Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
“At some point, every assassin who’s good enough to make a living at this career creates an exit strategy for himself. A plan for leaving all the death and violence behind and starting fresh. I never thought I’d use mine. Never thought I’d find a good enough reason to get out of the game.”
“I’m your reason?”
“You and Jake. You make me want more for my life.”
“I love you,” Dev whispered as he wrapped a hand around Kai’s neck and pulled him close for another kiss. Kai let himself get lost in all of Dev’s heat, passion, and love. He wanted this forever, but it meant that he needed to clean up a few things first.
With a great deal of reluctance, Kai pulled away. “I have to leave town for a little while. There are things that I need to do, loose ends that I have to tie up before we can be together.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“Some,” Kai admitted. He wished he could lie to Dev to protect him, but he didn’t want to start their future together with lies. “I promise to be careful.”
“Can Justin and Gabriel help you?”
A half smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. “Maybe. Though I will never hear the end of it.”
“Please. They’ll do it for me.”
Kai snorted. “Justin will do it for the excuse of having one more reason to drive me crazy.”
“When will I see you again?”
Kai bit his bottom lip for a moment. “I don’t know. I’ve never attempted this. I don’t know how long it might take. I will work as fast as I can.”
Dev shook his head. “No. Just be careful. Come back to me. That’s more important. I can wait.”
“If something happens to me—”
“No, don’t say it.”
“Baby, please. If something happens to me, I don’t want you left wondering. I promise that Gabriel or Justin will come see you. I’ll be leaving all my assets to you.”
Dev’s frown was quickly becoming a threatening glare. “I don’t want your assets. I want you.”
“And you will have me.”
Leaving Dev’s arms was the second hardest thing he’d ever done. The hardest was driving away from him. He wasn’t entirely sure how he was going to get completely clear of his old life, but he was going to find a way, even if it meant dragging Gabriel and Justin into his mess. When he returned to Seattle to claim the sexy materials engineer, he was going to be free of his past and they would be able to make a future together.
Chapter 20
Dev stood in the school parking lot, leaning against the front of his SUV, a water bottle in his hand as he watched the other parents chatting in small groups while others stood alone, eyes locked on their phones. It was a bright and sunny summer day. The sky was blue, the grass…well, it was somewhat green. They could use a bit of rain. The day was perfect, and his son was coming home from camp. He should have been happy. Ecstatic. Elated. Other joyful words that started with “E,” but what he was felt a lot like heartbroken.
It had been four and a half days since Kai had left his home, and it was as if his heart had been pulled from his body all over again. He suddenly felt much older than his thirty-six years, and he didn’t want to crawl out of bed. Didn’t want to be standing there in the sunlight with a weak smile pasted on his lips, pretending for all the world that everything was okay.
In the grand scheme of things, four and a half days wasn’t long. A blink of an eye. Except for the fact that Dev could think of thousands of ways for Kai to have been killed in those four days, and it was driving him crazy.
And that was all assuming that Kai hadn’t come to his senses now that he was back on his own and comfortably in his old life again.
Why in all of God’s great creation would he give up a life of action and excitement to settle into a little suburb of Seattle, Washington just to date a single father scientist who was trying to save the world?
Dev believed he was a logical creature. Logic ruled his life. He made logical dinner choices and bedtime choices. It was not logical that Kai would return even if he said he loved Dev. Twenty-four hours away from him, Kai had probably looked around at his life and realized that this was so much better and easier than uprooting everything for Dev.
They didn’t even know if they could make a relationship work. They’d had a hot and exciting week. That wasn’t enough to base a major life decision on. That wasn’t logical.
But he didn’t want to be logical anymore. He certainly didn’t want Kai to be logical. He wanted Kai in his arms. He wanted Kai sitting at his dinner table, sharing stories with Jake. He wanted Kai wrapped around him in bed as they slept.