Page 15 of My Masked Stalker (Beautiful Stalkers #1)

KILLIAN

I trail kisses over Emily’s soft stomach, framed by the open corset. When I reach her firm breasts, I give her nipples a lick. Predictably, she gives a sleepy protest, her legs twitching together. I broke her.

Chuckling darkly, I climb further up and take her lips.

Now that she’s given herself to me, I can’t stay away from them any longer.

Every part of her is now mine, except her innocent heart, but I won’t stop until she gives me that, too.

As soon as Ethan and I deal with the Black Ash syndicate, she’ll be moving in with me.

When she shivers from the cold, I pick her up and wrap her in the warm red cloak. I return the Ghoststrike to its sheath on my belt, then turn in the direction of the cabin. It’s not too far from here, but too far to make her walk after I’ve wrung out the last of her energy.

“Where are you taking me?” she mumbles, her head lolling against my chest. She looks like a sleepy kitten. It makes me want to bite her.

“Somewhere where there’s a bed and a fireplace, sweetheart.”

Her mouth opens into a sweet little O, and I laugh. I’d love to shove my dick back into it, but I’m trying not to be a complete savage. Suddenly, her eyes widen with alarm.

“Barbs! I need to call my friend,” she says, her words tripping one over another. “She must be insane with worry, probably shut the whole carnival down and called the National Guard to boot.”

I’m shaking my head before she finishes. “No need, baby. I texted her already.”

A honey-colored eyebrow lifts imperiously. Oddly, it makes my dick twitch, despite coming like a firehose not long ago.

“What do you mean you texted her? What did you say?” She laughs darkly. “This is Emily’s stalker. I chased her into the woods and had my way with her while she was hanging upside down on a rope?”

I smirk at her plucky sense of humor. “No. I texted her from your number and said you weren’t feeling well and called a taxi.”

Emily groans. “She’s never going to believe that because you didn’t?—”

“I ended the text with Cinnamon Roll,” I interrupt.

Her gray eyes blink at me as she processes the information in stunned silence.

“How did you…” she whispers.

“I know everything about you, Emily.” I scoff, looking away for a moment. “Do you think I would go to these measures if you weren’t perfect for me, inside and out?”

When she doesn’t say anything, I look down again to see her lower lip tremble. I’m overwhelming her. She’ll learn to deal with it.

“What?” I growl when she continues to stare up at me, not saying a word.

She hesitates for a moment. “When did you take my phone to text her? It’s just weird she hasn’t called me, that’s all.”

I throw my head back, barking out a laugh. Above us, a bird takes flight, wings slapping the air.

“Baby, I’ve had your phone since day one. Nothing was ever safe from me.”

Emily bites her lip, making me jealous of her teeth. She stops when I stare at it, growling.

“Is that how you were listening in on me?” she finally asks, her voice shaky.

One corner of my mouth pulls up into a smirk. “That’s my smart girl,” I praise her. Her cheeks color beautifully at my words.

“I can’t believe you were listening to me pee,” she mutters grumpily, and I find myself laughing again.

“I had zero fucking interest in listening to you pee, sweetheart.” I shake my head. “Not my kink.”

By the time she opens her mouth again, I can see the cabin’s porch light in the distance.

“Killian?”

I grin at her tentative question. “Yes, Emily?”

“Tell me something about yourself?” Her order comes out like another question. “I only know your name and that you k—k?—”

“Kill people with a sniper rifle?” I finish, amused by the way her courage comes and goes.

“Y—yes.”

“Mm,” I muse. “I’m thirty-five. I was a Marine Scout Sniper. Did a few tours eating sand. Now I’m a hired gun. Much more profitable,” I finish with a grin.

I take the porch stairs two at a time, opening the door before she continues her interrogation.

“What about family?” she asks. “Got any siblings?”

I purse my lips. “I have two brothers, but we’re not related.”

“Were they also Marines?”

My smart little Red. Smart, funny, kind, generous, and so fucking hot.

“No.” I huff, thinking back to our time overseas. “E was Army. Damien Navy. We’re a very unlikely trifecta, that’s for fucking sure.”

Her brow furrows, and she doesn’t even look around the cabin, all her focus on me. As it should be.

“Do they know…”

“Do they know what, sweetheart?” I prompt with a smile I know could cut glass. “That I’m a merc? Or that I’m obsessed with you?” I use my foot to close the door behind us, making her startle as it bangs against the doorframe. “Yes.”

Now that we’re out of the cold, her blush is even more evident. She bites her lower lip again. She’s lucky both of my hands are busy holding her.

“Were they watching me, too?”

I carry her to the bathroom and place her on the sink counter with a kiss to her forehead that makes her squirm.

“Ethan has eyes on the hallway camera in your apartment building. For security reasons only.” I twist the tap of the jacuzzi and add bubbles. “Damien prefers to stay out of anything sordid unless he’s knuckle deep in a knife or bullet wound.”

She audibly winces, and I throw her a grin over my shoulder.

“Worried about me getting hurt, baby?” I ask in a purr.

“You’re limping,” she replies deadpan.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” I mutter before unbuttoning my pants and pushing them down.

While Emily gasps, I ignore my half-hard dick—it’s impossible for me to be soft in her presence—and inspect the thigh wound.

Now that my system’s calmed down in her presence, the throbbing pain is starting to make itself known.

There’s some redness and a few drops of blood.

“If one stitch was the casualty of me finally sinking into that sweet cunt, I’ll take the win,” I say with a shrug, then sit on the edge of the tub to take off my boots while she flushes red like a traffic light.

“What happened?” she asks tentatively. When I glance up from my task, I see she’s staring at my wound, her eyes wide and unblinking. I curse myself silently—she won’t be used to seeing wounds like that. Of course she’s feeling unsettled.

“Just a scratch, sweetheart,” I say with a wink.

As soon as I stand up, her eyes move over my thigh muscles and to my dick.

When she licks those plush lips, I take off my shirt and expose my abs and tattoos.

I might even flex a bit, preening as she obviously admires my body.

I’m suddenly really glad I spent most of my free time over the last couple of decades working out.

Anything to make my girl look at me like she’s starving and I’m the only meal she’ll ever need.

I run a hand over the bottom of my stomach and up to my chest, and smirk when her eyes follow it in a trance.

“You like what you see, Emily?” I ask darkly. The way her throat bobs makes my cock go from half-mast to fully at attention in record time.

She scoffs, trying to play it off. “You’re lucky you’re hot.”

I step closer and crowd her against the counter, using the pad of my finger to lift up her chin.

“Or what? You’d call the cops?” I challenge.

It’s the first time I’m seeing her eyes so clearly, a perfect ashy gray with darker striations, and framed by thick, dark eyelashes.

“Maybe I would have,” she returns with false bravado. I catch the way her pulse speeds up when I grin at her.

“Bullshit,” I call her out. “You had no idea what I looked like until the night I fucked you with my Ka-Bar. And even then, it was dark. Pretty sure my mask was on for most of the time, too.”

Emily sputters, trying to lean back and create distance between us. I don’t let her.

“No, sweetheart,” I continue, now holding her chin still with some force. “You got wet at the idea of a killer lusting after you. It turned you on, knowing I’m watching, knowing you make me hard just by breathing.”

She tries to shake her head in my grip. “N—no. You’re crazy.”

I laugh, the sound mixing with the water filling the tub. “Crazy about you, that’s pretty fucking obvious, baby.” I wrap my arms under her thighs and pick her up. “Now, come on. Let’s get you warmed up.”