Hitman's Captive: A Bad Boy Romance (27 page)

“Fuck it. Show me where
you’re staying.”

I picked her up in one smooth
movement, making her squeal as I cradled her to me.

“I can walk, you know!”
But her arms wrapped around me and she nuzzled into my neck, inflaming every
protective male instinct I knew.

“Fuck that. Not letting
you out of my sight didn’t work - I’m sorely tempted to try not letting you out
of my arms. Maybe then you’ll finally be safe.”

She moaned a little
against me and I pressed a kiss to her head as I made for the stairs into the
house proper.

I’d never actually seen
the inside of this house, but with Alessa in my arms and what felt like far too
much time and distance between us to make up for, I didn’t even notice it. I
followed her directions to the room she had at one side of the place, and
managed to get the door while keeping her pressed against me.

Once there, my eyes lit
up at the sight of the bed. A proper king-size.

“At last. A fucking
decent bed.”

She laughed as I kicked
the door shut and practically threw her down, undressing in a few swift
movements before landing on top of her. She’d already ripped her jeans off and
was working at her top when I got there, helping her draw it off and loving
every inch of bare skin it revealed. We were too desperate to go slowly, and
with a laugh, I took her mouth in mine again, my hands working down her body to
tease and play as she wrapped her legs around me, trying to urge me to move
even faster.

I growled softly,
sticking to my pace, and then dipped to take her hard, aching tits deep into my
mouth, sucking as I lavished them with my attention and tugged with my teeth,
making her practically spasm under me as she groaned with a deep pleasure that
made my heart sing to hear.

My fingers spread lower,
seeking her moist entrance and delighting me in how wet and ready she was. I
slipped a couple of fingers inside, using one hand to stroke her and set her
writhing, and the other to tease and fondle the tit my mouth wasn’t sucking.
She cried under me, her breath growing shorter and shorter, and I knew I
wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer. I could barely wait to give her what
she wanted and sink deep inside.

I’d spent a long time
exploring every inch of her body, and coming back to it gave me a joy I could
barely contain.

And it was more than that
now, too - I loved her. I knew it, I felt it with every breath and moment
between us, and she felt the same way. The unspoken tension between us, the
knowledge that this was a temporary thing - that soon, she was going to be back
with her family and I would be in another country - had finally dissipated.

And what it left just
made this so much sweeter. I wanted to savor it, wanted to take my time, but it
was impossible. And, knowing that with any luck I’d have the rest of my life to
take my time with her, I wasn’t going to try to resist.

“
Leo!
”
She
moaned my name, aching for me, and I couldn’t deny her any longer.

I positioned myself
against her, then froze suddenly.

“I don’t have…”

Her glazed eyes looked up
at me with a deliciously wicked smile. “Then don’t. Doesn’t matter anymore,
right?”

The words whispered
through me, then they registered and I lost all control. The desire, the love,
the need for this incredible, perfect woman in front of me overtook anything
I’d ever known.

I thrust into her with
everything I had, watching as her eyes widened and she cried out at the
sensation of my bare cock inside her, stretching her wide and not giving her a
chance to recover. Her warm, wet pussy was everything I’d dreamed it would be -
and something I’d never thought I’d experience - and I pounded hard inside her,
unable to contain myself.

“Fuck. Oh, damn, fuck…you
feel…
fuck.
” I didn’t even know what I was muttering as her cries joined
the curses I bit off and I moved inside her, my breath coming hard and fast as
my whole body surged in pleasure.

I’d never known anything
like this. Not ever.

“I love you, Alessa. So
fucking much.” I took her mouth in mine before she could reply, my hands
touching every part of her I could reach, wanting to please and pleasure but
also to know that she was
here
. She was
mine.

I didn’t realize I’d said
it out loud, my voice hoarse against her lips, until she repeated it.

“Yours. All yours.
Always, Leo.”

I shuddered at the power
of it, every rough, dominant need in me surging at the words.

“Mine. I’m going to…take
you…keep you…forever, princess. Keep you…safe…protected…mine…”

I murmured it, thrusting
with every word until I felt her clutching me, overcome by my roughness and
need, by the power of everything I was doing to her.

I kissed her as I felt us
both go over the edge, my cock spurting hot wetness into her and her pussy
clenching down on me as she screamed my name. I pressed my tongue into her
mouth, taking the word from her lips as I tangled with her tongue and our
bodies came together in every way possible, my mind seeing stars and my breath
failing me.

This was everything I
wanted.

And I was never going to
let it go.

Chapter Twenty

Leo

“Aleksi will come to you
in here.”

We followed Jay into the
old, unused apartment building and I nodded as he showed us to an empty
reception room. I held Alessa’s hand tightly and tried to prepare what I needed
to say - how I was going to get him to agree to this.

Aleksi was one of
Viktor’s brothers - apparently now running the
bratva
in NYC - but I
didn’t know much about him, and Jay hadn’t been able to tell me very much.

He shrugged at us as I
glanced around the place. “Just wait. I don’t know how long.”

“We can wait.” I gave him
a brief smile, appreciating again that he’d managed to set this up for us.

He paused as he turned to
go, looking like he might say something, before just shrugging and leaving us
again.

I turned to Alessa with a
smile and caught what was fast becoming a familiarly wicked gleam in her
expression.

“We’re good at waiting…” She
smiled back at me, her eyes obviously undressing me and easily making me feel
at least ten feet tall.

I laughed and leaned in
for a quick kiss, but shook my head firmly and stood back, moving to the back
of the room and facing the door. “Not here, Alessa. This is one place even you
can’t tempt me.”

She grinned at me before
coming to stand just behind me, looking in the same direction, and I caught a
hint of her nerves for the first time. She hadn’t really been suggesting
anything, just distracting herself.

“You don’t have to do
this, you know.” My voice was soft, but it carried in the empty space between
us.

She just scowled. “I’m
already here. I’m not leaving now.”

I didn’t argue with her,
my body already adjusting to the adrenaline that had started flowing through
me, preparing as it had so many times before for potential violence. I didn’t
have a weapon on me - that would have been suicide - but I could be a weapon
easily enough by myself. I hoped it didn’t come to that - I hadn’t a clue what
we’d do next if it did - but I was ready just in case. Or at least, my body
was. It was too well trained to be anything else.

We didn’t try to talk as
the minutes ticked by, and I wasn’t even sure how much time had passed before
the door swung open again and a large, intimidating man walked through. His
body was tall and thick-set, but with the impression of muscles earned from
use. Blue eyes flicked between us from a strong face with short, blond hair
surrounding it. He was followed by two others carrying guns - already drawn and
pointed at us.

That wasn’t good.

Alessa started beside me,
but I just watched him, waiting. I’d follow his lead here.

“You killed Viktor?” It
was a gruff statement and beyond a slight tightening of his shoulders, I
couldn’t see any emotion on him.

“I did.” I considered
adding more, explaining the circumstances, but I’d wait until he invited it. He
nodded to himself.

“I was given the location
of Viktor’s killer, on the condition I let you talk before I kill you.” He
folded his arms across his chest and stared impassively at me. “So talk.”

I took a deep breath.
That was how Jay had sold this?

Better than nothing.

Meeting his gaze, I
nodded. “I’m a hitman. I was contracted to kill a man by the name of Martin
Feber, who turned out to be Viktor Kovalski. Had I known that he was the
intended target, I would not have accepted the job. I now know who hired me to
kill Viktor, and wanted to offer you this information in exchange for my life
and your assistance in leaving the country.”

His gaze narrowed at me
and I waited. What I was suggesting wasn’t impossible - Aleksi probably made
enough deals with hitmen to know that I wasn’t the right target for his
vengeance. What he really wanted was whoever had dared to take a hit out on his
family - if he could look past the fact that Viktor had died at my hands.

He flicked a glance at
Alessa and raised an eyebrow. “And you’ve brought me the Santini girl to
sweeten the deal?”

My blood turned to ice
and adrenaline pulsed through me, but I resisted the urge to move in front of
her. Moving with a gun pointed at you was a
very
dangerous game. “No.
She lives too - and she’s leaving with me.”

His brows rose at that
and he barked a short, unpleasant laugh. “Passage for you and your pussy? You
ask a lot.”

I tried to ignore the way
my blood boiled at the comment, and thanked god that Alessa was remaining
mercifully quiet. Instead I waited for his answer, falling back on the hard-won
patience my life so far had taught me, even as part of me was picturing ripping
his insulting throat out.

“Tell me what you know,
and if it’s good, I will do as you ask.” He stepped forward with a glare and I
tried not to wince at the terms. “But if not, you die. You might only be a
tool, but the weapon that killed my brother should still be destroyed. Only for
the man holding the gun, can I forget that.”

I nodded, but my breath
was hard in my chest. He hadn’t agreed to anything yet and letting him judge
our information before deciding was risky, even with good info. He could claim
that anything we said wasn’t enough.

But I couldn’t say that
without calling into question his sense of honor, which would be a death
warrant in itself. And besides, our information was the only thing stopping the
guns pointed on us at the moment. I just hoped it would be enough to stop them
for good once our usefulness was gone.

“I was hired by a man
named Jimmy O’Connor, though I never met him.” I saw Aleksi’s frown deepen and
decided to skip to the main point. He clearly didn’t want the story.

Alessa beat me to it,
walking forward before I could tell her not to move. “Viktor was killed by my
father and uncle - Antonio and Vincent Santini.”

Her words brought them
all to a standstill in a way that I probably never could have, and I suddenly
saw Jay’s point.

She continued before
anyone could say anything else. “I found out two days ago - I overheard them
speaking about it. They arranged my marriage to Viktor thinking that I would be
killed alongside him as a witness, and they could ally with you to quickly find
and kill the hitman. My meeting with Viktor also meant he agreed to a
low-security, secret location - that they then passed onto Leo through an
informant named Manny. They killed him before he could reveal where his
information had come from.”

She smiled grimly and
shook her head, folding her arms in an echo of Aleksi’s stance as she
continued. “If it helps - as I try to console myself - it didn’t quite work out
for them. The whole idea was that with Viktor dead, some of his more personal
connections and allies wouldn’t support the
bratva
anymore, and you
would be weakened. But killing Manny spooked the intermediary who hired Leo, so
they couldn’t work out who their mystery hitman was - and those very
connections rallied to you to find Leo. And with me alive, you didn’t trust
them, either.”

Aleksi looked between us
for one long moment, and the tension in the room rose. I had to give her credit
- even if she hadn’t been Alessa Santini, she’d probably put it better than I
ever could have.

As the air thickened, she
started suddenly and reached inside her pocket. I winced, body preparing to
spring in front of her, but despite tensing, the gunmen didn’t shoot at her. I
guess she wasn’t considered the same sort of threat that I was. “And I forgot -
I don’t have much…evidence. But I did take this from my father’s desk. That’s
Jimmy O’Connor, the man who hired Leo. He disappeared, but if you find him, he
could link my father to—”

Aleksi’s laugh boomed
out, startling us both, and it went on for several long moments before he shook
himself and grinned. I hoped that was a good sign. “You are Alessa Santini.” He
turned his gaze to me. “I don’t need more evidence if you bring me the daughter
to rat on her family.”

My skin prickled at the
term, but Alessa had known what she was doing. Hell, by the look of her, she
was damn proud of what she’d just done.

I forced myself to
refocus, wanting to take advantage of his good humor while I could. “So our
information is good?”

He laughed again and
nodded. “Santini will die for this. And I will help you leave. Sneaking his
daughter out from under his nose…that will be a good game, anyway.”

And like that, it was
over. He turned and left without another word and the tension in the air gave
way to almost tangible relief. We’d done it.

I glanced at Alessa and
grinned at the triumphant look on her face.

She’d done it.

* 
*  *

Aleksi was as good as his
word.

He arranged us flights
within the next few days and provided an escort through JFK. I was pretty sure Santini
would be watching it by now, but his goons didn’t even get a chance to see us -
and if they had, it would have been almost impossible to take us.

We were whisked through
semi-private security and given preferential treatment the whole way through, and
I spent the whole time in a daze, trying to get to grips with the idea that it
was over. The most terrifying, awe-inspiring few weeks of my life were done. We
would be safe, and together. And that was all that mattered.

Surprisingly, Jay was
part of our escort, but it wasn’t until our flight was finally called to board
that we exchanged more than idle conversation. He caught me as I grabbed
everything together and made to leave our small, private room for the
connection to the plane.

“Leo…” I looked back at
him, seeing that same indefinable expression as our eyes met.

I realized belatedly that
I wasn’t sure when I was going to see him again…and that I wasn’t sure how I
felt about that. I’d prided myself on being independent all these years, but if
there had been one staple in my life, it was Jay - and knowing he was there if
the shit hit the fan.

Alessa’s words came back
to me again, and in one impulsive moment, I decided to act on it. Now that I
was leaving, it was easier to summon the courage.

I turned towards him with
real gratitude. “Thanks, Jay. For everything. You’re the closest thing I ever
had to a father.”

He froze for a moment,
staring at me, and I had an instant to think better of it - then his stern face
broke into such an overwhelming grin, it took my breath away. And he stepped
forward to hug me, strong arms closing hard around me and leaving me completely
stunned.

Alessa caught my
expression over his shoulder and smothered a laugh in her hands as I tried
uncertainly to hug him back.

When he finally let me
go, he still hadn’t said anything, but I could’ve sworn there was actual
moisture in his eyes. My heart broke and reformed again in the space of a few
moments and I returned his crazy, over-the-top grin with one of my own. I’d
never seen Jay like this
ever
. I’d never known.

My mind flashed back to
everything we’d done for each other, and it was only then that I truly
appreciated how much larger his
favors
had been. We’d always operated
under the assumption the scorecard would even out, but…I’d left it to him to
keep track of. It seemed like the sort of thing he would do.

“I’ll straighten things
out here, then you come back from your little jaunt.” His eyes sparkled with a
warmth I couldn’t ever remember seeing, and I just nodded, still stunned.

He turned without another
word and I watched as he left the room, my heart pounding hard.

I’d always lived my life
alone. But maybe I hadn’t been as alone as I’d thought.

Alessa hooked my arm in
hers and broke me out of it, leaning up for a kiss before we finally turned
towards the tunnel that would take us from this room to join the rest of the
passengers boarding the plane.

“You were right.” My
voice had a wondering note to it. “Thank you.”

I squeezed her hand, and she
reciprocated, leaning against me as we made our way towards the plane.

It wasn’t until it came
into sight that I was thinking clearly again - and then an almost giddy
excitement filled me. I turned to Alessa with another grin.

“You ready, princess?” I
couldn’t wait to leave the last few weeks behind and see how good life could be
with her
outside
of life-and-death situations.

Her eyes laughed up at
me. “I’m not really a
princess
anymore, Leo.”

I growled and pulled her
to me. “Fuck that, you’ll always be
my
princess, Alessa.”

Her breath left her in
one big sigh and I felt her melt against me before she reached up and kissed me
deeply, passion pouring out of her and driving me crazy.

“Hell, Leo. You do
know…what to say.” She was wonderfully breathless, but I pulled away as she
started to shift closer to me.

“C’mon, we need to go.
Let’s save that for the plane.” I grinned down at her.