I stood in my kitchen for several seconds. I needed to get away from Alexis. I was so turned on by her that I felt like if I didn't reach out and touch her, I would explode.

It had been a while since I'd felt the soft, slender skin of an attractive woman. It had seemed like an eternity since I'd been able to dip my cock into a wet, slippery pussy and every time I looked at Alexis my desire grew stronger and was amplified so drastically that it disillusioned my judgment.

On the other hand, I was extremely suspicious of her. I knew she was hiding something. It had been my job as a contract killer to be able to sniff out the truth and hunt down those who were concealing something important, and I knew Alexis was one of those types.

It had been a gift I’d been born with or something. I could read people. I saw straight through Alexis. She might have been telling me the truth about the tour and getting lost, but I didn’t believe anything else coming from her mouth. I also knew she was hiding something dark about her past. There was a story inside of her that she was afraid to expose, something that she felt would harm her if it saw the light of day.

I glanced back in the living room. She was still sitting next to the fire with the blanket draped over her tan legs and arms. She was staring reflectively into the fire as if she were searching for answers. I was confident that she wouldn’t try to escape without clothes. Not to mention, all the locks on my cabin doors had to be opened with a deadbolt key that she would never find. My windows had iron bars over them, so she’d never be able to escape that way either.

I couldn't risk anything anymore. I hated living my life on the run. I had felt like the safety of the woods, and the mountains could keep me secluded enough to keep my past from hounding me. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe even I was not immune to being found. After all, this girl had no problems finding me. If her sexy ass turned out to be my enemy, I was a dead man walking.

I cursed the life I’d left behind as I walked over to the sink and poured myself a glass of water straight from the tap. I got to thinking. Maybe I should offer Alexis a drink. She was probably thirsty by now. On the other hand, I didn’t want her getting too comfortable. She might start to manipulate me if I let anything slip or let down my guard. I couldn’t afford to trust anyone, let alone a strange girl who had been riffling through my stash in the woods.

The coincidence was too strong. She had to have been sent here by somebody. The question of who clung in the air around me like a dense cloud of fog, suffocating me. I loved being in control of every situation in my life. The fact that she had walked into my private habitat out of nowhere was really rattling me to my core.

I glugged down the entire glass of water. It was refreshing, but the aftertaste of betrayal still left a sour taste in my mouth. I didn't yet know if someone was trying to betray me, but I didn't appreciate liars. This Alexis girl was obviously a liar. The scheme was out there for me to grab, I just couldn't see the strings. I was no puppet, and I wasn't going to go down without a fight.

I took a deep breath and glanced outside. My heart jumped nearly out of my chest when I noticed something moving just past the tree line of my property. Now who the fuck was out there? I narrowed my eyes in on the target and was milliseconds away from going to my gun closet when I noticed the subject moving was only a female doe.

I sighed with relief and glanced back at Alexis. She sniffed and coughed and glanced around as if she were trying to figure out where I’d gone.

She had ripped everything I’d worked so tirelessly to create away from me in an instant. I was filled with dread. I loved my secluded cottage in the wood. I’d felt cozy here, but I should never have been so foolish to think that I’d be safe here. I shouldn’t have brought her here. I should’ve left her out there in the woods on the ground.

My jaws clenched when I realized that I could’ve never done that to her—the innocent-looking stranger in my home. Alexis swore she had no idea she was stumbling onto my land, but I didn’t believe her…for now.

Nothing lasted forever, so why should my freedom be any different? Her very presence in my house compromised everything. Not only that, I had taken her. There was no way I could let her go without knowing if she would babble to the cops and whatnot. I was going to have to start over somewhere else. Immediately, my mind went into brainstorming mode. I would have to be on the run again. The very idea made my stomach tighten into iron-fisted knots.

I couldn’t end up in the criminal database, and most importantly, I couldn’t go back to that life. No, scratch that. I wouldn’t let my haunted past come back to sting me. I was determined to remain under the radar of blissful isolation for as long as I possibly could.

Suddenly, I remembered the belt bag that Alexis had claimed to have lost and the one that I had found on the park bench. If I could go through her things and find an ID to positively match her to a name, I could make some progress.

I jogged to my back door where I had hidden the bag under a pile of towels. I grabbed her wallet and looked inside. Sure enough, the picture of Alexis Mancini was there front and center in my vision. The name she’d given me was accurate, but it didn’t mean that it was really her. People used an array of countless names all the time. This could be any number of false identities she was using.

I grabbed my laptop off my kitchen table, but not before shooting a glance back at Alexis. She was still lying on the fluffy blanket by the fireplace, but she was turned away from it. Her eyes were closed. This was my perfect opportunity to do some research on her.

I had abundant resources at my disposal in order to do background checks. This was one of the few lingering side effects I still loved about my prior job. I knew how to dig up even the most gruesome dirt on people, and nothing surprised me anymore.

I typed in her name. My heart pounded in my chest, and my heartbeat swooshed through my ears. My palms were sweaty. I had to wipe them on my jeans. My fingers were shaking so profusely that I had to take a second to try to compose myself. I didn't know what I would find, but I was anxious about the results.

I knew it might take several hours for the background check to come back to me, so as soon as I hit the send button, I went to the kitchen and poured her a glass of water. I walked back out to Alexis who was none the wiser. I wouldn't let her know I was checking in on her story, at least for now. The truth would reveal itself in time. For now, I wanted to go back and stare at her beautiful body once again. It would be the perfect distraction for me while I waited on the past to morph itself into the present. Everybody had skeletons in their closets. Just how hazardous were the ones that belonged to Alexis Mancini?