If that wasn’t a sign that he’d stick around, she wasn’t sure what was.Best not to tempt fate and spook him by asking.
Though if she were smart, she wouldn’t get her hopes up.She couldn’t imagine contract killers were inclined to stay in the same spot for too long.
Glancing out the window, she watched the large signs proclaiming exits whiz by.“I should probably terminate my lease.”
“Why?”he asked.
“Well, if I’m going to be working with you, it’s not a good idea to have a home base.”
“Pfft.”He blew out a breath.“You absolutely should have a place to call your own.It’ll be your sanctuary.”
“Do you have one?”
He nodded.“A cabin.Out in the middle of nowhere.”The wistfulness in his voice warmed her heart.
She hummed, imagining Fink in the forest by himself, chopping wood.The image of the man from TikTok with the suspenders and white T-shirt came to mind.Mentally, she superimposed Fink’s head on his body.
Rolling her eyes at her own absurdity, she blinked back to the present.“How often do you go?”
He lifted a shoulder in a half shrug.“Between contracts,” he said.“Sometimes I get to putter around and make improvements for, like, a month or two.Other jobs are back-to-back, like right now.”
“So, the murder business isn’t exactly hopping?”she asked.
He snickered.“It can be.Ebbs and flows.”
“Do you have, like, a territory?Or are you global?”Encroaching on his turf when she had to do this on her own seemed rude.She would have to learn his stomping grounds so she could avoid them.The last thing she wanted was to be his competitor.
“National, maybe Canada a few times.Mexico once,” he admitted.“Mostly inside the US.When you cross borders, things get a little tricky.Then there’s a trail.”
“We don’t want those,” she all but sang.
He tugged his ear and then pointed toward her.“Someone’s been listening.”He winked.
She couldn’t help smiling as her cheeks flushed.His approval turned her into a puddle of people-pleaser.Sydney made it a point to quit that habit when she became an adult.It’d done her no damn good as a kid and wouldn’t in the future either, but being the source of the grin on Fink’s face made her feel nice inside.
32
Fink
Thiswasabadidea.
The worst Fink had ever had.
Theyshouldgo right back to Sydney’s apartment.Heshoulddrop her off and go home.Theyshouldpart ways.
He’d done more than enough.She asked him to teach her.She’d effectively learned.Well, sort of.If she did this on her own, without him, she’d have the police at her door an hour after they discovered the body.Tops.There was a lot of work to do, but she had talent and determination.She’d get there with practice and luck.
Sydney didn’t need him around anymore.In time, she’d develop her own style.His methods might be bad habits when she found her groove.They might not work for her.He should pack his meager bag and go.
Except he didn’t want to.
So, he didn’t.
Instead, he’d headed north with her snoring beside him in the cab of his pickup.Burke’s heart, which they had no business having, nestled at her feet.
What had gotten into him?Sure, he took a trophy occasionally, but he didn’t consider himself a sentimental bastard.That was a lie.He had a room full of trinkets that reminded him of things.Maybe he was mushy after all.
But not romantic.That was until this damn heart nonsense.Who did he think he was?William Shakespeare spouting sonnets?He had lost his ever-loving mind.
