Read Online Hitman's Secret Baby: A Bad Boy Romance by McKenzie Lewis - Free Book Online Page B

“Jam your heel back into his calf and the top of his foot as hard as you can.”
    She did the motions slowly, the heel of her tennis shoe raking down the front of my leg. “Like that?”
    “Just like that.”
    I leaned against her, heavier. My hands spread around her body, my face pressed into her sweet-smelling hair. I held her to my chest, her small figure in my arms, fitting too perfectly.
    “What if he still doesn’t let me go?” she asked softly, turning her head at an angle so I could see her moonlit profile.
    My mouth found her ear. “Then, I’ll kill the fucker.”
    Her breath hitched and I felt it under my palms. “You shouldn’t say things like that.”
    “I know,” I said guiltily. “It scares you, I know that—”
    “No,” she interrupted, sounding strained and uncomfortable at what she was admitting. “It doesn’t scare me.”
    “I would.” I squeezed her tighter, and instead of a sexual impulse, I felt a protective one. A possessive one. If anyone ever tried to hurt her, I’d honestly kill them where they stood. I couldn’t bear the thought of it—it clutched at me like those memories of the diner. “They’d be sorry.”
    Taryn sighed. “How would you even know if anything happened to me?”
    I tipped my forehead to the top of her head and sighed. I had no answer for that, and it took the wind right out of my sails.
    She was right, I hadn’t been here for the past ten years, and in what realistic world could I ever be here in the future? My feelings of protectiveness didn’t change the fact that it was just words, meant to convey some kind of pipe dream.
    I’d had too many of those recently. Empty words and empty dreams. I wasn’t much fond of either.
    “If he doesn’t let go,” I went on, my voice lighter, “drop your weight as hard as possible to unbalance him.” She threw down her weight and broke my hold on her, spinning out of my grip to stand a few feet away. “This would be the part where you run away as fast as you can.”
    Taryn’s dark eyes watched me soulfully. “I never could run all that fast.”
    “That makes you vulnerable.”
    “Don’t I know it.”
    I kicked a pebble away, stuffing my hands in my pockets. “We should get outta here. Before some real thugs come along and make trouble.”
    Taryn sighed and we fell into step, some distance between us now.
    “I’ll walk you back to your car,” I told her.
    “No need. I can defend myself now,” she said dryly.
    I chuckled. “All the same, I think I’d rather be sure.”
    We strolled back to the diner, and I saw Taryn into her car, closing the door for her.
    She wound down the window, looking like she didn’t want to drive away from me, and I almost said something, made a pass, asked to go with her, something , but I stood silently. It was safer that I didn’t, the introspective way I was feeling. I might have said or done something to upset this fragile balance we’d created.
    I merely gave Taryn a parting smile and stepped back. “See you.”
    “Yeah,” she said softly.
    And then she was gone. And I was alone in front of that dark diner, those memories fainter but still ever-present, wishing I had spoken up, wishing for more damn time.

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Seven
Taryn
     
    Justin looked at me with sympathy.
    I didn’t appreciate it.
    “Look,” I tried to explain. “I’m fine. Really.” He didn’t look like he believed me. “I’m fine . So my ex came back from the dead, told me he was a killer and a hitman, and dropped the news that my best friend’s husband was on a hit list. Why wouldn’t I be fine?”
    Justin pursed his mouth. “Hmm.”
    I sighed; even I didn’t buy that. “Okay, it sucks, but seriously, I’m okay.”
    I watched Daisy run around the play area with the other kids. We’d come out for lunch to the place by the lake, taking an outdoor seat to enjoy the sunshine, but the barely touched remnants of my sandwich sat filling the plate in front of me and I