Just Bob (Assassins Inc. #1)(14)

“I thought our contracts came through the council.”

“Yours might,” Stone said. “I take the contracts Sinclair gives me and don’t ask questions where they came from.”

Unfortunately, up until now, so had I. I was also starting to suspect I should have asked questions, or at least did a little bit more investigating before taking someone out. It didn’t sit well with me that I hadn’t. I was usually smarter than that.

“I trust Sinclair,” Stone said. “You can, too.”

“Maybe, but can Sinclair trust the people he gets the contracts from?”

Stone didn’t say anything.

Bob did. “Can I have my cat now?”

Stone chuckled as he stroked his hand down Mustachio’s back one last time before setting the cat down on the floor. Bob squatted down next to me and called for the cat, picking him up just as soon as he was in reach. He hugged the cat close, burying his face in Mustachio’s fur.

The sigh that left Bob made me wish I was a house cat.

And that was just weird.





Chapter Five


Bob



I didn’t like this guy who had appeared in my house—I was incredibly curious how he had gotten in—and it had nothing to do with him lounging on my bed.

Well, maybe it did a little.

That was my bed. He had no right to be on it, let alone look so comfortable. I wanted to yank one of those pillows out from behind him and smother him with it. The guy was just a little too smug for my liking.

He needed to go.

Now.

“Shade.”

“I know, Bob.”

I doubted it.

“I’m going to go clean up the kitchen.”

And I was taking my cat with me.

I didn’t realize until I stood in the entry to the kitchen just how much of a mess there was. Maybe I shouldn’t have thrown that plate of food at Shade.

I thought about it for a minute and then shook my head. Yeah, I had made the right decision about throwing the food. At the time, I had no idea Shade wouldn’t eat me. I literally had been fighting for my life, or so I thought. I had been frightened.

I wouldn’t turn down that blow job, though.

Man, what a mess.

I set Mustachio on the floor and scooted her toward the living room. I didn’t want her getting food all over her paws. I’d never get the egg out of the carpet. I picked up the frying pan and set it in the sink. For just a moment—or four—I thought about taking it into the bedroom and smacking Stone with it.

I really didn’t like that guy.

I grabbed the trash can and pulled it over to the middle of the kitchen floor and then squatted down to start picking up the food that had splattered all over the place.

Just as I reached for some egg, the window above the sink shattered. I wasn’t stupid. I dropped to the floor and crawled over to press myself back against the cabinet.

“Shade!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. I didn’t care who heard me. Someone had shot out my kitchen window.

Someone was freaking shooting at me!

Things like this did not happen to junior accountants who wore glasses and owned cats and used their library cards. They just didn’t. We got ignored at company parties and ditched on dates. We got whispered about by the popular people.

We did not get shot at.

Ever.

I glanced up when I heard pounding feet. Shade slid into my view just as another window shattered, this one over the dining room table. Something slammed into Shade, tossing him back into the living room. The floor shook when he landed.

“Shade!” I pushed away from the cabinet and crawled across the linoleum floor just as fast as my hands and knees would carry me.

“No!” Shade shouted as he held one hand against the growing red splotch on his shoulder and held the other one up to stop me. “Stay back, Bob.”

I scrambled back to the cabinet, but kept my eyes on Shade. My throat felt as if it was going to close up as I watched him lift his hand and stare down at the wound in his shoulder. The man grimaced and then looked away as if it was nothing.

It wasn’t nothing.

“Someone is shooting at us, Shade.”

“I know, Bob. Just stay down. Stone has gone to find whoever it is.”

“Why would Stone do that?” I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why. “I thought he wanted me dead.”

“Mate trumps contract, Bob.”

Mate?

I lifted my eyebrows. “Huh?”

“You’re my mate, Bob, the mate of a panther shifter. In my world, that means something.”

“It means Stone isn’t going to kill me?”

I wanted specifics.

“Yes, Bob. It means Stone is not going to kill you.”

Well, thank the good lord for that.

“So, what does mate mean?”

A dark look came over Shade’s face, one that made me really glad the man wasn’t mad at me. “It means I will kill anyone who harms a hair on your head.”

I was good with that.

I swallowed the hard lump in my throat as I glanced at the bleeding wound on Shade’s shoulder. “How bad is it?”

Shade lifted his hand and looked again. “It’s not too bad, Bob. I heal quickly.”

He shouldn’t have been shot in the first place. If he hadn’t been here with me, it never would have happened. I rubbed my hands over my face when tears welled up in my eyes.