I paused, knowing it didn’t really matter which option I picked. Unless she somehow got her hands on a gun, she wouldn’t walk out of here alive.
I chose the restaurant’s rear. She probably hid behind the dumpster. I took my gun out and reached into my boot to remove the suppressor. Screwed it on. Stepping into the shadows, I trod behind the bin, gun first. A sharp, suffocatingpain wrapped around my throat from behind, jerking me backward.
Son of a bitch. She’d hidden in the trash can and was now strangling me with a…zip tie?
At least she invested in a good one. The material threatened to tear through my skin clear to the bone. I felt special. She chose the best. Forme.
She cut off my air supply, digging the zip tie deeper into my skin until it broke and bled. Any other person would’ve been toast in this situation.
Emphasis onany other.
Rather than try to lurch the cable off my throat, I squatted and pushed my feet up, throwing her entire weight off my back. Tierney flew across the alleyway, back slamming against the wall. I reached her before she had the chance to scramble up, tearing the mask from her face and aiming my gun at her while she was still on her knees.
“We have to stop meeting like this.” She grinned up at me, darting her tongue out to lick blood from the corner of her mouth. Despite myself, I found my lips twitching. She had a great sense of humor, even when she stared death in the eye.
“Who told you it was a good idea to show up to a duel without a gun?” I asked softly.
“Please, no lectures. Just get it over with.” She rolled her eyes, spitting blood sideways. She must’ve bitten herself when I threw her off me.
“Up.” I grabbed her by the throat with my free hand, jerking her to her feet. I placed my forearms on either side of her shoulders, pinning her against the wall. “Throw your weapons on the ground.Allof them.”
She tossed her backpack aside, pulling out her pockets. A small pair of scissors and a Swiss knife fell out.
“And the other Swiss knife in your waistband,” I prompted.
Groaning, she complied.
God, she was so fucking beautiful. Even without her signature red hair. I’d missed her face. I hadn’t seen it in forty-eight hours and realized it had been entirely too long. Now to go the rest of my life without seeing it…unfathomable.
“You know, for whatever baffling reason, I still want you to have a relatively painless death, so I’ll put a bullet in your head. Straight and simple.”
She thrust her chin out. “Aw. You spoil me, Ferrante.”
“Turn around.”
Better to kill her while she wasn’t looking. I didn’t think I could handle seeing her eyes the last nanosecond before I took her life. They’d chase me to the grave and beyond.
“In a second.” She reached to grab the collar of my black shirt, twisting it in her fist. “First, let me do this.” She flung off my mask.
Then she leaned forward and kissed the shit out of me.
My lips opened in surprise, giving absolutely zero fucks the mouth pressing against them was attached to a woman who sought to actively kill me.
Break off the kiss, my mind screamed.
Shut the fuck up, my dick replied, swelling in my combat pants.
No, no. I was definitely stopping this. Just one more stroke of a tongue, to figure out what it was I was tasting. A hint of espresso, mint gum, and a touch of?—
She rolled the tip of her tongue over the roof of my mouth. A shudder rippled through me.
I didn’t care how many men she’d been with (though Ididcount them—fourteen). And I didn’t care that she hated me.
Those kisses? They were mine.
These men fucked her. But me? Itouchedher.
Her fingers twisted in my hair, nails scraping my scalp. The kiss turned frantic as our tongues waged war on one another. I pushed my knee between her thighs, spreading them, and she dropped one hand, snaking it to the small of her back.
