THIS TIME, the crew didn’t hide their final job preparations from me. So I got a clear view of the tactical vests, weapons cases, and other mission paraphernalia they were assembling near the door.
“Did you rob an army surplus store?” I couldn’t help asking.
Garrison released a harsh laugh, and Julius shot him a pointed look. I wondered if there had been an argument that I’d missed while they’d been gearing up for the mission.
Garrison cast his gaze over me next. “Better to be overly prepared than not at all,” he said, eyeing the exercise clothes I still wore from earlier.
“Where do you expect me to get an appropriate outfit for a job like this—out of my ass? I don’t even know what the job is.”
Julius spoke up before the younger man could get another word in edgewise. “We’ve got a few more pieces to see to. We’ll pick you up some tactical clothes on our way back. Garrison, you can stay and fill Dess in on the details of the mission.”
The blond man’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re leaving me behind now? What am I, the babysitter?”
His boss looked like he was restraining himself from rolling his eyes. Or strangling Garrison. I could relate to both impulses, as much as I’d enjoyed kissing him last night.
“You’re supposed to be the smooth talker in the crew,” Julius reminded him. “I think you can handle a little conversation. Your skills aren’t required for this last bit of prep.”
Garrison grumbled wordlessly under his breath, but he didn’t raise another overt protest as the other guys tramped out of the apartment. I studied him, my nerves prickling.
Was he really that annoyed about having to spend time with me? I’d thought we’d made a sort of peace on the rooftop, but maybe I’d been wrong. There was still so much I didn’t really get about relating to other human beings, at least ones I wasn’t supposed to be either training with or murdering.
It shouldn’t have mattered anyway. Caring about things like whether people liked me only complicated my life.
But that way of thinking, that forming social bonds wasn’t important—that was definitely Noelle’s teaching. How could it be anything else when I’d never had the chance to live any other way? Part of me was starting to think I’d appreciate a few complications of that sort.
“Why don’t we go up to the deck?” I suggested. Garrison usually seemed more at ease there, and I liked the atmosphere too. “I could use some fresh air.”
Garrison marched ahead of me without a word and led the way up. He didn’t wait for me, striding right out onto the deck while leaving the door open, and stood with his back to me as I emerged.
“I’m sure that Julius explained that this is one of our easier missions,” he said abruptly. “You shouldn’t have much to worry about.”
I grimaced at his back. “I wasn’t worried. It would be nice to know what we’re actually doing, though. I can handle whatever it is, but I prefer to go in prepared, like you mentioned earlier.”
Garrison finally turned to look at me. It wasn’t a sidelong glance or a hostile glower. He considered me analytically. “I know you can handle it.”
That ounce of approval settled my nerves. I didn’t need reassurance when my track record spoke for itself, but it was good to know that Garrison was still capable of moods other than intense snark.
He flopped into a lounge chair near his precious telescope, and I ambled closer. I propped myself against the wall nearby. “So, the job…”
“All right already. We’re going to L.A. Via private jet, obviously, since regular airlines won’t accept all of our equipment.”
I blinked. “You guys own a whole jet?”
Garrison smirked. “Well, half wouldn’t get us very far.” Then he sobered up enough to add, “It’s not ours. The client is paying for it. Our skills are in high demand, so we get requests all over the country, sometimes overseas, and for those we require travel in style as part of the payment. They’re happy to supply the vehicle in exchange for having us doing their dirty work.”
“Wow.” I’d never thought about just how much the crew might be getting paid for their work. I’d never seen any money from my missions—and when would I have had a chance to spend it anyway?
Had the household profited from my kills? I’d assumed all my targets were people they personally wanted taken down, but it was possible they’d hired me out to other parties too, wasn’t it? The thought made me want to scrub my skin raw.
Just how many ways had they exploited me?
I shook off those unsettling questions and focused on Garrison again. “And who are the targets of this job?”
Garrison lifted his eyes skyward. “We’re supposed to shoot up some people on an indie studio movie set. The production’s being run by a bunch of gangsters who cast themselves and all their buddies into the roles. From what I gathered in our conversation, not that he admitted this outright, the client is pissed that he wasn’t invited to join in. So he’s hiring us for revenge.”
“Wait, this man is having you kill people because he’s jealous? You guys get involved in that kind of drama?”
Garrison laughed darkly. “Half of our jobs are based on this kind of drama. All that matters to Julius is that the people we’re taking down are scummy too; the reasons we’re getting paid to do it don’t really matter.”
“You have to admit that this setup sounds a little bizarre.”
“It’s ridiculous, but it should be a cut and dry job. They’re all doofuses, so it won’t take long to get in, make a bloody mess of killing them, and get out. Blaze said that there isn’t much security from the digital standpoint, as far as he can tell from a distance.”
“We’re going to go in based on what he can tell from across the country?”
Garrison narrowed his eyes at me. “Of course not. He always takes a survey of the situation on location once we arrive. We’re not idiots.”
I held up my hands. “I was just asking. I’ve never worked with anyone before.”
“Right, the lone wolf. You should give us a little credit.”
His tone had turned cutting again. I frowned. “Do you have a problem with me coming along?”
He propped his arms behind his head. “Why would I have a problem with the famous Ghost coming along for a joyride?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”
“How about this?” Garrison said. “You don’t know who you are or where you belong, so you sure as hell can’t know how you’ll fit in with us. That kind of uncertainty gets people killed.”
“The only people who are going to get killed tonight are the ones we were hired to kill. I’m absolutely certain about that. I don’t let my personal life get in the way of a mission.”
“So you say. I’m just not all that keen on giving that theory a test run with real guns and real bad guys.”
I pushed off the wall and stepped closer to him. If he was going to try to push my buttons, I’d push his right back. “Is that really it, or are you worried about your own performance? You do seem to have a habit of getting a little… distracted when I’m around.”
Garrison scoffed. “Now you’re just making shit up.”
I let a knowing smile play with my lips. “I don’t think so. Although if you’ve forgotten what happened the last time we were up here, maybe you should get that head of yours checked out.”
He shoved himself out of the lounger to face me eye to eye. The heat in his gaze scorched through me all the way to my pussy. “I remember that you couldn’t keep your hands off me. I’d say that makes you the problem more than me.”
I snorted. “Oh, yeah, and you were such an unwilling participant.”
Garrison’s tongue flicked across his lips, and the sight sent another wash of heat through me. If he was a complication, then yeah, some part of me wanted to dive right in. Especially if that would mean releasing the tension that’d been building between us since the first time I’d planted my lips on his days ago.
“Why shouldn’t I take what’s freely offered?” he said. “It doesn’t mean I’m going to be dreaming about happily ever afters while we’re getting down to work.”
I cocked my head. “Who said anything about happily ever after? Ecstatic right now sounds good to me.”
He waggled his eyebrows, taking a step closer. “I’m glad you have so much confidence in my ability to make you scream.”
“I don’t know. So far you seem to be all hot air and no follow-through.”
I gave him a light nudge to the chest, both to provoke him and as an excuse to feel the taut, lean muscles beneath his button-up. Oh boy, did he respond. The next second, I found myself shoved against the wooden wall with Garrison’s hands on my waist and his hips pressed tight against mine.
“I’ll show you follow-through,” he muttered, his breath searing over my lips, and slammed his mouth into mine.
The times before, there’d been a hint of hesitation to his kiss. Even when our mouths had collided and he’d kissed me back with a surge of passion, part of him had been holding back, not quite letting go.
This was different. He was taking what he wanted with every particle of his body where it aligned with mine, and the need radiating through him turned me into a puddle.
His tongue swept into my mouth, clearing away all tastes that weren’t him. I wound my arms around his waist, pulling him closer as I rose to my toes to deepen the kiss. One of his hands rose to twine his fingers in my hair, hanging loose down my back. He tugged, pulling my head back to expose my neck to him.
Garrison kissed his way down to the hollow of my throat with a force that left me breathless. When he nipped my collarbone, I gasped. His grip on me tightened. I’d known he had a fire in him that could burn us up together, and now that he was releasing it, I wanted nothing more than to go to all the way up in flames.
Garrison nibbled his way over to my shoulder, yanking my shirt to the side to get better access to the crook of my neck. Then he paused, pulling back just enough to speak with his lips grazing my skin. “You’re not going to suddenly go all assassin on my ass like you did with Blaze if I get any more handsy, are you?”
A flush that was more embarrassment than desire this time tickled over my skin, remembering the incident all the guys had witnessed—when I’d slammed Blaze into a kitchen counter after he’d flirted with me. I dug my fingers into Garrison’s shirt.
“There are certain overtures that I have… bad associations with,” I said. “And so they set off a defensive reaction. As long as you don’t get too sweet on me, we should be able to manage this without you getting your ass kicked.”
Garrison chuckled with a wash of hot breath, but when he lifted his head to meet my eyes, I thought I saw a glimmer of understanding there. Of course the master at reading people would be able to piece together enough from my brief explanation to guess.
To my relief, he didn’t pry any further. The corners of his lips curled wickedly. “You want it rough and hard then, huh?”
A thrill raced through my veins at the promise in his voice. I grinned back at him. “Do your worst.”
The words had barely left my mouth when he was slamming me back into the wall. His hand dipped down and shoved inside my sweatpants.
“Do you want to know what I’m going to do to you, Dess?” he asked as the pants tumbled down my legs and only his hand remained against my panties, caressing the spot at the apex of my thighs teasingly. I bucked into his hand, and he laughed. When I looked down at the way he worked me, he gripped my chin and forced me to meet his eyes. The grip wasn’t quite bruising, but it showed he understood exactly what I needed. “I asked you a question.”
Anticipation unfurled through my belly. “What—what are you going to do?” I whispered eagerly.
He released my chin and tore the panties right off me. Then he plunged one of his long fingers inside of me as he continued working my clit.
“Sweetheart, I’m going to fuck you so hard that you’re going to beg for me to slow down.” He bent closer to my ear, growling the next part. “But I’m not going to. Not until you fucking explode.”
A giddy shiver passed through me, watching him take on an even more asshole-ish persona than the one he usually wore—one determined to get me off by any means necessary. Oh, yes, please. Garrison must have noticed, because he straightened his shoulders and licked his bottom lip. He was so fucking hot when he wasn’t being a prick. Or at least, when he was being a prick for my benefit instead of to heckle me.
Speaking of pricks…
I reached forward and curled my fingers around his erect cock through his pants. At the first stroke, he jerked against me with an involuntary thrust. “As long as you explode with me,” I murmured. The dark smile that spread across his face fueled my hunger, sending jolts of excitement through my veins.
Without warning, Garrison spun me around. I had to whip my hands out to catch myself against the wall. His fingers didn’t miss a beat, one now circling my clit, another delving deep inside me for that even more sensitive place far within. He didn’t stop until I jerked and cried out, the sweet spot inside getting more sensitive with every blissful stroke.
“Down you go, sweetheart,” he said, slapping my back like a light spank. “You’ll take this whether you like it or not.”
I’d seen him in action—I knew he could have struck hard enough to hurt me if he’d wanted to. He was finding the balance between giving me what I needed and keeping me safe, and somehow that turned me on even more. My mouth watered as I bent at the waist, my forearms sliding down the wall.
The sound of torn foil told me he’d had protection on hand, thank God—I was so tangled up with need I might have told him to keep going without it. I had a birth control implant, but I had no idea how cautious these men usually were when it came to other possible consequences of casual sex.
Garrison’s pants dropped, and there was a soft hiss as he must have slicked the condom over his erection. Arousal flooded my sex. My pussy felt as if it were dripping.
He gripped both of my hips forcefully, tugging my ass back to meet him, and then he thrust into my cunt without a moment of preamble.
I saw stars.
He hadn’t lied when he’d said that he’d fuck me hard. His thighs pistoned back and forth, his cock ramming into me as deep as it could go. Pleasure rushed through me with every thrust, and I cried out for him, loud enough that the people way down on the street below might have heard. I didn’t give a fuck.
Garrison reached around and grabbed hold of my chin again, grasping it as he pounded into my cunt. I arched toward him as my climax swelled within me. My noises of pure pleasure multiplied until everything came crashing down—rupturing and leaving me shattered beneath him, barely able to hold up my own body with legs that had become jelly.
As my channel clamped around him, he gave a pleased grunt. Instead of continuing to his own release right then, he withdrew with a jerk and tugged me around so fast I swayed. He lay me down on the lounger, prowling over me, his hazel eyes darker than I’d ever seen them.
“I could fuck this pussy all day,” he murmured. Then he plunged into me again.
As he fucked me the second time, his gaze held mine, searing with his own desire. His ragged breathing matched mine, carrying through the air around us. With each buck of his hips, I spiraled toward a second release. I barely felt the thick cushions beneath me.
I wrapped my arms around Garrison, digging my fingernails into his back. His chest hitched, and he pushed even deeper inside me, raising my hips to meet him at a better angle. The rush of sensation nearly had me sobbing.
He wasn’t being half as rough now as he’d been before, but I was so lost in the moment it didn’t matter. I’d have killed anyone who tore us apart before I reached my peak.
Thankfully, it didn’t come to that. Garrison plowed into me, and a renewed wave of ecstasy flooded my nerves. My eyes rolled back to take in the light speckling of stars across the evening sky. My moan reverberated off the walls.
Garrison bowed his head over me with a deep groan of his own. He gripped the sides of the lounger as his movements grew choppy. With one final thrust, he sagged over me, barely holding himself up with his elbows.
Before he suffocated me under his weight, he rolled to the side, tipping me with him so we both fit on the lounger together. The cool air licked over my naked legs. Neither of us had bothered stripping off our shirts, but the half-nakedness felt weirdly more intimate than if we’d been totally nude. It was a testament to how desperately we’d needed this moment.
I didn’t know what to say, but there didn’t seem to be any need for words. I lay there in the cocoon of warmth we’d formed, savoring the afterglow.
Garrison stroked his hand over my hair and along my jaw. He tipped my chin up just enough to press a kiss on my lips that felt almost tender, especially after the brutality with which we’d initially come together.
If he’d led with that move, my body would have flinched with panic. After what we’d just done, I was relaxed enough with him that it didn’t bother me. He’d been nothing like the man who’d violated me so horribly. He was nothing like that man.
When Garrison lay his head against the cushions again, I peeked over at him. Curiosity stirred inside me. He hadn’t shied away from the role-play I’d asked for—and he’d more than delivered. He must be fairly experienced. More than I was, but then, who wasn’t? All the amazing sensations of sex were one more freedom the household had stolen from me for too long.
“Do you get a chance to do this sort of thing—with other women—very often?” I asked, tilting my head to the side to watch his expression. “I mean, I’m guessing it’s hard to keep up a relationship in your line of work.”
Garrison’s lips twitched, whether with amusement or discomfort, I couldn’t tell. “Yeah, but it doesn’t matter to me. I haven’t been looking for a relationship anyway.”
I let out a teasing huff. “Who’s the real lone wolf then?”
“At least I know how to work with other people on a regular basis,” Garrison retorted. He kept his tone light, but a trace of tension wound through it.
“I’m sure there are a few emotional—and other—needs that the rest of the crew can’t quite fulfill for you. Nothing so strange about that.” I paused. “I guess that’s a trade-off to this kind of life.”
Garrison shifted, easing a little apart from me. “It’s not a trade-off. Some people aren’t interested in grand romance or becoming a family man. I’m perfectly happy with the life I’m already leading.”
I squinted at him in the growing darkness, having trouble believing him. Garrison was a master not just of reading people but of presenting himself to others the way he wanted. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him without some kind of mask on. How much was he hiding even from himself?
“Is that really true?” I asked without thinking. “Or is it just easier to tell yourself and everyone else that because you don’t think you can have everything you’d really want anyway?”
Garrison heaved upright and grabbed his pants. “I’ll thank you to save the psychoanalysis for someone who needs it,” he snapped, any lingering tenderness wiped away. Before I could figure out what I’d done wrong or how to fix it, he stalked across the rooftop and down the stairs.
