Page 46 of Memphis

“Well, I knew he had to be special to deal with your hateful self. You happy?” Daddy probed.

“Yes,” I admitted because at that moment, I was.

“Wow! Damn, I’m the only single King sister left,” Umber said.

“Uh, congratulations, but I feel some kind of way about you not inviting us to the wedding,” Lilith said.

“Wasn’t much of a wedding. Happened in my living room, and it was very spontaneous.”

“Uh-huh. We gotta have a get together to celebrate y’all. You say you on your honeymoon?” That was Daddy.

“Yes. On an island. It’s beautiful,” I said as I watched Bo towel off while entering the bedroom. He smiled when his eyes met mine and walked over to where I lay on the bed to kiss me.

“You know his family?” Umber asked.

“He got family?” Ray interjected. When did his ass get on the phone?

“Yes, and yes. Look, I’ve gotta go. I’ll talk to y’all later.”

After ending the call, I placed my cell on the nightstand and stared at my husband’s body. In truth, he was far from average. He was fine as hell, and the aging process had been very kind to him. Shit, at fifty-four, he was healthier than men half his age.

“Damn,” I muttered under my breath as he turned to face me, towel discarded. Every chiseled muscle of his chest and abdomen taunted me.

“What?” he asked, his eyebrows furrowed. He was so damn handsome—smooth mocha skin, deep-set eyes, luscious lips. He gave Denzel a run for his money.

“Oh, I didn’t say anything,” I lied.

He chuckled and shook his head as he pulled his black briefs on. “For such an efficient killer, you’re a lousy ass liar, King.”

I tossed my middle finger up at him and had to smile at the way he burst into laughter.

My guard was allthe way down for the first time in years, probably for the first time since my mother passed. No, I felt like this when I was with Bo before…until I didn’t. Until the bond we so swiftly built was destroyed.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I leaned into him as we swayed in the moonlight, my toes digging in the sand. There was no music, just Bo’s soft humming as we danced. He had a nice singing—or humming—voice.

It was our last night in our private paradise, and I honestly didn’t want it to end. We’d eaten the best food, meals full of exotic dishes. We made the best love. We lived with no thoughts of anything but us. It almost made me wish this could’ve been our past, but I can admit I was happy it was our present.

“Bo?” I whispered, my voice so soft and demure that it actually startled me.

It must have taken him aback as well because he stopped moving, backing away a little to look into my eyes. “What’s wrong, baby?”

“I need to know something.”

He nodded, reaching for my hand and leading me to the villa’s massive back patio. Once he’d taken a seat in a chair, hepulled me down onto his lap and said, “What do you want to know?”

“If you love me, why would you let my sister die? You say you’ve loved me all these years, so why didn’t you cancel the order and put the word out without me having to negotiate with you?”

He tried to squeeze me close to his chest, but I resisted. “No. Tell me because if Ray hadn’t fallen in love with her, she’d be dead!” I was trembling at that point, a mixture of pure anger and frustrating confusion.

“I honestly didn’t know at first. You know I have staff that handles the parts of the process that aren’t automated. I don’t know about every single target unless they think I need to,” he explained.

“You know about all of my targets. You say you’ve been watching me since day one.”

“You’re the only thing I care about. Of course, I know all your targets.”

“Then you should’ve been keeping tabs on the people I love, too! You should’ve known I wouldn’t want anything to happen to them!”

“Okay, I’ll admit that my loyalty is extremely myopic. When I say it’s only you that I care about, I mean it. I don’t even give a fuck about my own family, but know this: as soon as you contacted me about it, I kept my eye on the situation. I didn’t contact the client because I knew they’d just move on and hire someone else, but I looked into it, figured out Ray was protecting her. So, I knew she was safe.”

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