Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
He raised a single eyebrow. “You want me to whisper sweet nothings in your ear while you’re at it?”
“I think we can both agree that’s not how you operate.” She didn’t want the lie of sweet nothings, but she’d take the lie of his big body in bed next to hers.
Maybe it would make her feel a little less alone.
He buttoned his pants with careless efficiency. “I don’t sleep.”
Her earlier anger flared. “Then lie there and count sheep for all I care. If I’m yours for the time being, then you see to all needs of the physical nature—for me, that includes sleeping.” She couldn’t believe she was pushing this. It would be so much smarter to retreat back to the safety of her home. Lonely, yes. But at least no one could hurt her there. She was opening herself up for rejection and potentially worse when Jude shot her down.
But he didn’t say anything, just continued watching her with a strange look on his face. “This will only end in tears for you. You want things I’m not capable of giving, even if I was staying in Callaway Rock.”
Her heart gave a pang, but she ignored it the same way she’d been ignoring it for her entire life. “You seem to think I haven’t shed more than my fair share of tears, Jude. What are a few more?” She took a careful breath. “Those are my terms. Take them or leave them.”
And then he was towering over her, his hand sifting through her hair to tug her head back so she looked him directly in the eye. “I’m taking them, sunshine. More importantly, I’m taking you.”
His thumb traced her jaw, unspeakably tender, but then his eyes went hard, making the bottom of her stomach drop in a way that wasn’t altogether pleasant. I have the tiger by the tail.
Jude tugged on her hair again, a little harder this time. “Now get those fucking pants off. I’m not going to tell you again.”
Chapter Ten
Jude watched Sloan sleep. It was the first time he’d seen her truly unrestrained, her arms stretched over her head, her legs tangled in the sheets. One finger kept brushing his biceps, and it drove him damn near to distraction.
I never should have agreed to this.
He hadn’t been lying to her—he didn’t sleep much. He wasn’t dramatic enough—or conflicted enough—that the dead haunted him. The lives he’d taken weighed on him, sure, but he’d researched each mark before he agreed to the contract. They’d all been monsters, which someone like Sloan might take to mean he was some sort of romantic vigilante.
He wasn’t.
Jude was just a bigger monster than any of his victims had been.
His phone buzzed, drawing him from his thoughts. Stefan. He slid out of Sloan’s bed without making a sound and padded into the hall, closing the door softly behind him. He’d promised he wouldn’t leave, but there was no missing this call.
“What have you got for me?”
“A proposition.”
Jude froze, icy calm cascading over him at the unfamiliar voice on the line. Russian accent, a tone that spoke of old money, and the fact that the man had this number all added up to one person. Dmitri Romanov.
He knew the man by reputation alone. Dmitri Romanov, head of the Russian empire in New York City. They were worse than the Irish bastards in Boston. They were like some behemoth monster, gobbling up everything in front of them and still hungry for more. It was more than mere ambition—it was starvation when sitting down at the head of a feast. That kind of addiction knew no bounds, and they couldn’t be trusted as a result.
Playing dumb might garner him more information—and lead to the Russian underestimating him—so he said, “I hope you haven’t done anything to my man. I would take it poorly.”
“Stefan is perfectly fine. We had a discussion, and he decided it was to his benefit to pass over your contact information.”
Meaning Dmitri had offered Stefan more money than Jude did. Stefan always was a mercenary little bastard. Jude eyed the big windows with their open blinds, all too aware that a sniper could take him out easily, even without the lights on. Damn it. “You have me at a disadvantage.”
“I hardly think I do. Like recognizes like, Jude MacNamara. You know who I am, so let’s dispense with the games.”
So much for playing the fool. He moved back down the hall to check on Sloan. Satisfied she was still asleep and this whole call wasn’t some ploy, he closed the door and leaned against the wall. “What have I done to earn a personal phone call from the head of the Romanov family?”
“It’s come to my attention that you’re in contact with a woman I’m seeking. Petite, brunette, large doe eyes, couldn’t begin to imagine hurting a fly.”