Page 44 of Lady and the Hitman
Only him.
He didn’t speak. Didn’t ask if I was comfortable, or ready, or sure. He just opened the door of a different black SUV—this one even sleeker than the last—and waited.
I slid in.
He followed.
The driver didn’t look at either of us. Just merged onto the road and disappeared into the thick pulse of traffic.
“Where are we going?” I finally asked, voice low.
Ronan turned his head toward me, the edge of a smirk playing at his mouth. “Somewhere ... wild.”
My pulse skipped. “That’s vague.”
“Vague keeps you alert,” he said. “Sharpens your instincts.”
“Is this a ticketed event?”
He nodded once. “An invitation-only experience. One night. Controlled setting. You’ll be hunted.”
That last word sank its teeth into me.
Hunted.
The way he said it—casual, calm, like it wasn’t the most feral, dangerous thing a man could offer—sent a sharp thrill through me.
Because I’d asked for this.
No. I’d begged for it.
The memory flared, sudden and sharp—my fingers hovering over the keyboard, my heart hammering as I typed out the letter to Alpha Mail. No edits. No polish. Just raw need spilled into pixels:
I want to be hunted.
Someone dangerous. Someone who doesn’t ask.
I want to feel like I’m not supposed to be there.
Like I said the wrong thing, and now he’s here to make me regret it.
I hadn’t thought they’d take it literally. I hadn’t thought anyone would respond.
And now here I was.
In a city I didn’t recognize, with a man who could break me apart just to watch how I shattered.
And he was going tohuntme.
Just like I asked.
Just like I needed.
I stared at him. “Hunted by you?”
“Among others,” he said. “But you’re mine. They know that.”
I didn’t know what that meant—they—but I didn’t ask. Because the look in his eyes told me he wouldn’tanswer. And maybe I didn’t want him to. Maybe it was better not to know the shape of the thing you were walking into. Maybe that’s what made it feel like a choice.
