But whether his comments were aimed at Abby or just my role in this relationship, they would hurt her if she overheard. And I was too damn crazy trying to figure this stuff out to put up with his shit. “Fine.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “There is zero chance of remote surveillance on the mansion as is; it’s too far off the grid for street cameras. And no way has Rathlin not secured their internal monitoring against outside access.”