Page 14 of Deadly Little Sparrow

I’m not sure if it’s because I can feel his eyes on the back of my neck like a phantom touch, or his surprising responsiveness to my commands, but I don’t need to look to know he’s right behind me. It’s not quite dark yet, but the sunlight is fading quickly, leaving the sky overhead a dark blue with streaks of pink.

I fling the heavy door open with a noisy clatter, my eyes landing immediately on the dark spot on the pavement. I look one way, then the other, remembering that night with perfect clarity. But where was Xaviaro hiding? No matter how hard I try, I just can’t picture him crouching behind a dumpster with a banana peel stuck to his thousand-dollar Hermès loafers.

Stepping out into the alley, goose bumps rise along my arms and skitter down my spine. It’s hard to tell whether they’re a Pavlovian reaction to the rush of adrenaline I had the last time I was here, or if they have more to do with the man who has apparently been stalking me. A fresh wave of anger rushes through me, but there’s something else underneath it. Something hot and dangerous. Something I should probably leave alone if I know what’s good for me…

As soon as the door clangs shut behind Xaviaro, leaving the two of us alone in the alley, I whirl on him like a tornado, indignation and fury spinning wildly inside of me with nowhere to go. Of course, I understand logically that this man is a trained killer. I know that he keeps his favorite gun tucked just under his suit jacket and could no doubt have it unholstered, cocked, and fired before I can so much as blink. He could leave me lying on the ground with a smoking hole between my eyes, my blood seeping out to add to the stain already left by Velcro, and I wouldn’t even know what hit me.

I should be terrified of him. I should be cowering and pissing myself. I’m sure that’s what he’s used to. It would be the smart way to go.

Even knowing all of that, I close the space between us in three short steps, backing him up against the rusted metal door and wrapping a hand around his throat.

XAVIARO

Sparrow’s eyes dance with rage and mayhem as he presses his small body up against mine with a surprising amount of force and squeezes my throat until I can feel finger shaped bruises starting to form.

My cock swells to life so forcefully it makes me dizzy. I could throw him off me if I wanted to. I could break his hand with one swift motion. I could leave him dead with only two. But why the hell would I want to do that when my little bird looks so damn stunning when he’s murderous like this?

I swallow and his hand tightens, his palm pressing against my Adam’s apple, just shy of hard enough to cut off my airway. The motion is controlled, calculated. This isn’t his first time. My cock throbs. What other dirty secrets is he hiding? Without a real name, the only things I know about him are what I’ve been able to discover while following him for the past month.

“What. The. Fuck?” He spits each word as its own sentence, pressing his body harder into mine. Because he’s trying to pin me in place or because he likes the way it feels as much as I do?

“Is that rhetorical or are you looking for an answer?” I ask, staring him down with a bored expression to hide the heat building in my gut and between my legs.

Sparrow bares his teeth like a feral animal. “You dumped my fucking body? That’s… fucked up. It’s out of line. Touching someone else’s kill has to be the number one no-no in the serial killer handbook. Just… what the fuck?” he asks again, his rage slipping into frustration as he loosens his grip a fraction but leans more of his weight into me, bringing the hard, thick length of his erection into contact with my thigh.

So, he does like this as much as I do. I don’t try to fight the slow smile that creeps over my lips as I stare him down in the hazy orange light. The lamp hanging above my head casts menacing shadows over his sharp features, making him look like the Angel of Death he’s dying to be.

“First of all, neither of us are serial killers. By definition, I’m more of an assassin, since the people I kill are for a paycheck. And if I had to guess, you don’t quite have the numbers to claim the ‘serial’ part of that title just yet,” I point out, and he huffs in frustration at my logic, his hand twitching around my throat again.

He brings his face closer to mine, pushing up onto his tiptoes to do it. His cock drags along my thigh with the motion, making mine tingle and ache again. My nipples tighten and a hot, desperate feeling crawls along my skin as his breath ghosts against my cheek.

“Is there a second of all?” he asks.

“Second of all…” I catch his gaze with my own, holding it and getting lost for a fraction of a second in the way his pupils expand, the black obscuring most of the light blue shade of his irises. “Do you know what happens to people in this city who run around making trouble? I don’t mean slinging a few bags of coke or ripping off convenience stores. I’m talking about the kind of trouble that’s bound to have the cops sniffing around sooner or later.”

He pulls his eyebrows together and a little crease forms between them while his tongue darts out to wet his lips. I track the motion involuntarily, wondering what it would feel like to let him tie me up and spend a whole night licking every inch of me without relief. Would he be into it? Something tells me the answer is a resounding yes.

Finally, Sparrow gives a quick shake of his head in answer to my question.

“My boss puts their name on my list. I don’t want your name on my list.”

He narrows his eyes. “What do you care?” he challenges. “You don’t know me. If Lorenzo Moretti tells you to kill me, you’ll do it without flinching and you’ll sleep just fine.”

“There it is, Little Sparrow,” I murmur, bringing the tip of my nose into contact with his and watching the way his eyes widen a fraction. “Your words are cold, but there’s a barely concealed quiver that gives you away. There’s a momentary fear in your eyes when you to talk so casually about your own death. There’s still a sliver of humanity buried under the monster you want so desperately to be. You’re not numb. You still feel things.” I nudge my nose against his again, and his breath catches, his tongue darting out to leave his lips glistening and damp. “Rage and passion pump through your veins like liquid fire. Fear still makes your heart race and your breath quicken. I’m a well-oiled machine, but you’re a goddamn hurricane, beautiful and violent, leaving a path of destruction in your wake.”

He makes a choked sound and slides his hand from around my throat to grab my jaw with the same rough force. He slams his mouth into mine savagely, both of us groaning as soon as our lips meet. There’s nothing soft or sweet about this kiss. There’s no tender exploration or tentative pecks. Sparrow is all teeth and tongue, forcing my lips apart and ravaging my mouth like he fucking owns it. He wraps his tongue around mine and makes my toes curl as he tightens his grip on my jaw. An electric current jolts through my body, rattling me out of the emotionless sleepwalking I’ve been doing for years and lighting up nerve endings I forgot I had.

He pulls back just as quickly, leaving me gasping and stumbling forward to catch myself when his weight is suddenly gone. I drag in a ragged breath and look at him again, immediately lost in the wildness of his eyes.

“Don’t get in my way again, Xav. Seriously, don’t,” he says, breathing just as heavily as I am and dragging both hands through his hair.

“I can’t agree to that. The drawback to all the emotions you have crashing through you every second is that they make you sloppy. You made a mistake leaving Velcro’s body, and it’s not going to be the last time you fuck up.”

He sets his jaw stubbornly and takes another step back, inching towards the mouth of the alley. “Stay out of it.”

He spins and walks away quickly, his footsteps echoing off the buildings until he disappears. I push off the wall and drag my fingertips over my lips, still throbbing from the kiss. It only takes me a few seconds to decide I’m done playing by his rules… at least when it comes to this. If he has other rules, I’m happy to discuss them. Preferably naked.

But before I can go after him, my phone vibrates in my pocket. There’s only a handful of people with this number, and I know it’s Enzo calling without even glancing at the screen.

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