Page 49 of Claimed By the Villain

“I’ll reach out to him. Even with all the precautions we’re taking, and with Ruslan’s idea of marrying Jackie to shield her, I think, as we’ve discussed before, that would only work if the enemy came from the mafia or was another contract killer like me.”

“But you don’t believe that?”

“No. I think it’s personal, though I can’t imagine who it could be. Every enemy I’ve ever had, I’ve already eliminated.”

He looks at me, and I know what he’s going to say before he even opens his mouth.

“Speaking of the past, do you plan to tell her someday?” he asks.

“Yes. At the end of the five years, I’ll tell her everything. I’ll be ready to face her hatred by then, but not now. Not yet.”

Chapter 26

“Did you get everything you needed from your place?” I ask, losing my train of thought completely when I find Jackie in my kitchen, ass up, bent over the oven.

She startles and drops the baking dish.

“Ow.”

“You should’ve used the mitt,” I say, grabbing her arm and leading her to the sink to run cool water over her slightly reddened hand.

“It’s fine. Just the scare.”

She pulls her hand away and won’t meet my eyes. I don’t know what to do from here.

I followed Beau’s suggestion.

As soon as I left our meeting, I went to one of the vacant apartments I own and had a jeweler meet me there with his entire stock of wedding bands and engagement rings. I also asked for earrings, bracelets, and necklaces. I’ve got so much damn jewelry waiting in the living room that I might as well open my own store.

I have no fucking clue how I’m supposed to give her an engagement ring, or all that gold, when she won’t even look at me.

“I have something in the living room you might like,” I say.

“What is it?”

“A gift. Or… several.”

Jackie

Lucifer looks completely uncomfortable, and I don’t know why. Is it because he found me in his kitchen? If it is, we’re going to have a problem. I refuse to eat frozen meals every day. If we’re really doing this, getting married, we’re going to have decent meals every day.

Or at least on the days he’s here, a voice in my head reminds me.

“Do you plan on being gone a lot after we get married?” I ask, stopping in my tracks. “I’m not asking you to be around all the time, it’s just that I need to plan.”

He grips my shoulders.

“That’s your only concern about our marriage? Not that whole connection thing?”

“I mentioned the connection because we don’t really know each other, Lucifer. We’ve been apart too long. Each of us is still stuck in the past.”

“I know you.”

“What’s my favorite color? What am I afraid of? What other volunteer work do I do besides the association? Who was the first guy to break my heart?”

Like yesterday, he takes a step back.

“You don’t know, do you? I’ll tell you. My favorite color has been navy blue for a long time—”