Chapter 35 In Another Life #2
“I’m still angry with you,” I mutter, my heart skipping a beat.
“I know.” His voice is soft. He lifts my fingers and presses a searing kiss onto them.
“I don’t know when I’ll forgive you.”
“I know.” He tips my head back and kisses my forehead. “Thank you for giving me a chance to earn your forgiveness.”
The words linger in the air as he takes our plates and sets them on the small breakfast nook.
I carry our coffees over and take a seat next to him, an embarrassing growl sounding from my stomach.
He tsks under his breath.
“What?” I furrow my brows.
Ren spreads his legs and pats his thigh. Then he nods in that direction.
“You speak now. Use your words.” Biting back a grin, I make a big show of stuffing my mouth full of bacon, then licking my lips.
His eyes darken. He hauls me onto his lap.
“This is where you belong,” he says. My clit pulses at his possessiveness.
“Didn’t know you were such a caveman.”
“We’re all cavemen,” he licks the shell of my ear and adds, “with the right woman.”
Grinning, I settle on his lap and eat the breakfast before something crosses my mind. “Hold on, why do I smell cookies?”
“Fuck.” Setting me aside, he rushes back to the kitchenette and opens the oven. He looks completely crestfallen at the pan of brown things inside.
“Uh…are we playing hockey with those?” I snort.
Ren kneads the back of his neck. He mutters something under his breath.
“What? I didn’t hear you.”
“They were supposed to be orange marmalade cookies.” His face is adorably pink now. I never knew my deadly assassin could be so…cute.
I leap off my chair and reach him in a few strides. After selecting the least charred piece in the center, I nibble the edge.
“I never thought I’d say this,” I comment with a teasing grin, “but I’m going to tell Lana someone is even worse than her at cooking.”
“It tastes good, I’m sure of it. I just forgot to take them out,” he huffs, takes a big bite, and winces.
“Did you break your teeth?” I peer at him. “Because I don’t know how to fix broken teeth.”
Clearly disgruntled, he spits out the offending cookie and grumbles, “It tasted good before.”
“Before?”
The flush is back on his face. He chews on his lip. “I practiced…before.”
“Where?” I try to imagine where he could do this without ruining his Si Shen image.
Ren glances away. The lip-gnawing worsens.
“Ren?” I tug his poor lip from his teeth. “Honesty, right?”
He mumbles something unintelligible again and takes a deep breath. “Elias. I sometimes used his kitchen late at night. He probably has a video of it.”
A laugh bursts out of me as I imagine the cold-blooded assassin hunching over the dealer of secrets’ kitchen. My eyes water as I take another nibble of the burned cookie, which suddenly tastes sweet.
“Well, I might have developed a taste for overdone cookies.” Beaming, I slide my hands over his chest and around his neck. “What’s the plan today? Any updates from the others?”
The smile slips off his face. “Nothing yet. The asshole at the hospital was from the cartels. A nobody. And the fire department gave an all clear to your apartment. Tristan is doing a few more checks. He’ll tell us when it’s safe to go back.”
I nod, tension returning to my muscles. This craziness, looking over my shoulders, I’m so sick of it.
Ren must see the worry in my eyes because he presses a gentle kiss on my temple.
“The last time you took a vacation was nineteen months ago,” he murmurs. “And it wasn’t much of one, was it?”
It wasn’t. It was a trip to Cincinnati with Blake for a cardiology conference. I tagged along for the free hotel and room service.
“I was going to ask how you knew.” I angle my face toward him. “But I won’t, because I already know the answer.” Trailing my fingers up his arm, I enjoy his sharp hitch of breath when I lean in and whisper, “Stalker.”
“I’m very good at my job.” He groans when I nibble on the tattoo vine closest to his Adam’s apple. “Christ. If you don’t stop that, we won’t get to anything I planned for you.”
“Oh, yeah?” I nuzzle his throat. He’s so warm, so sturdy, and smells so good. “Maybe I don’t care about your plans.”
“Naughty girl,” he grunts and thrusts his hips up, dragging that hard cock over my clit. “I’ll punish you later.”
Ignoring my whine, he plucks me off him and sets me down. My core clenches at the dangerous promise in his voice.
A slow smile curves his lips.
I narrow my eyes. “What do you have up your sleeve?”
“Chess in the day. Reading. And later…target practice.” He winks. “It’s time you learn how to use a gun.”
My eyes widen. Me, with a gun?
I start to shake my head until I remember how helpless I was at the Kong residence when the masked men had us cornered. How, if it weren’t for Gabriel Caruso, I probably would’ve died because I didn’t know how to use a firearm.
“Okay,” I whisper.
“Just as a precaution. If I had my way, you’d never have to use it.” Ren’s eyes soften. He tips my chin up. “As an enticement, I have something else for you tonight.”
“What?”
A secretive smile tips his lips. “You’ll see.”
I hate guns.
“Again. Sturdy hands. Feet the width of your shoulders. Don’t flinch.”
I pull the trigger. The shot goes wide, completely missing the makeshift target on the tree.
A crow caws in the distance.
Damn. Even the birds are laughing at me.
My biceps are sore, and I lower my arms. “This is pointless. If you need to rely on me to shoot, it’s the same as that villain monologue…you’ve failed, Ren.”
The damn bastard snorts as he swaggers over.
I hate how good he looks in his assassin getup.
The pants clinging to his muscular thighs.
The peek of the knife hilt at his thigh and the holster around his waist. How every shirt he wears seems tailored to highlight his strength.
How his face, no longer hidden by a mask, feeds into my love for morally gray men in the scary stories I read.
His heat warms my back as he curls his body behind me. My nerve endings sizzle brighter than the sunset cascading across the evening sky. Like the most torturous foreplay, he slides his hands over my arms, then adjusts my grip before pressing his lips to my ear.
“So predictable. Like a sappy romcom,” I mutter, trying but failing to ignore the wet heat dampening my underwear.
“But still, you’re turned on. I can smell you.” He snaps his hips against my butt, the thick ridge of his dick grazing me. “What a coincidence. So am I.”
“Asshole. You’ve been teasing me all day. Maybe I’ll be the one punishing you tonight.” I shake myself, refocusing on the weapon in my grip. “Are we doing this or not?”
He laughs, the sound scraping over my skin. “Eyes on the target, use your nose as an anchor. Breathe in. Let half of it out. Hold steady. Don’t blink. Then a slight press of the trigger. That’s it. Simple.”
He presses a kiss on my earlobe, and I shiver.
He adds, “Taking a life is easier than saving one. It’s why I enjoy torturing bastards first instead of shooting them. Make them pay for their sins.”
My pussy clenches.
“I’ve always liked Reaper’s gifts,” I admit. “It’s so wrong.”
“Never.”
I snicker, and he chuckles. Morbid jokes about killing people, and I’m a nurse.
It’s so inappropriate and yet so us.
“Stop delaying. Shoot.” He nudges my hand and lets go.
Closing my eyes, I inhale a deep breath of forest air. I imagine myself back at the Benefaction, that this is a life-or-death moment, and I open my eyes.
Aim steady, breath held, target secured, I shoot.
The bang vibrates up my arms, echoing in my skull.
But when it settles, I feel his smile at my ear before hearing his words.
“Good girl.”
I did it. A bullet through the target.
Something bright bursts inside me, and I let out a happy whoop and set down the gun.
Laughing, he swings me around and kisses my lips, but before I can melt into a puddle, he sets me down and motions to the cabin.
“Head on in. I have the TV prepped and the VCR still works, thank God.”
“VCR?” I haven’t seen those things in ages. My eyes brighten. “That’s your surprise? A movie night?”
Ren nods. “Nightmare on Bleaker Street. 1986 classic version.”
“Yes!” I pump my fist in the air and he grins, eyes lighting up. “That’s the best one. Even I think it’s terrifying.”
“I thought so. Go inside and get settled. I’ll be there after cleaning up the targets.”
I’m already sprinting toward the door, joy rushing through me. I really shouldn’t let him off the hook so easily.
“I’m still mad at you,” I holler, my hand reaching for the doorknob.
He laughs harder. “I know!”
Yanking open the door, I turn back, catching him staring at me with so much warmth, I’m afraid I might combust.
“Hurry, or I’m starting without you.” Curling my fingers with my free hand, I beckon him toward me. “Clock’s ticking. We don’t have all day!”
Ren freezes, the smile slipping off his face.
Anguish haunts his eyes as his nostrils flare.
“Ren? You okay?” Fear grips me from nowhere.
He exhales and strains a smile—a fake one even I can see from the distance.
“We have all the time in the world,” he murmurs, his voice rough with heartbreak. “All the time in the world.”
A strange ache throbs behind my sternum. I nod, not knowing why he sounds so sad, and yet feeling every ounce of his grief.