Page 16 of Pure Vengeance

You’re not supposed to be attracted to the man you want dead.

And I’m sure as hell not supposed to want my brother’s killer to touch me.

“Two years ago, someone tried to have me killed,” he says, flattening his hands against the counter on either side of me.

He’s closer now than ever.

I try to focus on my attention on his lips while he talks.

“Did you kill their brother too?” I ask.

He ignores my question.

“The man who he sent missed, worse than you did. Completely missed me when he took a shot at me. My men had him pinned to the ground in seconds.”

My mouth dries. Vincent didn’t waste any time getting to me behind that bush.

“Did you spank him too?” I need air, desperately. His closeness is taking all of it from me.

A cocked grin crosses his lips.

“I had his fingernails removed, one by one until he finally confessed to who hired him. Then I used his own gun to shoot him in the stomach. Took him a full day to die from the wound.”

I try to make my expression go blank, but I’ve read enough true crime novels to know how horrific that death was.

“Then I found the man who’d hired him.” He leans in closer, until his nose touches my earlobe. “It took him three days to finally die.”

“Are you going to do the same to me, then?” My question barely makes a sound, but he’s so close, he hears.

“No. Killing a man in my world is the easiest form of revenge. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s done. But you, my little assassin, aren’t a man in my world.” He leans back, bringing our gazes in line. “So, for you, it’s different.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means until I decide what to do with you, you’re not going home. You’re going to be living here, in my house, doing exactly what I say when I say. You’re my own personal little toy. I’ll take you out to play when I want, and I’ll put you away when I’m done.”

“I- I have a job.” It’s the dumbest thing I could say at this moment, but it’s the only thing that comes to mind.

He chuckles joylessly.

“No. Not anymore.” He lifts one hand from the counter and cups the back of my head, pulling me to him.

I barely have a second to react before his mouth covers mine. My first instinct is to fight him, to shove him away, but his fingers curl into my hair, and his tongue easily brushes past my lips into my mouth.

And I’m lost to it.

It’s not my first kiss.

But hell, it’s the best kiss.

It’s so easy, giving into him. There’s no awkwardness. It’s like we’ve kissed a million times before.

When he breaks away, he smiles down at me.

“You have a new job now, Claire. And your first assignment is to shower, get changed, and be ready for me when I come home tonight.”

He lets me go, helps me off the counter.

“What… what happens then?” I fight the urge to run my tongue over my lip where he’d just been, where his taste lingers.

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