Chapter 3
THREE
LANCE
I’m failing at my mission.
I was to hunt down dinner in New York City at midnight while Cricket took a shower at the hotel. I passed three pizza carts that smelled so good I wanted to mount them, but Cricket is an anomaly and doesn’t like thin-crust pizza. I’ve seen her take down an entire Chicago deep dish solo. If she ever tires of being an assassin, eating competitions would be a solid fallback. She’s a total ringer. No one would expect this tiny little thing to eat like a great white shark.
With pizza out, the only other nearby option was a hole-in-the-wall, 24-hour, serve-yourself, Chinese food restaurant. But the buffet was picked clean of lo mein and orange chicken—Cricket’s favorites.
I might be overthinking this. One time in Sudan on a mission, we survived for three days off of beef jerky and orange Tang powder in a tent with no access to a shower. There’s not much left to hide from each other. But admittedly, I’m a little nervous. I know Cricket better than anyone on the planet. But all of this is new, and tonight is technically our first date. I mean, I already told her I’m in love with her, but if this goes all wrong, what do we fall back on? Can we go back to friends?
I highly doubt it, which means I can’t fuck this up.
On my very first date with Cricket, I want to deliver. She deserves a damn good meal. I’m on my way back to the room to check out the hotel’s room service menu when I notice two giant takeout bags resting in front of Room 347A. It’s only two doors down from us. I sniff twice. Oh, that’s most definitely Thai food. If my sense of smell wasn’t enough, it says “Thai Noodle House” beneath the elephant line art on the paper bag.
I backpedal…debating… Then I pull out my wallet and all the cash I have. After swapping the bags for a thick wad of cash, I hustle two doors down to our room. I unlock the door and slip in before anybody can see me.
The water’s running. I’m surprised that Cricket’s still in the shower. I left half an hour ago. I place the bags on the counter and then knock on the bathroom door. It wasn’t shut all the way, so it cracks open. The shower is spa-like, a walk-in with no door, tiled from top to bottom. I have a very clear visual of Cricket through the large glass mirror.
She’s clean, with no evidence of blood. But she stands naked under the rain showerhead, looking like God’s gift to the planet. I’ve glimpsed parts of her naked before, like her top torn from a hasty escape, or her skirts shredded to pieces after a particularly challenging job. I’ve seen her upper thighs, and quick peeks of her thick, pink nipples. I know her bare ass better than my own. But this is different.
I’m seeing it all. Pieced together like a puzzle I’ve been waiting to finish for almost a decade. What’s more…is tonight, and from now on, she’s mine and mine alone.
She notices me staring at her through the mirror, but she doesn’t cover up. I turn to face her, leaning back against the counter.
“Did you find dinner?” She steps out from underneath the showerhead, then pulls her soaked hair to one side, wringing it out.
I glance between her smooth thighs. “Yup, sure did,” I answer with a smirk.
She chuckles, catching my innuendo, but sidestepping it. “What did you get?”
“Thai.”
“ Oh, yum. ” She touches her stomach with both hands. “That’s exactly what I was craving. How’d you know?”
I smile at her. “I’m just that good.”
“What did you get?” she asks.
Rubbing the back of my neck, I answer, “It’s a surprise.” Truth is, I have no fucking clue what’s in those bags.
“Well, start without me.” Cricket rubs her shoulders like they are aching. “I need a few more minutes under the hot water.”
“Are you sore?”
“I must have a knot in my back.” She taps where her neck meets her shoulder. “Whatever this muscle is, keeps having spasms, and my arm goes numb.”
“Lemme see.”
I step into the shower, ignoring the fact that my clothes are getting drenched. I place my hands on her waist to turn her so her back is to me. For a moment, I drop my hands, sucking in a short breath. I just touched her naked. I repeat, I just touched my best friend naked . I dreamed about this. Craved it. Manifested it. But now that it’s here… Should it feel this comfortable? I thought Cricket and I would be monumentally explosive. Full of passion and heat. But this feels tender and sweet.
“Something wrong?” she asks.
“No,” I murmur, looking at the curve of her muscular, round ass. I want to grab a handful, but instead, I place two fingers on either side of her spine. Starting at the top where her shoulder blades meet, I run my fingers down with firm pressure. “Tell me when it’s tender.”
She flinches when I get to the middle of her back. “Right there. Do you think I cracked a rib?”
“Doubt it. There’s a knot here the size of my fist.”
“Exaggeration.”
“Not really. Okay, brace yourself.” She plants her hands flat against the back shower wall, and I wedge one knuckle into the tight lump in her back. I bear down with all my might. She winces softly but doesn’t move. Such a masochist. Cricket can take pain. Her default is to try and cover up what hurts so nobody knows.
I twist my knuckle against her skin until I feel the knot loosen. “Baby, this is going to leave a bruise.”
She grabs her right shoulder, massaging it. “Already feels loads better. Thank you… baby. ” She turns around, wearing a teasing smirk. Pushing her arms together, showing off her ample cleavage, she asks, “Anything else in here you want to address?”
I’m imagining what wedging my cock between Cricket’s full tits would feel like. Heaven, I’m sure. “Nope,” I say. “I’m good. Let’s go eat.”
“Excuse me?”
I laugh for barely a moment before I walk her backward, so she’s braced against the tile wall. Then, my tongue is in her mouth. I’m kissing her like I’m a man stranded in the desert, and she’s the only thing that can quench my thirst. Sweet and tender turn into an aggressive dance between our tongues. She pulls my bottom lip between her teeth, tugging hard.
“How long have you wanted this?”
My hand creeps between her thighs, working my way to her warm pussy. “Way too long.”
“Why didn’t you say something?”
“I wasn’t ready.” I hunch down, rubbing my lips against her neck, over the thin skin of her throat. I feel her chuckle.
“You needed time to fuck your way through your twenties first, huh?”
I halt, dropping my hand. Looking her right in her emerald eyes, I shake my head. “Is that what you think?”
“I was kidding.” She tries to put her lips back on mine, but I pull away.
“Every single woman I’ve been with has been to keep my mind off of you. You told me it was never going to happen between us. So, I loved you in the way you’d let me…as a friend.”
“You’re Lance.” She shrugs.
“What does that mean?”
“You’re the guy who can make a girl come on your fingers in less than one minute. Not the guy who wants to come home to a wife, have dinner together at the table, cuddle in front of the fireplace, then fall asleep together.”
I guess my reputation precedes itself. But that was before I had hope…before Cricket kissed me. It was like being shocked back to life. I forgot I had an identity outside of being an assassin.
“We’re PALADIN first and foremost. That’s not the life we signed up for,” I say.
She hangs her head. “I know.”
“Look at me.” I lift her chin with one finger. “Is that what you really want?”
Her smile is timid. Normally, Cricket doesn’t do anything with hesitation, but she seems to be having trouble admitting this.
“Tell me what you want,” I reiterate.
“Most days, I accept my fate. But sometimes, I wish I had the life my mother wanted for me. Pappa walking me down the aisle in a white dress. Marrying a gentleman. Having a big family. My sister, alive and close. I want to watch my children grow, and my beauty fade. I want to see at the end of the road what actually remains—the important things—like the man who built a full life with me and promises to love me until my very last breath.”
“Sounds nice.” And I actually mean it. With Cricket, I could steal away from the world and stay hidden with just this perfect woman as my only company.
“It’s a pipe dream now.”
I pause for a moment to taste her soft lips. I kiss her softly, like a sweet promise. “I’ll get us as close as I can,” I murmur.
“What do you mean?”
“Your family is gone, but you have PALADIN. You can walk down the aisle in a white dress. I’ll be there waiting, in a nice suit, like a gentleman. You know I can’t have children, but there are other ways to be parents if that’s what you want. As for your beauty fading…that’ll never happen. At least not in my eyes.”
She grabs me by my wet shirt, slowly. She undoes the little gray buttons one by one, like she’s savoring every inch of skin she reveals. “It’s sweet, but it’s a bluff, Lancelot,” she murmurs. “You know we can’t get married. The American courthouse requires a birth certificate for identification. They’d be a little shocked to learn that you rose from the dead and suddenly want to get married.”
“What are you insinuating?”
“It’s easy to make promises when you know you can’t keep them. That life wasn’t meant for us. We’re killers.” She pulls my opened shirt off my shoulders and tosses it out of the shower.
“Marry me.”
“Lance—”
“I’m dead serious.”
Her eyes widen and she holds my gaze.
“A small ceremony,” I continue. “Just Vesper, Linc, Eden, and Callen. Our family as witnesses. We won’t be married in the eyes of the American legal system. But we will be in the ways that actually matter.” I look down at her, smiling. “When we’re back, we can ask Vesper to marry us. Eden can take you dress shopping. Linc’s my best man, and Callen can walk you down the aisle. It’s not your dream wedding, but—”
“Are you sure?”
I nod. “So fucking sure.”
She covers her face with both hands and then leans into my chest. “Maybe we should fuck first, to make sure the sex isn’t awkward.”
I laugh. “Doesn’t matter. If it is, then we’ll have awkward sex forever.” I shrug like it’s no big deal. But it’s kind of crazy for Cricket to think we’d be anything but perfect together.
“I love you too, Lance.”
I widen my eyes. “ Thank you. Goodness gracious, you took your sweet time saying it back. And?” I arch my brows.
“And I really want to be your wife.” I can’t tell if it’s the steam of the shower making her cheeks red, or if she’s blushing. “Wife… I never thought someone would call me that.”
“Has a nice ring to it,” I say playfully. “I’m home, wife. Where’s my martini? What are we making for dinner, wife? Did you buy yet another pair of shoes, wife? ”
She scowls. “Do you think we’re getting married in the nineteen fifties?”
I laugh. “Apparently. I don’t actually know what husbands and wives do together if they are undercover assassins. I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”
“We could start with this...” Cricket drops to her knees, then grabs at my pants button. She unzips me and runs her hand over my briefs, along my hard shaft. “Oh, thank God,” she murmurs.
“What?”
“I was going to lie to you even if you were small, but I’m pleased that when I tell you you’re gargantuan, I can mean it.”
I laugh, clutching my chest. “You sure know how to ruin a moment, C.” I scoop her up by her elbows, bringing her back up to her feet. “But here’s the thing… A man sees a beautiful woman like you, and I know the first thing that’s on his mind. What you can do for him. How good you can make him feel.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“I’m going to do this differently.” I kick off my pants and sit down in the shower, back against the wall. I grab Cricket by her hips and pull her so I’m eye level with her clean-shaven pussy. “Let me show you what I can do for you… Hold my shoulders tightly. You’re not going to be able to feel your legs in a minute.”
She does as I ask, digging her fingers into my skin. I hook one of her thighs over my shoulder as well. Then, I plunge my tongue right into her wet pussy. She gasps in shock, then follows it with a sweet, feminine moan that I’ve never heard before. Probably because I’ve never had her like this.
I ignore her clit at first, dipping into her, fucking her violently with my tongue until I taste her pleasure and feel her legs start to tense. “Come on, C. I thought you had more endurance than that. Don’t tell me you’re about to come.”
She threads her fingers through my hair, then makes a fist, tugging my head back and trying to position my tongue on her clit. “Not even close,” she sasses. “Try harder.”
I chuckle and duck my head back down. She groans in irritation as I smile against her swollen outer lips, teasing them with the tip of my tongue. I plunge in again.
“ Ah…oh, fuck.” She smacks the wall. “You’re in the wrong spot.”
“That’d be more convincing if you weren’t moaning like a cat in heat.”
“Lance, ” she begs.
“Be patient,” I say, kissing her inner thighs softly, until she relaxes a bit. Reaching around, I rub the curve of her ass, spreading her cheeks so I have deeper access. “Good girl. Stay nice and wet for me. I need you dripping. This pussy is way too tight. You’re not going to be able to take me, baby.”
“I can take you,” she gasps out. “Start with your fingers.”
I plunge one finger into her soaking heat.
“Sweet hell,” she groans. She’s clenching, trying to pull it deeper.
I add another, then wiggle my fingers inside her. She starts to tense again, and this time. I’m intent on giving her relief. I pull out my fingers before spitting on her clit. I flatten my tongue, dragging it against her slit in one long, fluid motion, cleaning up the mess I made.
“Do…that…again,” she pleads. She grows an inch as she rises to her tiptoes.
For a while, I lick her slowly, like I’m savoring her. She grinds her hips against my tongue, murmuring sweet nothings that I can’t understand. I’m more focused on tasting her… learning her. I pay attention to when she flinches and when her knees buckle. I explore with my tongue and fingers, finding her favorite spots.
“Put it in my ass,” she mewls.
If she thinks she needs to ask me twice… wrong. “Fucking music to my ears.” I pop my index finger into my mouth, coating it, then slide my finger into her tightest hole, while latching on to her clit with my mouth. I suck and nip as she whimpers and cries. Her legs start to shake, and she holds it as long as she possibly can before she comes so hard she collapses. I catch her in my arms and guide her into my lap. I widen my legs so she’s sitting on the shower floor, her lower back pressed against my soaked briefs.
She says nothing for a while. I watch her shoulders rise and fall as she breathes. I listen to the water hitting the ground like rain. It’s so pleasant. I’m at peace. Normally by now, with any other woman, I’m making my exit plan. I wrap my arm around Cricket’s shoulders, pulling her back into me. “I’m never letting you go, know that?”
“Never?”
“Not ever. We’re going to die right here in this shower…together.” I kiss the back of her head.
“Not a bad way to go,” she murmurs.
I smooth her wet hair to one side, then kiss along her bare shoulder. She lets out a sweet hum and leans back, relaxing into me. “Still think our sex is going to be awkward?”
“Oh, absolutely. I can barely look at you, you perv.” She snickers.
Mmk, well, that’s good to know. Same ol’ Cricket…
My Cricket.