Page 24 of Claimed By the Hitman: Codename Cupid

They wouldn’t dare.

Besides, we won’t be here for long.

Rose smacks my chest and rolls her eyes. “Knock it off, psycho.”

“Now that we’ve taken care of that mild annoyance…”

“Mild?”

“It’s time to decide where we’d like to go.”

Rose considers this. “Where can we go?”

I smile and wink. “Anywhere.”

“Well, first,” she hums and slides her arms around my shoulders. “Tobed.”

“That goes without saying…”

“And then…” Rose hurls the cup, shattering it against the shed next to the trailer. “Why don’t you take me somewhere warm?”

I glance back, losing the white pieces of ceramic in the darkness.

“That was dramatic,” I say.

She shrugs. “I figured it was my turn.”

We don’t even make it into the trailer.

I take Rose in my arms, lie her down on the hood of the car, and rip off that flannel under a blanket of stars. Her body is moonlight spilling between my fingers. No matter how hard I try, I can’t grab enough of her at once to be satisfied.

I’ve been all over the world.

I’ve been shot, stabbed, beaten, and brutalized.

I’ve killed. Boy, have I killed.

All of that seems like a dull, distant memory to me now. Another life I’m ready to forget. With her moaning my name, clawing at my scars, and urging me deeper with her feet hooked behind me, nothing else in the world matters. Not money. Not power. Not control.

We’re free, and I’ve never felt so alive.

EPILOGUE

ROSE

Three years later…

The sound of lapping waves stirs me. A cool breeze sneaks in through our house, bringing the smell of salt and the promise of another day in paradise.

I roll over in bed, but Alexei isn’t here.

Of course not. Another early day out in the surf.

There’s no schedule to keep, so I get up when I’m damn good and ready. If I wanted to, I could lie here all day and read one of the books piled up on my end table. But I should move, maybe take a walk on the beach and find Alexei catching waves.

It’s good for the baby.

I slip into a flowing red dress, not bothering with shoes as I step out onto our porch through the sliding door. The wood is cool beneath my feet, and the sand of the beach looks inviting.

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