A Very Merry Hitman (Holiday With a Hitman #2)

2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Living my best life? Nope. Living my most awkward life.

Aileen felt foolish and scared and all sorts of emotions as she headed up the walk to Dante’s house. He only lived two doors down and was quite possibly the kindest man she’d ever known.

If she didn’t know that he was a hitman, she’d have never in a million years guessed his profession.

Just like no one other than the people living in her neighborhood knew that everyone in the near vicinity were all hitmen. Or married to them. In her case, she was related to them—her mom, dad and brother. And now Elli knew since she’d married Aileen’s brother Theo, but Elli wasn’t a hitman. She was an expert in explosives though.

And Aileen definitely didn’t want to think about them right now. Nope.

Not with what she was about to do.

She didn’t even get a chance to knock or ring the bell. Dante swung the door open, his expression concerned. And, you know, gorgeous . Everything about the big man made everything inside her wake up and take notice. Always had. “Hey, is everything okay? I saw you on the door camera.”

Oh, right. Everyone here also had incredible perimeter security. He’d probably gotten an alert about her before she’d made it up the sidewalk. “Everything’s good.” She glanced over her shoulder, saw a couple neighbors out fiddling with their holiday decorations. “Can we talk inside?” she asked as she turned back to the tall, huge and mouthwateringly handsome man who starred in all her fantasies.

Dante was big all over and she assumed it extended…to other places.

“Of course.” He stepped back so she could walk inside. “Can I take your coat?” he asked oh so politely.

She didn’t want polite Dante. She wanted him growling, naked and underneath her, but one step at a time, she reminded herself. “No, I can’t stay long. But…” Oh god, now that she was here inside his lightly decorated house with the scent of cinnamon wafting on the air, she froze. She wasn’t sure how to even say the words. “So…you know what happened to me…” She cleared her throat. “Ah…” She didn’t want to spell it out, didn’t even want to think about the past. But she needed to make sure he understood the context of her request.

“I know.” His expression went dark, his jaw flexing slightly.

She’d been roofied in college, didn’t actually remember the assault, but had ended up pregnant as a result. And she would never, ever regret Nessa. But Aileen had been broken for a while, messed up in the head. No more. She was tired of living half a life, and she knew Dante could help her move on to the next step. She wanted to feel whole again, to be comfortable in her own skin again.

“Look…my request is kind of selfish and I’m already regretting this.” She covered her face with her hands, took a deep breath and faced him again. It was difficult to look directly at him sometimes because he was so intense, always focused on her when she spoke. Because the man actually listened. To everything .

“Take your time. Are you sure you don’t want to come in and sit?” His voice was soothing, deep and erotic all on its own. Much like the hard man who’d honed every part of his body to perfection. He had to be sharp and deadly, a weapon in every sense of the word.

Just get it out , she ordered herself. “I want to have sex again or at least try and I’m scared to do it with a stranger. I thought maybe I could hire someone professional but that’s scary too and I was hoping maybe you could help me. With sex ,” she added when he just stared down at her, looking like a deer caught in the proverbial headlights. Or maybe a wolf caught in headlights.

Probably because she’d propositioned him for sex at four in the afternoon like a total weirdo. He’d probably thought she was coming over to ask for help with her Christmas decorations.

Oh god, this was the longest anyone had not talked, ever. The silence stretched on for an eternity. Birthdays came and went as he stared down at her with those dark, enigmatic eyes and— bang, bang, bang .

She jumped at the sound of thumping on his front door, realized that nope, she wasn’t old and gray. That it had just felt like an embarrassing eternity.

“Moooom! We’ve gotta go. Can’t be late for soccer if I’m gonna dominate the World Cup one day.”

“You know what—just forget I said anything,” Aileen muttered to Dante who was still sorta staring at her, his eyes wide and a little wild. Clearly she’d embarrassed him.

And myself.

This was why she shouldn’t be around other humans. “Please forget this,” she whispered. She turned, swung the door open to find the light of her life standing on the front porch in all her gear. Except her cleats of course. Those would already be packed in the car, along with her ball and bag. Because Nessa was the most organized person she’d ever met and she was only eleven.

Her red curls were tamed into twin braids, her expression one of exasperation. “We can’t be late again.”

“We’ve been late one time. One time. Last year.” And her child had never let her forget it. She stepped onto the front porch. “See you later, Dante.”

“Oh, Dante, you want to come to practice?” Nessa asked, not deterred one bit.

“Sure—”

“He can’t. He’s busy.” She grabbed Nessa’s hand and didn’t look back because no way was she spending the next couple hours with him after the most awkward non-response ever. She couldn’t even turn around and look at him. Seriously, if there was ever a time for a sinkhole to come along, now was it. Just open up, swallow her whole and end her embarrassment forever. She lived in Florida; it was definitely possible.

“Oh, see ya later, Dante.” Nessa waved over her shoulder, then looked up at Aileen. “And you know that if you’re not early, you’re late.”

“I know you and Uncle Theo think that.”

“And we’re right.” Nessa dropped her hand and raced toward their driveway, slid into the passenger seat.

By the time Aileen made it to the driver’s side, she thought for sure Dante would be back in his house. But nope, he was still standing on the porch watching her.

And looking far too sexy doing it. He was wearing a T-shirt, because Miami winter wasn’t all that cold for a man made of pure muscle, clearly. She slid her sunglasses on even though she didn’t really need them. But it was a very nice barrier.

“Is everything okay, Mom?”

Nessa’s voice pulled her back to the present and she nodded as she put her little car in drive. “Yep. Perfect.”

***

“Hey, Elli.” Aileen answered her cell as she walked around the track next to Nessa’s practice field. Her daughter practiced soccer a couple times a week at a huge athletic center so Aileen used that time to get her walking in and catch up on audiobooks instead of just sitting and watching Nessa play. For her games though, she was all in and never moved from her seat as she cheered.

“Hey, how’s practice?”

“Good. Last I saw, Nessa had scored three times.” The group her daughter played with weren’t supercompetitive, but that didn’t stop Nessa. When she wanted to do something, she had to be the best. Something she definitely got from her grandparents.

“That kid’s gonna take over the world one day. And I’m going to scoop her up before someone else does. Maybe I’ll just create a job for her.”

“She’s eleven, Elli.”

“I know, I know.” Her new sister-in-law laughed lightly. The woman was a certified billionaire, or at least her company was since they’d gone public a couple years ago.

She didn’t act like one, and gave away so much of her money it was mind-boggling. Aileen only knew because Theo had told her. And she also didn’t care that she’d married into a family of hitmen. Elliana fit in better than Aileen did, if she was being honest.

“I’m calling because I have a sort of weird question,” Elliana said. “And I never want to overstep but I have this friend who is single and adorable and…I wanted to know if you were maybe interested in meeting up with him. No pressure though. Your mom said you weren’t really into dating, but then my friend saw your picture and asked if you were single so… Stop me if I’m out of line.”

“Oh, no. I’m just thinking. It’s been a while since I’ve been on a date.” Years and years. She’d tried dating when Nessa had been about four, but it had been one disaster after another. And at the end of the day she’d realized that she couldn’t bring someone normal into her family anyway. It would never work. So she’d stopped trying. “I don’t know.” But the timing seemed good, especially considering her awkward proposal to Dante, and super fun rejection. Maybe this was a sign that she needed to say yes.

“Okay, I get that. But he was in explosives like me before and his job is…unconventional. He has no idea about Theo or anyone else, but I’m just saying that if things go well, maybe one day, I don’t know, you could bring him into the fold like Theo did with me.”

Aileen was pretty sure that Elliana was a unicorn, but found herself saying, “Okay.”

“For real? Oh my gosh, you’re not going to regret this. I’ll send you his information. And if you tell Theo this, I’ll deny it, but the man is gorgeous.”

Aileen laughed lightly. Her brother could definitely be a bit over-the-top where Elli was concerned. “My lips are sealed. So…he’s nice? ”

“He’s the best, like a big, sweet teddy bear.”

“I like the sound of that.” If anything, she could just get back out there. Nessa was eleven and would eventually move out and start her own life, as she should. Not too soon, thankfully, but Aileen didn’t want to be alone forever. She didn’t want what one monster had done to shape the rest of her life.

She’d already given him too much power, and the man was dead. She needed to take back her power, her sexuality. Even if it was a little terrifying.

“That’s great. I’ll send you his information and vice versa.”

“Sounds good, thank you. Seriously. I’m so glad that Theo met you.”

“You don’t have to thank me. I just want you to have every wonderful thing you deserve.”

She found herself smiling as she walked around the track. Elli had a way of making everyone feel good about themselves. “Well I’m going to thank you anyway— Oh, there’s the whistle. The kids are wrapping up, but I might reach out later about this.”

“Perfect, I’ll talk to you soon.”

As she hung up, Aileen pushed down the weird sensation of…was that guilt? Why on earth did she feel guilty? She’d just agreed to go on a date with someone, that was it.

And clearly Dante had been horrified by her request. Which, okay, she’d sprung it on him with no warning. But as she replayed everything from two hours ago, she winced at herself.

Nope, no coming back from that, at least not today. She needed some distance and then she’d apologize and hope things went back to normal…ish. She just wasn’t sure how she was ever going to look him in the eyes again.