The Laughing Assassin [Assassin's Diary] (Siren Publishing Classic) (13 page)

“Come on inside.”

“All right. Is this where I will be staying?”

“Yes. It just seems extremely small, in part due to the size of the main house.”

“Does anyone else live here?” He knew she was going to ask him that. He just hoped she would let it slide for now.

“Yes. You will be sharing the house with one other person.” He could see she wanted to know who the mystery roommate was.

“When am I going to meet my temporary roommate?”

“You already have.” He knew the moment he answered that she was going to have something to say about it.

“Why do you have me here then? I know that mausoleum has got to have an extra room I could stay in.”

“That’s up to you. But I just assumed it would be easier to navigate tonight since we arrived in at such a late hour.”

“Hmmm…” Her hum seemed speculative, as if she wanted to say more but didn’t.

“Think about it like this, it’s the concession I want for winning the bet. Just make yourself at home. If you want to stay elsewhere, just ask me tomorrow and I can have you set up at the main house for the rest of your trip.” He didn’t want her that far away, but if she asked, he would find her another room. Although, he would try to make sure that all of the desirable rooms were taken or out of order first.

Real smooth, he thought to himself.
Now you’re so desperate that you would be willing to outright lie to her.

Honey I’m Home!

Jaden was perturbed. After a harrowing day filled with confusion and drama from her temporary employees, she resorted to barely veiled intimidations against a woman that was no threat to her. Then she lost her bet with Jonah when she was so sure that she would win. Now she had to stay in the intimate scope of the small carriage house. Not that the house was a problem, but she didn’t want him so close.

There was something more with this man than met the eye, and she was too excited about the idea of sharing personal space with him. For all she knew she would start sleep walking and wind up in his bed the next morning. The unconscious mind had a way with expressing desires that were unacknowledged.

And despite her physical prowess, she knew that she was weakened by a state of want that she didn’t even know existed before.

Uggghh, damn him for being so desirable.

It didn’t make any sense. How could one man have the machismo and presence enough for ten people? There must be several men out there with faces that only their mothers would love and ten lions cowardly enough to have lost their share of animal courage to the making of Jonah.

She followed him through the cliché isle-furnished house. None of the elements needed to make a home were missing. But somehow it just didn’t feel lived in. As if the place was a hotel room and the room had a revolving list of guests, none of whom left their stamp on the area. When he gave her the nickel tour of the small house, there were three bedrooms and one bathroom. That raised one or both of her eyebrows, as she hadn’t had to share a bathroom in years.

But the proffered room was comfortable in appearance and sufficient for her needs, so she stripped the bed to use the sheets for a quickly constructed pallet on the floor.

Jaden didn’t know which room was his, and she told herself that she didn’t want to know either.
Yes, you do.
Her imagination taunted her with the fantasy of what she could have if she was willing to compromise and go find him. But she wouldn’t. She couldn’t. The throbbing between her thighs kept her restlessness at nearly unbearable level. High enough that she punched the pillow several times during her nonexistent sleep then settled the pillow between her thighs to silence the ache.

After all her usual pre-bed preparations, she slept fitfully and she pretended the ill rest was due to the fact that an unknown was so close-by, combined with the new setting.

But the next day she had a luxurious view of the morning sky when she rolled over to rise from her usual pallet. She stood, and when she looked out beyond the shutters, she could see the dawn on the island was glorious. The purples and pinks fleeing across the sky called her name to come and see the beauty of nature.

She freshened up with a shower before she donned her favorite pair of green yoga pants and a cream-colored baby tee as she quickly styled her hair. Although, Jaden was certain the effort would be wasted, as it was quite humid in the tropics, and she was sure that her do’ would be a hot mess before the day was out. But with any luck she could probably find an islander to braid it for her later.

For now she was content to amble around the property a bit before she found Jonah and the skinny on why she was so necessary to the success of the mission.

But when she made her way toward the main house she found that she only saw half of the property the night before. There was vegetation everywhere, clusters of flowers and bushes groomed to perfection. But when juxtaposed against the native wildness surrounding the untapped portion of the isle, the lawn was strangely… too perfect, as if the sculpted land was at war with its own nature.

The yard ran in a large circle, the path around the main house, and back around to the carriage houses in back. She saw a large garage, built to hold ten cars at least. She didn’t peer inside to see what vehicles were inside, but she could hazard a guess. There was no way she could imagine anything more beautiful than the cluster of nature amid current technology and luxury at that.

When she came to the backside of the property, she saw a sparring ring. The large lot was nothing more than packed earth and contained a few barren benches along the sidelines. There were a handful of racks filled with all types of weapons, most she was familiar with. In the center of the ring was Jonah. He couldn’t have seen her, as he was blindfolded.

But he must have heard her as he stopped his graceful motions no sooner than she stepped fully into the cleared space. He ripped away the cloth unevenly bisecting his face and slowly blinked as if he attempted to adjust his eyes to the bright light.

Apparently, she wasn’t the only one who appreciated the hours near dawn.

“Good morning, Jaden.” Jonah was all smiles and easy humor, even with the early hour. Jaden on the other hand was far from an eager beaver in the morning. At this time of day, she didn’t even want to speak with another person. That was what made the bakery so great. She had the benefit of starting early, and other people were not a factor until the shop opened a couple of hours later. And her attitude was much better after she’d been awake for a bit.

Jaden couldn’t resist the twinge of bite in her voice when she replied. “Back at ya, Jonah.”

“Would you care for breakfast?” He came closer with each word, and when he reached her, he placed a folded scarf and a set of nunchucks on the rack next to her.

Why not? She could always eat. That was an added benefit of her active lifestyle, as she could eat almost anything, though she rarely chose to. “Sure, why not.”

He walked her through a path that was as well tended as the rest of the property and pointed out a few items of interest along the way. He showed her a grotto where the Jacuzzi tubs were hidden amid a copse of trees and low-lying bushes. There were numerous hammocks interspersed with woven wicker chaise lounges around the man-made body of water, and the ambiance created the perfect area to play hostess for a party.

Jonah pointed out the tennis courts, which were perfectly pristine, as if freshly paved. Although he did tell her that none of them played the sport and that was why the courts were so clean.

He showed her the pool, which was a combination of indoor and outdoor. If she was on one side of the water, she could swim into a tunnel and be on the other side in a matter of a few feet. There was also an infinity pool, but she had never been fond of those. It was too hard to gauge her distance, and she wasn’t that fond of making calculations based on time and stroke speed to figure it out.

But when they reached the carriage house, he took her back inside and began cooking. She would have never guessed he was so proficient in the kitchen, but only twenty minutes passed before a stack of pancakes, omelets, and bacon were presented to her.

“Dig in. I know you haven’t eaten in at least twelve hours, and you have to be hungry.”

She did justice to the plate, even though she preferred smaller meals to break her fast. But she had to admit, the food was great and the fresh-squeezed juice was delightfully refreshing.

The heaviness of the meal mingled with the humid warmth seduced her into lethargy. Jaden knew she had to work off some of the extra calories from the warmed syrup and light cakes that she’d just eaten lest she fall into unplanned slumber. If anything, that would be the worst scenario possible, as she would never fall asleep tonight after a nap during the day. There was no such thing as a cat nap for her. If she made the mistake of lying down now, she was bound to burn away half of the day in like a slugabed.

But before she could mention her plan, Jonah piped up. “I’ll be back. I just need to take a shower.”

After he sauntered away, she left and didn’t feel the need to tell him where she was headed. He could figure it out for himself where she would be. Jaden had already made the decision that she would just go back to the field and try her skills on some of the weapons she wasn’t a hundred percent familiar with yet.

But when she arrived at the practice area she’d stumbled upon earlier, there were two other men already in the midst of mock battle. Both were large, thickly built. One was a sandy blond who hadn’t seen a haircut in several months, combined with the deep tan of a sun worshipper, and the entire package spelled European beach bum.

The other male was redheaded. The long locks were shot through with gold highlights that most women paid an arm and leg for, yet still didn’t achieve after numerous chemicals and hours in a chair. She doubted the man used anything on his hair. That color was most likely au naturel. But the redhead looked as if he could only burn in the current weather conditions and would never truly acquire a bronze sheen, unlike his opponent.

The two together were amazing, either were capable of firing libidos, but combined in combat? They could stop female traffic and some of the correctly inclined male variety also.

They fought well together, and the ease of the pace even with the ferocity of the blows attempted spoke to the fact that they sparred frequently. Or at least enough to know the tells of their opponent and block them without conscious thought. The no-holds-barred aspect of their fight appealed to her, and she wished she could jump in.

The pair noticed her when she sat down at one of the benches to watch, and they stopped as one unit.

“Hello, you must be Jaden.” The sandy male said, speaking up. But Big Red never opened his mouth to acknowledge her.

“Yes, I am. But you have me at a disadvantage.”

“Well…we can’t have that. Now can we?” The blond was the only one of the two who had a mouth, apparently, as his partner never even parted his lips as if he wanted to speak. “I’m Toro, and this is Stein.”

“All right then, nice to meet you both.”

“Likewise.” Yet again, Toro piped up for the pair.

“I’ve heard a lot about your skills. Apparently, you come highly recommended.” Toro walked to the sidelines, where he picked up a dusty water bottle off the ground and took a swig of the most likely lukewarm fluid. He wiped his mouth at the corners with his knuckles. “You take crappy pictures, by the way.” He shrugged, as if the fact was of little consequence. As if it didn’t matter if she were uglier than a moose on Tuesdays or beautiful enough to be Ms. Universe. “But I can see why Jonah was so obsessed with you.”

That was a shocker. Jonah obsessed with her? But the surprise must have been apparent in her mien as Toro replied to her thoughts.

“Yes you, little lady. He spent more time searching for you than he has spent on anything else in the last eight years that I have known him. I’ve never seen him less than composed, but the months it took him to find you were definitely worth the wait. He never goes after an operative personally, but after the way he tore his hair out trying to discover your identity, he claimed that he earned the right to approach you himself. That’s what I would normally do. I’m the bagger. But this time he claimed he wanted to give this his personal touch.” He laughed, and the sound was out of place, hearty and loud in the early quiescence of morning as several birds scattered into flight above her.

That was more information than she bargained for, and Jaden took the ploy as a dig for information. A quid pro quo of sorts. Although, little did he know, she was not buying into it. “I don’t know whether to be flattered or offended.”

“You should feel flattered for sure. Most things come too easy to him. He needs a challenge, and you seem like the perfect person to provide just that.” The redhead was still quiet, but the makings of a smile played at the corner of his lips, as if he couldn’t contain his mirth at her. She wondered what the man was thinking, and she bet his musings were worth more than a penny.

Especially since he seems so disinclined to share.

“Want to spar with us? You look like you would love to join in, and we will take it easy on you.” The shit-eating grin on Toro’s lips became enough reason for Jaden to go all in, although she doubted that would be necessary.