Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 32755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
“A pattern.”
She nodded, putting down her own knitting and leaning over. “Look.” She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, and brought up the app for the Internet. She did a quick search for men’s sweater patterns, and then leaned in close. “See, there are plenty of them, and some of them are free.”
Ruin took the phone from her, and Callie looked at his fingers. Not just looked, but admired them.
What is wrong with you?
He turned to look at her and she tried to show him an encouraging smile, but she had a horrible feeling it came off as more of a grimace. This had to be boring to him.
When she was a child, her mother had done all of this with her, and she had loved every single minute of it. The truth was, she had always loved watching her mother knit, creating garments or toys. It had always been a lot of fun. She remembered how excited her mother would be when her father would come back from work with a bag full of wool. There were always so many different projects to work from.
She had stayed a little too close to Ruin, but as he looked through the list of free knitting patterns, she slid away, creating distance. He didn’t need her to be that close to him. Even if he did smell good. So good. Even better than she imagined. Not that she’d imagined a whole lot. Just a little.
Get a grip, Callie.
Picking up her knitting, she continued to work. All the while, she was aware of him next to her on the bench. He didn’t strike her as someone who was used to knitting.
He’s not. He told you that.
“So how do these work?” he asked.
This time, he closed the distance between them. She felt him right next to her body, his thigh touching hers.
This is what happens when you don’t date. When you don’t do anything. You become obsessed with the tiniest of details, like the fact he’s touching you.
“All you have to do is follow their instructions.”
“Ah.”
She noticed everyone was packing away, and rather than linger, she started to pack her wool away as well as her project. She wasn’t going to let him know that she’d screwed up and was currently doing the wrong stitch on the wrong side.
“Er, would you like to get some coffee?” Ruin asked.
“Coffee?”
“Yeah, coffee.”
“It’s Sunday. Not many places are open…” Yes, you want to get some coffee. Why are you making excuses not to go? Go and get some freaking coffee with this incredibly hot guy!
“Trust me. In this city, there are always places to go and get coffee.”
She glanced around the park, which was fast emptying out.
“Yeah, erm, sure, I’d love to go and get some coffee.” She had no idea what she was doing.
Was this a date? A casual coffee between friends? What were the rules?
She held onto her bag as Ruin joined her and together they walked out of the park. The moment they cleared the gate, he turned toward her and she smiled at him.
“This way,” he said.
Callie followed him down the street. Normally, she returned to the safety of her apartment, but it would seem she was deciding to live on the dangerous edge.
Chapter Two
He could kill her now.
Ruin was tempted to end this charade before it got any deeper and he had to attempt to knit a whole fucking sweater.
Callie Lawson had no one. All of his sources were correct. She lived a boring life. Both of her parents were dead. She had no siblings. No friends. Even her coworkers didn’t seem to know her, and he’d already asked around. It was like Callie didn’t exist in this world.
Right now, she walked beside him, completely innocent. She had no idea she stood beside a killer—a man with a reputation for being the bogeyman because he scared the shit out of people. His reputation was apt. He got the job done. And he didn’t care who got hurt in the crossfire. Once he was given a name, he made sure that person was dead to the world.
He glanced over at Callie to see that she was looking right back at him. She averted her gaze first.
“So, Callie, what is it you do?” he asked. “You know, during the week.”
“You mean work?”
“Yeah, work.”
“Oh, I work for an analytical company. We just input data into computer systems and pretty much let them do all the work.” There was a moment’s silence. “What do you do?”
I kill people. It could be anyone on the shit list, and currently you’re top of that list, and I don’t fucking know why.
“I acquire and deal with tricky details for … people. It requires a lot of travel.”
“Like an auctioneer?”
“Yes, kind of like that, only once dealt with, nothing goes up for sale.”