Chapter 5
Chapter Five
She woke up handcuffed, again.
When her eyes opened, the first thing that Luna saw was the cuff around her wrist. Her breath blew out on a heavy exhale. Right, because the events of last night had not just been some very, very bad dream. Unfortunately. She was, in fact, cuffed in a hitman’s bed.
And maybe I had some slightly sexual dreams about the hitman last night. And his handcuffs…
Slightly sexual?
Ahem. Luna swallowed. She tugged on the cuffs. “Uh, Ro—” Her voice broke off because she’d just realized that the other cuff was hooked to the brass headboard. Not to Ronan. Her body twisted and heaved, and she realized that she was alone in the big bed. Alone, cuffed, and suddenly terrified.
He left me cuffed in the bed? “Ronan!” Luna shouted.
His head popped up beside the bed. Wincing, he demanded, “What?”
She blinked. She’d sat up in the bed but now she hunched over the side to better see Ronan as he glowered at her from his position on the floor. “What are you doing down there?” Luna asked him.
He kept glowering. “Not here by choice, princess. Not by choice.”
Well, sure he was there by choice. Not like she’d made the man sleep on the floor, and that certainly appeared to be exactly what he’d done. “Why did you sleep on the floor? I thought you were staying in the bed with me.”
His dark hair was tousled, as if he’d raked his fingers through it over and over again. His eyes burned, but he had a slightly haggard—maybe even hungry—look about him as he pinned her with his gaze. “Staying in bed with you isn’t exactly easy.”
Her cheeks stung with embarrassment. Those words sure sounded like an insult.
“You… sprawl. ”
Her fingers plucked at the sheet. It had fallen near her waist. “I warned you about that tendency.”
He shot to his feet. At the move, her head whipped up as she straightened, and suddenly, his bare chest and abs were basically right in front of her face. Oh, there is no basically about it. That twelve pack of his was right there.
“Just how often do you work out?” she whispered.
His hands went to his hips. “You crawled on me three times last night.”
Another light pluck at the sheet by her restless fingers. “I don’t remember that. Sorry?”
“You licked my neck.”
She had not. Had she? “I tend to be a heavy sleeper.”
“You rubbed those tight nipples of yours against me over and over again.”
Her cheeks weren’t stinging. They were flaming. So hot that she was surprised smoke didn’t start drifting in the air around her. Luna cleared her throat. “In my defense, you did drug me, so I was probably sleeping even deeper than I normally do.”
“You rocked against my dick.”
She bit her lower lip. For a moment, she considered just yanking that sheet up over her head. But hiding wouldn’t help things. “I didn’t.” Please, say I didn’t.
“You did. And then you moaned my name.”
Considering the snippets of her, ah, sexual dreams that she recalled, that bit of news certainly tracked. “Again, I was drugged.”
His expression turned even more savage. “You do that shit with everyone you sleep with?”
A shake of her head. “Told you, I don’t sleep with many people.”
“Do you fuck many people?”
Okay, he’d just gotten extra growly. And very, very personal. “I’m not sure what’s happening right now. I would just like to point out that I was drugged by you?—”
“You’ve pointed that out. Noted. Twice noted. No, thrice. ”
Thrice? She soldiered on. “I was sleeping so, clearly, I was not responsible for my actions and I—” Her shoulders dropped. “Why bother having pride with your hitman?”
“ What? ”
“I’m not fucking anyone. Haven’t for a very long time. That’s part of my whole ‘Should-have-been-living-before-dying’ new mantra, by the way. Another part is that maybe I should just say what I think and feel more often. I was always holding back before. Biting my lip.” Which she had literally just been doing. Break the habit. “I was always worrying about embarrassing myself or saying the wrong thing.” A trickle of laughter escaped her throat. “Don’t really see how things can get more embarrassing than this. My captor fled the bed because he didn’t want me touching him.”
“ I’m not your captor.”
“Fine, my hitman fled the bed because?—”
“Consider me your protector, got it?” And his hands weren’t on his hips any longer. They were on the bed. Super close to her.
“I want you,” Luna blurted those words. “And I had sexy dreams about you so if I was moaning and rubbing, I, uh, I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.” The moaning and rubbing, anyway. She’d try to avoid those particular acts. As for her dreams? Not like a woman could control her dreams.
He blinked. Ronan had lowered his face so that it was right in front of hers. He had some incredibly thick, dark lashes. And with that beard covering his hard jaw…
Someone wakes up extra sexy in the morning.
“You want me,” he said.
She nodded.
“You want to fuck me?”
She hadn’t said she wanted the man to play cards with her. So, yes. Fucking. “That’s probably a bad idea, isn’t it?” Hesitant. Husky.
“You have no idea how bad.” One of his hands rose to curl under her chin. “This the Stockholm thing again?”
“What?” Then she shook her head. “No, I-I wanted you before. Before I knew you were a hitman and I— this is a bad idea. I’ve never had a one-night stand in my life, and you are not a safe lover.”
“I am not a safe lover,” he repeated. His eyes were on her mouth. “I will absolutely devour you.”
Her sex squeezed. In a good way. A way that had her yearning because maybe all the talk about women falling for bad guys was actually true. Ronan was big and bold and dangerous and so sexy.
It’s because of your hot dreams. Settle down. You don’t want to make a mistake that you’ll regret.
“I will fuck you until you scream, Luna. Until you are begging for release. Then I’ll have you coming and begging for more.”
She couldn’t even think of a response to those words. Except maybe… yes, sounds like a great plan. Because she’d never been fucked until she was begging for more. Was that even possible? Did that seriously happen with people? “Sounds fantastic.” A quick sigh. “Let’s do that.”
His mouth rushed toward hers. His lips pressed against her mouth. And?—
Ringing. Loud. Sudden.
She jerked.
He swore. And pulled back. “Hold the fucking thought.”
Hold the thought about fucking? Sure, right. She could do that. She also yanked up the sheet while he turned toward the nightstand and picked up a phone. He stared at the screen, and whoever the caller was—well, Ronan didn’t like the person. His face darkened before he swiped his finger over the screen and put the phone to his ear. “What the hell do you want?” he growled.
Well, Ronan is certainly friendly to his early morning callers.
“I finished the job last night,” he added, voice rumbly and deep. “Unless you’re calling to offer me a bonus, don’t interrupt my beauty sleep.”
But he hadn’t been sleeping. He’d been about to kiss her. And… Wait. Back up. I was the job last night.
She inched the covers a wee bit higher.
He angled toward her as his gaze locked onto hers. “Hell, yes, she’s dead.”
Her heart squeezed.
“How did I do it? A quick push of too many drugs in her system, and she collapsed in my arms. Died with a smile on her face.”
No, she had not. Goosebumps rose onto her arms as she realized just how easy it would have been for Ronan to actually kill her. If he’d given her different drugs, she would be dead right now.
She inched a bit away from him.
His left hand flew out and curled around her arm. He shook his head once. Hard. No.
Right. Not like she could go anywhere. On account of the handcuffs. The handcuffs had to go. Permanently.
“Pretty sure there were witnesses,” he added, sounding bored. “Some idiots who thought they’d get the bounty. Three of them were there. We fought. I kicked their asses.” Simple statement. “No one takes my bounty.”
His expression had hardened. A wave of fear snaked through her.
“I’ll expect payment to hit my account today. If it doesn’t, we’ll have a problem.” Not so bored. More menacing.
He’s getting paid for my murder. And she’d just asked the guy to fuck her. Obviously, she was having issues.
But the Fed trusts Ronan. There is more going on here than meets the eye. He’s not who I think.
Or maybe she just hoped he wasn’t.
I’m alive. If he was the bad guy, I would be dead.
“You want what?” Ronan demanded. And his hand snaked down so that he was suddenly holding her hand. “A finger?”
Her hand jerked in his grasp.
He tightened his hold.
“You want me to send you a freaking finger from her as proof that she’s dead?”
Now she was the one to shake her head. Over and over and over again.
“ Not happening,” Ronan snarled.
Her breath expelled in a rush of relief as her shoulders slumped.
“Why? Why is it not happening?” A rough laugh escaped him. “Because the alligators have already taken care of her body. I went to a cabin in the bayou—friend of mine has the place—and I dumped her last night. She sank fast, and the gators were closing in as I watched. There are no fingers left. There is nothing left of her. Luna Black is gone.” A brief pause. “And I expect my payment. It had better be in my account by noon, or believe me when I say, there will be hell to pay.”
She believed him. He sounded so convincing. Luna truly thought there would be hell to pay. But…
He also sounds so convincing when he says I’m dead. Even though she was sitting and breathing right in front of him.
Ronan hung up the phone. He tossed it back on the nightstand. Then without a word, he went to work unlocking the cuff. The soft snick as the handcuff opened seemed extra loud in the suddenly very quiet room.
She kept holding the sheet. Sitting in the bed. Staring at him.
“Still want to fuck me?” Brutal. Guttural.
Luna flinched. “You’re a very good liar.”
He laughed. The sound was rough and deep and chilling all at the same time.
She rose onto her knees. “You are a good liar . You lie perfectly.”
His lips twisted in a humorless smile.
Her stomach also twisted, but she still forced out the words she had to say. “Is that what makes you such a good undercover operative for the FBI? Your ability to lie? Because that’s what you are, isn’t it? You’re a Fed. You work with Grayson Stone. You’re a Fed, not a killer. You’re only pretending to be a hitman.”
No one threatens me.
Marcus Constantine Aeros exhaled slowly. He hadn’t made it to this position in life just so some asshole thug could threaten him.
And I’m not about to lose everything I’ve worked to achieve because of some middle school drama teacher. Hell, no.
He dialed Kurt. The phone rang once. Twice. Three times?—
“Hello?” Slurred. Sleepy.
“Wake your lazy ass up,” Marcus snapped. “You’re killing Ronan Walker today.”
“What?” More alert.
The dumbass had probably stayed out drinking past dawn on Bourbon Street. If the prick wasn’t his cousin…
But if you can’t give your dirty work to family, then who can you give it to? “I have an address for you.” Not exactly a spot-on address. More like a radius. A search field. Because while he’d been talking to Ronan, he’d been using a new bit of tech to trace the call. Super fast and— supposedly— very, very accurate, the tech had given him a small radius for Ronan’s location.
Just like the bastard said, he’s in the bayou.
A perfect place for the prick to die.
“Y-you want me to kill him… now? ”
“I know where he is now.” Mostly. Hard to say for sure because it was a dot in the fucking bayou. Kurt can figure this shit out. “He won’t expect an attack now. You move quickly. You eliminate him. Then you get your ass back here.”
“He took out three of us last night. I’m gonna need to get backup. Those bozos from last night left me, so I’m gonna need to find men with backbones.”
“There is no time for a team. You move and you move now. It’s called element of surprise for a reason.” He texted the location intel.
Silence on the other end of the line.
“Yeah, um, trying to put that in my phone and get directions,” Kurt finally mumbled. “But it’s just showing a spot in the middle of nowhere. Like, no roads. Nothing. You sure this is right?”
“I’m sure that if you don’t find Ronan Walker and kill him, then you’ll be the dead one. Figure. This. Shit. Out.” He hung up.
No one threatens me. Ronan Walker was dead. He would soon be joining Luna Black in the bayou as bait for the gators.
Another problem marked off his list.