Page 44 of Goodnight, Sinners

The look he gave her sent her pulse fluttering and made her squirm in her panties. It might just be worth it to show up late.

Chapter Twenty

The drive to the hospital took about thirty minutes. Shaun chatted amicably with Cooper, her new favourite bodyguard. He was growing on her more and more every day, a bit like a foot fungus. He encroached on her personal space, chattered incessantly and made inappropriate and unfunny jokes. He was one of those people who treated death like it was a hilarious affliction. But he was sweet when it counted, and he was always respectful.

“You think the boss man will have those two assholes killed?” This was from Cooper.

Shaun rolled her eyes at him. They were sitting together in the back seat of an SUV that had been assigned to Shaun for her visits into the city. Two other bodyguards sat up front. Both were straight-faced and uninterested in what was happening in the back seat.

“Why would Jozef tell me he was going to kill someone?” she asked, not bothering to feel appalled by the question. She was getting used to Cooper. “I’m a doctor.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

The American was slouched in his seat, the seatbelt stretched taut across his broad chest, his chiseled jaw clean-shaven and his blond hair cut to perfection. If she didn’t have Jozef in her life, Shaun might find Cooper drool-worthy. At least until he opened his mouth and said something.

An image of him being gagged by a woman before going to bed with her made Shaun laugh out loud. He gave her a strange look but didn’t comment. She shook the image away. Jozef was so possessive, if he suspected Shaun of daydreaming about another man, innocent thoughts or not, he would lock Shaun in their bedroom and beat up the man who’d infiltrated her head.

“My oath as a doctor is to do no harm, which I take seriously.”

“What does that have to do with your husband killing someone?” His blue gaze was on her face. That was another thing she liked about him. Cooper was direct when he spoke to her, and he looked her in the eye.

“I would prefer not to think of Jozef killing anyone,” she said tartly.

“And yet he does. Do you plan on burying your head in the sand so you can pretend it’s not happening? That doesn’t seem like you.”

She flinched.

Cooper had unknowingly touched on the single thing in her relationship with Jozef that could break them. She could look past a lot, including many of his illegal enterprises. She could reason that he was raised to lead a criminal organization. The one thing she couldn’t do was absolve him of the sin of murder.

Shaun and Jozef had discussed the ideology of murder more than once in their turbulent relationship. Jozef knew right from wrong. Knew when he took a life that his actions had ripple consequences. Yet, he still killed. Even though she wasn’t a part of that side of his life, she was aware it existed.

She shook her head. “I don’t have an answer for that yet. Maybe I never will.”

“You love him?” Cooper asked.

Shaun nodded. “Of course.”

“Then find a way to live with it.”

She frowned. “Why should I do that? Why shouldn’t he be the one who changes?”

“He has changed,” Cooper countered. “I’ve only known him for a few months, but I knew of his reputation before I started working for him. He’s changed, Shaun.”

“But he still kills.”

Except for the attack on the club, which had been an extreme situation in which Jozef had been forced to defend himself, she actually wasn’t sure Jozef still killed. She wondered if Cooper knew something she didn’t.

Cooper, being a very candid man, gave her exactly what she wanted, showing her she didn’t really want the answers. “Sure, he still kills. He had to take out a few of his uncle’s most loyal men so he could take the estate without getting a knife in the back.”

Shaun felt like ice water had been poured over her and she had to bite her lip to stop a gasp of shock. She shouldn’t be shocked, though. Jozef was a killer, a mob boss now. Head of a Bratva affiliated organization. He had decisions to make and some of those decisions would end lives.

“Then he hasn’t changed that much,” she said flatly, looking out the window, hoping her tone would shut down the conversation.

Of course, Cooper always had to have the last word. “Keep telling yourself that, princess.”

She turned narrowed eyes on him and opened her mouth to blast him, but he flashed her his signature grin and she smiled back. She couldn’t stay mad at her bodyguard. He was irrepressible, but more than that, after losing Karl, she wanted to make sure she had her bodyguard’s back.

She knew it made little sense; her bodyguard was there to protect her. It wasn’t her job to protect him too, but she couldn’t help herself. And it wasn’t just Cooper. She watched all the men, keeping an eye on them. She took a more active role in treating injuries and inquiring about their lives.

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