Kissing the Killer: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance (Barone Crime Family) Read Online Free PDF Page A

disgusting.”
    “Yeah,” he said, nodding, “it is. But I don’t hurt women. It’s just not my thing.”
    I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re a killer and you don’t hurt women?”
    “I’ll kill men whenever and however my bosses want me to, and I love to fuck a wet, willing pussy, but I don’t hurt them.”
    I couldn’t help but shake my head. “Mister Hit Man with a conscience. How noble.”
    He sighed. “You don’t get it, do you? I’m supposed to kill you soon, and I very much don’t want to do that. I also can’t let you leave, because that’ll only make things worse.”
    “So you want me to, what, hang around here until you eventually decide you have to kill me to save yourself?” I stood up. “No, thanks.”
    He stared at me with that intense gaze again, his green eyes flashing and expressive. “That isn’t going to happen,” he said firmly. “I’m not going to kill you, Emma.”
    “Why should I believe you?”
    “Because you don’t have another choice.”
    “You said you’d let me leave.”
    “I will. But if you leave, we’re both dead.”
    I sighed and sat back down, frustrated. “I don’t get you. What kind of killer are you?”
    He grinned at me. “A pretty fucked-up one.”
    I watched as he turned and left the bedroom. “Where are you going?” I called out.
    “Sleep,” he said. “You can have the bed.”
    “Are you kidding me?”
    “I kid you not,” he said, and he stripped his shirt off. I couldn’t help but gape at his strong chest covered in tattoos, at the ripped muscles corded along his length. I felt my heart beat hard in my chest, and my pussy was dripping wet.
    I’d never experienced this sort of reaction to a man before in my life, but Brooks was unlike anyone I’d ever met. His confidence, his intensity, and, damn it, his body all made me so incredible intrigued.
    “Got something to say?” he asked, grinning.
    I stuttered, clearly caught staring. “You’re not great at this kidnapping thing.”
    “We’re in this together now, Emma,” he said. “Like it or not, we have to figure this shit out together.”
    “Why are you doing this?” I asked again.
    He just shrugged. “Good night. If you get lonely, come join me out here.” He smirked and then lay down on the couch.
    I retreated back into his bedroom, shutting the door behind me. I got into his unfamiliar bed, my head spinning, totally unsure about what was going on.
    He could have killed me at any moment, but he didn’t. He could have taken me any time he wanted, but he put clothes on my back instead. He could have kept me locked in that closet, but instead he was letting me sleep in his own bed.
    Brooks was a killer. He’d murdered my father and countless other men. But he was being kind to me, even if he was a little cocky.
    I didn’t know what I was feeling. I couldn’t decide if he was lying to me or if he was telling the truth. Part of me believed him, and I knew that a lot of what he was saying was pretty logical.
    Still, I’d promised myself that I’d never let myself get owned by another man. I’d spent too long acting as a slave for my father.
    I had to get away. Even if Brooks was telling the truth, I had to run. I’d rather take a chance and die out on my own, a free woman, than let him control me.

5
    Brooks
    I n my dream , my mother was alive. I was a kid again, and she was smiling down at me. She took me by the hand and led me outside, into the park.
    As we walked toward the jungle gym, she talked. I couldn’t understand her, but she sounded happy. Slowly though, her face began to morph. The skin around her face became bruised and beaten, black and blue, old and decaying.
    I woke up with a start just as my mother turned into a skeleton before my eyes.
    My apartment was empty and quiet. I was on the couch and the early morning sun was streaming in through the window. I’d gotten maybe three or four hours of sleep at most, and I probably wasn’t getting much more