2020, July 20th
(Location Undisclosed)
AIDEN
I got out of bed on shaky legs, zipped my pants up and followed her out of the bedroom, picking my shirt up off the floor on the way out. I came up behind her, drinking her in slowly from different angles.
She was the perfect blend of beauty and brawn. Long, endless, smooth, model legs. Solid thighs I imagined men would happily die between. Curvaceous hips that seamlessly drew attention to her tight, round ass. Then there was her torso, all of it but for her breasts pure, unabashed hardened muscle. It made me want to slam her down or up against hard surfaces just to feel her push back. And boy did she ever.
Her perky breasts were just criminal. The beautiful mounds attached to her chest dared you to look away if you could.
Once I reached her, I dragged a finger across the lovebites on her graceful neck. Her full lips parted as I pulled my shirt over her shoulders. If all of that wasn't unfair enough, she had the face of an absolute goddess.
She slipped her arms into the sleeves and watched me do the buttons up. I pulled her dark curls out from under the collar and laid them to rest on her shoulders. Once more frozen in time, our eyes locked. My ocean blues got lost in his dark eyes. She was in a similar state.
No words passed between us as I led her out onto the balcony of our hotel suite and wrapped my arms around her from behind. She had come along, albeit reluctantly, her face set in stubborn defiance. That I didn't mind. The worry that lingered was what concerned me. Yes, fucking concern. There were no two ways about it. I liked her.
"Yes," I ventured, answering another of her questions.
"Yes?"
"Yes Keira, I would know if it wasn't you."
"How?"
"Your eyes. All it would take would be a good look into them. Hers aren't nearly as beautiful as yours."
I was in flirt mode. It always managed to lift her spirits.
"I've made men cry, faint, scream in terror, just from looking into my eyes. You used to look at me with caution too. Not anymore. Now you look at me like…" she trailed off with a frustrated huff.
"Like what?" I bit back a chuckle.
How was I supposed to be afraid of her when she looked so cute pouting?
"Like I'm something you want," she retorted, making my smile fall as the seriousness of the situation set in. I was falling for an assassin and I liked it. "You do understand what genetically identical means, yes?"
I tried to turn her around, but she wouldn't let me. So I slipped away and went to stand before her. My hand went to her face and I trailed a finger down the side of it.
"I want to stay with you, Kate or no Kate."
I knew these were forbidden words. Every day I got with her was something of a surprise to me. It was never supposed to come to this. She was a one night stand. Someone to help me forget about the Moore women. Then it became a fling. Only flings don't feel so right to wake up to, to want to get to know.
"Damn it, Condron! I picked you because you were all kinds of fucked up. Don't go building white picket fences around me. This thing is—" she mouthed off, still half-heartedly seeking to intimidate me.
"Good! Incredible!" I said, shutting her feeble attempt down. "When it started, I never knew I would be this stupid happy to stand in front of the woman who traded shots with me in that base. I was all kinds of fucked up. We both were, but it's better with me, isn't it? You're better with me, Keira. I want to be every version of me when I'm with you. I'm better with you too."
She stormed off, went back into the bedroom in a huff and started packing.
"You don't know me! You don't know the things I've done. You don't know—" she started hurling words at me.
Like us being acquaintances who happened to fuck could change my mind. Some connections defied reason. I wanted more.
"Then tell me," I said, covering her hands with mine to halt the packing.
She shoved me away, started hurtling punches in my direction. Was she missing on purpose?
"I watched you drop men like they were flies, remember? Pretty sure I'm aware you can kick my ass," I said, just barely keeping up with ducking and dodging her hits.
Theron, John and I were lucky to make it out of that base alive. Before we arrived, she single-handedly killed Theron's entire security detail. Woman on a mission. She had her orders. She was hell bent on killing Little Ethan so that Theron would be next in line to take Stormhold's throne instead of his nephew. The kid wasn't even a year old.
Expert precision. I could hear the bullets whizzing past my ears while she laughed about having fun trading gun shots with me. Did she miss on purpose? I hadn't. My near perfect marksmanship didn't serve me that day. I only just barely kept her busy long enough for someone else to knock her out.
I saw my chance and made a grab for her, pinning her face first against the nearest wall.
"What else Keira? What do you want me to know? Tell me everything. Tell me who you are."
"You're right. You've seen me kill. You watched me execute a dying man. I'm a killer, Aiden. That's who I am," she said, the energy leaving her body as she went limp in my arms.
Dean's death was a whole different story. Suddenly we were on the same side, courtesy of Theron's deal with The House of Assassins. Thank fucking God, because she took no prisoners. I tried to stop her from treating Stormhold's then king, Theron's brother, like just another casualty. She wasn't having it. Later, I learned she'd been gunning for Dean from the outset. Right before she pulled the trigger I understood why.
For Ethan. For Neil. For Stormhold. For Imperium. For a better tomorrow.
She said, staring the fucked up son of bitch straight in the eye to say the words. She pulled the trigger a second later without hesitation.
In that moment, I saw past the cutthroat assassin. She was a woman avenging her first love and brother. A soldier fighting to overthrow the madman that was King Dean. By any means necessary.
I turned her around to face me. Was she afraid of what Kate would do to me or what she might do?
I took the chain with my mother's engagement ring on it off my neck and put it around hers. She looked up at me, then down at the ring. When her dark eyes darted back up to mine, the fearful look had intensified.
"Don't freak out. It's not like I'm ever using that thing to propose again. My parents not actually being married in the first place should have been the first clue that the thing was not getting me hitched. Keep it for me. This way when I see it around your neck I'll always know it's you. I don't think I need it, but what the hell."