Page 36 of Butcher

His blank expression was enough to make the flutteries go away, for now.

“I don’t want to take over your room,” I said, breaking the heavy silence. “I could-”

“You’re staying here. With me,” he replied, crossing his muscular arms over his chest.

“Okay.” I looked around, unsure what to say. Stupid flutters were already back. I didn’t even know what these feelings were that were inside of me. How was I supposed to voice them? Besides, it wasn’t possible to fall in love with a man in just a couple of days. Right? Especially when that man had kept you tied up for most of that time. Even I wasn’tthatmessed up... Was I?

Not that I could blame him. I was dangerous and he had been on my hit list at the time. “Thank you for getting my things. And for bringing me Murder.”

“No problem.” His eyes flicked down to the bobcat. “How did you end up with her?”

“Oh. One of my marks was an exotic animal poacher.” I gave him a wicked smile. “He had her in a cage as a little kitten, waiting for her to grow up just to hunt her. That was one of the few targets I actually took pleasure in killing.”

He cocked his head, studying me. “Who hired you to do that job?”

I gave him an innocent look. “I have no idea.”

He snorted. “Okay, fine.”

Shrugging, I petted Murder on the head, listening to her purrs. She was pretty self-reliant and didn’t mind when I left her alone to hunt my marks, but I’d left written instructions with the hotel about what to do with her if my reservation came to an end and I didn’t renew it. Not that they knew I had a bobcat in the room, but they would have found out if I died and didn’t come back for her. There was a local wildlife sanctuary here who would take her in. I’d already contacted the woman in charge about taking in Murder if anything ever happened to me. “Client confidentiality,” I explained with a shit-eating smile.

“That’s not a thing.”

“It is.”

“For a doctor, sure, but not for an assassin.” He arched a brow at me.

“How many assassins do you know?”

He shrugged. “Never bothered to get to know them before I killed them.”

Murder struggled in my arms, giving a soft cry. I let her down so she could start exploring her new area.

Butcher watched her with distrustful eyes.

“I should clean those up,” I offered, pointing at the scratches on his arms.

He looked down at them, then looked at me suspiciously. Probably trying to decide which would hurt worse, me or leaving them like they were. Making up his mind he crossed the room into the bathroom. He came back a few minutes later and handed me a container filled with medical supplies. He sat down on the bed next to me, watching me with those intense eyes.

I tried to ignore him. Tried to ignore my racing heart. This was all new to me. I didn’t help people. Or live with them, which is what we were basically doing if I was going to be staying here with him. I had sex, got some stress relief, and went back to my solitary life. It was only now, after being around Butcher’s family for a few days, that I was beginning to see how lonely my life was. I swallowed as I focused on his arms, refusing to look up into his eyes.

My entire system was in chaos, and I didn’t know how to fix it. I wasn’t even sure what would help. I reached out with the cloth he’d brought and dabbed away the blood that had dried onto his skin. He had tattoos covering his forearms and hands. They were colorful and gorgeous. When I’d been studying his file, I never would have imagined that I’d be touching them. Once the wounds were clean, I dabbed on some antibacterial ointment. “Okay.” I awkwardly patted his arm.

My hands had shaken through the entire process. I was a professional assassin who had killed a long list of people but being near this man made me tremble. It was ridiculous, but I couldn’t seem to do anything to stop it.

“You’re not going to clean the others?”

I met his eyes for the first time since I started touching him. “What others?”

His lips tipped upward in a sinful smile. And then he shrugged off his cut, setting it gently aside on the bed, and before I could say a word, he reached behind him and pulled his shirt off.

Oh, sweet baby Jesus.

Those tattoos on his forearms went all the way up to his shoulders and continued down onto his chest. His washboard abs were devoid of colorful ink, but they really didn’t need it to stand out. I was staring, wide eyed at miles of muscles and ink. I’d seen him before, of course, as he’d slept without his shirt for the last few nights, but there was something different about seeing him sitting there half naked now. I knew the entirety of his back was covered as well. I think the difference was that this wasmyopportunity to touch.

Before, when he’d fucked me, I’d been on my stomach, busy holding myself up so I didn’t get a chance to run my hands over him. Afterward, I’d been too angry at being tied up. But now? There wasn’t any anger to hide behind. No guilty feelings from having taken a contract for his life.

It was just him, and me. Well, and Ms. Mittens, but she was busy rolling around on a pile of dirty clothes in the corner. She was strange about liking her scent to be on things. I wasn’t about to explain to Butcher that she only did that with things she considered to be hers, which meant she was claiming him. I’d only ever seen her do that with my things. She didn’t usually care for other people. It was why we got along so well.

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