Page 57 of Ghost
“You’d like them.Even August.Not sure how Gigi stands him, but she does,” he joked.Watching her face carefully, he locked his gaze on hers, wishing like hell he could read her mind.“What else were you thinking?”
“I was just wondering if the roads will be clear in the morning.”
Which meant she was either eager to get the hell away from him or she didn’t want to leave.“Hard to say.It’s stopped snowing, so I think as long as we take my truck we’ll make it out of here.”
She lowered her gaze.“Okay.What time are we leaving?”
He studied her.“Can’t wait to get away from me?”
“No,” she said.“But I understand our time is limited.Things will be different once we return to normalcy.”
“Do you live in Seattle?”Christ, it hadn’t occurred to him she could be from somewhere else.A lot of assassins traveled.Very rarely were they hired to kill someone local.
She lowered her gaze.“I don’t really have a permanent residence.Life’s easier if I’m not rooted in one place.I usually travel from city to city and stay a month or two at a time, depending where the jobs are.”
Her words cut through him.He’d lived a rocky life, but Seattle had always been home.Even when his shit was chaos, he had a location that offered familiarity and memories—some painful as fuck.“What about Irinia’s family?The ones you lived with.”
“They’re in Utah.I don’t see them much.By choice.But I’m required to check in with them every few days regarding work.”
He mulled over her words.Goddamn, she’d been killing longer than he had.That shook him.She’d even started younger, for Christ’s sake.It’d been three years since he collected pay for pulling the trigger—since he worked for Trident.
Still, all that killing she’d done hadn’t dimmed the softness about her.Maybe it had something to do with her being female.Or hell, maybe she was just stronger than most.
“You think I’m a monster, don’t you?”Her voice was small but unfazed.
“No,” he said, without pause.“I think the people who took you are.”
She tucked her chin.“I’m the one who’s murdered people.Doesn’t that scare you?”
He snorted—a full-out sound that would’ve been considered rude in any other context.“No, that doesn’t scare me.Nothing scares me.Sure as hell nothing about you scares me.”
The corner of her mouth tucked into her cheek.
He covered her hand with his.“What, Mila?”
Her throat moved on a swallow.“I scare myself.”
The admission, whispered and barely there, tore him to shreds.He set down his fork and pulled her wrist, urging her from her chair and onto his lap.He swept his fingers from that damn bandage on her head to her perfectly straight jaw.“Why?”
She squirmed uncomfortably, her gaze darting away.He held his free arm tightly around her waist.
“I mean, it’s not normal, you know?For someone to kill like I have.I...I was just a kid.And now...Now I’m numb to it.”She met his eyes.“There’s something wrong with me.”
Anger made his cheeks hot.He caught the side of her head and brought her face to rest on his chest.She curled easily against him, like she was scared and uncertain.Only she wasn’t afraid of another person but her own capabilities.
“There’s nothing wrong with you.”
She laughed.“You can’t be serious.A therapist would have a field day with me.If I was ever tried for my crimes, not only would I go to prison for the rest of my life, I’d undergo evaluations that would surely determine I’m insane.”
He stroked her hair.“If you’re insane, so am I.I’ve killed people, too, honey.A lot.And not a single death kept me up at night.”No, deaths hadn’t.But the face of a sweet little kid sure as hell did.
“I think anyone would see what you’d been through and chalk up your line of work to survival.You were taught one thing, baby.To do what was necessary to keep yourself alive.”
“I knew better,” she whispered.“I had a loving home once.I never—” Her voice broke.“I never would’ve imagined hurting someone.Even bad people.”
He held her cheek to his shoulder.Goddammit, he wanted to erase everything she’d been through.But if he could, she wouldn’t be here right now.That thought was selfish as fuck and he couldn’t grasp why he had such an urge to hang on to her.
She should’ve been protected.
