“Don’t confuse me with a good guy. Just like in every business, there are different types of people. I am still a criminal, Kennedy.”
Her free hand drifts to my leg. “You don’t seem so bad to me. I can’t believe it.”
I turn my body and cage her in with my knees, feeling my willpower slip. I rest my hand on the side of her face, sweeping my thumb dangerously close to her lips. I’m barely hanging on. All I want to do is take her—right here, right now. “What are you doing here?”
I gaze into her eyes with my thumb resting at the edge of her lip, so close to that silver hoop. “You invited me.”
“Butwhyare you here?” I want to hear that she’s here for the same reason I invited her. No longer can I deny my attraction or my need to be with her.
Her tongue darts out, and she sweeps it against her lip, tasting my thumb. “There’s something about you, Nix. Something I can’t shake.”
My cock twitches from the softness of her tongue against my skin. “You’re asking for trouble. I’m not a good man. You need to get out of whatever shit you’re trying to get into and find a nice, quiet life somewhere. It’s too dangerous, what you’re doing. You’re going to get yourself killed.”
There’s something about Kennedy that draws me to her. It’s a dangerous game we’re playing. We’re both hiding things and playing with fire. But my body wants her, no matter how much my mind says to walk away.
She scoots forward on her chair, bringing her knees inches from my erection. “I’m not a good girl, Mr. Ash.”
The first time I saw her, I knew there was a wild child in there. Her eyes held the key and left little to the imagination. It’s probably the thing that drew Hassan in too.
Leaning forward, I scoop her into my arms and place her in my lap. “Are you sure this is what you want?” I ask when our mouths are only an inch apart, our breath mixing from our heavy pants. It takes all my willpower not to crash my mouth on hers and plunge my tongue between her lips.
“Yes,” she whispers, and I can’t hold out any longer.
My lips find hers and kiss her with more hunger than before. I’m asking for trouble by being with someone Hassan has openly shown off at the club, but right now, he’s the least of my worries. I can’t help but have a knot in my stomach thinking about Kennedy getting mixed up in shit she has no idea about. I need to find a way to get her to change her mind before she starts down a path she can’t get off without losing her life.
9
Kennedy
I wakeup in a strange bedroom, light filtering in around the corners of drawn blinds on tall windows. I’m still at Nix’s place. I remember drinking more wine than I should have, followed by a heated make-out session.
This room, I don’t remember, though. I look down and see that I’m still dressed, so we must not have had sex. I’m pretty sure I’d remember sex with Nix, drunk or sober.
There’s an en suite bathroom, so I go in and pee, wash up and rinse with the mouthwash I find in a cabinet. I comb my fingers through my hair as I walk into the kitchen.
“Morning,” Nix says from the kitchen table.
He’s wearing reading glasses and working on a laptop. I note the brand so I can include it in my notes. When I walk around to kiss him on the cheek, he closes the screen before I can even get a glance at it.
“Good morning,” I say.
“Want some breakfast? There’s a good diner close by.”
I almost say yes, but then I remember the strategy I always use with men I’m working.
Always leave them wanting more.
“I need to go, actually. Rain check?”
“Sure,” he says smoothly. “I’ll give you a ride home.”
“I’ll get a cab.”
“When can I see you again?”
I lean against the kitchen counter, feeling a swirl of excitement in my belly. As Eva, it’s my job to draw the interest of the sources I’m working, and I’m good at it. But from the time I slid my wig off in his car last night, I was more Kennedy than Eva. This is the first time since I started working for Greenlight that I feel like a man I’m interested in has seen the real me.
Too bad he’s an internationally wanted criminal.
