Hitman's Captive: A Bad Boy Romance (17 page)

He grumbled as he marched
up to me quickly, falling in line close to my side again. I had no idea what
had gotten into me, but I was enjoying the lightness in my chest. I didn’t
tease men, not at all, but after the way he’d been provoking me
endlessly…something inside me wanted to. And for some reason, I felt like I
could do anything I wanted. Today. With Leo.

I tried not to question
where that sudden surge of confidence had come from as we crossed halfway
through the store, and it became obvious that Leo’s grumbling was only for
show. He seemed to have picked up on my mood, and within a few minutes I caught
his dancing eyes looking down at me.

“Hey, Alessa.” He paused
at an aisle just before the check-out, turning me with a hand on my shoulder.
“These more up your street?”

I followed his eyes to
the row of books in front of us, then gave him a small smile. They had a few
bestsellers, but most were the kind of light-hearted book you caught women with
on holidays; casual beach flicks that gave an escape into a world of summer
flings or family dramas.

“Figured you might
appreciate something more interesting than solitaire.” His expression glimmered
with amusement as I nodded whole-heartedly.

I didn’t usually indulge
in this sort of guilty-pleasure reading, but I doubted I’d have anything more
important to do over the next few days. And if I’d ever needed a good dose of
escapism, this would be the time. I skimmed over a couple of books, trying not
to hold us up too much, before finally shrugging and selecting both the
bestseller I thought I ought to read, and an easy-going romance that intrigued
me.

After that, we headed to
the check-out and I felt a momentary flare of guilt at Leo paying for
everything I’d selected, which I forced back down. He’d kidnapped me - buying a
few clothes was the least he could do.

Still, as we headed back
to the Toyota and pulled out of the complex, I couldn’t deny the appreciation I
felt at our detour.

The more time I spent
around Leo, the more confused I felt, until I wasn’t exactly sure what to make
of him. There was no doubt that he was a trained killer - merciless and violent
in his trade - yet he hadn’t hurt me at all. He’d only shown protectiveness and
even some amount of care. And every time he glanced over with that cocky smile,
or those deep blue eyes that undressed me with a look…

He was a mess of contradictions
and after both last night and this morning, I was struggling to understand my
mixed up feelings. But while he might be enough of an arrogant bastard to
endlessly frustrate me, I was having a hard time holding onto that fierce
initial hatred.

If it had ever been there
at all.

Chapter Thirteen

Alessa

We reached the new house
Leo had set up for us uneventfully, and even though I’d tried to keep vague
stock of where we were within Chicago, I was quickly lost. It was much harder than
when we’d been in New York - and I’d admit my attention was distracted. The
feel-good feeling of the morning hadn’t quite left me, and while the journey
had been mostly silent, it had been a pleasant one.

The nondescript house
wasn’t very different from the one in New York - either in size or in its
lackluster decor - but Leo didn’t keep such a close grip on me as I looked
around, which was a welcome relief. I guessed it was because the place had
already been hostage-proofed, but I’d take what I could get.

Then I entered the
bedroom and my hopes of how far that was going to extend died.

“Don’t tell me you expect
us to share the same room
again?
” My voice was more exasperated than
outraged this time - after spending several days with Leo, it was hard to be
surprised.

“At least I got us
separate beds, huh?” He came up behind me and leaned back against the doorway
as I dragged the bags of my new clothes over to one of the wardrobes.

I gave the two individual
beds a cursory glance, but only grunted in response.

Not good enough, buddy.

Especially because some
asinine part of me was protesting that I had to be in the same room as him and
not
feel those deliciously muscled abs pressed against me all night. I’d known
better than to get used to the past couple of nights in his arms, but that
didn’t make forgetting them any easier.

Then I opened the
wardrobe and found myself greeted by rows of clothes - women’s clothes -
hanging neatly waiting for me. I reached out in surprise, touching the soft
material and briefly admiring a couple of elegant dresses. They even looked to
be in my size - or near enough.

“Where’d all this come
from?” I spun around to face Leo in confusion.

“I was a little better prepared
for a guest when I stocked this place.” He shrugged, but that didn’t answer my
real question.

“Then…why did you let me
go shopping?”

“I thought you’d prefer
to choose your own items.” He said simply, as if it was of no importance, but
the casual comment struck me hard.

With his reluctance to
expose either of us, I thought the only way I’d won that concession earlier had
been because of the obvious necessity. The idea that he’d already sorted all of
this, but still took the risk simply to give me choice…was beyond any
expectation I’d had.

And it moved me more than
it should have, since being able to choose for myself - about pretty much
anything - was something I didn’t get to do often, and occasionally wished for
more than anything.

“Thank you.” My words
were soft, but I swallowed as I turned back to the wardrobe, trying to push
back the unnerving wave of emotion even as I knew I was being ridiculous.

I could feel his eyes on
me for a few more long moments, but when I didn’t say anything more or turn
back to him, he left me to work out how to fit my additional clothes into the
wardrobe. A few hours ago, I’d had one ill-fitting outfit - now, I had more
than I could possibly need, even if this situation lasted for months.

Months…

As unlikely as it was,
that thought caught me for a moment, sending a wave of confusing feelings
through me before I cut them off sharply. I was here now, and enjoying the
pleasant mood of this morning - I’d leave the consequences of returning to my
father to another time.

When I’d finished sorting
the clothes and came back downstairs, I found Leo was sitting in the worn
leather armchair of the living space, with his laptop out again. He looked up
as I came in and I leaned against the side of the opposite sofa.

“So, what now?” I raised
an eyebrow at him, not really expecting an answer.

“Now…hopefully we have
some breathing room.” He ran a hand through his hair, giving it a handsome,
disheveled look as he glanced over at me briefly. “I’ll need a few days to set
up an escape plan, and see whether Jay comes through with any info on who hired
me in the meantime.”

“I thought this
was
your
escape plan?” I frowned.

He grimaced and shook his
head. “No, just a stopgap. Jay thinks I need to get out of the country - and if
he doesn’t find anything, that’s probably my only option.”

I blinked as that sunk
in. Maybe that was why he’d been so distant or on edge at times - leaving
everything behind…it was more than I could even contemplate.

He continued before I could
say anything, evidently trying to change the grim thought. “So you might have a
few days of boredom left, princess. Think you can manage?”

The familiar amusement in
his gaze was a little more subdued this time, but I obliged anyway, giving him
a small smile. “I think I’ll be okay - at least this time I got to choose my
own entertainment.”

I moved to fetch the
novels I’d bought earlier from the bag I’d left against the wall, sinking down
onto the sofa and giving him his space. Knowing
that
was what was on his
mind, maybe I’d been a bit of a bitch after that meeting with Jay, getting all
in his face while he was trying to deal with not having any simple way out of
this.

I wasn’t exactly sure why
he was suddenly telling me about it now, but I appreciated the small glimpse
into what he was doing - and the heads up for what I could expect over the next
few days. And as I settled down and opened one of the books without really
looking at it, I wondered whether things had changed a little between us. After
his admission that he wouldn’t hurt me last night, and my promise not to try
running again this morning, the air between us felt more relaxed - even
companionable.

I smiled to myself at the
thought, and turned my attention to the book, resigning myself to letting Leo
make his arrangements while I spent a couple of days reading. Then I’d put all
this behind me.

* 
*  *

It wasn’t as easy as I’d
thought.

The light romance I’d
picked up became hot-and-heavy fairly early on, and I found myself squirming
with both embarrassment…and something more. It would have been impossible to
read anything like it around my family, and it wasn’t something I would’ve
known to go searching for, but it fascinated me anyway. It brought to life all
the vague ideas I’d had, with enough enticing description that I felt
simultaneously awkward…and needy.

And as those fantasies
took form, I couldn’t help the way my mind turned to Leo, until I was glancing
up at him every few minutes - my eyes tracing the hard bulge of his biceps, or the
broad shoulders that I could still remember wrapped around me.

I was biting my lip,
hoping he didn’t notice me as he moved between laptop and phone, occasionally
pacing on the other side of the room. I considered swapping book, but I
couldn’t quite bring myself to do it, letting the strange longing for what
those characters had take me.

Love. Lust. Hell, even
just one hot night of pleasure…just to know what it felt like.

It was the same thing I’d
been dwelling on in the car after the harsh realities of the night before.
Anything could have happened to me - and there was so much I wanted that I
hadn’t experienced yet.

One thing in particular -
which Leo had all but promised could be mine. Shivers broke out along my body
as I considered that, but they were the good kind. I’d spent the afternoon
looking over at him, and had already admitted I didn’t hate him anymore. It was
stupid to ignore the way he set my blood on fire.

I’d go back to my father
and the life he expected me to live soon enough, but I couldn’t shake the idea
that
right now
, I could have a choice. I could make my first time
something I’d always imagined it to be, and finally shake any fear of it. Maybe
afterward I’d have to accept whatever we did as just one brief experience, but
I could do that. It was better than never knowing.

Not sure where my sudden
confidence had come from, but driven by the desire I’d spent too long trying to
push back, I set the book aside and walked over to where Leo was writing a
couple of notes on the counter.

He turned at my approach,
and before he could say anything I stepped up close and raised my head, leaning
forward to kiss the mouth I’d watched so many times. My head was full of hot,
sexy images from what I’d been reading, but the response I received was purely
shock. I felt Leo’s body stiffen with it before the heat of his mouth softened
and I heard him groan, his hands coming up to cup my face. He kept it sweet and
innocent even as fire danced along my nerves, before slowly pulling back from
me.

“What are you doing,
Alessa?” His wide-eyed expression was almost enough to make me laugh. I
restrained myself, just barely, feeling surprisingly giddy from the whole
thing.

I gave him what I hoped
was an arch look and shifted closer, my body pressing against his hard warmth.

“Taking you up on that
offer.” I tried to make it a sultry murmur, but as I saw the heat overtake him,
it clearly didn’t matter.

A cocky gleam returned to
his eyes and made my stomach flip as his hands shifted around, sliding through
my hair to cup the back of my head while he drew me closer. Mine handed on his
hips and dug into the waistband of his pants as he finally took me in a proper
kiss.

One that left me
breathless. Helpless. Aching in all the right ways.

His tongue gently
caressed my mouth open before thrusting inside to tangle with mine and explore
every inch. I moaned instinctively, feeling my body melt against his, letting
him hold me up as he stoked flames of desire to rush through me. I might have
started this, but within moments he completely took me over, my body powerless
against the insistent lust he drove from it.

He twisted us so I was
pressed back against the counter, and then his hands were running down my body,
sweeping lightly against the sides of my breasts, my stomach and down over my
hips to my ass. He pressed me up against him, letting me feel how ready he was
for me - how ready he’d been all this time.

I groaned at the hardness
there, my center pulsing and letting me know just how desperate it was to have
him inside. His head bent and started nuzzling down my neck, nibbling at the
exposed skin of my shoulder while his hands teased the undersides of my
breasts. I could feel his heat against every part of me, and I already felt
crazed with need. I’d wanted to absorb every moment of this, take stock and
file it away to remember for nights to come.

I hadn’t realized just
how impossible that would be.

Every sensation was
already melding together in one hot ball of desire, and he was only just
getting started.

“Come on, Alessa. We’re
going to do this right.” The rumble in my ear made me shudder, but before I
could regain control of myself and ask what he meant, he was moving.

He cupped my ass and then
lifted me up, my legs wrapping around his waist while his arms clutched me to
him. Like this, my pussy was pressed just below his belt, where I could feel
what I wanted and needed so desperately arching up towards me. I wriggled
against it, gasping at the pulses of heat it sent through me while he growled
in my ear.

“You’re going to be
trouble, princess.” The spark of lust in his eyes made me shudder and I smiled,
loving the effect I was having on him.

“Guess you’d better get
me upstairs then, hmm?” My whisper came out breathy and he took me in a kiss
before I could quite finish the thought.

He started walking at the
same time, and I let out a half-cry, half-squeal at the unexpected movement. My
legs wrapped tighter around him, which only made us both groan. His lips didn’t
leave mine even as he navigated us up the stairs and to the bedroom, and I had
a brief moment to be impressed before I was lost in the diving, penetrating
motion of his tongue.

Leo was all strength and
easy control, and I surrendered to it without thought, wanting every dark
promise that flickered behind his eyes - anything he chose to make my first
time special. Hell, it was already special. Just being here…with him…giving
into the lust that had burned us both up over the past week.

He lay me down and I
finally released my grip on his hips, laughing a little as I rolled my gaze
over to the now-defunct second bed. The bedroom I’d been so outraged about in
the first safehouse would have been better.

Leo followed my look and
then his mouth curved up to match mine. “I knew being the gentleman would be a
bad idea…but we can fix that.”

His hot presence against
me disappeared and I moaned instinctively, not wanting anything to interrupt us
now. I caught his hot chuckle as he pushed the beds together easily, giving us
enough space for…whatever he had planned. I shivered at the very idea of it as
I reached up for him.