The Hitman Next Door: A Texas Bounty Novel Read online

  “What does that mean?”

  “You don’t want to know, believe me.”

  “Maybe I do.” She tilted her head to the side, giving him a look from beneath her lashes. “I’ve never seen you fight. At least, not when you don’t have a gun.”

  Oh, shit.

  He could feel his heart rate beginning to accelerate, the bad guy rattling the locks of the box he’d stuffed him into. Wanting out, wanting her. Wanting to put his marks all over her pretty olive skin.

  “Vivi…” he said, a little desperately.

  “What?” Her gaze was very direct. “What are you afraid of, Rhys?”

  Jesus Christ, he was going to crush the delicate chain of her necklace if he wasn’t careful. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he forced out through gritted teeth. “I don’t want to scare you.”

  “Well, you’ve already scared me so it’s too late for that.” She pushed herself away from the door. “And as for hurting me, I don’t think you will.”

  She had no idea. No idea at all.

  He put the necklace carefully back down on the vanity before he broke it, then looked at her. “What if I want to?” He didn’t try to soften the question or pretty it up. “What if I want to chase you? And when I catch you, fuck you hard and rough? Put marks all over your body? My goddamn marks so everyone would know that you’re mine?”

  She studied his face. “But what if I liked the sound of that?”

  A streak of fire went right the way through him. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.”

  The look in her eyes was all challenge this time. “So why don’t you show me?”

  No, he couldn’t. Could he?

  You’re going to have to tell her the truth at some stage anyway. So why not?

  He was breathing faster now and his cock was rock-hard, and he wanted to go after her, hunt her, take her down the way he did only in his deepest, darkest, most secret fantasies. But it wasn’t only about not wanting to hurt her. It was the fact that she was the one good thing in his life, the only good thing. How could he do that to her? How could he dirty her up with the blackness that lived inside him?

  “No,” he said hoarsely. “I can’t.”

  She had the gall to roll her eyes. “I’m not made of glass, Rhys. And you know what? I don’t think you’re anywhere near as dangerous as you like to make out.”

  He couldn’t help it, the words simply slipped out of him. “Are you sure you want to test that?”

  Maybe she heard the feral note in his voice, because her gaze widened, as if she could see all those fantasies he’d had about her right there in his face, the color rising beneath her clear skin. But that golden spark, it only burned brighter.

  “Try me,” she said and smirked at him.

  Then without waiting for a response, she turned around, pulled the door open and took off through it.

  And every lock on the box Rhys kept his own personal darkness inside of popped, and the bad guy exploded out of it.

  He went after her, his reflexes still lightning fast even after a couple of years as a bounty hunter, hunting her, because she wouldn’t have run if she hadn’t wanted to be taken down, and they both knew it.

  He caught her in the middle of the room, grabbing her by the hips and tossing her, shrieking, over one shoulder. Her hands came down on his back to brace herself, her palms hot. “So much for the chase,” she gasped. “What now, scary man?”

  She was squirming and the heat of her body and the brush of her hair against his bare skin was making him even harder. Which didn’t do a lot for his patience. So he wrapped his arm around her thighs, holding her tight.

  You really think this is a good idea, you fucking idiot?

  No, it was a really terrible idea, but it was too late to stop now. She’d pushed him, taunted him, and if she wasn’t made of glass then he wasn’t made of stone.

  He’d tried to hold back, tried to be good, tried to keep her safe. Yet it was a battle he couldn’t win and he was done fighting it.

  She wanted to see his darkness? Then he’d show her.

  “Keep still,” he ordered, heading for the bed.

  She ignored him, twisting, so he slapped her on her bare ass, not hard, yet enough to remind her who was boss, relishing the sound of his skin hitting hers.

  “Rhys!” she shrieked, quivering, and he knew it wasn’t in pain.

  “I told you to keep still and I expect you to do it.” He reached the bed. “Unless of course you want me to slap your ass again.”

  She made a tiny choked sound, her body continuing to quiver slightly.

  He turned his head to where the curve of her delicious butt was draped over his shoulder, his hand spread on one cheek. “Is that a no?”

  “I…uh…yes.” Her voice sounded strangled. “I mean no. I mean—”

  He brought his palm down flat on her butt again, cutting her off, testing her response himself. She gasped again, jerking against him, but this time she didn’t say anything.

  Interesting.

  “You like that?” He squeezed her soft flesh gently. “You like me showing you who’s boss?”

  “I don’t,” she panted. “I mean no…it’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just… I…I don’t know.”

  He squeezed harder. “You wanted me to show you, remember that. Is it too much for you?”

  “What? A slap on the butt?” She gave a little sniff. “Hardly.”

  Something that had clenched tight inside him released at the sound, and he almost smiled. She was nothing if not brave, his Vivi.

  Sliding her off his shoulder and down onto the bed, he watched her as she sat there for a minute, staring up at him, her eyes very wide in her flushed face. Then she put her hands back on the mattress and scooted up the bed, away from him, as if she wanted to put some distance between them.

  Well. He wasn’t having that.

  Rhys got onto the bed, prowling after her, catching her by the knees and pulling her toward him, then pushing her thighs wide so he could get between them. Vivi inhaled sharply, but he wasn’t into giving her space or time to adjust, or any of that shit. She’d asked for this and now he was going to have her. All of her. Everything.

  He leaned forward and kissed her throat, licking her skin, working his way down to her delicious tits, taking one nipple into his mouth and sucking hard, tugging gently as he did so.

  “Oh my God,” she whispered, her back arching. “Oh, my God, Rhys…”

  He growled low in his throat because he liked hearing his name all breathless and ragged. He liked the way she tasted too, and he was going to have more.

  He bit her nipple, making her shudder, then let it go, moving his mouth to the side of her breast and pressing a hard kiss to it, sucking at the soft flesh so it would bruise.

  She trembled but didn’t pull away. So he put his hands on her thighs, holding them open as he worked his way down her body, kissing and licking and nipping, feeling the muscles in her abdomen tense the lower he got.

  “I’m not sure…” Vivi began as he nuzzled the soft curls of her pussy, her fingers closing around his wrists as if she wanted to pull his hands away.

  But he didn’t care if she was unsure, he was going to have this. He was going to taste her, make her scream his name, a fantasy he’d had too many times to count, and he wasn’t stopping now.

  So he kept his hands where they were, holding her thighs wide, and he buried his face between them.

  Vivi gave a small cry, her hands gripping his wrists but not to pull them away, he could feel it now. She was only holding on tight.

  He grinned, the delicate musky scent of her arousal filling his senses, making his mouth water, and he licked her, exploring the soft wet folds of her pussy slowly, because he didn’t want to rush this. He wanted to take his time, savor her. This was his first taste of her and he wanted to give the attention it deserved - the attention she deserved.

  And fuck, she was delicious. Better than anything he’d imagined or fan
tasized about. Sweet, with a tart edge that was totally Vivi. She gasped as he gave her a long, slow lick with the flat of his tongue, straight up the center of her pussy. Then he paused to linger at her clit, teasing the hard little point with the tip of his tongue so that her hips jerked and her thighs shook beneath his hands, breathless inarticulate sounds escaping from her.

  He liked that too, her gasps of desperation and the tight grip she had on his wrists, as if she was afraid to let go.

  He nuzzled her then licked back down, exploring as he went, her sounds became harsher, her breathing frantic. To draw it out even more, he used his tongue to circle the entrance of her body, around and around so that her hips moved frantically beneath him, chasing the sensation.

  “Don’t move.” He let his breath play over her hot, wet flesh, wanting to mess with her, wanting to test her. “And only make a sound when I say.”

  There were no protests now, her body instantly freezing into place, her breathing becoming muted. Obeying him without question.

  “Good girl.” He brushed his lips against the silky skin of her inner thigh, deeply satisfied. “You get a reward for that.” Then he slid his thumbs over her, spreading the soft folds wide, and pushed his tongue deep inside her.

  She jerked, her lips lifting, another cry escaping her, and straight away he lifted his head, glancing up her flushed and straining body. “You’re not doing what I told you to, Vivi. Don’t move and stay quiet, remember?”

  She groaned. “You can’t…be serious.”

  She was beautiful like this, her skin flushed and sweat-sheened. Her hair was sticking to her forehead and her shoulders, and her eyes were huge and dark, and she was looking at him like an insomniac at the sunrise after a particularly rough night. With hope and fear and relief all rolled into one.

  He held her gaze. “I’m totally serious.”

  “Why? Why do you want me to stay still?”

  “Because I want to see if you can do it.” He nuzzled her wet flesh watching shivers chase over her skin. “And I don’t want you to pull away.”

  She gave another groan, putting her head back on the bed. “Okay. Okay, I’ll try.”

  Of course she would. Vivi liked to do her best in everything.

  Rhys lowered his head again, dragging his tongue through her pussy in another long lick, before pushing back inside. And this time though she quivered, she didn’t move and a apart from a soft inhalation of breath, she didn’t make a sound either.

  He shifted his hands up her thighs, allowing his fingers to press hard against her soft flesh, gripping her painfully tight so there would be marks there come morning. Then he moved his mouth to her inner thigh, nipping her, pressing another sucking kiss against her skin because he wanted the marks of his kisses to be there as well as those from his hands.

  She jerked beneath him as he did so, her breath catching audibly. But he didn’t stop.

  He’d warned her that’s what he’d do and he wanted her to remember this. He wanted her to remember this forever, no matter how many other lovers she had. Him touching her. Him tasting her. Him inside her. Him and no one else.

  Pressing another hard kiss on her other inner thigh, he used his fingers to tease her clit as he did so, pinching that, too. Using a combination of pleasure and pain to test her limits until she was trembling under his hands, her breathing fast and harsh in the silence of the room. And he wanted to push her even further, even harder, but this was still new to her and she’d done so well so far that she deserved a reward sooner rather than later.

  Besides, with her taste in his mouth and her scent all around him, he was getting pretty damn impatient himself.

  “You can scream now,” he said, before tipping her over the edge with the firm pressure of his tongue on her clit and two fingers inside her.

  A good girl to the last, Vivi screamed as she came, her hips just about lifting off the bed, her hands reaching for him and sliding into his hair, holding on tight. He could feel her pussy convulsing around his fingers, the hot taste of her climax on his tongue, and it was so fucking hot he wanted to wring another one out of her.

  Then his cock reminded him that it was getting tired of waiting, so he lifted his head from her and got off the bed, going into the bathroom for his wallet, extracting the last condom from it and making a mental note to get an urgent condom delivery from his contact in Terlingua. Then he picked up the necklace he’d left on the vanity and went back into the other room.

  Vivi was lying sprawled out on her back on the bed, one arm thrown across her face, the other on the pillow beside her head. Her hair was tangled and she looked wrecked, and if she wasn’t the most erotic sight in the entire history of the world, then he was Elvis fucking Presley. Already he could see a darkening bruise at her throat from the nips he’d given her in the bathroom, and then there were the red marks on her thighs…

  But that wasn’t even the best part. The best part was knowing that he was the one who’d made her look like that. He was the one who’d wrecked her. Not Neil or some other prick, but him.

  She’s yours now.

  Yes. Yes she fucking was.

  Rhys came over to the bed and got on it, kneeling between her spread thighs. She gave another of those sweet little groans, but didn’t move. “Turn over, Vivi” he said quietly.

  She lifted the arm across her face and peered out at him from beneath it. “What? Why?”

  He held out her necklace. “Because I want to put this on you.”

  She let out a soft breath, eyeing the glittering piece of jewelry for a second, then slowly rolled over onto her front.

  Rhys leaned over her, running a hand down the graceful arch of her spine, enjoying the freedom of being able to touch her like this and the way she shivered under his hand. Then he slipped the necklace around her neck and did up the catch, before brushing her hair to one side and kissing her exposed nape. “On your back,” he whispered against her skin. “I want to watch you when I fuck you this time.”

  She turned her head to the side. “Is this the part where you get scary? Because I’m still waiting. Just FYI.”

  Hell. He’d been taking this much slower than he normally would and probably going easy on her, it was true. But only because he’d wanted to savor the whole experience.

  “What? You didn’t feel me biting you?”

  “Oh, yes. But it wasn’t that bad. I liked it even.”

  He wasn’t sure it was possible to get even harder, but apparently it was. Sliding his hand up her spine, he gripped the back of her neck. “I was going easy on you. But if you don’t want me to, I can make it harder.” He increased the pressure of his grip. “Do you want me to?”

  She lay there very still, her ribs expanding, her shoulders moving in time with her quickening breaths. “You know that’s what I want. But you’re holding back.”

  He let her go and flipped her onto her back without any niceties, her startled gaze meeting his. Her name glittered at her throat and he couldn’t stop from looking down the length of her body stretched out beneath him, naked except for the necklace he’d given her.

  “Perhaps you’re right.” There was a growl in his voice. “Perhaps I am. Which means it’s time to stop.”

  She flushed. “A few bites won’t scare me away, Rhys. If that’s what you’re thinking.”

  “I’m not thinking that. I just want you to know what you’re letting yourself in for.”

  Her chin lifted. “Stop dicking around then, and show me.”

  She was deliberately pushing the boundaries and he knew it. But that’s what she’d done from the moment he’d met her, wasn’t it? Pushing him slowly but deliberately into a friendship he didn’t want and tried to run from, yet that had ended up saving him more times than he could count.

  He’d tried to resist then and failed, so what was the point in resisting her now?

  Grabbing the condom from the quilt beside him, he ripped open the packet and sheathed himself, then leaned over her again, putting on
e hand down on the mattress beside her head. “Okay,” he said roughly. “I’ll stop. Now shut up and put me inside you.”

  She blinked at him. “But I—”

  “I said shut up, sweet girl.” He reached out and took her hand, guiding it down and wrapping her fingers around his dick. “Put me the fuck inside you. Now.”

  There was a green glitter in her eyes that looked almost like satisfaction at the rough command, and he didn’t look away, letting her see what she did to him, at what her touch had unleashed inside of him. Then she smiled and just like that, his patience came to an end.

  Covering her hand with his, he showed her exactly what he wanted, the head of his cock brushing over her slick pussy a couple of times, making them both shudder. Then he thrust deep inside her, so hot and tight and wet he had to sink his fingers into the mattress and grit his teeth, fighting the urge not to come right here and now.

  Her breathing was starting to catch, just like his, and the color was rising under her skin again. There was a glazed look in her eyes and when he flexed his hips, her beautiful mouth opened on a soft groan of pleasure.

  Fuck, he knew exactly how she felt. This was insanely good. Too good.

  But it was time to take it further.

  Sliding his hand beneath one thigh, he lifted it up, hooking her leg over his shoulder before doing the same with her other leg. She gasped as the position tilted her hips at an angle, allowing him to slide deeper, and he took full advantage, pushing harder, relishing the tightness, the way her pussy closed around him, gripping him, holding him. Her cheeks flushed a deeper red, her hips trembling, her white teeth now sunk into her lip. “Oh my God, Rhys…” She said his name like a plea.

  He put both hands on the mattress on either side of her head and leaned forward, pressing even deeper.

  She shuddered, her gaze fixed on his, and he could see her growing desperation. It drew another growl from his throat.

  Pulling back until he nearly slid out of her, he thrust back in, driving his hips forward, using his braced arms to increase the power. The sound of his flesh hitting hers filled the room and she groaned, so he did again. Harder.