Ruthless Creatures (Queens & Monsters, #1)

by J.T. Geissinger

People say time heals all wounds, but those people are assholes. Wounds like mine don’t heal. I’ve just learned to control the bleeding.

It’s the pirate. The drug dealer. Big-dick-energy dude with the epic scruff.

“If you don’t get a dick up in that hot pocket soon, it’s gonna grow over. You’ll never be able to have sex again.”

Sitting by himself at a table, his back to the window, a pint of beer in his hand, the stranger I bumped into outside the restroom stares at me. Because he removed his dark sunglasses, this time I can see his eyes.

They’re the deep, rich brown of Guinness stout, set wide beneath a stern brow, and surrounded by a thicket of black lashes. Focused on me with startling intensity, those eyes don’t move or blink. But oh, how darkly they burn.

“Haven’t you been listening? He bought the house next to yours.”

“Sorry, princess. If you’re looking for a knight in shining armor, you’re looking in the wrong fucking place.”

It shouldn’t make a difference that she’s stunning, but it does. She’s so extravagantly beautiful I almost laughed out loud when I saw her.

I know better than to mix business with pleasure. I just need to focus and do what I came here to do.

If only she weren’t so goddamn beautiful. I don’t like to break beautiful things.

“You are beautiful,” comes the hard reply. “But it has nothing to do with that fussy fucking dress.”

“Simple is better on you. Perfection doesn’t need any embellishment.”

It’s obvious he doesn’t like it when he gives me compliments. Also obvious is that he never intends to, they just come out. Less obvious is why he gets so angry with himself when it happens.

“My fiancé disappeared. That was five years ago. I haven’t seen him since.”

“I’m a collector.” That surprises me. He could’ve said “contract killer” and I would’ve just nodded. “Oh. Like antiques or something?” His pressure on my hand is firm and steady. His gaze is also steady as he looks into my eyes and answers. “No. Like debts.”

“It was supposed to be for work.” “But now it isn’t?” His gaze drops to my mouth again. His voice comes out husky. “I don’t know what it is now.”

“Interrupt me again and I’ll take you over my knee right here and spank that perfect ass of yours until you’re screaming.”

“Because I want you to trust me.” “Why?” “Because I want you. And I suspect getting to have you requires a certain level of trust. I can tell you’re not the type who sleeps around. Next question.”

“A few days. I need to kiss you.” “No.” It’s faint and not altogether convincing. “Then come sit on my lap and let me finger fuck you while I feed you dinner.”

“Ask me to leave you alone and you have my word I will. But until I hear that, I have to tell you, Natalie, that I want to fuck your sweet cunt and your perfect ass and your luscious mouth and anything else you’ll let me fuck, because you are the single most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“I agree that it’s hot. It’s also way over the top. What kind of woman would react with ‘Sure, great, please fuck all my holes, Mr. Complete Stranger, sounds like a totally solid and not at all dangerous plan’?”

If anyone ever finds out I didn’t do the job I was sent to do, we’re both dead.

“I’m a lot of different things. It doesn’t matter. The point is that I stayed away as long as I could. A little bit of fucking snow wasn’t about to stop me from getting here.”

“No one-night stands. No girlfriends. No anything since I first laid eyes on you.”

“Please don’t be afraid of me. I told you I’d never hurt you. That was the truth.”

“She’s a pretty girl. But there are a million pretty girls in the world.” He lifts his hand and lightly touches my cheek. His voice softer, he says, “There’s only one of you.”

“I want everything you have to give, Natalie, for as long as you want to give it to me.”

“Good. I want you to speak your mind with me. Tell me when I’m out of line. Kick my ass if I need it. Because one thing I can guarantee you is that I’m not an easy man. I’m definitely gonna piss you off.”

“I need you to know I’ll never hurt you. I need you to trust that. To trust me, without reservations. Until you can, all of this is up to you. You call the shots. You make the rules. You have my word I won’t do anything you don’t specifically ask me to do.”

“I haven’t stopped thinking about you since the day we met. I’m not someone who obsesses over things, but I’ve obsessed over you. To the point of distraction. To the point where it interfered with my work. I can’t get you out of my head, and I’ve tried. Hard. It was useless. So I gave up trying.

If and when he kisses me, I’m toast. “A bad man would never warn a woman he wanted that he wasn’t good.”

“A bad man would never warn a woman he wanted that he wasn’t good.”

“Because once you’re in my bed, you’re mine. And that’s it. Once I have you, I’ll never let you go. Not even if you ask me to.”

“This is who I am. The only bad thing I don’t do is lie. I’ll never lie to you, even if I know you’ll fucking hate it.”

“Careful, beautiful girl.” I love it when he calls me that. It makes all my hollow spaces fill up with crackling white light and start singing.

“For a guy who claims to be such a bad scary criminal, you’re a big softie.” “Only for you.”

“I’ll have to make you fall in love with me before I tell you all my darkest secrets.”

“So either don’t tell me your secrets or don’t make me fall in love with you. Because once I fall in, even death can’t make me fall out.”

“He didn’t deserve you.”

“I don’t mean Deputy Dipshit.” He’s not talking about Chris? Then who else— When I realize who he means, my heart skips a beat. Seeing the expression on my face, Kage nods. “Yes. Your missing fiancé. He didn’t deserve the kind of loyalty you’ve shown him.”

“It’s over. You know how I know?” “How?” “Because if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t feel any of the things I feel for you.”

The kind of crime Kage is involved with is organized. And from the looks of things, he’s running the organization.

Kage is in the mafia.

“Like those stars on your shoulders. What do those mean?” “High rank.” I whisper, “In the mafia.” He doesn’t even miss a beat. “Yes.”

“I told you I wasn’t a good man.” “You didn’t tell me you were the head of the Russian mafia.” “I’m not the head.” He pauses. “He’s in prison. I’m second-in-command.” “Jesus!” “Nobody’s perfect.”

Then a gunshot rings out, ruining the mood altogether.

I shouldn’t be here. Here, with Natalie, who’s supposed to be at the bottom of Lake Tahoe with a bullet in her head. If Max somehow gets wind of this, we’re both fucked.

“I’ll give you anything else you ask for. Everything you ask for. Anything you wanted for the rest of your life, you’d have.” “Please stop talking now.” “You’d be taken care of forever. You’d be my queen.”

“Because I’m giving you my word that I don’t. And I won’t. I never will. If you tell me you’re mine, you’ll be the only woman for me. Forever.”

“All those years I spent waiting … I don’t think it was for him anymore. I think it was for you.”