The Hitman’s Bride

________________________
Glamorous Bride’s

Cassi Hart

Published by: Cheeky Publishing LLC

First Edition
Copyright © 2023 Cassi Hart– All rights Reserved
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any
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 without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. The author
acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various
products referenced status and trademark owners of various products
referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission.
The publication / use of the trademarks is not authorized, associated with or
sponsored by the trademark owners. For any permission requests email
cassi@cassihartromance.com
***
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents
either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Any similarity to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is
entirely coincidental.
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Contents:

Free Book for You

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Epilogue
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 Chapter One
Anna
“What a shame.”
I’m not the kind of person to revel in one’s misfortune. As I watch my
younger cousin being led into the back of a police car, I feel nothing but sorry
for her. Really, I do. I know I stand to benefit most from her little mishap, but
that doesn’t mean I don’t hate this for her.
When our late grandfather’s lawyer contacted the two of us a few weeks ago
to inform us that one of us was eligible for his trust fund, I knew there would
be a catch. That sadistic little old man really pitted my cousin and I against
each other like this. Making us get married to get the money, but only leaving
it to whoever got it first? Classic grandpa.
Watching Amelia leave her own wedding in the back of a squad car would
have made him chortle, I’m sure of it. It’s a shame he’s no longer here to see
it. Instead, our entire family got to witness her launch herself at her complete
tool of a fiancé.
“Do you think they’ll lock her up?” my mom asks, the judgment in her eyes
clear as day.
“Mom!” I scold. I wish she weren’t like this. She probably thinks this is the
perfect opportunity for me to step into the limelight and get what my cousin
almost succeeded in beating me to.
My mother and her sister, Amelia’s mother, have always been competitive
from a young age. I mean, they were raised by the same man pitting my
cousins and me against each other, after all. That they’ve bought into this
ridiculous game of my late grandfather’s is no surprise, but I just wish they
didn’t have to use Amelia and I as game pieces.
“Don’t mom me,” she protests, but the smirk on her face tells me she’d ask it
again in a heartbeat. “I do feel sorry for your cousin. It’s an unfortunate
situation.”
“No, Mom, I don’t think you do,” I sigh.
She huffs and turns away to watch the squad car pull away from the lot with
my cousin, Amelia, huddled in the back seat, surrounded by the puffy white
skirt of her dress. She and I aren’t as close as I wish we could be. Our parents
are constantly fighting, it seems. Still, unlike my mother, I don’t like that this
happened to her.
I love my mother to bits. She has been my biggest cheerleader throughout my
life, but she’s also been eager for me to try inheriting the money. It doesn’t
feel like it’s been done out of love; I’m pretty sure she just wants to spite her
sister. Now, it seems like it might happen after all. Amelia getting arrested
gives me an advantage.
I just don’t have anyone in my life like that I could try pursuing.
Unlike my cousin, I’m not even sure where to start. Despite my mother’s best
efforts to find a man to marry me, I haven’t had much luck. Most of the men
around my age group in Port View are guys I went to high school with, which
automatically disqualifies them in my eyes. I don’t want to get stuck here by
marrying any of them; that’s the last thing I want.
If I somehow manage to secure this trust fund, I’m going to use it to get out
of this town, once and for all. This money is the surest way out of Port View,
so I don’t want to further cement my ties in this town.
I’ve never left Port View. I attended my middle school, high school, and
community college in this little town. My parents both grew up here. So did
all of my grandparents. Mom and dad work together, running the restaurant
my grandfather left them when he retired. I’m pretty sure they want to
eventually leave it to me and my husband someday, but that’s not what I
want. It’s never been what I want for myself, not that anyone’s bothered to
ask me.
“I need to get out of here,” I whisper to myself. I’ve let the desire stew within
myself for a long time, but it seems I’ve finally lucked into the chance.
“What was that, honey?”
I turn to face my mother and swallow hard.
I open my lips to say what I’ve kept from her, but nothing comes out. For
ages, I’ve wanted to share this with her, to tell her how suffocated I feel in
this little town. I’ve even daydreamed of just up and leaving but something’s
always stopped me.
My roots are here. I have family and friends here and the kids I teach at the
Port View middle school all depend on me. Besides, I don’t think the pennies
I have in my savings account would get me far.
“I said I’m ready to go home,” I murmur instead, turning around to leave
when she grabs my arm before I can go.
“Wait.” She straightens up, as if she’s about to drop some bomb on me, as if
the events of today weren’t enough. “You now have another chance to secure
yourself a husband and get the money your grandfather left.”
“I know that, but—”
“No buts,” she snaps. Where is this fierceness coming from? “You have
wasted enough time as it is. I know you’re not crazy about the men around
here, so I went ahead and found a solution for you.”
A cold chill runs down my back and I lick at my lips nervously. “W-what do
you mean?”
“I signed you up for a mail bride order website, isn’t that exciting?”
“A mail—a mail order—”
Words are failing me. Surely, I didn’t hear her right.
“A friend of friend’s daughter met her husband that way and they are having
their baby in a few weeks,” she says primly. “I know you would never have
signed up, even if given the chance, so I went ahead and just did it on your
behalf.”
“Mom, you can’t do that.”
“His name is Michael and he’s looking for a wife. I did a little digging and
get this! He’s set to inherit his father’s workshop.”
My mouth runs dry as I try to wrap my head around what my mother is
saying. The fact that she went ahead and did this without telling me shouldn’t
surprise me, but it does. A part of me wants to resist, fight her on this but I
know from experience that I’d lose. Perhaps if I appealed to her maternal side
…
“Mom, I don’t think—”
“He’s ready to meet up with you tomorrow at seven P.M. Don’t mess this up,
okay?”
I open my lips to fight her, but nothing comes out. It’s useless, I know it is.
Whatever my mother says goes and now that she’s got her heart set on this,
there’s no way I will be able to get her to change her mind.
“Okay,” I finally say, even as I fight back the tears beginning to pool at the
corners of my eyes.
“Excellent, I knew you’d see reason, darling. You should wear that green
dress I got you. You need to put your best foot forward.”
I nod, already wishing I was brave enough to just get into my car and drive
out of town, then keep driving until I found someplace new. Another part of
me wishes Amelia’s marriage had gone through today. If it had happened,
then maybe I wouldn’t have to deal with my mother making my decisions for
me like she always has.
I can’t help but wonder if the money I stand to gain is really worth anything
if gaining it doesn’t really guarantee me a way out of this suffocating town.
 Chapter Two
Easton
I’m getting too old for this shit.
In my youth, I was over-eager, ambitious, and very passionate about my new
career. Back then, the thought of doing something as menial as following a
mark around the city left my heart thumping in my chest and blood rushing
through my veins in excitement. The hunt was the best part of the job and I
reveled in it, but that was ten years ago.
Anymore, the excitement is gone. All that’s left of that rookie from a decade
ago is the shell of a man who sold his soul to the craft with no means of
getting it back. Most days I feel no better than a machine. It’s a wonder I
haven’t retired yet, but every time I think about pulling the plug, I’m left
wondering what I’d do with my time if I did go through with it. This is all I
am good at.
I became a hired hitman the moment I left the Marines. My broker “scouted”
me out, for lack of a better word, and showed me the ropes. It was nothing I
hadn’t already learned from my five years of serving, so the career change
proved to be a smoother transition than I had expected. Over time, I became
one of the most sought-after hitmen on this side of the country.
So, what exactly am I doing in a dusty little town like this, sitting in a diner
with a chipped mug of coffee growing cold before me?
I’m not being facetious. This town doesn’t even appear anywhere on half of
the maps I used to find it. In a way, I suppose that makes it the perfect place
for some nobody like Michael Harris to hide.
In all sense of the word, Michael Harris is a fucking nobody. My services are
bought by kingpins and drug lords, so if a scrub bag like this guy is on my
radar, he must have really fucked up. He managed to piss off all the wrong
people and now, they want him dead. Frankly, from my table across the
diner, I can see why.
“I said Diet Coke, are you daft?” the mark screams. The poor waitress can’t
be a day over fifteen.
“No. I-I’m so s-sorry,” she stammers.
I watch her fighting back tears, and something in my dead heart stirs weakly.
I’ve got half a mind to step in and shoot the man right between the eyes right
now, but I don’t want to traumatize the poor kid being forced to serve him.
I’d be shocked about caring if this situation wasn’t so clearly heinous.
“Good, now go get me my fucking Diet Coke and tell Chuck I am not paying
for this one.”
The girl scrambles away and I watch the mark glare after her, wondering
when the hell he’ll leave this little diner. After that scene, I’m more eager
than ever to finish this job.
Suddenly, the mark sits upright, dropping the sneer on his face and replacing
it with a smile. If I hadn’t been tailing this guy for two days, it might have
been a convincing show of geniality. After two days, I know this guy isn’t
worth the air he breathes, let alone the money I’m being paid to take him out.
That means something, coming from me.
I pull my cap over my face and let my eyes follow his to the door. That’s
when I see her.
Her large brown eyes flicker over the diner, scanning the occupants as she
looks for whomever she’s meeting. For a moment, something flutters in my
chest. I want it to be me, but I also don’t want to sully her existence with my
presence.
The woman walking into the diner right now is everything opposite of what I
am. She’s all soft lines and gentle curves, from her smile to the way her green
dress comes in at her waist. Her eyes narrow behind her clear-rimmed glasses
as she scans the diner before they settle on the mark. Shit.
I feel my cock trying to stir in my pants as I watch her walk in his direction.
She has to walk right by me, and I can’t help the way my eyes linger on her
legs in those stockings. I want to tear them off of her, see if she’s as soft and
sweet underneath them as she looks.
“Michael?” she speaks once she’s at the mark’s table, her voice soft, barely
above a whisper.
“Fat Anna!” the mark explodes.
Right. He’s still alive. Why haven’t I fulfilled my contract yet?
He continues to run his mouth. “You don’t remember me? I’m Mike Harris,
we went to high school together. I mean, I know I have changed, but look at
you!”
The mark blabbers on, missing the way the angel, Anna, standing before him
stiffens at his every word. If I’m not worthy to be in her presence, then his
very existence in her space is an abomination. A crime against everything
good in the world.
“Mike,” she whispers. She sounds devastated. For a moment, Anna turns her
head to look at the exit but before she can even think about making an
escape, he grabs her wrist and pulls her down to the seat across from his. I
suppress a growl, alarms in my head blaring at the sight of him handling her
without the care she deserves. I’m seconds away from standing and
confronting him, blowing my cover, when my eyes suddenly meet hers.
For a moment, Anna’s brows furrow when our gazes meet, but as quickly as
it happened, the moment is gone. Her attention is stolen away by the mark.
“So, I see you lost some weight. You were so chubby back then, remember?”
he chuckles.
“Um, yeah,” she says quietly.
“I heard you were looking to get married, something about your grandpa
leaving you a huge amount of money. Well, lucky for you, I am looking for a
wife, but you don’t need to worry about getting your trust fund. I have more
than enough to share with you.”
I bristle. He’s absolutely lying. He owes very powerful people a lot of money
and has no means of paying them. He doesn’t know it’s too late, and that he’s
worth more to my client as an example of what happens when you don’t
make good on your debt to them.
When he mentions the marriage, Anna, the angel, seems to flinch.
“I-I don’t think—”
“I heard you’re a math teacher now, and at the same middle school you went
to,” he chuckles, a sneer in his voice when he speaks. Does this asshole ever
shut up? “You won’t need that little job when I marry you, Anna. I can’t have
my woman working when I can provide everything she needs.”
“I love my job,” she says softly, pushing her glasses up her face nervously.
“Well, it’s a shit job, don’t you think? You don’t have to pretend you like it
around me. Who the hell likes teaching some snot-eating brats? I’d go nuts if
I had to spend a day with kids like that.”
“It’s not that bad—”
“I bet you loved school. I remember you used to sit in class for long hours,
even during recess, and read. No wonder you got so fat.”
Anna looks at her lap, which lets her silky blond hair curtain around her face.
I want to know what it feels like between my fingers, wrapped around them
as I—
“I guess it’s a good thing you lost some of that weight.” Does this jackass
even hear himself? The woman sitting before him is nothing but perfect, and
I’m sure she’s always been perfect. “I’ve always wondered why you aren’t as
hot as your mom, though. I always had a crush on her, you know. Maybe we
could dye your hair black so you look—”
Alright, I’m done. I think this whole diner’s heard enough.
I slam my fists down the table as I rise from my seat, drawing everyone’s
attention to me. Sloppy work on my part, but judging from the looks on
everyone else’s faces, I’m about to do them all a favor. Even Anna looks
relieved. I can’t help the way my skin floods with heat at her merest glance in
my direction.
Hitmen are supposed to stay inconspicuous. They need to be ghosts to be able
to do their job well. I should probably care, but nothing matters right now but
getting this fuckwit to shut up and getting him out of Anna’s space. She
deserves to be treasured, and he’s nothing but muck. Dust on the side of the
road.
I’m going to blow him away and get her the hell out of here.
 Chapter Three
Anna
What are the chances that my high school bully would be my blind date?
What a nightmare. My heart dropped to my feet when he introduced himself,
the memories of being tortured by his loonies just five short years ago are
still fresh in my mind. A person doesn’t easily forget treatment like that. The
thought of spending another second with him makes me want to throw up the
protein shake my mother shoved down my throat this morning.
Isn’t it pathetic?
Even at twenty-three, I still live with my parents but not for lack of trying to
get out. Mom, bless her heart, is convinced that without her, I would not
survive the world. Even if she’s right, I can’t learn with her breathing down
my neck. I know she just wants me taken care of, but I want a chance to take
care of myself.
“—I’ve always wondered why you aren’t as hot as your mom, though. I
always had a crush on her, you know. Maybe we could dye your hair black so
you look—”
I startle when a huge bang fills the room. When I lift my head and look at the
source, I see a massive frame filling the space over our table. It’s the green-
eyed stranger that was seated behind Mike.
I’d noticed him the moment I walked in. He’s unfamiliar to me. We don’t get
a lot of strange faces in Port View, so every time I see someone stopping by
on their way through, I’m always curious about where they came from and
where they’re going.
Part of me had wondered what it would be like to have him sitting across
from me instead of Michael Harris. The thought of the large, handsome
stranger meeting me for dinner instead of my former bully had my heart
fluttering in my chest. I couldn’t help glancing at him as Michael ran his
mouth. It was all I could do to get a word in with this guy, but at least I had
someone nice to look at over his shoulder.
And now we’re here. The handsome stranger is my knight in shining armor.
“Let’s go,” he says gruffly, before extending his hand for me to take. The
way he’s utterly ignoring the man seated across from me makes me feel
warm.
“G-go?” I breathe.
“Yeah. You don’t need to spend another minute in this jackass’s presence.”
His voice is deep, rough even, but comforting. His green eyes glint brilliantly
in the fluorescent diner light as he stares down at me evenly. Maybe it should
feel threatening, but I feel anything but. This man is saving me from a
nightmare come to life.
I swallow down my nerves and take his hand, my breath catching in my
throat at the way it warmly envelops mine. I stand and start to leave the
booth, but not before Michael kicks up a fuss.
“Hey!” he shouts, grabbing my wrist and stopping me from finally exiting the
booth. Fear shoots up my spine. I turn to find Michael’s face red with rage as
he squares up to face my large, handsome stranger. “What the hell do you
think you are doing?”
“Hands off, dickbag,” my stranger says darkly.
“We were in the middle of a nice date until you came in and ruined it—”
Suddenly, Michael is sprawled back in his booth seat, blood dripping steadily
from his nose as he curses. My knight scowls and shakes his hand once, but
there’s not a scratch on him. He moved so fast in spite of his size … It makes
me wonder what else he might be capable of.
“What the hell’s your problem!” Michael screams, his eyes and nose already
beginning to swell with bruises.
“We’re going,” the stranger whispers to me as his fingers lace around mine.
He leads me out of the diner quickly, so quickly that I almost don’t feel the
eyes of the other patrons following us as we step outside.
Things like this don’t happen in quiet towns like Port View, so I’m sure
everyone will be buzzing about it shortly. Luckily, I don’t think many people
like Michael Harris, so I think I’ll at least escape unscathed. I wouldn’t be
surprised if a few people end up saying they just wish it’d been them that had
finally punched him. And hopefully my mom will realize the error of her
ways when she finds out who exactly her Mail Order Bride date was.
Suddenly, my knight stops outside of a large SUV and turns to me, his
massive frame looming above me a comfort.
“Are you alright?” he whispers. He lifts a hand, as if to comfort me, and then
lets it drop. “You seem shaken up.”
For a moment, I can’t speak. I’m too lost in the safe feeling his presence
instills in me.
“Anna?”
I hum a response, still dazed. Wait—
“How do you know my name?” I ask.
The handsome stranger, my knight in shining armor, smiles. “That asshole
wasn’t exactly quiet,” he says. Goodness, that’s what he looks like when he
smiles? Why would anyone even think about a guy like Michael when men
like this exist?
“Stay with me, sweetheart, are you okay?” he asks again. “Do you need me to
drive you home?”
Home. The word is sobering now. Home is the last place I want to be right
now, because it’ll just remind me more of this place. I feel so trapped here
already, now more than ever. How do I tell this stranger that, regardless of his
comforting presence?
It’s as if he reads my mind when he says, “Somewhere else then?”
“How–”
“It’s written all over your face,” he says, raising a dark brow as he smirks
fondly down at me. “I can take you wherever you want, sweetheart. Even
back to where I’m staying if nowhere around here will do it for you.”
I’m not an idiot. I know it’s foolish to get in a stranger’s car and just trust
them without question. But not every stranger you meet in a day turns out to
be your childhood bully. This man just got me out of a soul-suckingly shitty
situation, so he can’t be that bad.
And hey, if I die because he’s secretly a serial killer, then at least I can die
knowing I did something for myself, instead of crawling back home to my
parents and a bed so familiar it makes me want to cry.
“What’s your name?” I ask. It’s not an answer to his question, but I want to
know it regardless.
The stranger is silent for a moment. He looks at me with those bright eyes of
his, as if calculating something. What, I can’t be sure. “Easton,” he finally
says.
“Where are you staying, Easton?”
“A rented cabin. Not too far away, but far enough. Maybe an hour away.”
Yeah, I should probably be rethinking my choices. I take a deep breath and
let it out slowly. I’ve already made up my mind about this. I’m not much of a
risk taker, but when my mind is made up, few things will get me to change it.
I’d rather take my chances with Easton than be around here for a minute
longer.
“Okay. Easton, get me out of here,” I declare.
He seems almost surprised. “Are you sure? I am a complete stranger.”
“Anyone who punches Michael Harris can’t be that bad a guy,” I shrug. A
little breeze coming at us over the parking lot makes me shiver, and I look
back up at Easton. “Unless there’s a reason I should be rethinking this?”
Easton squeezes my hand and lets his eyes rove over my face. For a split
second, they drift down, but snap back up almost instantly. If I hadn’t been
looking specifically at him, I might have missed it.
“No. You’re safe with me,” he says, his voice low, rasping as he fishes for his
keys in his pocket.
“Then take me away, Easton.”
 Chapter Four
Easton
I’ve known this slip of a woman for minutes and she has my heart and soul. I
don’t think she even knows it.
I can hardly focus on the dark road stretched out ahead of us with her sitting
in the passenger seat next to me. The scent of her perfume is filling the car,
intoxicating enough for me to think about pulling the damn thing over her so
I can finally have a taste.
No. I can be patient. I’ve gone this long, living this empty life without her. I
can last a bit longer, if only to get us safely back to the cabin I’m renting. The
ache of my cock in my pants can wait until I make sure she’s safe and
comfortable with a man like me being around.
But fuck, I can’t deny that I want to claim her, to make her mine. More than
I’ve ever wanted anything else.
“So do you—um—rent cabins a lot?” Anna asks, breaking through the
panicked need humming through my thoughts. Her tone is shockingly
nonchalant, as if she knows the situation we’re in is a little strange but
doesn’t feel a need to tiptoe around it. It’s charming. She’s charming.
I’m utterly under her spell.
I want to show her that she can keep me there, under her spell, for the rest of
eternity. Want to show her what this level of devotion looks like from me,
what it feels like to have me sink into her, devotion clear as day on my face
as I fuck her as if she owns me. To have her call the shots as I—
“Do what?” I ask, clearing my throat. I glance over at her, and immediately
wish I hadn’t because all I want to do is take the sight in. Paying attention to
the road after seeing the way her soft thighs cross, lifting her skirt up to show
just a little more of them, seems like a crime.
“You know, like just rent cabins, escape to the woods like this …”
I chuckle at her words, the sound unfamiliar even to my own ears. I “escape”
to the woods all the time, but if I take someone with me, they don’t tend to
leave the woods. Now that I have her coming with me instead, I’m not sure if
I can go back to the old way.
“Not like this, no. Not for myself like this.”
“Oh? What do you mean?” she asks. I can feel her gaze on me, warm and
curious.
“It’s not every day I get to spring a pretty girl from the clutches of a total
twat.”
“Oh stop,” she protests. When I glance over at her, she’s blushing furiously
as she pushes her glasses up her nose. How did I end up with such an
adorable angel in my car?
“No,” I say. “Getting you out of that diner and out of that man’s presence is
the best thing I’ve ever done.” Honestly, with my line of work, that may not
be a total lie.
“Thank you,” Anna says quietly. She shifts in her seat, and out of the corner
of my eye, I can see the little green skirt of her dress drift up even higher.
Fuck. “I appreciate all this.”
“Of course,” I say, my hands tightening around the steering wheel as my cock
throbs against the zipper of my pants. The way she affects me can’t be
understated. Has it truly been that long since I was last intimate with a
woman? Or … is it just her?
I’m not sure how the fuck I’m going to make it to the cabin, but, like a
beacon shining from shore to signify land to a tired sailor, the turn off to the
cabin materializes in my view. I slow and signal to take it, navigating my
SUV carefully onto the gravel road.
“So, math teacher?” I ask, as I ease the car up the road.
“It was always something I was good at in school. I wanted to share that skill,
help students learn better,” she explains. “I can’t believe you heard that, too.”
I can’t help smiling. “I was too worried about your situation to pay attention
to anything else, if I’m being honest. He was—”
“A rude asshole running his mouth and disrupting the peace,” she grimaces.
“Being rude to you, sweetheart,” I say. Our eyes meet when I glance over at
her, and she’s blushing prettily again, the pink of her cheeks drifting all the
way down to the tops of her breasts. It looks gorgeous next to the pale green
fabric of her dress.
“Oh,” she breathes, folding her hands on her lap. She nervously plays with
her fingers as the cabin materializes from the darkness ahead. I reach over
and place my hand over her much smaller ones, skin tingling at how cold
they feel.
“Do people look down on you like that often?”
“N-no.”
“Are you sure?” I ask as I pull up in front of the little cabin. I shut the engine
off as I wait for her answer. I wonder idly if she’d let me carry her into the
cabin, like a knight carrying a princess from a tower. It’s a shame I’m not a
knight. She deserves one after what she’s been through this evening.
“It’s hard to say,” Anna finally sighs. “I’m not as confident as other people,
so I just try to keep my head down. I don’t want attention, especially not like
that. Sometimes people just … make decisions for me.”
I turn to her and study her face. “Is that why you took me up on this offer?”
She nods. “I wanted to make a decision for myself, for me,” she says as she
meets my gaze. Her deep brown eyes are dark, even with the light of the
dashboard lighting her face up.
I can’t stop myself. I lean forward, over the center console, my hand reaching
forward to cup her face. For a moment, her eyes widen in shock, but then
they drift down to my mouth. Her lips part, and I take the plunge.
When our lips meet, everything goes quiet, calm. There’s nothing but us and
the night around us. When I pull away, her eyes flutter open and she looks at
me with impressive hunger. Looks like my angel wants to keep making
decisions for herself.
I reach up and carefully take off her glasses, folding them carefully and
pressing them into her palm so I can get an unobstructed view of her
beautiful face. Anna gasps as I brush my fingers through hair, pulling her
closer to me for another kiss. This time, she opens to me, hungrily inviting
me in so that I can devour her in turn.
“Easton,” she gasps, pushing into my touch. I let my kisses drift down so that
I can nip at her pulse point. She keens against my hands, her legs and arms
twitching with the need to do something.
“What is it sweetheart?” I ask. My voice is so low, raspy with want, that I
barely recognize it as mine.
“I want you,” she gasps as my thumb traces over her throat. I can feel her
pulse pounding beneath my fingertips. For the first time in ages, I have my
hand at someone’s neck and I don’t want to feel the heartbeat stutter to an
end beneath it.
“Is this you making a decision for you, again?”
“Yes, please, Easton. I want you so bad.”
She doesn’t need to say any more. I drop a hand to push my seat all the way
back and pull her into my lap. Her legs part as she straddles me, the heat of
her center pressing against my throbbing cock beneath. Is she bold enough to
take what she wants from me? To let me serve her in the ways I want to?
She whimpers, rubbing her pussy down against my cock, slowly and shyly at
first before her movements grow bolder. It’s as if she’s only just beginning to
discover what feels good. I let my hands drift down, snaking up underneath
her dress to cup her ass, helping her rut against me.
“That’s it, sweetheart,” I groan before licking into her lips once more. I knead
her ass roughly, wishing her tights weren’t in the way of my skin feeling
hers. “Take what you need.”
She whimpers into my mouth, grinding even harder against my cock. My
vision starts to blur, the pleasure is so intense. I spread my thighs in the small
space as best I can and lean back, giving her a better angle as she writhes in
my lap. Her broken cries fill the inside of the car.
“Easton, I think I’m—” she pants, her hands pressing into my shoulders
desperately.
“You gonna come, baby?” I ask, my cock throbbing with need. I’m so close
too. I’m about to come in my pants like a fucking teenager, but I wouldn’t
have it any other way. As long as she’s in my arms? I’ll never complain
about a moment like this. “Gonna cream yourself all over my lap?”
“Yes, y-yes, I’m—”
Anna’s body pulls tight in my arms as her mouth falls open with a moan. Her
hips rock against me, the heat searing me, even through the layers of fabric
separating us. My name is on her lips as she rides the high. Hearing it panted
into my neck like that has my own hips twitching up into hers, and suddenly,
I’m grinding up into her as I hold her in my arms. One thrust, then another,
and suddenly, I’m coming to, my cock pulsing as it empties itself into the
confines of my underwear.
As our heads clear, Anna huddles against my chest, her hands clutching
almost desperately at my shirt. The thought comes unbidden:
Mine.
I press a kiss to her forehead. Whether she’ll ever know it or not, this woman
is mine. I can’t let anyone else have her, not after this. No one else could ever
treat her the way she deserves.
“Are you alright, Anna?” Some part of me is terrified to hear her answer.
What if I’ve hurt her somehow? What if this body of mine, of little use to
most unless it involves killing someone for another’s benefit, hurt her like it
hurts others.
“Yeah,” she sighs into my neck. She kisses my skin before straightening up
and looking at me shyly. “I’ve never done something like that before.”
My heart about stops, right then and there.
“What?” I ask, letting my hand come up to caress her cheek as gently as I
can. She leans into the touch.
“I’ve never done that before—with anyone.”
I’m floored. This woman, this angel sitting in my lap … is she a …
“Sweetheart, are you a virgin?”
 Chapter Five
Anna
This isn’t the reaction I expected, if I’m being honest.
Easton looks shocked, as if he didn’t just help me have an orgasm like it was
nothing. I thought telling him yes would just confirm a suspicion he had.
Could he not tell how inexperienced I was from kissing me? I would have
thought it was obvious.
But when I said yes, his eyes glazed over, as if he’d made a terrible mistake.
“Easton?” I ask. “Is something wrong? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to kill the
mood.”
He snaps back to attention and leans forward to kiss my forehead. “No,
nothing’s wrong. I’m just surprised, is all.”
Oh.
“And,” he continues, “I’m humbled that you shared this part of yourself with
me.”
“So, you’re not like, disappointed? Or mad?”
He shakes his head before meeting my eyes with his own green gaze. “I could
never be mad at you, least of all for something like that. You’re perfect,
sweetheart.”
His praise overwhelms me, and I can’t help falling forward to kiss him again.
I’m eager to feel his hands on me again, eager to let him make me feel good.
I’ve never met a person who makes me feel the way he does, and I’m not
ready to let him go.
If I’m being honest, I don’t ever want to let him go. In the span of a few
hours, he’s shown me more courtesy than any man ever has in my entire life.
He treats me like I’m my own person, which is more than I can say for my
own family. This man is special, and I don’t think I ever want to be parted
from him.
The path we make into the cabin is a blur. I don’t think my feet touch the
floorboards once as Easton carries me inside with his strong arms. Truly, it
feels like I’m the princess to his knight. He carries me with immense care,
even as he’s ravaging my mouth with hungry kisses.
Suddenly, he drops me on a mattress. He looms over me in the darkness of
the little bedroom, his gaze warm and maybe just a little dangerous. It takes
my breath away. It makes me ache for him all over again, as if he didn’t just
give me my first orgasm in the car.
I feel wanted. He makes me feel wanted, like I’m his for the taking, so long
as I want him in return. The thought makes my entire body throb with need.
Easton sinks to his knees before me, his hands skating up my thighs as he
slips between my legs. His body is so big compared to mine, but he’s always
so gentle with me.
“Sweetheart, can I take these off?” he asks, the rasp of his voice making
goosebumps erupt all over my body.
“Yes,” I say breathlessly.
He starts trying to tug my tights down, but they’re called tights for a reason.
With a huff, he glances between me and my legs. Something in him clicks.
He breathes in, and suddenly the air is filled with a ripping sound as I watch
him start ripping my flimsy tights down the center.
“Holy—”
“These things have been in my way all evening,” Easton growls as he pulls
the tights down my legs. “Keeping me from seeing you, touching you.”
He throws them over his shoulder before dipping down to kiss my ankle. He
nips and kisses his way up my leg, making me squirm under his caresses. It
feels so good but it’s not what I want, what I need. It’s not enough. I want
him inside me, not teasing me.
“Easton,” I protest weakly. “Please.”
He smiles up at me devilishly as he settles between my legs once more, his
fingers brushing my panties. Can he feel how wet I’ve become for him?
“Baby, please,” he groans, before placing a kiss on my closed center. “Let me
make you feel good.”
“You already made me feel good,” I whine.
“And I want to do it again. Don’t you?” he teases.
He looks so intense between my legs like this, almost primal with his need. If
this is what he wants, I decide, then he is more than welcome to have me like
this.
“Fine, please,” I reply. “Make me feel good again, Easton.”
All of a sudden, he’s slipping my panties down my legs and putting his lips to
my pussy. The feeling is unreal. Easton buries his mouth in my folds, licking
and sucking at me as his hands press into the flesh of my thighs. He hikes
them over his shoulders and presses forward, deepening the angle they’re
splayed at, baring me to him as he presses his tongue inside me hungrily.
“Let me hear you, tell me how good I’m making you feel,” he growls.
I can’t keep myself from moaning. My hands thread into his hair, holding on
for dear life as new sensations tingle and flutter within me. Sensations he
gave me, sensations I don’t think anyone else could ever give me.
Easton pulls his tongue from my pussy to press it against the top of my folds,
rubbing it against my clit. I scream his name, my thighs clenching around his
head as an orgasm suddenly slams through me, prolonged by him sucking
greedily at my clit more until I can’t take anymore and have to pull his head
up to face me.
He smiles at me devilishly, the lower half of his face covered in my juices. I
feel like I’ve marked him as mine in some way. Mine. I’ve never wanted a
person to be mine before now, but the thought of Easton becoming someone
else’s sets me on edge.
Before I can give my thoughts time to become more ordered, Easton is
crawling up the bed and kissing me. He tastes sweet, like he really is mine.
Like what we have can’t ever be duplicated. He presses me into the bed, and
suddenly, his clothed cock is rutting into my sensitive center. A whine
escapes my throat.
“Greedy for more already, hm?” he smirks.
“Please,” I beg. “I need you.”
Easton carefully helps me out of my dress, and then I watch him carefully
shuck his own clothing. First his shirt comes off, revealing an expanse of
muscle I didn’t think was possible on real people. Next go his pants,
revealing his impressive thighs and the enormous cock I’d felt earlier in the
car.
It’s even bigger than I thought it’d be. Maybe that should scare me, but
instead it just makes me want him more. My big, handsome man is going to
be nothing but careful with me, I’m sure of it.
I take his hand and pull him over me, letting him kiss me hungrily as he lines
himself up with my pussy.
“This may hurt a bit,” he whispers in my ear.
“Don’t care. I want it, I want you,” I reply, tugging on his lip with my teeth.
I’ve never been sure of anything like I’m sure of him.
When he finally presses forward, the stretch makes me gasp. It feels so much
better than I could have ever hoped for, the tingle trickling down from my
spine to my toes as he pushes his cock inside. It takes my breath away.
Soon, he starts thrusting, his hips beating against mine as he grunts praise
into my neck. “So tight, so good for me. My little angel, all mine.”
“Yours,” I cry out, the pleasure overwhelming me. “Only yours!”
“Fuck,” he swears as he moves his cock in and out of my sopping wetness.
“How do you feel so good around me? I can’t last long like this. Gonna fill
this tight hole up.”
Suddenly, I’m coming again, tightening around his cock as he growls at the
sensation. His words pushed me over the edge, and I can’t help taking him
with me. After three more thrusts, he’s spilling inside me, filling me to the
brim, making good on his promise.
As he lets himself gently wrap around me, pulling me even closer, I can’t
think about anything else besides the way he makes me feel. From the talk in
the car to the moments shared in his bed, he makes me feel wanted in a way
I’ve never felt before.
 Chapter Six
Easton
If someone had told me a few days ago that I would be lying on the couch, in
a cabin in the middle of nowhere, watching the sunlight break through the
trees with the woman I have fallen for, I would have laughed at them.
Me, a killer for hire, having a luxury like that come to me? Right, sure. I bet
pigs have started flying too.
But right now, the morning after I brought Anna out here with me, that’s
exactly what I am doing.
My eyes look from the window to the woman curled up at my side.
Something tugs at my chest at the sight of her dressed wearing one of my
spare t-shirts as she sips at a steaming mug of instant coffee.
“I thought you wanted to see the sunrise,” she teases me once she notices me
staring. She pushes her glasses up her nose with a smile. “Isn’t that why you
dragged me out of bed at five in the morning?”
“I thought you wanted to see it,” I murmur back as my fingers comb through
her hair. “I’m an early riser, but I would have let you sleep if you really
wanted to.”
“I couldn’t sleep after you left the bed,” she confesses, pressing even more
closely to my side.
We sit in silence for a few minutes, listening to the birds coming awake and
beginning to chirp as the light grows brighter and brighter in the cabin. It’s so
peaceful, more peaceful than a man like me has any right to experience. It’s
because of Anna that I get to experience it, and it’s because of Anna that I’m
left wondering if I still have to make good on my contract.
“Your date yesterday,” I start, unsure how to broach the question on how she
ended up in that diner with the mark yesterday.
“It wasn’t a date,” she says quickly, turning her head so that she’s looking at
me. “Well—I mean—It was, but it wasn’t something I really wanted. It was a
blind date my mom set me up on.”
“Your mom set you up with that asshole?” I ask incredulously.
“Somehow, yes,” she sighs. “I’m sure if she’d known which Michael he was,
she wouldn’t have pushed me to go. It’s a long story.”
“I want to hear it,” I say. I want to know everything I can about this woman.
She’s changed me, I can feel it in my bones.
Anna explains her story. She mentions her grandfather and a trust fund, and
something about the conditions set for inheriting it. She has to get married in
order to see a penny of this fortune. Her cousin was set to get married two
days ago, but apparently it all fell apart at the altar. It sounds like Port View
is short on men who aren’t total scum bags.
I hum as I listen to Anna, wondering how Michael Harris fits into the story.
“Michael was this blind date my mom set up. Apparently, he was looking for
a wife on a mail order bride site and my mom saw an opportunity,” Anna
shrugs. “Not a great one, obviously.”
“No, not at all,” I agree, still combing my fingers through her silky blond
hair.
“So, that’s all to say I stand to gain the money if I can get married before
Amelia does. That’s why I got sent on that date.”
It all clicks into place for me. “You were going to marry that prick to get that
money?”
“I would never in a million years date Michael Harris if he was the last man
breathing. My mom knows that. I’m sure it was just some sort of
misunderstanding.”
Her tone has a chill trickling down my spine. There’s more pain there than
there was before. “Did he hurt you?”
“W-what?”
“Has Michael Harris ever hurt you?” I know she’d mentioned when we first
got out of the diner that anyone who punches that asshole is a friend of hers,
but something’s telling me there’s more history there.
Anna studies me, her eyes skimming over my face. She bites her lip. “Not
like you’re thinking. He was just a mean bully in high school, that all … All
bark, no bite really.”
The underhanded insults that he’d given her last night come swimming back
to me, and I feel the thirst for his blood rekindling in my breast. This prick
will wish for a quicker death when I finally lay my hands on him.
“Hey, are you okay?” Anna’s hand is on my face. She sets her coffee down
and straddles me. The t-shirt of mine she’s wearing rides up her thighs. When
my hands settle at her hips, I discover that she’s not wearing any underwear.
“Easton, did what I say about him get to you?”
“I just don’t like hearing that he was cruel to you,” I grit out, torn between
the rage at myself that I haven’t fulfilled my contract and the burning hot
want for her filling my veins. I want to fuck her so hard that she forgets every
single cruel thing anyone has ever said to her.
“It’s long in the past. I mean it when I say he’s all bark and no bite,” she says
before leaving a kiss on my lips. “And after you punched him yesterday,
maybe he won’t have any bark left.”
Her smile as she talks is almost brighter than the sun trickling in through the
windows of the cabin. It warms me through, making me want her all the
more.
“I’d punch a thousand more for you,” I say as I draw her close, wrapping my
arms around her and tucking my face into her neck. “I’d do any number of
terrible things for you, sweetheart.”
It’s all I know how to do, I think to myself. Using violence to solve other
people’s problems is all I know. If I can do it for you, then maybe it’ll make
me feel less empty.
“Hey, stop that,” Anna whispers as she strokes the back of my neck. “I don’t
want you to do terrible things for me.”
My breath catches in my throat as she continues.
“I just want you,” she says. “You don’t have to do anything to impress me.
You’re enough as you are.”
Her words are so firm, even though she’s saying them so gently.
For the first time in a very long time, I wonder if my line of work is worth
doing any longer. I’ve been in the business of blood for my entire adult life.
It’s all I know. As I sit there on the couch with Anna in my arms, I wonder if
I couldn’t start a new life with her. We could get away. I could take her away
from Port View, away from all the Michael Harrises in her life, and start
something new with her.
I’ve never had another person care about me like this.
“I love you,” I murmur softly into the skin at her neck, my embrace around
her tightening as I let the realization wash over me.
I didn’t mean for her to hear me, but Anna must have heard me regardless.
She stiffens immediately in my hold before pulling back to look at me. Her
big brown eyes are wide as she looks at me through those adorable glasses of
hers.
“I-I …” She looks confused as she stammers, trying to gather her thoughts.
“D-do you really mean that?” she asks.
Fuck. What have I done? I’ve blown it, I’ve completely ruined the best thing
that’s ever happened to me.
“Yeah,” I sigh. I can’t lie to her about this. It’d be worse than lying to myself
about it. “Yeah, I do. I love you, Anna.”
For a moment, Anna looks at me with wide eyes, processing my words. And
then suddenly, her face splits into the brightest smile I have ever seen.
“I love you too, Easton.”
 Chapter Seven
Anna
My heart flutters as I think about what happened earlier. This was never in
the cards for me, so my head is spinning. I was never supposed to actually
find and fall in love with someone who sees me and accepts me for who I am,
let alone have it happen all within twenty-four hours of meeting.
“Hey, where are you going?” Easton calls out when he hears me open the
door to the cabin.
“I need to grab my phone from my bag. I think I dropped it when we were—
erm—”
“Making out in the car?” I can hear the laughter in his voice from here.
“Yeah, that,” I reply.
The door clatters behind me as I walk out onto the cabin’s little porch and
carefully step down the stairs. The early morning air feels nice on my legs as
I walk out to his car. When I get to the passenger seat, I find my phone and
my purse easily, but see that somehow, in the fervor of last night’s events, the
glove box has fallen open.
Shoving it closed the first time doesn’t work; it’s too full of papers and
random stuff to actually latch shut. I let it fall open so that I can straighten
everything again, but something catches my eye. I pull a packet of paper out
of the glove box. Michael Harris’s name is printed on the front of it, and it’s
several pages thick. Before I have a chance to page through this strange
packet, I look down to see that my phone is ringing. My mom is calling me.
I answer the call.
“You better have a good excuse for not picking up my calls!” my mom scolds
immediately.
I bite my lip and glance at the cabin. “I’m sorry, mom, it’s been kind of a
weird night—”
“I’ve heard! It’s all over town! Everyone’s talking about how some thug
punched Michael Harris in the face and then took you away! First, that
useless cousin of yours gets jilted and then arrested and then you shame our
family further by leaving the diner with a complete stranger? A fucking
stranger, Anna! No call or anything!”
She spits out stranger as though it’s the most disgusting word she could utter.
I get that we live in a dinky little town and that strangers are rare, but
Easton’s not some random guy. And he’s certainly not a thug.
“Mom, he’s not some thug—”
“I raised you better than this!”
“I’m sorry,” I say. I have to get her to let up somehow “I get it, I should have
called. Yesterday was a lot, okay? I mean, my date was Michael Harris, did
you realize that?”
“Of course I knew it was Michael Harris. He’s an idiot but he knows a good
deal when he sees it. We are not having any more of this discussion over the
phone, Anna. Disappearing like this on us, I can’t believe you. Get home this
instant!”
I open my mouth to defend myself and argue that I am not a kid anymore, but
the line is dead. She’s already hung up. I stare at the phone for several
seconds, shocked at how my mother just spoke to me. Tears prickle at the
corners of my eyes.
For the first time in my life, I feel happy. I feel loved. I know my mother
means well and that she and my dad are just worried about me, but this is too
much. I can’t let them rule my life any longer. I step up into Easton’s car and
slam the door behind me, letting my built-up sob of frustration break against
the dashboard. I take my glasses off and just let myself cry.
After several seconds, I feel like the worst of it has passed. I hiccup to myself
as I finally look at the things clutched tightly in my hands. In one hand, my
phone, nearly dead, with dozens of missed calls from various numbers, and in
the other, the packet I found in Easton’s glove box.
I put my glasses back on and start to page through it, in hopes that it’ll get me
to calm down, but what I find is anything but calming.
It’s a profile of Michael, detailing his schedule, is movements, even the
amounts of money he’s spent on different things. It looks like he’s gotten
himself in massive amounts of debt with some scary people. The very last
page of the packet makes my blood run cold.
It’s an offer. Money for proof that Michael is dead.
“Anna?”
I nearly jump out of my skin. Easton’s walking out to the car, looking at me
with furrowed brows. I glance down at the information in my hands, and back
up at the big, handsome man making his way towards me.
“Is everything alright?” he asks.
Is it?
He walks up to the passenger side door and opens it, all concern and
placation. As soon as he sees what I’m holding in his lap, his face falls.
“Anna,” he says quietly. “I can explain.”
“What is this, Easton?” I ask, looking up at him. “Is this what I think it is?”
He takes a deep breath, his massive chest expanding against his t-shirt before
he lets the breath out slowly. “It’s a contract.”
“A contract for what?”
We stand locked in silence. He can’t even get himself to meet my eyes. His
face is dark with shame. It seems he wasn’t lying when he said he’d do
terrible things for me. At the moment, it’d made me feel safe, but now I’m
beginning to wonder if I should feel safe at all.
For some reason, I still do.
“What I do—” Easton closes his eyes and takes another breath before
meeting my gaze. “What I do isn’t pretty, Anna. I take orders from bad men,
making the men that anger them pay.”
I bite my lip as I mull this new information over.
“Harris owes a lot of powerful men a lot of money, and one of them wants
me to take him out,” he explains.
“That’s why you were in Port View,” I say. “That’s why …”
“That’s why I was in the diner last night. Yes.”
It makes sense now. Why would a man like Easton ever be in Port View
otherwise? He’s so big, so exciting, so dangerous underneath his rough
exterior.
“I’m not a good man, sweetheart.” Easton looks heartbroken now, as if he’s
admitting something deep and dark and close to his heart. “But I would never
hurt you, or any other innocent person. I never have, and never will.”
He looks so upset as he stares at the contract in my hands. I want to wrap him
in my arms all over again, to tell him everything is all right and soothe him
just like he soothed me last night. Before I can say anything, however,
Easton’s speaking once more.
“Are you scared of me now?”
Am I? It’s a legitimate question, one that should probably be harder to
answer, but isn’t at all.
“No,” I finally say. “I’m not scared of you, Easton.”
This is the man I’ve come to love so quickly, after all. This little more than a
bump in the road.
 Chapter Eight
Easton
I’m nothing but nerves as I pace outside the bedroom, waiting for Anna to
finish up her call. As soon as she’d told me she wasn’t afraid of me, her
phone had started buzzing.
Apparently, the cousin whose wedding had gone up in flames was calling
her, and she didn’t want to miss the call. So now she’s in the cabin’s
bedroom, her phone plugged into my phone charger, chatting up her jilted
cousin.
I’d thought about listening in, but after the bomb I dropped on her with my
career choice, I don’t want her to feel like her privacy is being invaded.
Pacing my nerves away it is.
Abruptly, the bedroom door opens, and Anna steps out, and I freeze mid-step.
Her brows furrow.
“Have you been pacing out here the entire time?” she asks.
I bite my lip and nod. To my surprise, she smiles.
“Easton, why are you so nervous? I wasn’t going to blow your cover or
anything.”
Oh? “It’s not that. I was just worried that you’d … I don’t know. Have your
cousin come get you or something.”
She shakes her head. “I wouldn’t do that. I told you I’m not scared of you and
I meant it.”
My heart softens some upon hearing it again, but I can’t help the lingering
doubt. A woman like Anna could do so much better than me, and I’m
terrified she’ll figure it out sooner or later, leaving me alone once more.
“What was the phone call about?” I ask to change the subject.
“Get this,” Anna says with wide eyes. “My cousin has pulled out of the battle
for the trust fund. She says I’m free to have it, and that she’s not going to be
getting married any time soon.”
She starts to explain more but trails off shortly, gazing steadily at me.
I wish I was better at paying attention to her words right now, I know she can
tell I’m only partially paying attention to her.
“Are you still going to kill Michael Harris?” Anna suddenly asks.
That’s a good question. Honestly, I’m not sure if I have it in me anymore.
After meeting her, doing something like taking a life seems like a waste when
I could be spending time with her instead. It’s bad enough that I’ve touched
her with my hands, hands that have been dirtied by the blood of bad men.
Touching them after killing Michael Harris, tempting as the thought once
was, feels like a crime against nature itself.
“I’m not sure,” I reply.
“I don’t think you should.”
“Many people want him dead, Anna,” I say. “If I don’t, someone else will.”
Anna bites her lip, and then looks up at me, adjusting her glasses. Good lord,
she’s so cute. “Then if someone else kills him, he dies. I can’t say I blame
anyone for wanting him dead … I admit I’ve wished it more than once or
twice. But Easton, I don’t think it should be you that does it.”
Something in me sighs in relief.
She could ask me to do anything, and I’d do it. Her asking me to have mercy,
to let someone else take on the contract, makes me love her more than I could
ever say.
“Okay,” I say simply. “I’ll call my broker. Tell him I’m done.”
“Wait, what do you mean done?”
“I’m done killing.” Just saying it lifts an enormous weight off my shoulders.
“Before I met you, I was nothing but a husk of a man. Now that I’ve met you,
I feel alive again.”
Suddenly, she’s throwing herself into my arms. I lace my hands around her
thighs and lift her up so I can kiss her.
“Do you really mean it?” she squeals, ecstatic at my confession.
“That you make me feel alive?” I joke. “Of course I do, sweetheart … But
yes. Starting today, I’m living a new life. One free of the violence that
hardened me.”
“Then let’s get married,” she says as she peppers my face with kisses. “Let’s
get married, let’s get that trust fund, and let’s get the hell out of Port View.
Get the hell away from our old lives so that we can start new ones together.”
“I can’t think of anything I’d love more.”
“Maybe me?” she teases.
“That’s fair. I love you so much, sweetheart.”
“And I love you, my knight in shining armor.”
 Epilogue
Easton
Six years later.
I think I’ve finally gotten Samson, our little toddler, to fall asleep.
It’s nine P.M., well past his bedtime, but he’s been struggling with regular
sleep recently. Anna’s been tired because of her pregnancy, so I took on the
task of making sure our little man could get the time he needs to be rocked to
sleep. His little fist is wrapped around my finger, in the same way he’s got
my heart and soul wrapped around his own.
I carefully shift him from my chest and into his crib before turning on his
night light and slipping quietly out of the nursery.
This home is one of the first things we bought for ourselves after receiving
the trust fund from Anna’s grandfather’s lawyer. Well, actually the first thing
was an extended honeymoon, but this had to have been the second or third
thing we got. It’s a beautiful little home, nestled in the woods outside of a
small town a ways away from Port View. Close enough to be familiar, but far
enough away to still feel new. I’ll always prefer it out here to living in the
city. I feel more myself out here spending time with my growing family.
I tiptoe down the hallway and into Anna and I’s bedroom. She’s stretched out
on our bed, looking bored. Gone is the tired woman who shuffled off to bed
an hour ago. She looks up when she sees me, her eyes alight with something
mischievous.
“There you are,” she whines. “I thought you’d be in there forever.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Everything alright?”
“No,” she pouts. “My big strong husband was off being a father when I
needed him to fuck me.”
Wow.
I know that pregnancy hormones can be unpredictable, but honestly, I’d
never complain. I love how Anna gets bossy and needy with me while she’s
growing my child inside her. I didn’t know happiness before I knew her, and
nothing is ever going to change that.
“Oh?” I say, approaching the bed like a wolf stalks their prey.
“I wish he wasn’t so difficult about sleeping at bedtime,” she breathes. As I
near her, her breath begins to pick up. I can almost feel her pulse racing
already, and I’m not even inside her yet.
“Me too, but he’s learning,” I say. “He takes after his mom. She’s such a
good learner, you know?”
“Stop flattering me,” she pleads. “Please, baby, I want you so badly.”
She needn’t say more. I’m on her in a millisecond. We’re tearing each other’s
clothes off in a frenzy, never tiring of the way our skin feels against each
other.
“You’re hard, already?” she pants, her eyes drifting down to my cock.
“Yeah, sweetheart,” I growl as I turn onto my back, settling her above me.
“This is what you do to me, even now, after six years of marriage.”
She throws her head back with a moan as I pull her down to my mouth,
licking at her slick folds. Her hips start to rut into my face. I feel her trying to
stroke me, which means I need to work harder to get her to give in to her
pleasure. It’s not particularly hard. One sharp suck at her clit has her hands
weaving into my hair as she rides my face.
After we got married, we talked a lot about what we wanted for our future,
and our fears too. One of hers was that we’d grow tired of each other, and
that any children we’d bring into the world would grow up with parents who
were always nagging and bickering. Every time we make love, I get the
chance to assuage those fears. We have not once ever grown tired of each
other.
When my wife comes on my lips, it’s heaven.
Anna pants and moans with her climax, but grins wickedly down at me once
her high has receded. She scoots back down my body and settles over my
cock, letting her wetness drag over my hard length to make me twitch and
squirm beneath her. The swell of her pregnant belly is only softly defined,
she’s only a few months along, but already she glows with the gift of
motherhood all over again. She’s been the best mom I could ever want for
our son, and I’m so excited to see what’s in store for our latest bundle of joy.
When she sinks onto my cock, all thoughts are blown away. I can’t think of
anything but the way she fits me tightly within her, bouncing up and down as
she makes me groan her name. My fingers sink into the flesh of her hips,
helping her move as she cries out at the full feeling of being split open by my
erection.
“I love you so much, baby,” she whines, her fingers gripping at my chest as
she leans forward for a more intense angle.
“I love you too, sweetheart,” I groan.
Minutes pass. How many, I’m never sure. Every moment spent inside her
feels like too much and not enough. All I know is that suddenly, Anna’s
coming again, this time around my cock, and the way she tightens around me
has me spilling inside her.
As she lays against my chest afterwards, tracing her fingers in random shapes
over the place where my heart beats, I think of how far we’ve come in the last
few years. She got a teaching job in the new town shortly after we moved
into the area, and now she runs the whole math department for the middle
school. I found a job at the community center, teaching self-defense classes
for women. They were so successful that I now have my own space that I rent
to give classes to different age groups and demographics.
Neither of us have had a single regret about the choices we made; her leaving
Port View, or me leaving my life as a hitman. Our future continues to look
bright because we made those choices together.

~The End
 Up Next…

Melissa
My dad hasn’t been the same since my mom left us several years ago. He’s
obsessed with gaining political power, going so far as to promise my hand in
marriage to one of his important campaign donors. My groom is a scumbag,
but I can’t get my dad to see my side at all. He won’t even let me apply to
college so I can follow my dreams. It makes sense that I’m taking the chance
to escape when I have it, even though it’s the day of my wedding. Now I’m
out of gas in the middle of nowhere, and the closest thing is an isolated ranch.
Surely whoever lives here can help a damsel in distress, right?
Roland
All I want to do is live my out my life in solitude. I’ve seen and done some
terrible things, so living alone with my dogs and my livestock is all I want to.
These damn kids keep trying to break into my property, however, so I’m
constantly trying to keep them from getting in. Well … usually. The latest
intruder isn’t some high school delinquent, but a pretty young woman in a
wedding dress. My dogs love her already, and I think I might be starting to
fall too. How the hell did this runaway bride find herself all the way out
here?
 Other Books by Cassi
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Seeing Double Twin Sister Series:
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Standalone:
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Happily Ever After Mountain:

The Loner’s Prize
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Courting Curves:
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Sweetheart Campus:
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Boxsets:
Sweet Obsessions Boxset: Suddenly His Series Collection
His Obsession: A Stalker Collection
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Big Alpha’s:
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The Kingpin’s Obsession

Alice
I saw something I shouldn’t have, and my life is in danger.

The police won’t listen, and I have no choice but to seek help at Benedetti’s,
a bar known for its criminal clientele. But I’m barely inside the door before a
dark eyed devil drags me back out and demands to know why I’m there. I
shouldn’t trust him, but I don’t have a choice when he’s the only one willing
to help me.
Too late, I learn who he really is, and now I’m left to wonder… when
this is all over, will he save my life only to break my heart?
 About the Author
Cassi lives to write brazen OTT, insta-love, short stories, about possessive
alphas and the women they love. Stories that will leave you satisfied, and
maybe blushing a little. Cassi loves pedicures, being pampered in any way
possible, her darling golden Princess, amazing coffee, and traveling to
anywhere warm.