Page 48 of Lulu
His jaw tightened, and the look in his eyes made me squirm. “Want to try that again?”
I sat mute, trying but failing to come up with another response that would appease his curiosity. How had my questions about what happened to him switched so quickly to questions about why I had a grab bag?
“What secrets do you have, Lulu?”
We all had secrets, I wanted to say. “How about you tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine?” I threw back at him. I’d never thought about telling anyone about my past before. I didn’t really want to hash it up, and Demon and Elizabeth was the only ones who knew what I’d been running away from. Demon knowing had been the one condition he’d had in letting me stay with the Desert Rebels. I stared at Brody, almost hoping that he didn’t take me up on my impulsiveness.
Brody laughed roughly and said without hesitation, “Deal.”
Damn him!I frowned. “Should we shake on it?” I said with snark. I wasn’t ready to trust him, because telling him my story would leave me open for a lot of heartache and pain. I held my hand out to him.
Again, he laughed roughly. The sound caused a pleasant tingle down my spine, and I shivered slightly. He held his arm out, but when we clasped hands he pulled me from my chair and onto his lap. I caught my breath, a feeling of intense awareness flickering in my core now that my bottom was settled against his hard cock. It was easy to feel the solid power beneath his sweats. How could he expect me to talk while I was sitting on his lap, wanting more than anything was kiss him? And more? Of course, he didn’t know that I’d been horny for him since the night before.
I decided not to make a fuss over it, because really, I felt safe and comfortable against Brody. His quiet strength gave me strength, and suddenly talking about my past didn’t seem like such a daunting task. I still had the occasional nightmare. Maybe it would be good for me to get it all out.
“You first,” I said, still not ready to jump right in and expose my vulnerability.
“Someone tried to kill me the other night.”
Wow, surprise. I could almost say the same thing. Only it hadn’t been the other night. “Really?” I snorted with disgust. As if I didn’t already know that! I pulled back sharply to meet his eyes.
He just grinned at my irritation, as if he thought it was cute. “I think you know what I do. I’m not the only one. There’s a group of us who work for the same man, and apparently one of us has decided that he doesn’t like the competition.”
I frowned, confused. “What does that mean?” It felt good to have Brody’s arms around me.
“It means he’s been eliminating us one-by-one. Either he’s been hired by someone else to take us out, or he has his own agenda and is doing it on his own. So far three men have been assassinated. I was the fourth.”
“Oh, my God!” I gasped, my heart rate picking up. “Don’t you mean that you weresupposedto be the fourth?”
He exhaled deeply. “No, baby. As of last Friday I’ve been declared deceased. Once we can determine who’s killing us off, I’ll be tasked with finding and eliminating him.”
I definitely didn’t like the sound of that. “He wouldn’t expect you to come after him if you’re already dead,” I murmured, not really expecting a response. “And what if it’s someone totally different? Someone not from your, ah--” I dug for an accurate term, but couldn’t come up with anything other than, “special club.”
“That’s what we need to find out. Either way, he’ll be dealt with.”
“So why are you leaving then? You’re safe here, aren’t you?”
He grinned and said in an amused tone, “Well, Hellcat, you inviting me to stay? I didn’t know you cared so much.”
I wasn’t going to admit to anything, and rolled my eyes. “Just answer the question.”
He turned serious. “There’s no way in hell I’m going to put you in danger, baby. Me being here is dangerous for you. Right now we’re assuming the killer thinks that I’m dead, but if he has any doubts, he could come back and start snooping. I was heading out to a safe house when he caught me by surprise at my house.”
“You have a safe house?” I huffed with humor. “Somehow I picture you heading into danger, not running away from it.”
“It’s not a safe house per se, just a place I can go where I can’t be tracked down. A smart assassin has more than one.”
Wow, he’d said it, even if it had been in jest.
He grinned down at me. “I own several places under aliases. The only house in my name is where I’m living here. Not even the businesses I own are under my real name.”
I took a deep breath. “Do you think that you’ll be gone long?” Even as I asked, I knew there was no way for Brody to know the answer to that.
“Miss me already?” he asked in a low and sexy voice.
He bumped me with his hips, which drove his erection against my bottom and brought my attention to it again. I shrugged a little. “Maybe your cock,” I teased. The man must have some strong willpower, because his cock had been hard the entire time we’d been talking. I, on the other hand, was trying like hell not to grind my bottom into it. I knew that I was wet, though. My pussy was pulsing with arousal, and I was ready to give Brody what I’d stubbornly denied him the night before.
I wiggled, planting an invitation in my eyes and a take-me-big-boy smile on my face.