Free Bad Blood by Amity Cross Page B

amongst all of that turmoil was a sick fascination with the life of an assassin. After seeing my family so brutally murdered at the hands of Sykes and planning my own hit, no matter how hasty it seemed , I wanted to immerse myself. I wanted to learn every facet so I was prepared and then some and after… After I actually got what I wanted, what then? How was I meant to help X with his own revenge if I couldn’t fight hard or smart enough to stand by his side.
    I sat on the sofa, the only light in the cottage was from the fire I’d lit in the hearth. I watched the flames lick at the wood I’d artistically piled just so and wondered what it would be like to stand with X as his equal…as an assassin to be feared in my own right. How much of myself would I have to give up to get the thing I wanted most in the world?
    I already knew the answer to that question and contemplating other options wasn’t going to help me decide otherwise. I’d give up the last shred of everything that made me Mercy Reid to be his. To be X’s other half, to be his love, his life and his equal.
    It was an alarming thought.
    The sound of an engine humming up the driveway snapped me out of me reverie and I listened as it approached, the familiar rumble of X’s muscle car reaching my ears. A moment later, the engine fell silent and the door slammed. Footsteps crunched over gravel before a key slid into the lock and twisted in the mechanism. The door was thrust open hard and X strode in with a blast of cold air that made the flames in the fireplace flicker furiously.
    I stood as he slammed the door closed and his gaze met mine. He looked manic, totally out of his mind, and my heart jackhammered in my chest. I felt like I was having a motherfucking heart attack.
    I didn’t have to ask him if he’d completed the hit. It was written all over his face.
    I opened my mouth to speak, but he growled deep in his chest and strode across the room like a lion stalking his prey. He came straight for me, a hungry look in his green eyes and I was frozen to the spot. Mesmerized, captivated, enraptured .
    He pushed me back against the wall and my head cracked against the plaster with a dull thud. I gasped and he sealed his mouth over mine, plunging his tongue in and twining it with mine . He didn’t just kiss me, he devoured me, fisting his hands into my T-shirt and tearing it over my head, breaking our lips for a split second before latching on again.
    My body ignited against his, desperate for his touch, desperate for his cock to fill me. What had happened to him? Had he filled Vaughn’s request? Had he paid the price? The monster that was growing inside of me asked, how had he done it …?
    X hooked his hands around my thighs and lifted me up. I curled my legs around his waist, thrusting against his erection and moaning in annoyance at the fact that we were both still dressed from the waist down.
    He stumbled across the room, his mouth still on mine, teeth tearing at my bottom lip. There was a crash as he knocked over a lamp and he dumped me on the side table against the wall, shoving the bag of ammunition that sat atop it onto the floor. It hit the boards with a boom that echoed through the stillness, but we ignored it, intent on each other. He undid my jeans and jerked them off, ripping at my knickers once he had access to them.
    With a growl he fell to his knees and forced my legs apart. His tongue rasped the length of my folds once and he purred against my clit before stroking me again.
    Something had happened…something he wasn’t dealing with and he needed our connection to bring him back. Right now, X needed to fuck. Fucking me was tangible to him, much like the switchblade he’d been holding onto. This grounded him.
    He bit my clit hard, his teeth sinking into my sensitive skin and I cried out, arching my back. I fisted my hands into his unruly hair and forced his face into me and he bit harder. Sweet, fucking … hell . He plunged two fingers into