Chapter One #2
“Blondie’s husband went to bed. He is ... torn, and he hates women again, but not enough to put the kill out on his wife,” Ava said. She put her knitting back into her bag and got to her feet.
Knox looked good. He always did. It didn’t matter if he had gotten off a job, like now, or just woken up.
He was a man always in control. The shirt he wore had a few buttons open at the top that gave a hint of the ink on his chest. She was already aware of his heavily inked body.
His arms, chest, and back were covered in many different tattoos.
There were also some on his legs, but it wasn’t overkill, it was just enough.
Ava tried not to notice how good her boss looked.
There was more to life than just looks, but Knox had the whole package, and this had nothing to do with his wealth.
Sure, there were some women who’d be a little put off by his day job.
Being a contracted killer would seem a little extreme, but Ava knew there were times he had no choice in his line of work.
He’d saved people and killed people. She was not here to judge what he did, only to handle his personal and sometimes business affairs.
“That’s the way you’d handle it?” Knox asked. “Just put a kill out on the wife?”
She sighed. “We’re aware of the extended hit she has ordered. There has already been an attack on this place, while we house him. So far, she’s desperate, because the funds she thought she had access to have dried up. Blondie is a gold-digger, and he can do so much better.”
Knox chuckled. “You’d be surprised how many women out there only want him for his money. Marshal will handle this when he’s good and ready. Until then, we’ll keep him safe.”
She was not going to argue with him. He was, after all, the boss. She only worked here.
It was getting late, and she’d been sitting up knitting, waiting for him to get home, after she got the call that his business was concluded. She was not going to ask him where he was, because she had a funny feeling he’d lie. Even though she knew he’d gone to one of her ex-foster homes.
Pete Carmichael had been a sick and twisted individual.
She refused to let him warp her mind. There were scars on her body she was never going to forget she got while in his .
.. care. Not that any true human being would call anything relating to Pete Carmichael as “care.” He’d loved that they were younger.
She couldn’t believe what he had gotten away with and the number of complaints against him. She was aware there were hundreds.
One of the benefits of working with Knox was, he had access to multiple files at the click of his fingertips.
Ava had accessed Pete Carmichael’s file a long time ago, but it had been long enough to make her sick.
She wondered if she’d left some trace of her work, which made Knox do what was necessary.
Pete Carmichael hadn’t stopped fostering children, however, they were becoming fewer.
She pushed all that crap out of her mind. It had no place in her thoughts anymore. Carmichael was gone, thanks to Knox.
“Are you hungry?” Ava said, brushing past Knox and trying not to feel every little thing.
For the longest time, men were just the opposite sex.
Pains in the asses, who caused more trouble than they were worth.
That had been her experience. The men she’d met were only interested in two things—sex, and hurting other people.
She had never been lucky enough to see any kindness, until she met Knox.
He was cruel, potentially a monster, a killer, but he was kind.
That was when she knew she was messed up. Out of all the people she’d been around growing up, it was Knox she felt the safest with. But he was the only one who had seen her in a terrible predicament, and he didn’t hesitate in saving her.
“I’m starving.”
She walked across his hallway, through the dining room, and headed straight for the kitchen. Every now and then, he did have a chef on hand to cook any dish he desired, but that was on rare occasions.
She had opted to be his cook, cleaner, and PA. There was nothing else she wanted to do with her life, and right now, devoting it to Knox had been the best decision she had ever made.
Knox reached behind her, and she became acutely aware of just how close he was.
If she so much as stepped back, she’d be touching him in some way.
She grabbed the burgers she had already prepared earlier, knowing he was going to be hungry.
Carefully, stepping to the side so she didn’t touch him, she got to work on preparing his food.
He usually ate healthily. However, after a trip like the one he’d just been on, he often loaded up on fat and carbs, and she was more than happy to provide that for him.
Slapping the burgers onto the grill, she quickly sliced some onion and got that frying as well.
She had already partly cooked his fries, and after the oil had come to temperature, she got to frying them for a second time.
She flipped the burgers, and she was not the type to cook a rare burger.
She went for fully cooked, slathered with layers of cheese, and assembled his plate.
Drained fries on one side, burger with thick cheese, lots of onions, and a few pieces of lettuce and tomato on a burger bun on the other.
Knox had already left with his beer, and she carried his food out to him. Like so many times before, she sat with him as he ate. He asked her random questions, all of which were easy to answer.
She loved taking care of him, being there for him. She knew there were many women who could do this job, but this was not a job to Ava. She loved it.
The truth was—and this terrified her—she had fallen in love with Knox the moment they had met, and over the years, her feelings had only gotten stronger.