Headhunter (With Me in Seattle Mafia #2) - Kristen Proby Page 0,34
anyone want to kill you?”
There’s no humor in his laugh. “I’ve committed dozens, if not hundreds of sins in my lifetime, Ivie.”
“We all have.”
He cups my face gently. “Not like me. I belong to a very small club, honey.”
“So, you’re never safe.”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“I wish you’d tell me more. Help me understand you. I just want to know you, Shane.”
“You do know me. In all the ways that matter. Now, get this sewn up before I bleed out.”
“I don’t think you’re going to bleed out. You don’t even need stitches.” But I reach for the antiseptic and dab at the wound. “You took his gun away. How did he kill himself?”
“He had a blade. Cut his own throat.”
I still and stare down at him with my mouth agape. “Jesus.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“What did you do with his body?”
He kisses the inside of my wrist. “It won’t be found. Well, animals might get him, but that’s it. The body, and the vehicle, are long gone.”
“So, I shouldn’t ask questions.”
“You can ask them. I don’t know how much I’ll tell you, though. The less you know, the better.”
I don’t necessarily agree with that, but I keep my opinion to myself and cover the injury. After I put the supplies away, I turn to walk out of the bathroom, but Shane snags my wrist and tugs me back into his arms.
“I’m sorry I was gruff with you,” he says against my hair. I melt against him, soaking in his warmth and strength. “I need to keep you safe. Not because you’re a job to me, Ivie. But because if anything were to ever happen to you, I don’t think I would survive it.”
My heart might explode from the admission. I glance up at him, but before I can say anything, Shane crushes his mouth to mine and lifts me, carrying me to the bed.
“The thought of you being hurt out there was pure torture,” I admit against his lips as he tugs my shirt out of my jeans. “I know I should have stayed. But I couldn’t see you. I heard the gunshot, and I didn’t know. Shane—”
“I know.” He gently covers my mouth with his. “I know, baby.”
The room is hushed and dim with the blinds closed as, without a word, we undress and come together once more. Our touches are just a little more reverent. Our kisses linger, and each breath, each moment is more beautiful than the last.
We tumble over the linens, and when we join, I gasp and then moan as he begins to move, thrusting in just the right rhythm to make my body sing in pleasure.
His fingers lace with mine, and he pins my hands above my head.
“You’re gorgeous,” he mutters before nibbling on my lips. “You’re everything.”
I tilt my hips, meeting every thrust, then tighten around him as the orgasm moves through me, taking me by surprise.
“That’s it,” he whispers. “Let go, baby.”
“Shane.”
His body clenches above mine, and his hands tighten on mine as he lets himself go.
And later, when we’re lying together in the waning light of the afternoon, he turns to me for more.
“Brutus Sugarbaker,” Curt says with a shrug. We’re all sitting in the 007 room, eating pizza and staring at the monitor. Brutus’s face fills the screen. It looks like a mugshot. “Forty-seven. From Atlanta.”
“What was he doing in the middle of Colorado?” Shane wants to know.
“Not hunting elk,” I murmur and take a bite of pepperoni. “He wasn’t dressed like a hunter. If he was trying to blend in as someone from here, a hunter, he didn’t do a good job of it.”
“Hardly,” Curt agrees. “However, I did a lot of digging, and I can’t trace him back to any syndicate. He doesn’t work for the government. He doesn’t seem to belong to anyone. He was born and raised in Georgia, not far from Atlanta.”
“Family?” I ask.
“A wife and three kids.” I frown, but Curt keeps talking. “On the surface. It’s a cover. I dug a little deeper. His name is Art Fink. How he came up with Sugarbaker, I don’t know.”
“Designing Women, of course.” Both men turn and stare at me. “The TV show from the eighties. Come on, surely you’ve heard of it. I mean, I was hardly born in the eighties, but even I know about it. It’s a classic.”
“Nope,” Curt says, but I do get a half-smile out of him, and I consider that a win. “However, just because I uncovered his legal name, doesn’t mean