Page 41 of Bad Guys Need Love Too

Love. It.

The really fun thing about all that? The sex wasn’t even the best part of her time with Ren. Sure, it was mind blowing. Life altering. Dehydrating. Her favorite part, though, was the talking.

She’d peppered him with questions about his childhood (such that it was), how he’d taught himself to become a hacker, all the things he’d studied over the years (which was astaggeringamount of things), the people he protected and why they were so important to him, his fears for the future (which were limited to SkyNet taking control of the grid and/or an apocalypse that may or may not involve zombies) and hopes (all of which involved her in some way or another). He answered every question until his voice was hoarse. It was probably more than he'd ever talked in his life, and she waslivingfor every word.

And when he wasn’t answering her questions, he was asking her a bunch of his own. He learned all the things about her that surveillance couldn’t have told him. Her own fears (which hadn’t included any kind of apocalypse butnowdid), hopes (to someday take over Sherry’s Blooms and maybe even write a romance novel in her spare time), and childhood before they’d met. He seemed especially interested in her idyllic holiday memories. (She’d already made a mental note to make sure his next big holiday would be special, damn it, because his childhood holidays had all sucked ass.)

It was the most…connected she’d ever felt to another person in her life. She felt like she could tell him anything, and he’d never judge or condemn her for it. It wastrueintimacy, which was something that had always been missing with Neal. And if she wasn’t careful, she feared she could become addicted to it.

Addicted tohim.

But somewhere towards the end of the day, when Lark was chugging electrolytes to replenish herself, and Ren was shoveling a week’s worth of protein into his mouth to presumably do the same, she remembered that her life wasn’t all about sex, breaking furniture, and getting to know the man who’d been protecting her for half her life, she remembered that there was also a guy out there trying to kill her, who’d been hired by someone who wanted to frame her ex-fiancé for it.

Good grief, that was convoluted. Everything would be so much simpler if it could all just be about the sex.

So, while sitting on the couch, wearing nothing but one of his T-shirts, she put down her water bottle and glanced over at Ren. She almost forgot what she was going to ask, because no one had ever looked as good as he looked, sitting next to her, wearing nothing but gray sweatpants, destroying a rotisserie chicken.

Mental slap across the face.Pull yourself together, woman!

She cleared her throat. “What’s our next move?”

He stopped eating and flicked his gaze over her in a slow, assessing manner, before one corner of his mouth turned up in a way that did naughty, dirty things to her libido, because he clearly had thoughts about their next move, and something told her his ideas wouldnotinvolve clothes. Lark barely resisted the urge to fan herself. One day spent in bed (and multiple otherplaces) with this man and she was officially a sex fiend. “I’m not talking aboutthat,” she mumbled. “I mean about the hit man. And Neal.”

Mention of her ex-fiancé dimmed the heat in his eyes a bit. “He hasn’t made any moves since the breakup to contact Fortunato. If he really was the guy to take that hit out, I figured he would’ve tried to at least get a progress report by now.”

“So, you believe me? That Neal didn’t do this?”

He sighed. “Yeah,” he said grudgingly. “I think you’re right. Tenley does, too. Someone used his work computer to take that hit out. But I have no way of determining who it was based on that knowledge alone.”

“I think they have security cameras there,” Lark said. “Can we check those and see who went into his office to use the computer?”

“You’re right, they do have cameras. I hacked their security company to check them, but apparently, they’re only capturing views of the elevators, doors, and shared spaces. There aren’t any views of the individual offices.”

She frowned. “Yeah. It was a long shot, I guess.”

Ren draped one of his hands over her thigh. “It was a good thought.”

Well, now she wasn’t sure she was capable of anymore good thoughts, because his hand was so big he could more than halfway close it around her thigh, which she foundwayhotter than she should’ve. This man dropped her IQ. That’s how much he turned her on.

“If we could get our killer to reach out to whoever initiated the contract,” he went on, “I could trace the communication. But the killer has dropped off the grid. He must’ve figured out Tenley was a diversion, because he’s ditched his phone and computer.”

She sat up a little straighter. “Is Tenley safe?”

“Always.”

He said it with such confidence that Lark relaxed a bit. And that’s when a thought occurred to her. One she knew Ren wasn’t going to like. But she had to voice it, nonetheless.

After all, it might be their only shot.

“We know someone with access to the law firm took the hit out, right?” she asked.

“Right.”

“So,” she said carefully, “it stands to reason that if that someone saw I was alive, like, walking into the law firm for some reason, that theymightcontact the killer so that we could trace the call.Or, that the killer might even be watching the law firm and might show himself when I walked in there. Then we’d have the upper hand.”

Ren’s eyes iced over. “No.”

She gaped at him. “Just no? Just like that?”

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