Widow's Web (Elemental Assassin) Read Free Page A

agreed with a grin. “But Finn was the one who bet me dinner at Underwood’s that I couldn’t kill you both by the end of the month. So you only have yourselves to blame.”
    Finn sniffed his displeasure. “You still didn’t have to ruin my suit.”
    “No,” I agreed. “I didn’t have to ruin it. That was just an added bonus.”
    He narrowed his eyes, but I just gave him my most innocent, gracious, beatific Southern smile.
    “Well, it’s getting late, and I’m supposed to head over to Bria’s,” Finn said. “And I obviously can’t go looking like this .”
    I rolled my eyes at his put-upon tone, but Owen just laughed.
    “Go,” Owen said. “Get cleaned up. We can finish our business tomorrow.”
    “Say hi to Bria for me,” I added in a sugary-sweet voice.
    Finn grumbled something under his breath about what I could do with certain parts of my anatomy before packing up his papers and briefcase and leaving.
    “Well,” Owen said after Finn had shut the office door a little harder than necessary. “You got us both, just like you said you would.”
    I grinned again. “That’s what people pay me for. Or used to pay me for.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “Good to know retirement hasn’t lessened your skills any.”
    I shrugged. We both knew I couldn’t afford to let myself get rusty. Not now, when so many folks in Ashland and beyond would love nothing more than to see me dead. Back in the winter, I’d finally killed Mab Monroe, the Fire elemental who’d run the Ashland underworld for years. Pro-fucking-bono, as it were. Mab had murdered my mother and sister when I was thirteen, and her death had been about revenge to me more than anything else. But the Fire elemental’s demise had left a power vacuum in the city, and now every lowlife and not-so-lowlife was clawing for that power, position, and prestige. Some of them thought the best way to get all that was by killing me, Gin Blanco, the semiretired assassin known as the Spider.
    So far, I’d put all the challengers in the ground along with Mab, but they just kept on coming. A few weeks ago, I’d brought up the idea of testing and updating the security at all the places I frequented, including Owen’shome and office. There was no point in making things easy for my would-be murderers. Then Finn had piped up and suggested we make it into a contest—with him and Owen trying to outwit me. Of course, that hadn’t turned out exactly like Finn had planned, but I was happy with the outcome. I always liked to win, no matter the game.
    “So give me the rundown,” Owen said. “Exactly how did you get into that air duct?”
    I recapped my wanderings through the parking garage, maintenance halls, stairwell, office, and air ducts.
    “Overall, your security’s sound,” I said. “All we have to do is fix a few holes here and there, and no one will be able to get to you, me, or anyone else in here without bringing down the whole building.”
    His eyes were fixed on mine, but there was a blank look on his face, as though he were only listening to my words with half an ear. I know it wasn’t the most romantic talk, detailing how I’d just paintballed my lover, but this wasn’t the first time he’d spaced out on me in the last few days. Something was on Owen’s mind, and I didn’t know what it was. That concerned me more than I would have liked, especially since I’d given him plenty of openings to tell me what was bothering him—openings he hadn’t taken.
    “Owen?”
    Something flashed in his eyes then, something that almost looked like worry, but it was gone too quickly for me to pinpoint exactly what it was. He shook his head and focused on me once more.
    “Sorry,” he said. “What were you saying?”
    Owen shrugged out of his suit jacket, the muscles in his arms and chest bulging with the motion. Suddenly, I was interested in playing something besides a war game. Something that would be far more entertaining and pleasurable—for both of us. Not to