Page 13 of His Coveted Obsession

I wanted to giggle because it was a little embarrassing for me that he was so blunt, but I thought it was amazing, too. I instantly knew what he liked without having to figure it out or dance around with words. There were no games at all. I had a feeling I would always know where I stood with Easton… If we had more than one date…

“My favorite part!” I said, and it was.

“We’re agreed then. Where do I pick you up?”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Well, I still live with my dad and younger sister near the Capitol Hill area, not too far from here, so maybe it’s not the best idea to do that at my house.”

“I have a new condo, so we can do it there. What time?”

“Is five fine?”

“Be here at five on Thursday, and I’ll pick you up and take you to dinner first. What food do you like?”

I chewed on my bottom lip, feeling uncertain. I was pretty basic when it came to food. He probably liked the fancy food. “What do you like? I’ll eat pretty much anything.”

“We’ll have sushi.”

Ugh,andhe was decisive. Easton was absolutely perfect.

I stood to get ready to go back to work. “Uhm, you’re not like going to kill me or anything?” I asked, only half joking. “Don’t get me wrong! I mean, I like a forward guy, but… yeah, we just met and all.”

“I don’t kill good people.”

I blinked a couple of times before I burst out into laughter. “That’s funny. I love dry humor. Yeah, I’ll be here then.”

“Good then. See you Thursday at five, Thomas. Don’t be late.”

“I won’t.”

When I headed back to the employee lounge, I quietly danced around and held in my excited scream. Yes! I snagged a hottie!

Theweatherwasn’tideal,sleeting down on me as I inched my way toward the large, well-lit house. It wasn’t as massive as the house I grew up in, but it was big enough that it could cause problems finding everyone I needed to kill.

Even with a jacket and beanie, I felt the cold penetrate straight to my bones, making it hard to control the shivering. I couldn’t afford to have shaky hands. The sleet also made visibility difficult. I hoped Maverick could see well enough. Regardless, I had to stay on top of it if he couldn’t.

Sid Virgil, my adopted father, taught me to prepare for any and all outcomes, so I had to make do. But evenhemademistakes sometimes.

As I pushed my way forward, staying out of sight, hiding behind bushes and trees, I flipped the small dagger between my fingers. It was something I frequently did out of habit, but it was calming, too. It helped me focus.

My breath ghosted in a cloud in front of me as the sleet pelted the ground like sand sprinkling on glass. I kept slowly inching my way forward, eyeing every shadow and listening for every sound.

There was movement out of the corner of my eye. A man was smoking near the windows to the basement with a semiautomatic strapped to his shoulder.

Suddenly, he dropped to the ground, dead. Maverick was right on cue. I rushed toward him and pulled him into some bushes to buy me some time. My heart rate only accelerated from the exertion of moving the guard. I then dug into his pants and found a key card to get into the house.

I blanked out my mind and kept moving and moving. Around the corner of the house, I planned to use the basement door to get in.

Another guard stood sentry in front of the door, but then he, too, dropped dead. I dragged him away and dumped him out of sight.

“You’re all clear. The guards have been taken care of on the outside. If I see any on the inside through the windows, I’ll take them out, but it will be noisy and may pinpoint your location,” said Maverick in my ear. “For now, we have surprise on our side.”

“Copy,” I replied.

The door had a keypad and a card scanner. I pressed the card against the scanner, and the door clicked open to a waft of heat.

There was a guard right there, and when he turned to face me, he caught a knife in his eye. The dagger was too small to kill him outright, so when he fell, I jumped on him and slit his jugular before he could cry out.

I quickly yanked out my knife and took a step back to keep the blood from splattering on me. Then I wiped it on my black combat pants and tucked it in its sheath, pulling out a larger knife.

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