Nix. (Den of Mercenaries Book 3)(44)

Her expression sobered as she regarded him. “Be careful. Despite what you may think, it is possible for you to get distracted.”

He wouldn’t deny her words, not when there was truth to her words. Even he had noticed the way a glance in Luna’s direction could turn his thoughts from work to her.

But even distracted, his skills were far superior to anyone he would face this night.

“I hear you,” he said in return, and this time meant it.

Heading back upstairs, he found Luna where he’d left her, this time facing the opposite direction as though she had sought him out in her sleep.

There was one last little detail they needed to take care of before they left.

Going over to the nearby dresser, he opened the top drawer, rooting around the bottom of it for the spare knife he kept hidden inside.

Once he had it clutched in his hand, he walked over to the bed, drawing the blanket and sheets away from Luna’s legs, spotting the tracking device that was still attached to her ankle.

Slipping the blade beneath it, he gave a quick jerk of his hand to slice it through.

“I was wondering when that was coming off,” Luna said in a sleepy voice.

His gaze drawing up her body until he met her eyes, Kit held it up for her to see. “Well now it’s gone.”

Luna sat up further, stretching her arms above her head before reaching for the cup in his hand. He was glad for the difference time could make.

“I’ll be ready shortly,” she said with a sly smile and a glance over her shoulder as she crossed for his bathroom.

Naked.

They were going to be late.



Kit made her feel alive.

It took effort keeping the smile off her face now, and that was mild compared to how she felt when he was with her. His moves were always deliberate. It took weeks of careful studying to notice that he didn’t fidget.

At all.

Fang had a habit of drumming his fingers on any nearby surface, Aidra tapped the back of her tablet, and Invictus had a habit of turning a silver coin over between his fingers.

But Kit … he was always so still, so when he did move, she noticed.

It felt intoxicating being in his presence, as though he had found a way to infect her thoughts and feelings and her very being. He was a comfort without even trying.

Despite his warning about being late—though he hadn’t cared about that considering he had taken his sweet time—they made it to the private airfield before takeoff—the same field she was sure she had landed in when Uilleam had brought her to him.

This time, once she was in the air and the seatbelt light flicked off, she didn’t remain in her seat, but rather went to have a proper look around.

This was her first time, voluntarily, on a plane—especially one that looked like this. Like Uilleam’s, there was a private bedroom, and this one felt far more intimate with dim lights lit up beneath the frame of the bed.

Luna could almost imagine Kit inviting her back here with that smile of his, tempting her with promises she knew he could keep.

Deciding it was best to close the door back and head to the front before her thoughts could take her away, she found Kit as he were, studying the file on his iPad. With his gaze firmly fixed on the screen, she hadn’t thought he noticed her until she was about to walk back to her seat before he spoke.

“Please. Sit with me.”

Taking the one next to him, she peeked over at his screen to see what he was reading. “Is that the file?”

Once she was officially a part of the Den and given an assignment, Kit had explained, a file would be sent along—one that was complete with everything she could have possibly needed to know about the person she was sent after. Names of close contacts, dates, travel itineraries, and information on any properties they may have owned—not to mention everything that was public, and private, about their business.

“Always find your own information,” Kit had told her during one of their earlier training sessions, “clients often hide vital details that could mean the difference between completing a mission and f*cking it up.”

She had often wondered what his file would look like should he ever become a job of someone’s. Sometimes, the information could span back decades. The thought of that reminded her that despite them being intimate, she actually knew very little about him.

“How long have you done this?”

Kit’s gaze flickered from the screen to her. “What, exactly?”

She thought of saying kill people, but that felt too elementary compared to who he seemed to be. Sure, that was the extent of what she had seen him do, but she could tell there was far more to him than that.

“You said you were an assassin, right?”

“Former. And if you’re asking how long I did that, it was for little more than a decade.”

Even as that wowed her, she wasn’t very surprised. He had a skill with weapons that was still baffling to behold.

After she had gotten the hang of knives with T?cut, she had thought to show him how much she had improved—at the time, she hadn’t wanted to think that she was trying to impress him.

But what she had done was nothing compared to what he could do. He’d asked if she trusted him—she said yes—then asked her to stand against the wall where the target was.

It didn’t take her long to realize what he wanted, not when he picked up one of the blades, her gasp making him smile as he touched the sharpened metal to his forehead, an indicator for where she was meant to look.