Page 17 of Beautiful Killer

CHAPTER SIX

Zeke

The little brunette grunted then fired a string of curses at me when I dropped her on her ass.

“Enough?” I said.

Ruby scowled up at me from the floor. “Not even close.”

I watched her shake it off then jump back to her feet, an evil-as-fuck grin spreading across her face.

She motioned me forward. “That all you got?”

Jesus, the woman was relentless, focused, determined. I admired the hell out of her for it. Having Ruby out in the field had taken Neco some getting used to, but he was dealing with it, and she’d become an amazing agent, an asset to our team—but tonight, I didn’t want to spar, I wanted to get to Sunny. I hadn’t seen her in four nights. It felt like twenty. I only had myself to blame. Jesus, she’d thanked me before I walked out, like I’d somehow made a difference to her life just from climbing in her bed every night. I’d let her words twist and warp in my mind all the next day, until I’d convinced myself to back off. I’d overreacted. I mean, she’d thanked me, so fucking what? Or maybe I was just trying to talk myself into believing that, so I could have her back under me tonight.

Shit, my skin felt too tight for my body. She was all I could think about.

The warmth and scent of her skin, her hair, the softness of all those wild blond waves sliding over me . . .

“Omph!”I went down, the wind knocked from my lungs as I landed flat on my back. I blinked and stared up into Ruby eyes, wide with shock . . . and bright with goddamn glee.

She whooped, then lifted her hands in the air and jogged in a circle. “Oh yeah, that’s how it’s done.” She cupped her ear. “What’s that?” she said to her invisible audience. “Is that Ruby you’re chanting?” Then she started chanting her own name, jogging around the room, air punching like she was Rocky Balboa.

I pulled myself into a sitting position, and shook my head. Jesus, I’d let Sunny distract me and she wasn’t even in the room. Ruby stopped yelling her own name suddenly and squealed, making my goddamn ears ring, then raced across the room. I watched her run to Neco, who had just walked in, letting him catch her.

She planted a kiss on her man’s lips then spun and pointed at me. “As you can see, Zeke is currently on his ass.” She grinned wider. “I put him on it.”

Neco looked at me, brows high. “No shit?”

“No shit,” she said, then started laughing maniacally.

I ignored them both and got to my feet. “Doesn’t count. I was distracted.”

“Ha!” Ruby said. “If that makes you feel better, you think whatever you like.”

Hunter walked in, Lulu and their son Josh with him. Ruby instantly started sharing her tale of kicking my ass and Neco strode over to me.

He chuckled. “You know you’ll never hear the end of this, right? She’s been trying to knock you on your ass for months.”

I grunted.

Neco tilted his head to the side. “As good as Ruby is, she’s not that good, not many are.” His eyes bore into mine. “Something on your mind?”

“No.”

“You said it yourself, you’ve been distracted.” He shrugged. “And honestly, I’ve noticed.”

I stilled. “What are you saying?”

“Like I said, just like something’s on your mind.”

An uneasy feeling slid through me, ice spiking down my spine. If Neco noticed, it had to be bad. I’d only had one thing on my mind the last couple weeks: Sunny. She wasn’t just in her bedroom at night when I went to her, she was with me during the day, in my head. I anticipated seeing her. Shit, I think I actually missed her, not seeing her these last few nights.

Christ.That could not happen.

This thing with her, it was affecting my work. My mission.

“I need a shower.” I left Neco standing there, ignored him calling after me.