I Married A Hitman

Chapter Four-Nicole

The chapel was cold and mostly empty, which I very much expected of course they didn’t ask for much paperwork or anything the priest just smiled when Nate and I had walked up to him

Someone had turned on the overhead lights too bright, throwing hard white glare across the scuffed wooden floor and the handful of folding chairs that stood in uneven rows.

To make things worse Nate boss did show up and my hate for him and Nate doubled. For a fleeting moment sadness overwhelmed so much that I wanted to cry but I bit my tongue not too.

Yes Nicole take it like a good girl its not the first time someone father gets killed and while his body is still fresh his killer is demanding you marry him or die anyway

Still this was the kinda s**t you only read in novels now it was happening to me

Dominic Cross sat in the back with two of his men, the annoying thing was he had the nerve to look polite and tough at the same time.

I took at step forward but Reyna quietly pulled me back.

Reyna stood beside me near the front, jaw tight, fingers laced hard through mine.

I wore a plain white dress that someone—Nate, probably—had sent over that afternoon and I had cried after I opened the box and saw it.

It was so beautiful and so heartbreakimg at the same time.

The irony of it was absurd, I was given one of the most beautiful dresses of my life only to marry a cold hearted killer who killed my own father.

He stood there now waiting at the front in a black suit that looked almost identical to the one he had worn the night he killed my father.

His expression hadn’t changed as usual, like this was simply another task on a list he intended to finish before the day was over.

And to be honest to him, it was

The ceremony itself was short and one of the most boring ever.

The fact that's it's my own wedding

A bored-looking officiant read the words in a flat voice. I answered when I was supposed to and Nate answered when he was supposed to. My hands stayed cold the entire time while being awake of Dominic Cross unblinking gaze

When the officiant said the part about the kiss, the air in the chapel seemed to thin.

Nate turned toward me fully for the first time since I had walked up the aisle, his gray eyes met mine and I stared back in challenge.

For a second I thought he might skip it, then his hand slowly came up, and settled lightly against the side of my neck while his thumb rested just under my jaw.

The touch was careful, almost gentle, which somehow made it worse.

He leaned in and captured my lips in his. The first brush of his mouth against mine was barely there, more of testing waters.

I should have stayed still and I should have kept my lips closed and my mind blank and let it be over. But Instead my traitorous body betrayed me and heat spread through my stomach down to my crotch the second his mouth settled more firmly against mine.

His lips were warmer than I expected, softer even and my pulse jumped hard against the place where his thumb rested.

Then disgust slammed through me so fast it almost made me dizzy. This was the man who had stood in my kitchen while my father’s blood spread across the floor.

This was the man I had just agreed to marry because the alternative was worse and my body, stupid and traitorous, was reacting to the pressure of his mouth like it had been waiting for exactly this.

I hated myself for it.

I hated him more.

The kiss lasted only a few seconds and when he pulled back, his expression hadn’t changed a bit, maybe his eyes but I couldn't tell he was very much an expert at hiding emotions than I am

I kept my face carefully blank even as my heart kept slamming against my ribs and heat and unwanted arousal still lingered low in my belly like a brand.

Reyna’s hand found mine again the second the officiant closed his book. Her fingers squeezed hard enough to hurt and I squeezed back just as hard.

Dominic Cross stood and came forward and kissed my cheek with the same polite warmth he had used the first time we met

"You look beautiful Nicole.....it's nice becoming family" he said and I could only hope I didn't break Reyna's bones the way I clenched my hands

Family? Did he seriously say family

I nodded instead, "Thank you sir" I managed to say and he nodded with a small smile

"Nate here is a fine husband I hope your marriage last long" he said and this time he held my gaze to see if I would refute that. I just nodded instead trying to keep hard from shaking in anger

He nodded again and walked past and annoyingly all I could still feel was the ghost of Nate’s mouth against mine and the sick, furious knowledge that some part of me had wanted it to last longer.

I walked out of the chapel on numb legs with Nate’s hand resting lightly at the small of my back, as he guided me toward the black car waiting at the curb.

The sky had started to rain again, while I avoided looking at him. I couldn’t.

Every time I blinked I felt the kiss all over again, and every time I felt it I hated myself a little more.

In the back seat of the car the silence grew thick. Nate sat beside me with his hands resting loosely on his thighs, staring at window. I stared straight ahead and tried to will the lingering heat in my lower abdomen to disappear.

It didn’t.

I cursed myself

By the time the car pulled up in front of the high-rise that held his penthouse, I had made my mind on two things.

I was going to destroy him.

And I was never going to forgive myself for the way my body had answered his mouth.