“And why would you do that, Reaper?”
She’d asked the question I’d just asked myself.Might as well say it straight up, for both our sakes.“I like you.”I lean a little closer, slow and deliberate, then half smile.“And I figure I still owe you one.”
A rise of color flushes her cheeks?“You do?”
She rests her hand on my cut as if to stop me encroaching into her space any farther.But I’m standing right between her thighs, our chests almost touching, and she’s filling my vision, filling all my senses.Been a while since I’d thought about fucking but now ...hell, yeah, it’s on my mind in a serious way.And she doesn’t seem to be complaining.
“I don’t worry about him finding me,” she says quietly.
“Oh?”I raise my right eyebrow.“How so?”
She doesn’t speak.
Realization hits me.Damn.She is tough and fucking badass.“Ah, I see.”
“What do you see?”She swallows, more of a gulp.
“You killed him.”
Her jaw tightens and a ghost of fear crosses her eyes.
“Clever woman like you, a doctor, came up with the perfect crime and took your revenge.”
“He hit me.A lot.And it started on our wedding night.”Her bottom lip wobbles just a bit.
My fists clench on the counter.She hasn’t denied it but if he was still breathing, I’d axe off his cock, shove it in his mouth, and then rip his head off just for making her lip quiver, let alone hitting her.
“Motherfucking son of a bitch,” I mutter.
“Kept at it for four years.”She pauses.“That’s why I worked in ER.I could explain away the bruises he wasn’t careful about.Patients can be assholes too.”
“Four years.”I couldn’t keep the shock from my voice.“Why didn’t you—”
“Leave?Good question.To start with, I accepted his apologies, and then when I stopped believing them, but I did believe him when he said he’d find me and kill me if I ever left.”
“Scum of the earth.”I could feel my blood pressure rising.“A guy’s woman should be treasured and respected.”
“I’m glad you think that.”
“I do.”
She pulls in a deep breath.“I had no choice but to neutralize the situation.”
I like her terminology.“I don’t blame you.Not one bit.”
“He was an insulin-controlled diabetic and he liked to drink.It’s a bad combination.”
“So, you waited until he’d had a few and then stuck him with a huge dose of insulin, a drug he took routinely anyway.You knew it would look like a complete accident.”I nod.“And I bet he was too wasted to even know you’d done it.Good plan.”
Her mouth opens and closes.She’s not going to admit to an almost stranger that she committed cold-blooded murder, I get that.She doesn’t need to.Because I also know I’ve hit the nail on the head with my summation.
