The Accidental Assassin (27 page)

I shrugged. I was fucked up. What did she expect?

“So, I’d possibly be safe, but my heart would be ruined. Is that what you want?” Her expressive eyes made my stomach clench. “How do I just pretend like I’m okay with that?”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I whispered.

“Then don’t seduce anyone. Seduce me instead and we’ll figure something else out for the casino.” She looked at me and I could see her fighting to keep her composure. “I’ll play hard to get so you’ll have to really work for it. Make it more exciting.”

“I like you willing, love. You get me more than excited.” I brushed the hair from her eyes. “It probably won’t come to me seducing anyone. We’ll most likely need Mavis’s talents.”

“I don’t really feel any better about Mavis seducing people to get us information.” She fell back on the bed with a huff.

“Should I be jealous of the short blonde woman downstairs?” I rolled over on my good side and looked down at her. Her lips quirked and I found myself memorizing the planes of her face.

“I think I have a better case for being jealous of Mavis.” She narrowed her eyes.

Shit. I’d walked right into that. Look at me, being an emotional dumbass, blundering around like a teenage boy.

“You don’t need to worry about Mavis.” I cleared my throat. “That was a long time ago and it wasn’t what we have. It was one time and we just used each other to scratch an itch.”

“I don’t want details.” She shook her head vigorously. “Don’t want to know about the scratching. I like Mavis. Mostly. I think and I don’t want to picture the two of you—”

I captured her chin with my finger and thumb so she’d stop shaking her head and look me in the eyes. She had turned pale and it made my chest hurt. Perhaps seeing her jealous wasn’t as amusing as I had originally thought. “Don’t.”

“I know I don’t fit in your world.” Doubt clouded her eyes and that was the last thing I wanted to see. She was right: she didn’t fit in my world. I should be keeping her as far away from me as I could, and yet here I was, my naked skin pressed against hers. I couldn’t seem to help myself. And I didn’t want this dream to end.

“Don’t say that,” I said.

“It’s true—”

I shifted my weight, rolling on top of her delicious body. Her breath caught in a gasp, but at least she had stopped talking. I wasn’t good at the talking part. I sounded daft every time I tried to explain myself to her. I’d stick to showing her.

Her legs spread for me, accepting me without question. I nestled against her warmth, letting her feel just how much I liked being tucked against her skin.

“Seems to me that you fit. Here.” I ground against her, enjoying the way her body responded. Taking her hand I placed it against my chest, just under the bandage on my shoulder. “And here.”

“Owen.” Her eyes sparkled brightly and she trailed her fingertips over my skin to the bandage on my shoulder. So much emotion rolled across her face I didn’t know where to start to decipher it.

“Shh.” I leaned down and kissed her softly. “Don’t try to make sense of what’s happening with us. I don’t want to think about it, I just want to experience it.”

She let me kiss her again, her hands tracing my jaw, before twisting in my hair. When she tilted her hips upward in invitation, I slid inside. Just like before she took my breath away. Her warm body held me, moving with me, as I took us toward the end.

Earlier I’d needed her fast and hard, but right now I needed to treasure every inch of her body, taste every breath that escaped her, and commit her soft sounds to memory. I needed this just as much as I had needed to make her groan and claw at my skin. And she gave to me no matter what I needed, no matter what I demanded. I had no idea why she did, but I couldn’t turn away from it—from her.

She was heaven and I was headed for the darkest pits of hell. If this was my only chance for bliss I was going to savor it before the angels kicked me out.

The fall was going to hurt and I was going to make sure it was worth it.

As her movements increased I let myself drown in her. I had been drowning in her blue eyes, in the way she moved, in the way she thought, from the moment I’d first laid eyes on her. Now I’d drown in the way she made me feel.

“Owen.” Her harsh whisper drew my gaze. I watched her face as she fell over the edge, her blue eyes almost electric as she came under me. It was one of the most intimate moments I’d ever experienced and it sent me crashing after her.

I pressed a kiss to the crook of her neck, resting my head next to hers as we caught our breath. Something powerful stirred in my chest, wrapping my heart in hot bands. I didn’t want to ever let her go.

I was a selfish bastard. I’d fight the angels to keep her, because Ava was worth all that hell could throw at me.

“Let’s shower.” I lifted her in my arms, glad that my hurt shoulder barely gave a tug of pain.

“We’re naked.” She whispered and wriggled against me.

“Makes showering much easier.” I let her down before twisting the door knob.

She threw herself at the door. “There are people downstairs. We can’t just waltz out there naked.”

Turning around I snatched the blanket from the bed and wrapped it around her shoulders. “Better?”

“What about you?”

Rolling my eyes I lifted part of the blanket that trailed on the floor and wrapped it around my waist.

By the time I’d coaxed her into the shower her face was pinched in thought. I would have paid to know what she was thinking about, but I didn’t feel that I had the right to ask. We were all entitled to our meditations. Instead I focused on getting us clean, taking my time to enjoy the way the water ran over her breasts and down the planes of her stomach.

“I’m not sure how I can go downstairs and look them in the eyes.” She had one foot propped on the tub and was drying her leg with a towel I’d found. “They have to know what we were doing.”

My dick jumped as I watched her bend further over to dry her foot. You’d think three times in one day would be enough to keep him satisfied, but I was quickly learning it wasn’t possible to get enough of Ava.

And she had a killer ass.

“Earth to Owen.” She straightened and pushed her wet hair behind her ears. “Are you listening to me?”

“Of course.”

“Really? Because it looked like you were busy staring at my ass, not listening to me.”

“Your ass is worth appreciating.” I smiled at her wide eyes. “But I did hear what you said. Who cares if they know what we were doing?”

“I’m serious, Owen.” Her scowl would have worked better if she hadn’t been fighting so hard to keep from smiling. “It’s embarrassing.”

“Mavis could care less and the kid will be jealous. No judging. Put on your old man clothes and let’s go get some food.” I pulled her against me, kissing her quickly. “I’m starving and we need to start planning.”

She grumbled but pulled her jeans up over her naked rear. “I can’t believe you tore my panties. I don’t have anything to wear now.”

“You didn’t seem to mind when I did it.” I pulled my own pants up before grabbing the clean shirt from the sink ledge. I grabbed her bra and held it up. “At least this doesn’t seem any worse for the wear.”

“I really need to get some new things. Or at least a washing machine.” She snatched the lacy black thing from my hands and slid it on before grabbing a white tank top.

“I don’t think we’ll be here much longer.” I hung our towels on the rack and picked up the discarded blanket. “We need to move on. We’ve been here too long as it is.”

“Where will we go?” She chewed on her bottom lip. It seemed to be her tell for when she was nervous.

“That depends on what kind of information Mavis and the boy wonder have found.” I opened the door and motioned for her to walk out.

She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders before marching down the stairs. I kept my chuckle to myself. I could care less who knew that I’d just spent the last two hours inside Ava. In fact, I was feeling quite proud about it.

Downstairs was a mess of computer cables. Kenny was sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch as he stared at his computer, pointedly ignoring our entrance. Mavis was on the couch, papers spread in her lap.

“Food’s in the kitchen.” She didn’t look up as we walked past.

“Thank you,” Ava said as she walked past. In the kitchen she found two plates and set about spooning pasta for us both.

“Milk?” I opened the fridge and lifted the jug.

“Thanks.” She smiled at me before turning back to the plates.

We moved around the kitchen, getting the food ready with little talk. When we sat at the table, the silence was comfortable, and the pasta was good.

“Cucumber pasta salad. Much better than tiny tea sandwiches.” She smiled at me.

“Better than soup, anyway.” I wasn’t sure either really counted as a meal.

“Ava? Can you look at some of these?” Mavis’s voice drifted back to the kitchen.

“Sure.” Ava stood up, taking her plate with her.

I finished the food on my plate and washed it quickly before following her out. She was sitting on the couch arm and reading over Mavis’s shoulder.

“Those planes are from the company I worked at.” Ava leaned forward.

“Do you remember who bought them?” My pulse quickened. This could be our link.

“Not really.” Ava frowned. “I mean, these aren’t painted in a way that makes them stand out. Some people have crazy paint jobs and it’s easy to remember who picked out the pink and leopard print plane. These aren’t meant to stand out in any particular way. They’re fancy on the inside and used to carry self-important people back and forth.”

“So, corporate planes?” I shrugged. “That should be easy to figure out.”

“It could be a charter company.” Ava looked up at me. “Someone that hires out planes to people that don’t want to fly commercial.”

“Or to people that can’t fly commercial.” Mavis tsked. “People that don’t want their every movement tracked and documented.”

“They still have to fill out paperwork and go through customs…” Ava snorted. “After the last few days I should realize that it would be easier to skip customs forms and security checks on a private plane. They probably just hand over cash with whatever clipboard the official gives them.”

“Have you seen any of these people before?” Mavis pulled up a file of headshots on her computer and scrolled through them. “Maybe you can tell us about the company owner.”

“If you recognize one, I can get files on them from the company you worked for,” Kenny offered.

Ava watched as Mavis clicked from one picture to the next. There were corporate headshots, images of people in the plane or about to board a plane, a few were of the owners doing an inspection as the plane was being built.

“I’m sorry. I don’t—stop!” Ava touched Mavis on the shoulder and leaned forward. “That’s one of the hangars owned by my company. Can you zoom in?”

Mavis touched the screen of her laptop with pinched fingers and then spread them so that the image enlarged. It was fuzzy, but I could make out a tall man talking with several people in uniforms. He seemed to be laughing.

“Oh my God.” Ava leaned back. “That’s Captain Horny.”

IT FELT LIKE it had been a lifetime ago that I had last seen the pilot that had a running reputation where I once worked. He was infamous for hitting on any available woman. Tall with brown hair, blue eyes, and a Scottish accent meant he’d been pretty successful in his attempts.

“Excuse me?” Owen’s eyebrows pulled together. “Captain Horny?”

Mavis threw her head back and laughed. It was loud and honest.

“I meant Patrick. He’s a pilot for a charter company. The girls started calling him Captain Horny over the years. He was always hitting on someone.” I blushed. He’d hit on me more than once, but I’d always turned him down. Despite whatever was going on between me and Owen, I didn’t usually bed hop. One night stands were fine, they just weren’t really my style.

Or I hadn’t met anyone that had inspired that kind of lust. At least not until Owen. If I was going to risk my heart being broken in a fling, it had to be worth it. My heart tightened. And I was definitely headed for a broken heart. No matter what happened between me and Owen, I knew that I didn’t fit in his world. I couldn’t be sneaky or kill bad guys and he would never be happy in routine job.