Hook (A Hitman's Bait 2)

“You’re going to ruin it.” He tried to shove my hands away.

“I don’t care about the stupid dress. I’ll buy you a dozen more.”

“Only a dozen?”

I smiled and worked the dress down to his waist. Together we peeled it off his body, and I left the soggy material lying on the floor.

“My panties too?” he asked.

“Seriously?” Liam yelled. “Do I need to remind you we’re being chased right now?”

He was right. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about how adorable Kit was and how incredibly lucky I’d been that night I’d first met him.

I handed him Liam’s jacket. “Cover yourself.”

I peeked out the back window. The car was gaining in on us. I lowered the side window and fired off a few rounds at the windshield. From the out-of-control motion of the car, I might have hit the driver. The vehicle swerved to the left, hit the curb, and flipped over.

“And that’s how you take care of things,” I said and patted Liam’s shoulder.

“I can’t shoot and drive at the same time.”

“Sully can,” Kit said.

“Of course you’re going to pick his side.”

Kit shuffled closer to me, and I pulled him into me and tightened my arms around him. I kissed his hair and spent a few minutes appreciating that we’d made it out of that hell we’d walked into.

“I still have no idea where we messed up,” I said. “What happened, Kit?”

“I was on my way out when I saw the bodyguards. I had to warn you, so I made up some BS to get back into that bedroom. They followed me.”

“Guards?” Liam repeated. “Didn’t you take out the guards?”

“I thought I did.”

Things definitely didn’t add up. I should have noticed something was wrong when I killed two guards and knocked out two more. Our informant had told us three guards were active every night. Why would Palmer have beefed up security? Unless someone had tipped him off that his name was on my boss’s shitlist.

I took Kit’s hand, his bones fragile under my touch. Not for the first time, I worried after a mission. Had I done the right thing in having him continue working for me? We’d come so close tonight to getting caught, and I still hadn’t forgotten our confrontation with Ivan Grimaldo.

“I’m okay,” he said softly and climbed into my lap as if he sensed I needed the reassurance. “The only thing hurting is my butt where that asshole spanked me.”

“I’ll kiss it and make it better later.”

“What took you so long?”

“There was a fourth guard I didn’t expect to be present.” I stroked the side of his face. “I’m sorry I didn’t make it before he slapped you. If I hadn’t planned to kill him tonight, I would have just for that.” I kissed his cheek gently, then tucked his head under my chin.

We drove back to my house in silence, my head spinning. Liam had disabled the cameras in Palmer’s home so the cops wouldn’t find anything, but the guards had seen Kit.

Usually, men like us didn’t go to the cops. We solved our problem our way, but I might have to keep Kit out of the public eye for a while. Give him a break from being my sidekick until I was certain no one was after him.

If I needed to pay anyone off, that could be arranged. If I needed to put him on a plane to a non extradition country, I would. Anything to keep Kit out of all this and especially out of prison. Did he understand the depth of what he was involved in here? Of how one false move could end our lives or get us locked behind bars for life? I would always be willing to take the full blame so he would walk free, but we might not always have a choice in the matter.

Liam parked in front of my house, but none of us made an effort to get out. The atmosphere was heavy. Was he questioning what went wrong tonight the same way I was?

Maybe my luck was running out, and I needed to cut my losses.

“Kit,” I said softly. “Come on. Let’s go in.”