Ripped: A Hitman Romance

By Jove Chambers

Cade “Ripper” Davies
I don’t do attachments. I don’t do affection.

I do my job, and it’s all I need. I’m a contract killer, and I’m a bad man.

But this girl, Shell, she’s getting to me. She started out as a convenient hostage, a means to an end. But for some reason, I’m keeping her safe, even though it means turning against a man I once considered my best friend.

There’s something about her, and not just that she’s sexy as hell. I can’t get her out of my head, and I can’t let her go.

Shell Birch
The first thing I notice about Cade is that he’s ridiculously attractive. The next thing I notice is that he’s pointing a gun at me. I’m not one of those girls who gets hot for dangerous men, but let me tell you, the shoulders on this guy... Looking at his hard, broad body makes me warm in all the wrong places.

He’s got a filthy mind and clever fingers, and he makes me dizzy when he touches me. I’m at his mercy, completely and utterly.

I’ve see another side of him, something unguarded and honorable. That side of him takes me and makes me his. But I can’t be his... not with the kind of life he leads, not with the kind of demons he has.

Oh, and I think I might be pregnant.

This a standalone romance novel with a HEA and no cliffhanger.

• Language: English
• Publisher: V. J. Chambers
• Release date: Jun 21, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310647109

Jove Chambers

Jove Chambers is the dark romance pen name for USA Today bestselling author, V. J. Chambers. Most of her books were originally published under that name.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Cade

I pushed open the door to Prince Larbi Hassan’s office. Really, I didn’t think he conducted any actual business besides rerouting large sums of money to terrorist organizations, but he had an office anyway.

Little Larbi was well known to be a playboy and party prince. Though his lifestyle was diametrically opposed with the morals of the extremist groups, they took his money anyway, probably even lied to him and told him that his gifts made up for his sins, that he was a holy man.

Crazy people had been doing that to rich leaders for centuries.

Prince Larbi looked up from his massive desk. He was typing something on his computer, staring at his razor-thin monitor. Who are you?

I smiled. They call me Ripper. I’m here to kill you.

Larbi pushed up out of the desk, the look on his face telling me that he wasn’t quite sure if he should take me seriously or not, but he was halfway towards screaming for his life anyway.

I strode across the room to meet him, casually pulling out my Browning Hi-Power and pressing it into his stomach. It’s nothing personal, I said. "Well, I personally do think you’re a waste of space who only uses people and funds mass killers, but I’m not the one who wants you dead."

Larbi drew in a lungful of air.

I put the gun in his mouth. Don’t scream. It’ll make you look like a lily-hearted pussy. Aren’t you people supposed to be trained to face death bravely?

He tried to back away.

I snatched him by the collar and held him close. You want to know who wants you dead? I’m not supposed to tell anyone, but since you’re going to be dead soon, I don’t suppose it matters. It’s the U.S. government. Not that they’d cop to it if anyone asked. This is all on the down low. But they hired me to kill you because they can’t touch you legally, not with your diplomatic immunity, and they know that you’re giving money to their enemies. They don’t like you very much.

He swallowed.

I sighed. You know, I don’t know why I bother. But it does seem to me that every man deserves to know why he’s being killed. So, now you know.

Larbi made a noise, around the gun, something like a word.

I didn’t want to hear what he had to say. Nothing he said would excuse him. And besides, nothing he said would unhire me to kill him. In the end, it was a job like any other. If I didn’t deliver what I advertised, I’d go out of business.

So, I pulled the trigger.

It was loud.

Larbi’s blood spattered the wall behind the desk. He toppled to the floor.

People would be coming.

I tugged a small spray bottle of bleach water out of my pocket. I sprayed down the gun. I dropped it. I wore gloves to avoid fingerprints, but the bleach was just extra protection. I advertised the fact that I provided a clean crime scene and there wasn’t any call for leaving my DNA all over the place.

I didn’t have a lot of time.

Striding past the desk and the body, I headed for the door behind the desk. I had found it in the building’s schematics earlier, when I was planning this out. The plan was to go out this door, go through Larbi’s personal rooms, hit his private elevator, go down to the bottom floor and leave through the back entrance.

It was a good plan.

But when I opened the door, I came face to face with two girls. One was wearing a lot of makeup and an expensive-looking robe. The other was in a t-shirt and jeans. Her eyes widened when she saw me.

The girls looked a lot alike.

But there was something about the girl in the t-shirt.

Maybe there was just something about the t-shirt. It was clingy, and I could see her nipples sticking out of the fabric. Either she wasn’t wearing a bra or it was a thin one.

Funny thing to notice when fleeing a crime scene, but killing sometimes gets me worked up.

Not that I had time to worry about that.

But there I was, staring at the chick’s tits, standing there, wasting time.

And the girl in the robe screamed. What did you do to Larbi?

* * *

Shell

The whole reason that I was at the home of Prince Larbi Hassan of Nemekistan was that I was trying to convince my sister to leave his harem. I didn’t make a habit of hanging around with foreign princes. I wouldn’t have even been allowed in under normal circumstances.

But Starling, my sister, had somehow managed to worm her way into the prince’s graces and she was now his number two girlfriend or something. The number one girlfriend was from Russia. Her name was Nadia.

Which isn’t important or anything.

What’s important is that I was trying to tell Starling (yes, our parents gave us weird names, and yes, I could slap them for it) that she didn’t need to sell her body for money, that she was better than that, that she was smart and sweet and talented.

But Starling was trying to tell me that the money was wicked good, much better than she’d ever get for any other job with her education and experience, and that Larbi was pretty much the greatest guy on earth.

Which was why we were going into his office. She was going to introduce me to him, and I was going to realize what a peach he was, and all my concerns would be erased. Whatever. Like that was going to happen.

But when we opened the door to his office—the back door, the one that came in through his bedroom—there was this guy standing there.

He was wearing a security uniform, but it didn’t fit him very well. The button-up shirt hugged his lean torso and strained to meet the pants that were cinched around his narrow hips.

He was hot. Like, ludicrously hot. He looked like one of those models on the front of those bear shifter romance books I’m always reading. Well, except for the fact that he was clothed.

I was so busy looking at the guy, whose gaze seemed to be lingering on my body as well, that I didn’t even notice the fact that Larbi was dead.

Not until my sister was screaming and throwing herself down on his body and shaking him. What did you do to Larbi? she screamed.

The man spread his hands. Would you believe he was like that when I got here?

No way, said Starling, and she stood up, picking up the gun that was on the desk, and pointing it straight at the guy. You killed him.

The man furrowed his brow. Oh, come on, now. Put the gun down.

No, said Starling. You killed him, and I loved him, and now I’m going to kill you.

Loved him? I said. "He was paying you for sex. He hired you."

It wasn’t like that at all, said Starling, tears streaming down her face. You don’t understand anything.

I understand that you have no respect for yourself, I said. I understand that you aren’t yourself. You’re my sister, and I would do anything—

He’s dead! Starling screamed.

Well, there was that. I guessed it was a bad thing that he was dead. I mean, sort of. It wasn’t as if I thought he was a real nice guy or anything. This harem of his had upwards of thirty girls in it, and just because he was paying them bank didn’t mean that what he was doing wasn’t disgusting.

Put the gun down, said the man again.

Starling’s finger tensed on the trigger.

The man rolled his eyes. All right, well, I want you to remember that I gave you a chance to put the gun down.

Starling looked confused. She had the upper hand in this situation, right?

I was kind of confused too. But before I could really even make sense of that, the man grabbed me. He pulled me against his body, my back pressed into his chest, into his pelvis.

Oh, holy hell, he was like marble. I could feel how firm his body was through the layers of our clothes, and it made my pulse quicken. I tensed, warmth gathering between my legs.

Mentally, I scolded myself. It was pretty obvious that this guy had killed Prince Larbi. Now, I didn’t think Larbi was in the running for Humanitarian of the Year or anything, but that didn’t mean that I approved of running around killing people. And I certainly didn’t get a charge out of guys who were killers or anything.

But here I was, feeling warm feelings for this guy.

Our bodies were so close.

It was just because he was attractive, I told myself. He was hot—that was all. If he’d been ugly, I would never have—

He put a gun against my temple.

Drop the gun, he said to Starling, his voice a low growl.

CHAPTER TWO

Cade

I always kept a spare gun on a job. Never knew when I was going to run into trouble, and it wouldn’t do to be unarmed. I hadn’t expected trouble to be in the form of this barely-dressed, over-made-up girl, but life’s full of surprises. From what I gathered, these girls were sisters, and the gun-wielding girl was a member of Prince Larbi’s harem. The t-shirt girl was not.

Good.

Why I cared about whether or not she’d been fucking Prince Larbi, I didn’t know. I was holding her pretty close right now, and she was all softness and curves, and I was thinking about how nice it would be to bend her over the desk and—

Well, not with the dead body there.

Murder might get me charged up, but corpses didn’t.

I cleared my throat. Drop the gun, or I shoot your sister.

The girl in my arms quivered. Don’t, she whispered.

It’s up to your sister here, I said, glaring at the gun-wielding girl. The quivering made my cock stir. Inwardly, I cringed. I didn’t want her to feel it if I got hard. Why I cared, I didn’t really know. It was just embarrassing.

Of course, I was threatening to kill her, so that put a damper on any interaction we could possibly have.

It probably shouldn’t matter. I should probably be shameless, just drive my hard-on into the curve of her ass, dry hump her right then and then, like a dog. I had the gun. I could do what I liked.

But.

Well, just because I was a contract killer didn’t mean I was an asshole.

The gun-wielding girl took one hand off the gun. I’m just going to call the police.

Don’t do that, I said, jamming my gun tighter against her sister’s skull. I wouldn’t go to jail, of course. I was working for the government. But it would damage my reputation. I didn’t get arrested, ever. I got away clean. If I were to be entangled in the justice system, it would make me look as if I didn’t know what I was doing.

The girl in the robe hesitated.

Put the gun down, I said.

She put the gun down.

Now, I said. Come away from the phone.

She bit down on her lip.

Oh, damn it all to hell, it didn’t matter now. I could let go of the t-shirt girl and make a run for it, but the girl in the robe would call the other guards and they’d be on me before I got out of the building. This whole situation was fucked.

Why did you do it? said the girl in the robe. She let out a sob. Why would you hurt him?

I gritted my teeth. Now, look here. You were not supposed to be here or to do any of this. If you hadn’t shown up, I would have simply walked out of here, and everything would have been fine. But now you’ve seen me—

Oh, God, you’re going to kill us, aren’t you? Because we can identify you. Robe girl was lost in sobs, clutching her face, smearing mascara over her cheeks.

Don’t be ridiculous, I said. Do you have any idea how unreliable eye witnesses are? You wouldn’t recognize me in a million years. No, it’s only that there was a gun shot, and people heard it, and—

The door burst open.

Yeah. That.

I turned to face the two guards who had entered the room, thrusting the girl out in front of me. No one moves or the girl gets it! Ha. I always did want to say that. I grinned.

The guards froze.

Throw down your guns, I said.

The guards hesitated.

I backed up. Guns on the ground or I blow off her head.

The girl in my arms shook again. She was terrified.

I felt a little guilty about that. Poor thing. She hadn’t done anything wrong. She wasn’t even fucking Prince Larbi. Anyway, she didn’t need to worry. I wasn’t going to shoot her in the head. That wasn’t my style. I might have been a contract killer, but I had a code. Kind of like Dexter, only I got paid for murdering people.

The guards exchanged a look, and then they both bent down and carefully lowered their guns to the ground.

Good, I said, backing up some more, taking the girl with me. Now, we’re going out the door here and out of the building. When I get to the ground floor, if there’s anyone there waiting for me, I’ll blow her so full of holes, her mother wouldn’t be able to identify the body.

The guards both flinched a little.

Inwardly, I grinned. I’d really sold that, I thought. I backed up again, going through the door, pulling the girl with me.

Once we were out of the office, I kicked the door closed, and then I turned around, pushing the girl ahead of me and lowering the gun.

* * *

Shell

My heart was doing jumping jacks inside my rib cage. I had never been so terrified in my entire life. And for some reason, the fact that I’d been marginally turned on when all this started meant that my brain had crossed all the wires and was pumping the adrenaline between my thighs. With every beat of my heart, my pussy throbbed. I was getting wet.

But I was afraid. Really afraid. This guy was claiming that he was going to blow my head off, and that did not excite me. Being dead was not high on my list of turn-ons.

Once we were out of the office, he let go of me, pushing me forward.

I stumbled ahead of him.

He yanked me to my feet. Run, he said.

I didn’t. I didn’t move my legs. I wasn’t going to do what he said. He was going to kill me.

He wrapped an arm around my waist and picked me up. "I’m not going to kill you. I promise. Now, run." He set me back down on the ground.

This time, I did run.

I don’t know why.

Possibly it was because I was all hot and bothered—scared and aroused at the same time—and my brain was clearly kicked into some kind of fight-or-flight-primitive scenario. Since fighting wasn’t an option—he was made of marble, remember—flight was all I had.

I ran.

He steered me out of another door in the prince’s bedroom and into a hallway. He seemed to know where he was going.

There was an elevator ahead.

He yanked me to a stop, shot a glance over his shoulder, and hit the down button.

I gasped, my heart racing, my breath coming in short bursts.

He rocked on his feet and gave me a sheepish smile. Sorry about this.

Seriously? I gaped at him.

The elevator opened.

He gestured with the gun. Ladies first.

Fuck you, I said. It was stupid to say that to a guy with a gun, of course, but as I mentioned, my brain wasn’t really functioning. All the blood in my body seemed to be heading between my legs. I was drenched down there.

Totally weird.

He pushed me into the elevator, just as the door to the prince’s bedroom opened up and the guards who’d failed to save us before burst out.

The elevator door closed behind us.

The man pushed the button for the ground floor. He looked me over. Seriously, I know I said I would kill you, but I was just trying to get away. This is all just bad luck for both of us. He smiled again.

I licked my lips. He had a nice smile. Also, now that we were close, I could see that he had long, long eyelashes. Too long for a boy. They ringed his eyes and softened his masculine face, making him look almost… pretty.

God. Why was I noticing shit like that? I swallowed. You’re only saying that to lull me into a false sense of security.

No, I’m not. He looked offended. Then he shrugged. He grinned again. But it’s smart of you to say that. If you were really in danger as a hostage, I bet you’d live through it regardless. Never let your guard down.

What? He was complimenting me? I was thoroughly confused.

The elevator door opened.

He snatched me back against him again, gun at my temple.

I whimpered. I couldn’t help it.

But there was no one there.

Walk, he said in my ear.

I walked. He had told me he wasn’t going to kill me, so maybe I should have simply refused to obey, called his bluff.

But with the cold metal of the barrel of a gun against my skin, I simply couldn’t afford to take that kind of a risk.

We went about ten feet to a door that opened out into the spring air. Outside, the sky was blue, dotted with tiny, fluffy clouds. There were birds chirping at the top of their lungs. There was a strip of well-manicured grass ahead of us, then the sidewalk, then a street. Across the road was a parking lot.

No one was out here, at least none of the guards were.

Okay, I said. You got away. Now let me go.

He moved the gun from my head to the small of my back.

I shivered. There was something intimate about that, something terrifying.

He looked around. I don’t think so. They could be watching. You’re going to have to come with me. Sorry about that.

Come with you? What? No, no, no, I was not going somewhere with this man who I was inappropriately attracted to. Definitely not.

Not forever. Just until I can get out of here. Get clear. I’ll need some insurance, and you’ll do nicely. He poked me with the gun. We’re going across the street.

I moved, hurrying ahead of the gun.

We crossed the strip of grass, the sidewalk, the crosswalk that went across the street, and then he pushed me inside the driver’s side of a black Ford Mustang.

Crawl over to the other seat, he told me.

I crawled. I guess he thought that if he let me get in the passenger side, that I would just jump out and run. Well, he had another thing coming, because I was just going to throw open that door the minute that I got—

He locked the doors, settling into the driver’s seat. Sorry, he said, and he really did sound contrite.

I glared at him.

Look, this will all be over in a few hours, he said. I promise. You’ll have a fun story to tell your friends. Your boyfriend.

I don’t have a boyfriend, I muttered, unsure why I was telling him that.

Oh, too bad, he said, but actually sounded pretty happy about that.

My lips parted, and I watched him turn the key in the ignition. "Are you flirting with me?" I said.

He laughed. Flirting? He raised his eyebrows at me. Buckle up. He backed the car up, one hand on the steering wheel, one hand pulling his own seatbelt over his body.

I was flung forward by the force of the car’s movement. I seized my seatbelt and pulled it on.

The car hurtled forward. I grasped the door handle for dear life.

He careened out of the parking lot and onto the street. Within minutes, the prince’s home was too far away to see. "Are you flirting with me?" he said

I snapped my head back forward to look at him. I sputtered. "I would never."

He nodded, still smiling. The car was a five speed. He switched gears. Well, me either.

I sat back in the seat and stared straight ahead.

We took I-270 and drove out past Shady Grove, right to the edge of where the metro stations stopped. Then he took an exit, pulled into a parking lots in a strip mall that contained a Target, a Walgreens, and an H&R Block, and stopped the car.

He began unbuttoning the buttons on the security guard shirt he was wearing. I know this is inconvenient, but you’ve got a cell phone, right? Someone can come pick you up?

I was gaping at his bare chest as he revealed it. His skin was tawny. His stomach was flat and hard.

Even if not, he said, you can probably walk to the metro from here. He tugged the shirt off, tossed it in the back seat, and pulled out a t-shirt from back there.

I swallowed.

He grinned at me, holding the t-shirt. Like what you see, then?

I looked away.

He pulled the shirt over his head. You could stay if you wanted. He leaned across

Reviews for Ripped

[Stephanie Chase · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved it! Even the end was good and I can't wait to read about the others.