Page 156 of Split You Open

There’s a rough laugh and my body shivers in delight at the sound. Rhett so rarely laughs so when he does, I feel as if I should pause simply to savor it.

He stops beside my head and looks down at me with a smug smile. “That was the most cartoonish fall I’ve ever witnessed. You should be ashamed to call yourself a hitwoman with moves like that.”

A breathless laugh makes its way past my lips. “I’ve never called myself a hitwoman.”

Rhett opens his mouth to reply but a sound from behind him causes him to pause. Stiffening, he looks over his shoulder to see who's coming.

It’s a foolish mistake.

Twisting on the ground, I shift so that my lower body swings around and I knock Rhett’s feet out from beneath him. I laugh as his fall looks nearly identical to mine. With a shout of surprise, Rhett lands on his back. I’m on my feet half a breath later and taking off.

I get only a few yards away before Wes steps out from behind a tree.

I could slow down.

There’s time to redirect and dart off in another direction.

But I don’t.

With a giggle of delight, I leap into Wes’s open arms.

His thick arms wrap around me, holding me tight. His smile is wide, victorious, and hungry.

“I hate to be the one to say it since it’s so damn obvious,” Wes drawls. “But, I told you I’d win.”

Excitement pulses through me. An ache begins to well up in my chest that has nothing to do with what I’d overheard of Ledger and Dad’s conversation.

This ache is deeper, heavier, and endless.

It’s an ache to be filled.

Surrounded.

Loved.

“Okay, you’ve won. Now what?” I ask him, my voice breathless.

Wes’s smile turns devious as he leans back against the tree he’s been hiding behind. “I think I’d like to share you with the man who might not be as shitty as I thought he was.”

Ah… what?

I frown, confused.

Wes’s gaze flickers over my shoulder. “You’ve been looking out for Blair for a long time.”

“I tried to, at least.”

Ledger…

He’s being modest. Even before what I learned tonight, Ledger has always been there when Dad and I needed him—watching our backs on harder jobs. Now I know it goes so much further than that.

Ledger’s hard chest presses against my back, effectively sandwiching me between him and Wes. Ledger’s hot breath hits the back of my neck causing me to shiver. His hands fall to my waist.

“Now I see the appeal of the game,” Ledger murmurs from behind me. “The reward is most definitely worth the chase.”

He grabs the hem of my shirt and pulls it up. Wes lets go of my arms so that Ledger can slide my top off. My bra falls away next.

I shiver as the cold night air rushes over my skin and my nipples, already pebbled from the thrill of the chase, grow harder.