Page 78 of Snowbound

A beat.

“Not always. Depends on who it is.” He looks away. “And that’s already telling you too much.”

Not always.

Then… that means yes.

My voice trembles. “Would you really kill someone?” I whisper. “If they deserved it?”

“Only the worst of them,” he growls. “The predators. The ones no one mourns. Scum of the fucking earth. That’s who I take jobs for.”

His fingers drift through my hair tenderly, too tender for who he is.

“I don’t talk about it.”

“Why?” I ask.

“Because it pays well. And I’m fucking good at it.”

“That’s not the only reason.”

He doesn’t deny it. Just looks past me, and then back, his voice low.

“If they told me to put a bullet in the head of some cheating bastard like your husband? I’d do it in a heartbeat.”

I breathe in through my nose, out through my mouth. This is scary—all of it. Us.

“Okay,” I whisper.

He drags the laptop toward me and opens it.

“Password’s one, two, three, four,” he mutters. “Everything’s yours to see. Just don’t send. Don’t reply. Camera off. Got it?”

I nod, and he kisses my cheek—not soft, not hard. Just… final.

“I’m going to get changed,” he says. “Poke around. If you find something you can’t live with, I’ll leave. Snow’s melting. You can go back to your life. I won’t stop you.”

And then he’s gone, leaving the fire hissing and the truth still echoing through the room.

I’m not sure if what he just told me… was love. Or a warning.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Owen

The fire pops.Wind claws at the windowpanes, and a delicate swirl of frost blooms across the glass.

I’m waiting for a reaction.

But there’s no scream. No frantic tapping of keys. No gasp, no sharp cry, no angry slam of the laptop.

Just silence. Good… I think?

I take my time getting dressed, tugging on a pair of sweats but no shirt. She likes it when I walk around half-dressed, even if she tries not to look. Always has a peek, that one.

I watch the way her eyes widen, the way her neck flushes. When she’s in bed, I see how her thighs shift under the covers. It reminds me of the way she looked when she was off-limits, only now, we’re two consenting adults who can do whatever the fuck we want.

I know exactly what that means.