Maid for the Hitman: A Steamy Standalone Instalove Romance Flora Ferrari (summer beach reads TXT) 📖

some wriggle room there. As happy as a man can keep a woman. And we all know how difficult it is for them.”

Rosie throws me a look of apology, but I find myself grinning, enjoying the bantering back and forth.

“I’m going to make your daughter happy, ma’am,” I say. “And we are going to give you grandchildren. I may be old-fashioned, but I’ve chosen your daughter, and nothing will ever change that.”

She smiles, clasping her hands to her chest.

“That’s wonderful,” she says. “Just wonderful. What a lovely thing to say.”

“Are you done with the interrogation now?” Rosie giggles, lifting up Chopper and cradling the little terror to her cheek. “I want everybody to get along.”

“We are, we are,” Jackie says hastily. “A mother has to check.”

“She’s right,” I tell Rosie. “I’m relieved you have somebody who cares about you so much. Loyalty means a damn lot. Excuse my language.”

“What—damn?” Jackie cackles. “I don’t embarrass as easily as that, Ryland. But I agree. Family means a fucking lot.”

“Mom,” Rosie cries, giggling. “Please don’t say stuff like that.”

“What do you think, my dear Prince Harold?”

I smirk at him in the rearview.

“You’re a prince now?” I say.

He shrugs, sheepish. “I am whatever my lady requires.”

I chuckle, shaking my head. “Try not to work him too hard, ma’am. I don’t think he’s a match for you.”

“I’m going to die,” Rosie sighs. “Chopper and I aren’t listening anymore. This is so embarrassing.”

Everybody laughs and I lean back, focusing on the calm flow of traffic, the smooth road sliding beneath the car.

If it wasn’t for the men lurking far down the roar, a little black speck in the rearview, I could pretend that this is a nice family outing.

I wouldn’t have to think about blood, and death, and fighting, and all that’s required to keep my family safe.

“Are you okay?” Rosie asks me quietly, as Jackie and Harold banter in the back.

“Yeah,” I say, letting out a heavy sigh. “I just want this to last.”

“It will,” she says firmly. “It has to.”

I nod, taking some of her fierceness and letting it burn inside of me.

She’s being strong for our family.

I have to do the same.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Rosie

I stand at the window, peeling back the curtain to peer out at the forest. The trees have been cleared in the area immediately surrounding the cabin, but beyond that, the trees are thick, devouring what little is left of the light.

Mom and Harold are asleep downstairs, in the bunker, ready to be sealed in at the slightest hint of danger.

I refused to stay down there with Ryland.

“I want to be with you,” I told him fiercely when he tried to banish me.

He pushed me up against the wall with his brawny body, his chest crushing into me. My body trembled and pulsed when he gripped my hips, squeezing possessively.

“I need to keep you safe,” he snarled. “Without you, I’m lost.”

“I can run down at the first sign of danger,” I told him, my hands on his massive shoulders, hoping he could feel some of my need through my touch.

He agreed, but I could tell from the tensing of his jaw and the pulsing of his temples, he wasn’t happy about it.

Chopper is curled up on the end of the bed, his head resting on his leash, snoring softly.

I glance from the bed back at the forest, sighing.

They could be out there already, waiting for it to get dark.

Was this a mistake?

I join Chopper on the bed, dropping down and letting him shimmy into my lap.

“What do you think, boy?” I murmur, running my hand through his fur as I look at the door to the bathroom.

It’s ajar and I hear the shower going, my body tingling with a thousand lust-fueled suggestions when I think about my man in there, the water cascading over his hard, rippled skin.

He steps out of the shower a few minutes later, wearing jet-black cargo pants and a black hoodie. He’s got a gun at his hip and a rifle slung over his shoulder.

When I held the rifle, it felt huge, but it almost looks like a toy flung over his shoulder.

He carries the rifle to the window and lays it on the table, turning to me with his eyes narrowed, his jaw going tight when his gaze flits over me.

“You’re damn distracting, Rosie,” he growls. “That was part of the reason I wanted you to stay downstairs. Those tits drive me wild.”

“You’re thinking about that now?” I say.

He smirks, laying his hand on his gun.

“You make it hard to think of anything else,” he tells me.

I bite my lip, turning away from him. I know he likes it when I capture my lip in desire like that… I can hear the growl in his voice, the way his breathing changes.

“Why did you shower?” I ask. “You had one before you left, too.”

He had one after we made love in the morning.

I was on top this time, my nails clawing down his chest, bouncing as confidence burned through me. His eyes gazing up at my bouncing body like it was the most captivating sight he’d ever seen.

Like he needed me.

Why should I find it hard to admit I’m beautiful now, at least to him?

“Mercenary work can be bloody,” he says, his voice steady, his eyes silver-blue and gazing firmly. “It makes you dirty, Rosie, and not just physically. I like to feel clean before that.”

“I thought you said that wouldn’t happen,” I gasp, laying Chopper aside as I stand up.

I walk over to him, staring up into the firmness of his jawline. His silver hair glints in the lowlight, like icy water.

“You said the FBI would arrive before you had to fight.”

“They will,” he growls. “But I’d be a fool not to stay vigilant.”

I grab his shoulders and pull him aside, away from the window.

“How is standing at the window staying vigilant?” I ask.

He smirks.

“It’s bulletproof glass,” he says. “But you’re right. We shouldn’t be advertising our position. We’ve got the cameras to watch them.