Lance: A Hitman Romance (Santa Espera #2) Read Online Free Page A

that upset. It’s nothing I haven’t dealt with before.
    “Care for a little pick-me-up?” Gil asks when I sit down. His eyes are bright as he holds out a rolled-up hundred-dollar bill.
    “No thanks, Gil,” I say to him in a level voice. “You know I like to keep my wits about me.”
    His eyes flash with anger and he pulls his hand back, like a child who’s just been scolded.
    “No coke, eh?” he says, his upper lip curling. I see his eyes dart down at the desk and for a second my body tenses. I know how much firepower he has packed inside those drawers, taped to the underside. Last week he broke somebody’s hand for not shaking his properly. I was there and I saw the look in his eyes. He has the same look in them now.
    But then suddenly Gil relaxes and his face breaks out into a smile as he says, “Okay! I guess that’s more for me!”
    I watch him bend over and proceed to snort up one, two, three lines in a row. My heart is pounding but I keep a straight face as I feel some of the other guys behind me watch him as well. When Gil finally lifts his head. he throws it back and actually howls out loud before returning his gaze to me.
    “Okay!” he shouts proudly. His face is dotted with sweat and I can see he’s trying to focus, but his pupils are going crazy. “The job, tonight,” he says in a somewhat normal voice. “How did it go?”
    Please, Nathan! Who’s gonna take care of Nathan?
    “It went well,” I say, keeping my voice normal despite the lurch in my stomach.
    “Goooooooood good!” he says, clapping his hands together. He licks his lips too many times and reaches for his drink — whiskey, by the look of it — downing all of it in one go. “Ahhh,” he smacks his lips and puts the glass down. “I trust there were no … problems?”
    He focuses on me again and in a second all that excitement melts away to show a serious and ugly-looking man. I stare back, keeping my expression calm. Unoffensive.
    “Nope,” I say to him. “No problems at all.”
    He’s breathing heavily, and his skin is turning red.
    “Are you curious who that man was to me?”
    I shake my head.
    “No. I make it a point to know just the necessary information about my targets,” I say, leveling my gaze at him. “Nothing more.”
    Gil looks at me for a second that lasts an eternity and I feel like I’m staring down a cobra. One that could lunge at my face in any given moment. My body tenses again and I comfort myself with the reminder of the gun underneath my jacket. If it comes to it, I could take down every man here before any of them draw their guns.
    But then the second passes and Gil looks away, smiling again.
    “Good,” he says, his eyes taking on a far-away look. “You can go now.”
    He motions with his hand for me to leave so I get up, turning to walk away. I hear the sound of Gil snorting the remaining lines of coke off his desk and I can’t stop my upper lip from curling.
    Willy’s just finishing cleaning his gun as I walk over, joining him against the shelf.
    “He keeps snorting that nose candy, he’ll soon have more coke than brains,” Willy mutters in his soft Australian accent. “Which shouldn’t be a tough thing to accomplish.”
    I smile, leaning back as I look out over the room. Willy’s one of the best guys Gil has on his team. A little portly around the middle, he’s still charming as hell, and the smoothest talker I know. In his white suit and hat, he looks like he’s about to jet off to Africa to hunt rhinos. He’s the guy that Gil takes along to get information out of people who don’t want to give up any information, and all without using any violence.
    Well … most of the time, that is.
    “So, the job went all right?” Willy asks, keeping his voice low. I know he doesn’t want to speak too loudly. Lately, with Gil getting more and more into the coke, it’s been difficult knowing what could set him off. My stomach lurches but I try to ignore it.
    “Yeah,” I say to him. “It