Page 13 of The Hitman’s Obsession

Lying. I’m lying my ass off. Roman terrifies me. But in the most wonderful way possible.

“I could have killed you, Annie. Now I’m going to save your life.”

Shaking my head, I reach for my phone. “I’m calling the cops.”

Roman steps in front of me and snatches it out of my hand. He slams it to the floor and stomps it under his heel, shattering it into pieces. My world feels suddenly smaller.

“They can track you with that. Now I’m not going to tell you again, get dressed.”

This is insane. The man sent to kill me is now the man protecting me.

I raise my eyes from the mound of plastic and metal scraps that was once my phone and glare back at him. I take it all in. His height, his size, the ferocity blazing in his eyes. And then it hits me.

I have no choice.

There’s no way I can get away from him. Not without an army of bodyguards and a bazooka. So without saying a word, I walk over to my closet and slide into a pair of jeans and my Tom Petty T-shirt. I slip on some flats and turn to him defiantly.

“'Kay. Ready.”

Roman grabs his duffel from the fire escape and takes me firmly by the hand. I feel like a child as he leads me out of the apartment, down the stairs, and out the front into the night.

There’s a black sedan parked a block down in the shadows of a tree. He walks me to the passenger side and buckles me in.

“Don’t move,” he says firmly.

I don’t. What’s the point? There’s no way I could outrun him. He’s twice my size. And if I scream? Well, chances are I’ll just end up getting some innocent person killed.

So I stay put while he gets in beside me, starts the car, and pulls off. I look out the window at my apartment and wonder, Will I ever see it again?

“I’m sorry,” Roman finally says. “I didn’t want it to be this way.”

I don’t even bother replying. What is there to say?

I’ve been kidnapped by the man I just lost my virginity to.

5

ROMAN

I am fucked. I am so hilariously fucked.

What the hell am I doing? I’m breaking every one of my rules as a professional. I hesitated, I questioned myself, and worst of all, I made contact with the target.

The target…

That’s what Annie was. Just another job. Another payday. All I had to do was put her in my sights and squeeze the trigger. But now as I look over at her, pouting beside me in the passenger seat, I no longer see her that way. And I haven’t seen her that way since I left my post and climbed through her window.

Now she’s got me all twisted up inside and hungry for more.

More of her. I want to devour her. Keep her. Hold her.

Christ, I haven’t even been with her for an hour and I’m already a changed man.

I’m throwing away everything I built. My entire career. I’m putting my own life in danger. And why?

Because she’s worth it. Beyond worth it. I’d risk my life for her a thousand times over. And I need her to know that.

But right now, she’s pissed. And she has every right to be. Not just because I smashed her phone but because she feels betrayed. Confused. Fine. I can handle that for the moment. What I can’t handle is her being afraid of me.