Page 50 of Ghost
She pressed her face to his chest, hating that he was right.The truth was, she’d thought she’d moved on a long time ago.
“It’s harder now.”She sniffed.“I don’t know why, but since you brought me here, I think about them nonstop.”
“Mmm.”The low vibration rattled against her ear.“I guess that makes sense.Part of you was ready to die.”
She lifted her head.“You think I wanted that?”
The fact that she could’ve been ready to meet her maker, to fully separate from the torture of her past, hadn’t occurred to her.
“I think it makes sense.You buried that grief for a long time so you could do what was necessary.Then your subconscious saw a way out.”
She twisted her lips.“Except for the fact that I escaped twice.”
He let out an exasperated breath.“Don’t remind me.But that’s easy to explain.Humans are wired for survival.”
“Well, I’m not so sure I want you to kill me.”
“Good.’Cause I don’t plan on it.”
“That’s reassuring.”
He snorted.“Lucky for you I’ve apparently lost my touch.”
She shrugged.“That’s not a bad thing.I think you have a new calling.You’re pretty good at foot massages.”
He threw his head back.“Great.Assassin turned masseuse.The guys will fucking love that.”His eyes met hers and sparked with mischief.His fingers slid to the base of her spine and chills followed.
She still sat so close to him.Her side snuggled against his.“Who’re the guys?”
“My colleagues.Friends.Toth, Rami, August, Zain, Taschen, and Brick.”
She gaped.She didn’t even have one close friend—unless her handler counted, but Neo didn’t know much about her personal life.“That’s a lot.”
“Too many,” he said with a grunt.“Add in their wives and fiancées and all that noise makes me avoid the workplace.”But fondness clung to his words.
She knew so little about him.The time they had left between now and when it was safe to get on the road wouldn’t be enough to satiate her curiosity about this enigmatic man.She knew he didn’t have a family, and certainly not a live-in girlfriend.Details such as that would’ve been disclosed when she’d been hired.
But that didn’t mean he didn’t have someone in his life.
“What about you?Do you have a girlfriend?”
Ghost’s lip curled.“Nah.I don’t do girlfriends.”
She nodded, her stomach sinking at his admission.Who was she to judge?She’d never had a serious boyfriend.There’d been dates, a few one-night stands, but nothing that’d ever made her yearn for more.Probably because there was too much about herself that she couldn’t share.
But Ghost.He knew it all.
“I can’t exactly see you with someone,” she said.
He hooked an eyebrow.“Not anyone?”
Her mouth went dry and her pulse beat against the side of her neck.“You seem like a lone wolf.”
He nodded.“Yup.Me ’n’ Pearl are the loners in the office.”
She frowned.“Pearl?”
His fingers twitched at the small of her back.“Yeah, Pearl’s our secretary.She keeps everyone in line.Pretty sure she’s the only sane one there besides me.”
