Chapter 2

"Next time you pull me out of bed for this, I will put a bullet between your eyes. I mean it."

Anna pounded the steering wheel in frustration.

She glared at me. "Fine. What now?"

"A few flowers nearly broke my husband. Maybe I haven't made him feel secure enough."

My track record with Nicholas wasn't reassuring. I'd left him with plenty of reasons not to trust me.

"I need work," I told her. "I want to buy him a pair of cufflinks. Consider it a peace offering."

"You have him locked in your apartment. What's he going to do with cufflinks?"

"To look good."

Anna rolled her eyes. "You've got terrible timing.

"Everything's been going to Nike."

I paused at the name.

Nike was a top-tier killer. The name alone carried weight in our world. He'd taken impossible jobs and survived more bounties on his own head than anyone cared to count.

"He's barely worked in six months, and his blood money could last him ten lifetimes."

The rumors ranged from retirement to death and everything in between.

"He was quiet. Until now." Anna continued.

I pulled on my gear for this job. "Big target? Massive bounty?"

Anna shook her head. "Neither.

"Word is, he heard the target was a homewrecker. And he took the job."

My fingers stilled on the buttons. "He's hunting… a homewrecker?"

Had Nike retired to settle down, only for a homewrecker to destroy his family? That was almost too dramatic to be real.

Apparently, elite killers had one thing in common: a craving for home.

The moment I slipped into the darkness, Anna's voice crackled through my comm.

"Shade, stand down. Nike already finished it."

*****

Nicholas read me the moment I walked through the door. "You're upset?"

"A little. Someone stole the bonus right out from under me."

That payout had practically been enough to raise a child.

He hugged me tight. "You're good. Whoever stole it is awful.

"I have plenty of money. It's all yours."

"Thank you, honey." I burrowed into his broad chest and breathed him in.

But I wouldn't touch his money. I wanted to earn enough to buy his gift myself.

Soon enough, another job surfaced.

This time, my target was a man who had built his fortune on his wife's money, then spent years poisoning her while sleeping around.

He never dared dine out, afraid someone would put a bullet in his head. At least he knew what he deserved.

I walked into the reception room, dressed in a secretary's uniform, and Anna's voice came through the comm. "Shade, all cameras have been looped."

I cut the line at the sound of footsteps in the hallway. "Later."

I expected Charles, but it was my "boss", a blond, blue-eyed man.

"Ms. Jenny, there you are," He said.

Every instinct I had warned me that this man was dangerous. A second later, it proved right.

"A mask crafted to match the secretary's face. You're good, Shade."

My stomach dropped. He knew my codename. This was Nike.

I kept him talking, buying myself time. "Nike, if I'd known you were dead set on taking out this bastard, I wouldn't have come after your contract."

The poisoned hairpin was in my hand before I finished speaking, but Nike was faster. He caught my wrist, stripped the force from the strike, and caught the pin neatly in his other palm.

He wrenched both my arms behind my back and reached for my mask. "Any last words?"

The moment my real face appeared, Nike went still.

I drove a fist into his stomach. He grunted and went down; I followed, straddling him with one hand braced on his chest and the other pressing my gun between his eyes.

"You have no idea what I can do," I said.

Nike's focus went hazy. His hand slid to my waist, fingers tightening as they wandered. "Shade, I think it was love at first sight."

I narrowed my eyes. "Nike, hands off. I'm already taken."

"Taken?" Nike rolled the word over his tongue, one eyebrow lifting.

He sat up, closing the distance between us, his breath warm against my face. "That's fine. We can be lovers. He never has to know."

I cocked the gun and moved it to his chest. "I could end you right here, and no one would ever know."

The muscle flexed under the barrel. He was absolutely doing it on purpose.

"Babe, you better not. For your own sake." He warned me.

Footsteps sounded in the hallway again. Nike shot upright, scooped me off the floor, and carried me toward the desk.

"Put me down. I need to hide!" I hissed.

He folded me into the cramped space beneath the desk, one hand cupping the back of my head as he held me against him.

I struggled a little, and he gave me a look that clearly shut me up.

Charles's voice oozed through the door as it opened.

"Blake, why does it smell like flowers in here? Hiding someone? Let me guess where."

The heat radiating from Nike's thighs was unreasonable. I had nowhere to go. I turned my head and let it rest against his thigh.

Nike slipped his fingers into my mouth, his other hand firm at the back of my head. I couldn't pull away before a muffled sound escaped me.

His eyes brightened with amusement. Then he tipped back his head, eyelids drooping, lips parted around an uneven breath. He looked as if he'd just come.

Charles stopped and said across a knowing laugh. "You two play hard. Fine, fine. I'll come back when you're done."

The door opened and then closed again.

Nike, still thinking with the wrong head, hadn't even opened his eyes.

He leveled his gun at me, and I met it with mine. With a sigh, Nike hauled me out. "Careful. What if you damage your own happiness?"

The next second, Anna's cranky voice detonated in my comm. "Shade, Charles is dead."

Impossible. Nike had been with me the entire time.

"Impaled on his own sword in his office. You're clear," Anna said.

I cleaned up while Nike kept trying to wedge himself into my marriage. "Shade, how are things between you and your lover?"

I fixed him with a cold stare. "I love him. Don't come near him. And don't think I won't kill you just because you're Nike."

Nike froze. Half a second later, his smile widened. "You know, raving about your husband to the man pursuing you is a little cruel."

He leaned in, lips brushing my ear. "I'm going to be very jealous."

I drove my elbow into him. Nike answered with a muffled grunt.

When I got home, I walked past Nicholas and felt his stare follow me. I traced it to my breast pocket and pulled out a hotel room key card.

I swore Nike was going to regret this.