Assassin Territory [Assassins Book 1] (11 page)

Between her legs called to him and he slid up her body. He was a big man—everywhere. She was so small, she needed to be ready. When his tongue licked her folds she shuddered, her breath flew from her lips. Her hand buried in his hair and she called to him. Deeper he explored with his tongue; this was a heat he could delve deeply in. She was tight and hot, her taste like nothing he ever before encountered. Her juices flowed when he sucked her nub. Lando inched up her body, no longer able to deny what he wanted.

He kissed his way up her thighs, her hips, her belly, taking one last kiss from her lips. He was careful to keep his weight from punishing her aches and pains. Her readiness confirmed from a deeper-seeking, gently probing finger slipped inside her wetness. Her breath caught sharply in surprise as he added another finger, then another, preparing her for his pleasure and her own.

With one hand cupping her behind, the other wrapped snuggly around her slight shoulders, he plunged within her. Her body was incredibly tight; it closed in around him, hugging him, clenching his thickness, and he felt a moment’s concern when she cried out in shock at his size and the depth at which he plunged, filling and stretching her. He guessed it had been a while since she was with a man.

“Lando,” she gasped up at him, grasping his broad shoulders with small hands. He felt the individual pressure of each digit as she pushed at him as if trying to dislodge him.

“Don’t be afraid, sweetheart, I’ll be very gentle,” Lando promised. His forehead rested against hers for the briefest of moments to reassure her he meant what he said.

* * * *

Lando pulled his thick hard cock from her and Christy braced herself as he plunged his engorged member inside of her once more. He was so big. His entire body was so powerful. Steel was under her hands, sheathed in satin. She could feel the restraint of his massive thighs, knowing he could have buried her in the ground if he chose.

Christy’s hands clutched at his arms. Her fingers felt as though she were grasping at hardened metal pipes, so powerful, so hard, and rock-like. She swooned for a moment. How could she have wanted this? Why had she even asked? Oh God, what was she thinking, doing, with such a man? There had been no one since Chad. She shuddered as she accepted Lando again and again. His long strokes were rhythmical, from beginning to end, until her wanting body could be denied no longer.

Christy tamed her fear as the feel of him was so much more than sex. Lando wasn’t the first man she had been with, but next to Chad, the most intense. Lando’s lovemaking was different than Chad’s. On occasion, Chad hurt her with his desire to possess her so quickly—it wasn’t making love those times. Times when he said she wanted him that way when she knew it was Chad who wanted it rough—frightening. Lando moved inside her, coaxing her response,
wanting
her response. She tuned to the feel of him. His thighs slipped over her, warming her. She felt as if her insides were aflame with his sheer strength.

Large hands caressed, held, captured, released so much of her no inch went unexplored. Lando was powerful beauty. He was the rainbow that emerged during a storm: defying, untamed, a renegade built to possess.

“Breathe, sweetheart. You’re all right, you’re fine. Feel me, feel how good this is,” he whispered, his voice panting.

His tone was soft and encouraging, not harsh and dominating, he wasn’t using the vile ugly words that turned Chad on and he wasn’t using his size to intimidate. He moved with ease against her, his hard flesh plunging then retreating, until Christy began responding to him, wanting him to discover her.

Shifting lower, Lando caught her lips with his, indulging in a carnal hunger. He tasted so good. Feeling ravenous, she responded with a release of her inhibitions. Her legs rose higher, now possessed; her feet trailed their way up his thighs to his powerful behind, needing a deeper penetration. She slid her calves up the long, hardened, manly length of him, to wrap their way around his muscular waist.

Thinking ceased, as feeling intensified. Her whimpers turned to deep guttural groans of desire. Her fingers gripped his dark locks wanting to nip at his throat. Never before had she felt such heat. Molten lava washing through her veins would be a blessedly cooler release compared to the engulfing fire dancing throughout her entire being. She thrust herself up against him harder and harder until Lando began to thunder deeply between her thighs.
Oh God, there.
It had been so long since she’d had a release and never such as the one she experienced. He was there, moving in a place she never knew existed for her, a hunger never before satisfied.

Christy cried out, gripping him harder. In her overwhelming surprise, she grasped at him as though he held her life in his arms, encouraging him to remain within her, not wanting this feeling to end as the tide of waves washed over her, leaving her vulnerable, tired and so fulfilled. She never felt such an engulfing pleasure as her body relaxed with a shudder beneath him.

“Oh, Lando.” She craved him, not wanting this sensation to end.

She tugged at his powerful body, yearning for his weight on her slight form. She was loath to release him. Lando remained buried within her. His ragged breathing slowed and he lowered more of his powerful form onto her. She wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him.

“I don’t want to crush you, sweetheart,” he said with concern.

“No, stay. Don’t you see, nothing could ever harm me with you on me,” Christy implored, reveling in the safety she desperately desired.

Lando chuckled. “I think you’re pretty damn right in that assumption; I doubt you could even be seen under me.”

He lay pressed against her for a few moments longer, and then rolled to the side with a soft sigh. Christy cuddled up to his chest placing her head on his shoulder. She waited a bit apprehensively for a moment then relaxed when he didn’t shift her away from him. After being with Chad, he never allowed her this small intimacy, claiming exhaustion. Chad told her hurtfully he couldn’t sleep with her touching him.

Christy sighed. Lando lifted her chin and looked down at her with concern.

“What is it, Christy, are you sorry?”

“No, I’m not sorry, just afraid.”

“Of me?”

“No. Well yes, but it’s not that,” Christy mused.

“Then what?”

“If we do make it out of here alive, what then?” she asked. She felt sudden hurt at his reluctant, somewhat annoyed look, and realized perhaps he felt it was a commitment question, when all she wanted was the truth.

“I was a hired killer, Christy,” he finally answered. She listened intently, needing to understand right away all of the facts. “When we get back, I need to testify. If I’m still alive afterwards by some miracle, I end up in the Witness Protection Program. New life, new identity. No ties.”

Christy stroked the hair on his chest.
I will again be abandoned,
she thought, but she was grateful in a way. He was telling her the truth and not playing games. And he was right. What kind of future would she have with a man like him? She knew nothing about him. He seemed reluctant to discuss his past with her. A man like Lando wouldn’t want her near; his life was too volatile. With sad realization, she rolled away from him. It would be best not to get too close. She wouldn’t be able to stand the loss of another, perhaps another betrayal.

“Christy, don’t deny yourself a chance at a special relationship because of your fear. Doesn’t wanting me prove to you that you are, in fact, ready and willing to love again?” Lando asked. He rolled to secure her body to his.

“I don’t want to be hurt again,” she whispered, though she clutched at his arm.

“Every relationship has its failings,” Lando reasoned and returned her grip.

“This one was doomed from the start,” she moaned.

“I could see how thinking to kill you does have its drawbacks,” Lando said.

“You said you used to kill,” she challenged.

“I am what I am. And though I have no intention of hiring myself out ever again, I live for the moment.”

“I’ve never just lived for the moment,” Christy said, her bottom teeth began to worry on her top lip from a nervous habit. The concept of here and now with no future seemed so unreal.

“That’s all I’ve ever lived for,” Lando admitted. “With my lifestyle, I never knew if tomorrow would come for me. The women I’ve been with are taken with wild passion, wondering if I’ll hold one again. The food I consume is eaten with enjoyment. Everything I did or have done is as if I were living my last day because it very well might be. Never once have I planned on there being a tomorrow.”

“Have you never wanted a wife or children, your own family?” She was curious.

In her world of charity functions attended with her mother, that’s what everyone strived for. The women wanted a rich, successful husband. The men wanted to brag about their wives and how well their children were doing in school or their after school programs. They wanted not only prosperity, but a chance to show it off. What was the point in a gala affair without a beautiful woman on your arm? Or even better, Chad had said, would be to have a pregnant woman. Then everyone would know how virile he was. The idea of Chad being a father made her cringe. Would he have beaten his own children?

“How could I have a wife, Christy? Do you understand what her life would be like? Can you even imagine what fears she would be exposed to? Never knowing if her husband was coming home, never knowing if someone would try and kill her, wanting revenge. Waiting for the police to show up at her door, or worse, barging through her door to pin her down, demanding my whereabouts,” Lando said.

Christy thought about that for a moment. “You must be so lonely,” she said, sad for him. Lando’s eyes widened, apparently surprised at her compassionate words.

“I’ve never needed anyone,” he replied, his tone gruff.

“You must have needed someone. At least when you were little.”

“I was abandoned as a baby. No one wanted me. The family who took me in did it for the money. I was never shown love, compassion, or kindness. I was on the street alone by the time I was ten. But by then, I was more than able to care for myself. I learned at a young age how to fend for myself. I got odd jobs. I did all right,” Lando said; his last words were abrupt.

“That’s terrible, how awful for you,” Christy cried in outrage. No wonder he was so hard. She was surprised he was even capable of a merciful act. What a horrible childhood he must have suffered through.

“It taught me to be responsible for myself, not to depend on anyone,” Lando snapped.

“Children should never have to be responsible for themselves,” Christy began; she could tell the pity in her voice touched a nerve. “I can hear your anger and I understand where it stems from. I can feel sorry, and a deep sympathy for the helpless little boy, but you are a grown man and responsible for your own actions, no matter your childhood and upbringing.”

“As are you,” he challenged. Christy winced at his hurtful intention. She cringed wondering what horrible name he was about to call her. She resisted the urge to cover her ears. Her body tensed. “You can’t let another control you with words or actions. Take a stand and stop being a doormat. Do some yelling of your own,” Lando demanded.

“But I don’t want to make you angry; I don’t want you to hurt me,” Christy said.

Lando turned her to gaze deeply into her eyes. “I have been angry. Have I hurt you?” he asked.

“Chad said he wouldn’t hurt me.”

“I’m not Chad. You may think I’ve got no honor because of my profession; it’s Chad who has no honor. He’s a bastard. He professed to love you, but look at what he did to you. He beat you. You cry out at night, you’re still so fearful of being beaten again. He took your self-respect and stomped on it. Your body wasn’t the only thing that shit beat, was it?” Lando demanded.

“No,” she admitted her tone soft. Lando was right.

“Damn him to hell for beating your emotions. Damn him to hell for taking away your want of love and affection. Not all men are cruel. I realize I haven’t helped with what you’re feeling. I didn’t want to kill you because I’m evil. Because of who and what you are, you could never understand my need to stop suffering in a fashion I’m familiar with, the
only
fashion I’m familiar with.” Lando pulled her to his chest; there wasn’t an inch between them.

Christy held onto him, her emotions raging. No one had ever said to her the things Lando did. She hadn’t talked to anyone. But he was right, she didn’t understand his intentions. She would have sat with him, holding his hand until he died if it had been he who was injured. She never would have even entertained thoughts of causing his demise for any reason. And yet…and yet, on a deeper level she was beginning to understand some of who and what he was. He gave her a glimpse into his frightening world. A gift or a curse, it was what it was—him.

“Why were you with that police officer? I mean, why will you be put in the Witness Protection Program if they know you kill people?” Christy asked. She didn’t understand why the authorities would let someone like him go free and help him do it.

“A rift formed between some of my people,” Lando said. From the way he tensed and his tight-lipped response she could tell he was being cautious or evasive. She didn’t want him to cut her off or shut down.

“I’m sorry. Am I asking too much?” she asked, seriously concerned she overstepped her bounds.

He sighed and relaxed. “It wouldn’t be wise for you to know. When we reach civilization you might be hurt or worse if my people think you know anything or have gotten close to me. Too much information might put you in danger. I won’t be able to protect you from them if I’m in police custody.”

“Would you protect me?”

“You may not be able to stay with me, but right now, right here, you’re mine,” Lando informed her. He once more became possessive. “As long as you’re in my care, I’ll protect the hell out of you from anything, anyone. Sweetheart, you have no idea what happens in my world. I understand the people who are coming for me. You may not comprehend this, but I respect them. They’re in a class all their own. Only one who lives it would be able to understand it.”