Page 26 of One Kill

“I mourned you once before, for us, for her, for the life we could’ve had, and now that you’re back, I let that dream crawl out of its grave. I shouldn’t have assumed you’d want that life, or even still be single. Because of course you’re not. I just…” He finds a way to avoid my gaze, looking to the ceiling and bringing a hand up, cupping the back of his neck.

“To assume makes an ass out of you and me, Murph. How many times did we hear that? Never assume anything.” He brings his eyes back down to meet mine again, defeated understanding clear in his gaze, and I want to beat it out of him. “But in no way, shape, or form, am I in a relationship.” I wave both hands in kind of a surrender. I have no fucking clue why I felt the need to make sure he knows I’m single, but he returns my small smile. “Can we just drop all the crap and get on like we were beginning to before?”

Murphy raises a brow, a mischievous glint in his eye now. “Where we were beginning to before… like when I brushed against you?” He brings a hand up to my face, stroking his knuckles across my cheek. The touch is fucking electric and my will to stay away from this man for his safety is slowly crumbling.

Let’s be fair, I’m not really expending much effort on trying to hold it together.

“Or like when I kissed you?” Leaning down, his breath fans across my lips, which are barely a paper’s width away from his.

I don’t back down, don’t move away, waiting for him to close that small distance between us, because then I can at least tell myself I tried to stay away, to stop what was happening.

The kitchen is deathly silent, Murphy’s thick cock has closed the distance between us and he’s now pressed up against my stomach. His hand is still on my cheek, palm down now, his thumb moving back and forth. His eyes are fixed on mine, and it would be so easy to get lost in those again. Our breaths are heavy as we both contemplate whether this is okay, whether this is what the other wants for sure. Somehow, I must’ve moved closer, because now my breasts are pressed up against him, the friction making walking away from this damn near impossible.

“Fuck it.” Murphy makes the move. His hands cup my face, his tongue demands entrance, and his oh-so-soft lips are causing a bonfire inside my brain. It’s terrifyingly perfect and I grip my arms around his neck, lifting myself up his body and wrapping my legs around his waist.

The phrase climbing someone like a tree has never been truer.

Moving his hands from my face, Murph grips onto my ass, kneading the muscles and causing more friction against my pussy with every squeeze. I’m basically dry humping him as if we were still teenagers and I couldn’t give two shits. The last time I was this turned on was… well, with Murphy.

“Daaad!” Hallie’s elongated word suggests she wants something and I immediately unfurl myself from my childhood sweetheart. Fuck, I’ve gone soft since he’s been back. Or since I’ve been back. Whatever…

Murphy grins at me, giving me one last kiss before smacking my ass and picking up his coffee just as Hallie makes it down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Holy shit, that was hot.

“Hils just told me that new movie we wanted to watch is on Netflix. Can we watch it, please?” Hallie seems none the wiser about what was just going on in here, and when she’s rooting through the cupboard for fuck knows what, Murph winks at me.

“Of course, baby girl. You’re on popcorn, I’ll make milkshakes, and—”

“Ooh, Mom can grab the blankets and pillows. They’re in the cupboard under the stairs.” Clapping her hands together, which seems to be her thing, she pulls out a bag of popcorn before reaching to another cupboard and pulling out a large bowl. “Youaregonna stay for the movie, right?”

Her pleading eyes as she stops what she’s doing and puts all her attention on me are going to stay with me for an eternity. I couldn’t let this girl down if I tried.

“Sure.” I shrug, and she grips my waist, squeezing me before getting back to organizing the popcorn. “I’ll get right on that.”

Murphy wags his brows as I’m leaving the room and memories of playing under the blankets and watching movies together as kids hits me in a wave of nostalgia. He’d often join my mom and me on movie nights like this when our dads were out on various jobs.

I fire off a quick text to the Reapers group chat, letting them know I won’t be back to the clubhouse as I had planned this evening. Glitch has some info on the Mr. Wright guy that he wanted to share, but whatever it is can wait ‘til tomorrow.

My soft ass is gonna be spending the next couple of hours under a blanket watching I don’t even care what.

Time with my girl is priceless.

And maybe Murphy too, but I’m not dissecting those feelings just yet.

Chapter Thirteen

J

Thirteen-year-oldgirlstakeupa lot of space.

As the credits to the movie begin to roll, I’m acutely aware of Hallie sleeping across the couch with half her body sprawled out on her father and the other half on me. I got the feet part of this deal while her father is the pillow to her head. I guess I need to work myself up to that privilege.

Or not. Logically, I should be disappearing into the shadows and making sure they stay far away from the bloodshed that will ensue if the Irish mob ever finds me. If they haven’t already.

“She’s conked out. I’ll take her up to bed.” I don’t move an inch as Murph picks up the corner of his blanket and pulls it, slow and easy, off of him, then Hallie, who doesn’t even stir an inch.

This is all new to me: The movie watching, the cuddling, the family setup. Murph, though? It’s like second nature. He knows just how to move to avoid waking her, just where to place his arms as he picks her up and carries her off to her room.

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