Page 31 of Stone

My eyes burn with each gentle thrust, each longing movement of the carefully crafted jerk of his hips that causes my clit to throb as I clench around him. This beautiful moment staring into one another’s eyes will forever be held in my heart, ingrained in my memory, and scorched in my skin.

His breath fans my face when he pulls away from the kiss, and a heart-stopping smile crosses his face, exposing his dimples and gifting me with a glimpse of what my future could have been if things were different.

“I love you too,” I whisper, and he clenches his teeth.

“Fuck!” he hisses when my tender walls clamp around him, willing him to coat me in his love. My mouth falls open as my orgasm rocks through me so strong the stars blur into a blinding light, and I imagine us both floating toward it together as one.

Into a future that only exists in my dreams.

I squeeze my eyes closed as a tear slips out of the corner of my eye. The reality is, my hell is just around the corner and, worse, I’m about to destroy the man I love.

Chapter Eighteen

Stone

Five days later …

Sweat beads on my forehead as the sun beats down on me while I wait for my target.

There’s something off about today. I know it. I’m just too damn scared to question it and what it’ll mean.

Taking Sienna’s virginity was risky as hell, but I wouldn’t change a damn thing about it. Who am I kidding? I’d last longer, that’s for sure. But aren’t first times meant to be quick? We both came. The passion and love were there, and it was every fucking thing I could wish for. How many other people can say they have such an incredible experience for their first time? That their soul mate just gave them a onetime gift that will replay in their mind and keep on giving for as long as they live.

Fuck, I need to find a way to keep her.

Thinking about her gets me hard all over again, which is a distraction from the task at hand. I’m standing outside anapartment block waiting for some dude with a permanentI’m dead insideexpression so I can shoot him in the neck and send a photo as evidence to my father.

The cuts on my knuckles from the fight two nights ago are a lingering reminder of a match that didn’t go to plan. My fists pounded into the guy so hard and fast I was dragged out of the ring by my two trainers, Cole and Jace. Something inside me snapped, and all my pent-up aggression came out and was unleashed into the savage beast I struggle to control. It was a match I was supposed to play to my brother’s tune, leaving it open for a rematch so they would gain more green, but after my performance and Czar’s voice notes, I don’t think my opponent will be ready for a rematch any time soon, if ever again.

A knot of anxiety sits in my stomach like a lead weight bringing me down. Everything about today is off, and I relate it back to Sienna somehow. My target isn’t familiar to me, but I feel like he should be, that I’m missing something, a big something, and that feeling is only exacerbated with every moment that ticks by.

Nerves dance in my stomach, and I’m tempted to follow the path on my hand, the one that soothes me and brings me back to the here and now.

The sound of the door to the apartment block opening has me snapping out of my daze, and I slink back into the shadows. My throat becomes dry as he strolls toward his car without a care in the world.

What is it about this man that sends a responding shiver down my spine and causes my stomach to flip with a rare anxiousness I’m not used to? I step out from behind the wall and scan the parking lot. It’s empty, and I have to wonder if this is some sort of setup. It couldn’t possibly be this easy, could it?

Getting closer to him—something I rarely ever do—I take my gun from my waistband and stride across the parking lot with purpose.

Something inside me screams I’m making a huge mistake.

Don’t do it.

It’s not what you think.

You’re going to regret it.

There’s something familiar about him, yet not, but the pain in my head when I try to find clarity intensifies. I wish more than ever to get this job over with. To take the pain and confusion away.

Electric shocks hit my temple, and I rub my forehead. This always fucking happens when I try to dig deeper into my past than I should, and this is another reason I shouldn’t, yet his walk is something I’ve witnessed before. I know it. It’s straight, calculated. His entire demeanor has a familiar air of confidence and seriousness to it. Something I know I’ve seen before.

Why the fuck can’t I remember more?

A haze forms in front of me, and my feet fumble as I feel like I’m unraveling at lightning speed.

This is wrong.

This entire job is wrong.

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