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

8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Dear Santa, just bring coffee. And wine.

“I can’t believe you got out of singing tonight.” Aileen slid her arms around Dante as he stepped into her kitchen, marveling at how not weird it was to be intimate with him.

Okay, it was still a little weird, but the good kind.

It would make things harder once they stopped this whole thing. But he’d been so incredible in that butler’s pantry, so patient.

Too patient. Not that she could ever complain about that. He hadn’t known her in the direct aftermath of the assault, but he knew about her past. So she appreciated how gentle he was being. And now she needed more from him. Needed to feel totally in control of her life again and that meant not being treated as if she’d break.

Dante grunted, his gaze dipping to her mouth as he pinned her against the countertop. His dark eyes were filled with need, his expression telling her exactly what he wanted to do—and she loved it. This wasn’t the sweet and helpful Dante who came over to help out, this was the Dante who was going to bang her brains out. “I’m just glad the party is over.”

“Me too…” Trailing off, she frowned as she heard the distinctive alert of her front door opening. Shit . She jumped back when she heard her mom calling out.

Dante sighed but she slid out from his hold and headed through the kitchen, surprised to see her mom holding Nessa—who was almost too big to hold anymore. Her daughter had been looking forward to a sleepover all week.

“Princesa isn’t feeling well,” her mom murmured as she set Nessa on her feet. “She wanted to come home."

Nessa turned to look at her, already in her soccer-themed pajamas, her face pale. “It’s my tummy, Mommy.”

Uh oh, she only got “mommy” when Nessa was truly sick.

Aileen held out her hand. “Okay, let’s—”

Nessa started puking, and before she’d taken a full step, Dante sprang into action. “Come on.” He carried her over to the sink where she continued to empty the contents of her stomach.

Wincing, Aileen stepped over the mess and hurried to rub her daughter’s back. When it seemed like Nessa was done, she asked, “Are you still feeling like you’re going to throw up?”

“I don’t know. No, I don’t think so.” Her voice was raspy, tired as she leaned against the countertop.

Aileen felt Nessa’s forehead. Didn’t feel hot but she grabbed a digital thermometer anyway and held it up. “No fever, so that’s good. What did you eat tonight?” Normally she had a pretty good idea of what her daughter ate but she’d been running around with her friends.

“Cake.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad.” It had been a lot of chocolate-looking stuff that came back up.

“No, like a whole cake. And I drank a bunch of soda.” She whispered the last part, probably because she wasn’t supposed to have it. “One of my crew bet me I couldn’t eat a whole cake,” she added, almost a little mutinously. “Proved them wrong.”

Aileen bit back a sigh. No wonder her kid was sick. And since when did she have “a crew”? Did she mean her soccer team friends? She’d worry about that later. “Come on, let’s get you upstairs and into some fresh clothes—and you can brush your teeth. I think you need sleep more than anything. Mom, you can leave that. I’ll get it after she’s settled.”

“I’ll get it, Lorna,” Dante said before her mom could answer. “Just go on home. I’ll sanitize the kitchen while she takes care of Nessa.”

Lorna simply smiled, looking more than a little exhausted. “I won’t argue with you about cleaning up puke. Call me if you need anything,” she said, looking between the two of them before she headed out.

“Dante, are you sure—”

“Just take care of Nessa,” he murmured.

Nodding, she scooped her up, glad she could still hold her, if just barely. Nessa already had some height on her, was all skinny arms and legs now. But as she laid her head on Aileen’s shoulder, she soaked this up. Puke breath and all.

“I’m sorry you’re sick, baby,” she whispered as she took Nessa to the bathroom. “Want me to put toothpaste on your brush?”

Nessa nodded pitifully so Aileen got that ready, then grabbed her some more clothes and returned to the bathroom to find her throwing up in the sink again.

Aileen sighed. It was going to be a long night. And not the kind she’d been planning on.

***

“Hey,” Aileen whispered as she stepped into the kitchen. Her spotless kitchen that smelled like lemon and bleach. She’d gotten Nessa to sleep a few hours ago, then had crashed herself. But once the sun was up, she was too. She’d thought Dante would have gone home already. “I thought you left.”

Shaking his head, he pulled down a mug, poured her the freshly brewed coffee. “Slept on the couch.”

“You could have taken the guest room.”

He just shrugged and picked up his own mug.

“I’m sorry last night didn’t work out the way we’d hoped,” she murmured.

He frowned slightly. “You don’t ever have to apologize for that. Nessa comes first. ”

She smiled at his tone. “Always.”

“So how is she?” he asked as he moved to her fridge, started pulling out a carton of eggs.

“Ah…good. Are you cooking?”

“Yep. Sit. Relax, I know you’ve got to be exhausted.”

“I feel like I should protest but I’m not going to,” she said on a laugh. “Thank you for cleaning up last night. I know how much that sucks.”

He shrugged. “I’ve cleaned up worse.”

She blinked, not quite sure how she should interpret it, then realized she really didn’t want to know. She was well aware of what her own family did or had done for a living and she could admit that she compartmentalized some of it. “Well, I appreciate it. She finally dozed off after keeping down some water and crackers. I think she just wreaked havoc on her system with all that sugar and her body rejected it.”

“Can’t believe she ate a whole cake,” he murmured, shaking his head as he started cracking eggs.

“On a dare.”

He snorted. “That sounds like her.”

“Yep. No one’s going to tell her what she can’t do,” Aileen said on a sigh, already worried about teen Nessa. But that was a problem for future Aileen. “I’m just glad she’s okay.” She glanced at her phone screen, saw the time. “I was supposed to volunteer today with this toy delivery thing for Christmas, but I think I’m going to have to cancel.” Because she knew her parents both had plans today and she was pretty sure Theo wasn’t letting Elliana out of the house after being gone the last week.

“Why? I’ll watch Nessa.” He shrugged as he added a little seasoning and shredded cheese to the scrambled eggs.

“I can’t ask you to do that.” Not that it would be the first time, but he’d spent the night here cleaning up puke and he couldn’t have been comfortable on the couch. She didn’t want to take advantage of their friendship, especially when their relationship was on new and unfamiliar territory. He’d always helped out in the past and she’d never thought twice about it, but things were different now.

“You’re not actually asking, I’m offering. She’ll probably be asleep for a while anyway. I saw it on your calendar,” he said, nodding to the one on her fridge. “I’d planned to offer already.”

“Oh. Wow, thank you.” She hadn’t wanted to cancel, not when she’d volunteered months ago.

“Why do you sound so surprised? I’ve watched her before.”

“I know. Things are just…different now, I guess.”

He glanced over his shoulder at her and she couldn’t quite read his look. It was intense but was that a good thing? Ugh, she hated that she had almost no experience and now she was fooling around with her best friend and…where did that leave them? And of course he looked amazing this morning, as if he’d had a full night of sleep instead of on a cramped couch. His dark hair was a little mussed, but that only added to his sexy vibe.

“Whatever you’re thinking about, just stop,” he growled.

“You’re not even looking at me.”

“I can feel your thoughts all the way over here. And the nugget is coming down the stairs. I heard a little thump.”

It said a lot for how distracted she was that she hadn’t even heard Nessa, but sure enough, her daughter stumbled into the kitchen, her long braid messy, expression grumpy. “I’m hungry,” she grumbled. “But not for cake.”

Aileen bit back a laugh.

Dante, however, chuckled and Aileen absolutely loved the sound. “I’m cooking scrambled eggs for your mom,” he said without turning around. “Is that good or too much for your tummy right now?”

Nessa laid her head on the countertop, still looking a little pathetic. “Ugh.”

“I’ll make you some toast for now.” Aileen kissed the side of her forehead and slid off her stool. “Dante’s going to hang out with you for a few hours this morning.”

Nessa sat up at that, looking like her normal mischievous daughter. “I can finally slay you in our VR game. ”

“Or,” Aileen said before Dante could respond, “you can relax and watch movies or something equally light while I’m gone. You need rest.”

Dante didn’t respond, simply plated her food then literally shooed her to sit and took over with the toaster and Nessa’s drink as well.

Oooh, no. Aileen had a sort of mental blip as she registered that he was just taking over, being all wonderful. Taking care of both her and Nessa. Everything about right now felt so…normal.

Nice.

No, nice was too bland a word. How about absolutely freaking wonderful? Oh god, she was in all sorts of trouble. Why had she ever thought that just having sex with Dante would be easy? That they could go back to being friends after seeing each other naked. Having orgasms! That she could ever look at him the same after he’d brought her to climax in their neighbor’s butler’s pantry. Sweet. Flying. Reindeer. She hadn’t thought any of this through! And now he was in her house, taking over and helping out and making her want way more than orgasms.

“Mom?” Nessa’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

She blinked, realized she was staring at a fork of scrambled eggs. “Yeah?”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m great.” She realized that Dante was now watching her curiously too. “But how are you feeling?”

Nessa shrugged, back to normal apparently now that she’d woken up fully. “Great. Toast is fine, but I need more food.”

“I’ll cook some eggs for you,” Dante said, and Aileen could feel his gaze on her.

So she met his eyes and smiled, though it felt forced. When he started cracking more eggs, she shoveled her food in her mouth, then basically sprinted from the room to get ready—and definitely to escape his watchful, knowing gaze.