Page 12 of Curse of the Bride Assassin

I run my nose up the column of her neck, inhaling her floral perfume before kissing right below her jawline. She shivers against me, extending her neck to give me more access.

“That sounds nice,” she shakily replies as I kiss back down her neck and lick over her exposed collarbone. My fangs tingle with the urge to bite her.

“After dinner, we can go skinny dipping at dusk if you want,” I growl into her ear, moving my hand up her leg and wedging them in between her luscious, thick thighs. I want to feel them against my ears as I lick her pussy and eat her like a starving man.

I’m falling apart over this woman. My self control is almost nonexistent. I’ve never wanted someone as much as I want her.

She parts her thighs enough that my hand moves up, until I touch her hot, wet sex. She’s not wearing any panties. I bite my bottom lip, trying to rein myself under control. I should reveal to her what we are to each other first. Have a meaningful conversation about what that means. But I want her so badly and I think she wants me to.

“So you're one hundred percent sure we're safe?” she asks me as her big, glowing eyes peer up at me.

“Yes, we may not have guards, but this place has a top notch security system. You have nothing to worry about, beautiful,” I coo into her ear.

The sound of the window shattering makes her jump up from my lap, then tuck and roll onto the floor, to the desk next to the chair. Like someone who’s familiar with combat techniques. She reaches into her bust and pulls out a small handgun, and my mouth drops. Has she been carrying that on her the whole time?

Wait, is she a cop? A fed? Someone from a rival mafia?

A large figure crashes through the door, sending glass everywhere, and she doesn’t hesitate to open fire. She shoots him once in each knee cap. Then she springs up and kicks the gun out of his hand.

“Cover your ears,” she tells me, and instead of subduing her and asking her a million questions, I listen to her. She unleashes a powerful wail that knocks me off my feet. It also knocks out our intruder. “What can I use to restrain him? The bullets weren’t kill shots, and we won’t have much time until that wears off…”

I go to my office next to the living room and pull out a pair of silver-lined handcuffs. They’re for a worst-case scenario like this one, and I never thought I’d have to use them. She motions for me to hand them to her, but I gently nudge her out of the way and handcuff him myself. I don’t want her to touch them, even for a second. Even accidentally brushing against them hurts, and I’d never stand by and let her feel pain.

She sheepishly peers up at me from under her light lashes, her mouth twisting into a frown.

“Dana…is there something you want to tell me?” I ask her in a calm, even tone. I should be furious with her for lying to me, but she saved my life and captured my attacker. How can I even be mad at my fated mate?

This woman is going to run circles around me, because I don’t think it's possible for me to be anything but enamored by her.

“My name isn’t Dana,” she answers me. After a few moments of silence, I gesture for her to continue. “My name is Delilah Sangre.”

Sangre?Why does that name sound familiar? I put a pin in the thought, deciding to figure out exactly who Delilah is.

“Why do I have the feeling you don’t work for your parents’ waste management company?” I take her hand in mine, rubbing my thumb across her knuckles.

“I do work for my parents, but they don’t own a waste management company, per se. We’re assassins. We take out the trash—abusers, con artists, pedophiles, violent criminals.”

That explains her agility and response to danger. My mate is an assassin.A Sangre assassin.They’re some of the most exclusive, skilled killers in the game. That’s why the last name sounds so familiar.

I wasn’t aware they had a daughter, though.

“Since we’re talking about lies, I wasn’t matched with you at the dating service. I used my manipulation powers to match us because I needed a way into the Conti mafia. Your uncle Mario is my target.”

“Target?” I ask.

“Long story short, my mother went missing a year ago because she joined the Femme Fatale Freak Show, a secret assassin’s guild. She wasn’t supposed to be gone this long. My father can feel her through their fated mate bond, so we know she’s alive. I think they asked me to join so I can find her. They gave me a clue that Mario had something to do with her disappearance.”

I burst out laughing. Not the normal kind you have after you hear a good joke—it’s the unhinged,what the fuckkind of laughter. The kind that makes people stare, my mate included. Her brows knit together as she worries her bottom lip, probably unsure of what to make of my outburst.

It’s just my luck that I finally find the woman of my dreams—the one who’sfatedfor me, for fuck’s sake—and she’s a covert assassin charged with killing Uncle Mario.

If I really think about it, I have no reason to be mad at her. Yes, she lied and manipulated her way into my life. She has to kill my family. But fate works in mysterious ways, and all of those actions brought her to me. I lied too, because I still haven’t told her we’re fated mates. And my uncle is a dead man walking, so there’s no better time for an assassin to drop into my lap than right now.

She’s the woman of my dreams.

“Why are you so quiet?” she asks me. “Are you going to kill me for lying to you?”

“No,” I say around a laugh. “I do think we need to have a conversation though.”

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