Maid for the Hitman: A Steamy Standalone Instalove Romance by Flora Ferrari (lightweight ebook reader txt) 📗

I run into the hallway to find Ryland pushing Vito up against the wall, patting him down for guns. He takes a handgun from his pocket and slips it into the back of his pants, and then reaches into his cargos and takes out a pair of handcuffs.

He slaps them on Vito and then marches him across the room, shoving him onto the bottom step.

I walk by the step, meeting eyes with Vito, my heartbeat picking up speed when I think about the last time I saw him.

“What happened to that man?” I ask. I can’t stop myself. “In the dumpster? The one you locked in there.”

Vito stares at the floor stubbornly, like a little kid who’s been told no and doesn’t like it. He even looks like a petulant child on the naughty step.

“My woman asked you a question,” Ryland growls.

“We had to let him out,” Vito grumbles. “My father found out what was happening and called up one of the guys.”

I turn away, letting out a sigh.

I’m glad that man didn’t die in there.

I walk over to Ryland, looking up at him with a question in my eyes.

“They’re almost here,” he tells me, tapping his watch. “And then this is all going to be over. This piece of shit tried to take me out. He failed. He almost got half his dad’s crew arrested. It doesn’t look good for you, Vito. The Feds have got enough to put you away for life.”

Vito sighs and keeps staring at the floor.

I reach up and touch my man’s strong, square jawline.

I love you, Ryland, I want to scream. I’m so happy everything is okay.

But I can’t bring myself to say the L-word, not yet.

I feel as though it would smash into this moment, crush it like wet paper, leaving us lost and confused.

For now, I’ll just enjoy this moment, the fact that Ryland is alive and we’re ready to properly begin our lives together.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Ryland

I stand at the top of the city, so close to the clouds it’s like I could reach out and touch them.

The sun hangs in the sky, glittering over the city, the light moving into my chest and making parts of me swell… parts I didn’t even know existed before I met my Rosie.

I turn to the rooftop, studying the garden I’ve had put together, luscious and green and verdant, a pocket of nature up here in the cityscape.

Jackie’s face lit up when I asked for her blessing.

She smiled and clasped her hands to her chest, smiling broadly.

“Oh, yes, yes,” she cried. “Of course it’s a yes, Ryland. I’m so happy you want to do this the right way.”

“Of course, ma’am,” I said. “That’s the only way to do things with Rosie. She deserves the world.”

A red carpet leads from the secret rooftop garden to the elevator. I stroll over across the garden, walking amongst the trees and the luscious bright nature, all of it throwing its scents at me, a whole conflagration of smells washing around me.

And yet beneath it all, I’m certain I can smell my woman getting closer, riding the elevator up, her womb and her perfume and her just-Rosie scent shivering closer to me.

We came through hell together.

Now it’s time to look for our heaven.

I pause next to the glass table and the silver chairs, so shiny I catch parts of my reflection in the metal. Everything is glistening and star-bright, but none of it burns with the passion I hold for my woman.

I sigh, relief seizing my chest, when I think about Vito’s fate.

He has been exiled by his family for the stupid move he made on me. And he’s been arrested by the Feds for countless charges. He’s going to spend the rest of his life in prison, and every Mob guy has been ordered to forget I exist.

The other criminals want nothing to do with me.

I was clever with how I took Vito out because a good predator knows when to use his mind as much as his brawn, but I could’ve charged out there and torn them to pieces.

I could’ve unloaded like it was a Western, taking them all out, or beat Vito to death right in front of them.

But I need to be better, more human, for my woman and for the children we’re going to make together.

Finally, the elevator beeps, calling me from my thoughts.

I stand up straighter, my heartbeat getting louder and slamming into my chest with more pressure.

It’s been two days since the craziness at the safe house. I’ve spent every second of it with my woman, in bed exploring her from head to toe… and walking Chopper with her, sharing laughter, smiles, things I never thought a man like me would be blessed with.

It’s all led to this, to here.

My heartbeat thunders against the ring box in my inside jacket pocket.

If I was a different man, maybe I’d wait a few weeks or a month.

Maybe I could hold off on branding her mine, just mine, for the whole world to see.

But my need for her is like a hot tattoo, marking me indelibly.

I wander to the edge of the garden, standing behind the vine-covered trellis. The weaving of the plants is just wide enough to let me see through and peer at the scene.

Rosie appears from the edge of the roof, walking over on short heels, her eyes moving down over the red carpet, around the garden, and finally settling on the glass table.

“Ryland?” she calls, spinning in a slow circle.

My whole body stiffens at the sight of her. It’s not just my manhood, but other parts of me, emotions I never knew I could even feel before I met Rosie. She calls for me with her body and her passion and her love—her love, because I know she feels the same as me.

She’s wearing the forest-green dress I left for her, framing her gorgeous thighs in a dignified way, cut high to cover her cleavage… so she doesn’t distract me