Page 21 of The Hitman

But I’ll fail. I know that as surely as I know that letting this stranger into my hotel room was the wrong call.

“This was a mistake,” I breathe.

He shakes his head as he steps forward, crowding me with his body instead of just his presence, and once again, I don’t hate it. He’s still not touching me, but now I can feel the warmth of his body on my skin. The clean scent of his soap fills my nostrils.

I take another half step away from him, and my back hits the wall.

I should freak out in this moment, now that I’m trapped between a complete stranger and an actual hard place, but I don’t. I’m not.

He’s still not touching me. There’s a sliver of distance between us, enough that I can feel the slightly cooler air of my room brush between us, tickling the tips of my nipples and making me gasp.

I’m eye-level with his throat, and I watch as his Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows thickly.

“It doesn’t have to be a mistake,” he whispers, his breath kissing the baby hair on my temple. “And you don’t have to cry yourself to sleep tonight.”

I lift my eyes to his and shiver again. That playful grin is gone, and there’s something about seeing him from this close and this vantage point that accentuates his sharp cheekbones and rounded jawline and the contrast of his dark beard and tanned skin.

“He’s not worth it,” he says, startling me. My eyes widen, and I press myself harder against the cool wall, letting it ground me in this moment. I ball my fists until my still-jagged nails bite against my palm. “Whoever you’re crying about isn’t worth it. Trust me. You can cry yourself to sleep tonight or let me take your mind off of him.” His head dips lower as he speaks. Our lips are a hair’s breadth away.

“How did you… I don’t even know you,” I say, tripping over my words and his very accurate assessment of my pathetic predicament. “Why should I trust you?”

He grins again, and it’s even more devastating somehow. Maybe all of his facial expressions look this good up close and from below. And even though this moment isa lot,I wonder if he would look even more attractive if I were to lower myself to my knees in front of him.

I shiver, and the tips of my nipples brush his chest.

His Adam’s apple bobs again.

“You’re right,” he says. “You shouldn’t trust any man. Especially not me. But even more so, anyone who would make you cry. No man is worth your tears.”

“Is this why you wanted to come in? To tell me that all men are scum?”

He grins and lifts his hand to my face.

I swallow, lick my lips, and then nod once, giving him permission to touch me. Finally.

And then he does.

His skin is rough. Not calloused, like a man who does manual labor for a living, but rougher than an actor who has monthly spa appointments. He’s not like Ryan, I think again, and this time, I don’t let it stop me. I lean into his touch.

He grips my chin with his thumb and forefinger for a second, before his thumb moves from my chin to the curve of my bottom lip. He traces the line of my lip with his nail. “You need to forget him,” he whispers.

“I’m trying,” I say, shaking my head.

He tips my head back until I have no choice but to look at him. “No,” he says. “You are crying over him. Wallowing. You need to forget him. I can help you.”

“I don’t fuck strangers,” I blurt in a shocked whisper.

He smiles and presses the tip of his thumb firmly against my lip. “Then let us become acquainted,” he says again.

I don’t give myself a moment to think. I spread my lips and lick at the tip of his thumb with the tip of my tongue.

His smile is lowkey devastating.

“Okay,” I whisper to him. “Let’s get to know each other.”

10Giulio

I liketo think that I’m an average man — even with my line of work — and by that, I mean that I don’t like to work too hard for pussy. I don’t have the time or energy to put much of an effort into getting a woman to fuck me. And even if I did, I know that This Woman would be too much. Getting her attention would require the kind of focus I’m only willing to expend on finding, killing, and disposing of the men Salvo tells me to. And keeping her… No. She’s so far out of my league I’m practically exhausted thinking about it.

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