Page 42 of Assassin's Mark
Chapter Twenty
There was something hard underneath my head. Something moving. It took me a moment to figure out that the something was Levi’s chest, and the instant I did, I froze. I was wrapped around my captor like a limpet, head on his pec, arm over him, leg across his hips. And even more weird, he was letting me. Or maybe he was simply too deep in sleep and hadn’t realized what was upyet.
I could feel something up, though, and it wasn’t Levi waking. At least notallof Levi.
I didn’t dare move my thigh, but neither could I ignore the slowly firming line beneath it. How the man could want sex, asleep or not, had me baffled. He’d taken me twice more before we’d finally fallen into an exhausted sleep last night, which was probably how I’d ended up on top of him—we’d both beentoo worn-out to notice. And yet, even while sleep still dragged at me, I couldn’t resist the temptation to scan the landscape of Levi’s body beside and beneath mine. He was living, breathing, brutal power on display; even unconscious, no one would mistake Levi for weak.
The ache deep inside my body agreed.
Was this what I’d missed the morning after losing my virginity? What a normal morning-afterwas like? Two people, sated and sleepy, curled around each other as they came awake in the early morning light. I closed my eyes and held very, very still, absorbing the rise and fall of Levi’s chest, the heat of his skin against mine, the twitch of his penis beneath my thigh. For one crazy moment I let myself imagine that the two of us were normal, that he wasn’t an assassin intent on killingmy father and I wasn’t his captive, forced to bend to his will whether I wanted to or not. We were simply lovers, wrapped up in each other. Alone. Satisfied. In love.
Lost in the fantasy, I turned my head. My lips brushed the pebbled tip of Levi’s nipple.
The muscles under me instantly went rigid. Levi’s heartbeat thundered beneath my cheek. Instinctive rejection. Normal had been shattered themoment I kissed him.
The covers rustled as Levi lifted them oh so carefully, then eased sideways, out of my grip. I squeezed my eyes shut tighter, pretending—for him and for me—that I was asleep as he left the bed. I had no desire to see distaste in his expression or, even worse, pity. Nor did I want to look at what I couldn’t, shouldn’t have.
The door to the bathroom closed. I rolled over andpulled the blanket over my head, blocking out the sun and prying eyes.
Don’t hurt the innocent,they’d said.
Right. Then why did more than my body ache? If, by some great stretch of the imagination, I managed to get out of this complicated mess of a situation, I should probably get ready for some massive therapy bills. For the next ten or fifteen years—or more.
Levi came out of the bathroom.The weight of his stare sizzled through me despite the covers separating us, but I forced myself to breathe normally, pretend I was asleep until the faintclickof the bedroom door closing registered in my ears. I threw back the covers, huffing random strands of hair from my face, and glared up at the rectangles of bright morning sky. Only when the tingling behind my eyes finally faded did I getup and dress.
My mask was firmly in place when I walked into the living room. At first I didn’t realize the broad back visible in the desk chair wasn’t Levi—he and Eli might have different hair colors, but they shared the same build. Remi seemed to as well, though it was harder to tell with him lying on a bed, covered. Hopefully he’d wake soon, for his sake and for Leah’s. Someone deserved toget out of here, and she had a daughter to worry about; all I had was a megalomaniac of a father.
Eli shot a glare over his shoulder as I moved closer. I’d put up with that look from Levi because a single glance from him could scare the crap out of me, but I wouldn’t let his brother have that advantage.
“Who pissed in your corn flakes?” As if I couldn’t guess. The brothers shared a bond, thatmuch was obvious, but like most siblings they also seemed to rub each other the wrong way.
“Your father.”
Great. “What did he do now?”
Eli turned back to his screens, ignoring my question. Figures. With a shrug, I headed toward Remi’s room. A quick peek in told me the two occupants of the room were fast asleep—Remi still flat on his back as if he hadn’t moved all night, Leah curled up in thechair, her neck at an angle that made me wince.
Since Levi was nowhere in sight, I assumed he was getting breakfast. I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and went back to bugging Eli.
“Remi’s still sleeping.”
Eli snorted. “He’s probably the only one that got a full night’s sleep last night.”
Considering the way Eli’s feet had hung over the edge of the couch, I figured it hadn’t beenthe most comfortable place to rest. “I’m sorry.”
“You should be,” he said sourly. “All that caterwauling kept me up.”
I choked on the sip of water I’d just taken. Fiery heat doused me, centering in my cheeks. I’d been lied to, lied about, photographed naked and exposed to my father, choked, and scared shitless—and yet somehow, knowing that Eli had heard us last night, had heardme, was morehumiliating than all the rest. I stood, frozen, as the silence between us spread, took on weight, choking off my air like rough hands around my throat. Funny how, after the past few days, I knew exactly how that felt, and yet after all my years of social training, I had no idea of the appropriate response to someone’s commentary on how much noise you made during sex. They didn’t cover that in hostessschool. My father certainly never—
I cut that thought off. As long as I didn’t embarrass him, my father didn’t care what people said to me. Or did to me, apparently, if his lack of progress in finding me was any indication.
The sound of the alarm beeping broke the heavy silence.
Levi entered a second later, the smell of sausage and biscuits preceding him into the room. A loud growl rumbledthrough my empty stomach. Ignoring the noise and the humiliation still clinging to me, I hurried to grab the bags in Levi’s hands and take them to the kitchen to plate—anything to give me a few more minutes for my hot cheeks to cool. Leah’s portion went into the microwave. The men grabbed theirs without a thank-you and settled at the table.
“You’re welcome,” I muttered. Being a hit man didn’tmean you had to lack manners, for goodness’ sake.
When I turned with my plate in hand, Levi’s steely eyes were on me. I froze.
