All he had to do was remember how they flocked to this kill. Just thinking about the men and women that were after Pepper had him tightening his hand around hers. She winced.
“You’re hurting me.”
And he quickly let her go. His strength was his biggest enemy.
Training for years, he had only learned to get stronger, and right beside him was a precious little princess, and he didn’t even mean that derogatorily either. She was a sweet girl, and he saw kindness deep in her eyes. Back at the hotel room when Lola was scaring her, she’d reached out toward him. She didn’t even have a clue that between him and Lola, he was the bigger monster.
“Sorry,” he said, sucking his thumb into his mouth, to get rid of his blood. They stood in the elevator, and he saw how pale she was. “You’ll be safe here.”
“You have so much security, even more than my family had. It’s kind of … reassuring.”
“But it scares you?”
“Doesn’t it you?”
He placed a hand on her back, wishing there wasn’t any fabric between them. The sudden desire to see her naked, to have her bent over the nearest counter or up against the wall was strong. Gritting his teeth, he controlled his desire, and fortunately the elevator opened. “In my line of work, you realize the risk you take, and you take precautions. If every mercenary was smart, they would have a home exactly like mine.”
“It’s a dangerous world that you live in.”
“Kill or be killed. I’d rather be the one that’s doing the killing.”
“You don’t feel remorse?”
“Most of the people I killed are bad people.” He kept on walking but she stopped, and he turned to her.
“I’m not a bad person. I’ve never done anything mean to anyone in my whole life.”
He saw the tears shining in her eyes, and knew this had to be shock. She was a normal woman, a rich-normal woman. She had never lived the life he had.
“It’s a greedy man who wants to kill me. How many kinds of people like me have you killed? You know, for the right price?”
For the first time in his life, Viper didn’t like being judged. She wasn’t judging him, no. All Pepper was doing was asking a simple question.
“I don’t talk about what I did, or how I did it. Come on, you’re hurting, and I want to see the damage.” He took her hand, and led her toward the bathroom. With her limping, he slowed down so that he didn’t upset her.
All of his life he’d known pain. That was what he’d been trained to do—to hunt, to kill, and to never ask any questions.
“Do you own any books?” Pepper asked. “I don’t see any.”
“No.”
“Oh, I love books.”
Of course she did.
“Let me guess, romance.”
“There’s nothing wrong with loving a little romance,” she said. “It makes me happy.”
“Romance is just a bunch of lies.”
“How would you know? I bet you’ve never even read one.”
“I’ve never read any book,” he said, entering his large bathroom. He loved luxury, space, and everywhere he went inside his home, there was some kind of weapon within easy reach.
He lifted her up onto his counter, and she gave a little squeal. After turning on the light, he got a good look at her bruise.
“I’m fine.”