Page 6 of Take

“This better be fuckin’ worth it,” he mumbled.

I had no idea what he was talking about, but to suddenly take off with him in the middle of the night . . . stupid considering rumor was this guy took jobs that were far past the edge of being moral.

Jasper raised something in me, a rebellion to my coldness and I had the urge to try and break that control he held onto. “I’m not going anywhere with you, sir. Now, let me go.”

His bruising grip tightened and his eyes drove into me. “Call me that one more time and once we get the fuck clear of here, I’ll throw you over my knee and spank your ass.”

My breath hitched and I pulled back again, but failed to dislodge his grip, so instead, I raised my gun and pointed it at him.

“Fuck, you’re pissing me off. Save the bullets for the assholes who are on their way here.” He yanked on my arm—hard. I stumbled into him and his hand went for my gun.

I squeezed the trigger.

Bang.

The sound echoed through the room in a loud vibration along with his accompanying roar. “Fuck.”

He let me go, staggering back a few steps, his hand on the side of his upper thigh where blood trickled between his fingers. The crushing path of the bullet left a gaping hole in his pants that was fast becoming soaked in blood.

He growled and then his head jerked up and our eyes locked. The penetrating look was unsettling and my nerves fired off and it wasn’t from the possibility that this man would kill me; it was for what he might do beforehand.

I remembered him looking at me in the bathroom, wearing a towel and nothing else. How his eyes roamed over my body as if he was going to throw me on the counter and have his way with me.

I backed up a step, gun still pointed at him. But this time, I was having trouble keeping it steady. I’d never shot anyone before and I hadn’t meant to shoot Jasper, well, not really.

Jasper lifted his hand to look at his wound then snorted. “You remember what I said six months ago?”

Of course I did—I remembered every word. I just didn’t know which part he was referring to.

“No morals, sunshine.” He walked to the bed, picked up the sheet, and then with his knife, he ripped off a strip. He looked up at me. “Nothing affects me. Not your contempt or anyone else’s. I don’t care whether you hate me or can’t wait to get your mouth around my cock. ‘Cause when it’s all over—I. Don’t. Give. A. Fuck. What I do care about is getting paid.” He took the piece of linen and wrapped it around his thigh several times and blood instantly seeped through. “And now my fee for saving your ass just tripled.”

Fee? Saving me? What was he talking about?

He grunted as he pulled tightly on the self-made bandage. Then in one fluid move, he leapt forward and kicked the gun out of my hand. It slid across the stone tiles and disappeared beneath my bed.

I dove for it.

Jasper dove for me.

We both landed in a heap on the floor. Me on my stomach, Jasper on top, his hands latched onto my wrists above my head.

My cheek pressed into the cold floor and I panted hard and it wasn’t from exertion. The feel of him on top of me, his scent awakening a rabble of butterflies, a rabble I never knew lived in me until I’d met him, a rabble I’d been fighting for months. Well, now they were having an illegal fluttering party and I needed to lock them up and throw away the key.

The sudden hard swelling between his legs on my ass sent my pulse racing and that low octane tweak into a full-blown panty-dampening ache. I tried to wiggle to get out from under him, but stopped when he groaned.

“Babe, loving this position, as I’m sure you’re aware. But we really don’t have time for this.”

“Get off me.” I thought my voice would be steady; instead, it quaked and damn if he noticed.

“Cute,” he whispered next to my ear. “Wishing we had more time. I’d fuck you just like this. Maybe bring your ass up a bit. Better for both of us.”

Shivers trickled across my skin like tiny pebbles being washed over by a fast moving stream. His breath had a hint of raspberry as it wafted over my face and I inhaled, closing my eyes. Then I tensed as the iron scent hit me. The instinct to heal was strong in me and the burning in my hands began as the urge to heal his thigh raced through my veins.

“Get. Off. Me.”

“Oh, I’ll get off,” he murmured. His cock twitched and I shoved back my leg trying to hit his thigh. “Yeah, sunshine, I feel it too. We’ll get there.”

Oh. My. God. Did he really think I’d have sex with him? Probably. No, not probably—likely.

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