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Eventually, once taking on enough hit jobs, I found that the end result wasn’t always that fun. There was always a ‘now what’ feeling left over when I was done. Especially since meeting Emma, that gray area became more appealing. I understood some of the human cliché’s of ‘enjoy the journey’ or ‘it’s about the journey, not the destination.’ I still didn’t understand why most of the quotes had arrows attached to them, though. That was something I was going to have to ask her about.
“So basically, you rule things out, right? Say there’s a suspect in the case. You go to their home and ask them about an alibi.”
“That’s pretty cool,” I enthused, honestly intrigued by the matter. It seemed much more intriguing than cold-blooded killing.
“No, but wait, it gets better.” Her smile stretched all the way to her ears, and it filled me with so much joy. “But therealreason you’re there is to look around their home. You examine if there’s mud on their shoes because the victim was killed on a rainy night, or if there’s a knife missing from the knife block because that was the murder weapon and things like that! It’s just so amazing the guise that he uses when really he’sexamining everything.”
I was too stunned to speak. I could only stare at her while she kept explaining, example after example falling from her plump lips.
She trusted me enough to be vulnerable about the thing she loved the most.
Emma trusted me.
And there was more.
Maybe I did pick the right woman to help me after all. Even with the consequences of the danger, she’s living for it, just like I do.
I brought my attention back to the here and now. “I overheard one of Conii’s guards say she’s going off the station tomorrow. They didn’t say what for, but I know she’s departing early in the morning.”
She looked at me with a piercing stare. I knew that stare well. It was the fierce desire that some of my victims would give me before they tried to put up a fight.
That was one fight I would concede to before it even began. She wanted to take on the mission, she could do it, and I fully believed in her.
I was wrong to ask her to stop, to try to make her into something smaller than she was. She didn’t deserve that. She deserved a partner who would treat her as an equal.
But I’d still destroy anyone who laid a hand on her. That went without saying.
Decision made, I took a sleek card out from the drawer of the bedside table and handed it to her. “I’m certain that you and your Sherlock could figure it out, but I don’t want you in Conii’s office any longer than you need to be. This is a password cracker. I’ll be ready to receive the download if you can get it.”
My voice was lower than I expected, almost submissive, which was foreign to me. For her, though, I would have a moment of weakness. She could have anything she wanted, even if it went against my wishes. She deserved that. She deserved the whole galaxy.
“Let’s meet at Realta at the mid-afternoon chime,” I commented, reaching out to take her hand. “Does your schedule let you do that?”
“Realta?”
“The human bakery. Makar and his mate started it. It won’t be suspicious if we’re both there, and we’ll have them as a backup if anything goes sideways.”
She placed her palm in mine and shook it. I tried to hold her hand, but I pulled away quickly like I only meant the handshake.
She got up and dressed herself before turning around and glancing at me with her hands on her hips. “I won’t let you down.”
I adjusted my position in the bed, getting comfortable and taking in the view of her. It was something I never wanted to forget, the first few hours after the first time we made love.
“I know you won’t,” I responded before she walked out the door. “But as brave and clever as you are, you’re going to need a little something more.”
I grabbed the mini-blaster from the table. “Take this,” I said darkly as I handed it to her. She looked up at me with nothing other than confidence, and if she didn’t have to go, I would have taken her again right there from just that look. “Only use it if you need to.”
“Yes, sir.” She grinned and put it in her waistband before winking and walking out the door.
When it shut, I was alone. At least, that’s what it looked like.
But in truth, I never felt more connected to anyone in my life. I was the farthest thing from alone, something I never experienced before. I felt whole, filled with care and joy, something I knew only Emma would be able to give me for the rest of my life.
EMMA
My heart pounded as I pried the rusted ventilation cover off with trembling fingers. Getting back into the compound after my night was easier than expected.
I guess all that time meekly following orders meant that people didn’t look twice at me, just assumed I was on a legitimate errand.
