Page 13 of Hannah and the Hitman

I wasn’t telling Dax that I looked up romance book plotlines this morning over coffee. That the shifters she mentioned had big bites and bigger dicks. If my librarian wanted a real dick, not fiction, I volunteered. I’d bite, too, if that was her thing.

“I’m not into roleplay,” I told him, looking into my side mirror as a slow-moving minivan passed. Were they scoping out my librarian? Did I have to follow them and kill them? Fuck. Wait. This was Coal Springs, and the speed limit was twenty-five. There were no bad guys around here. I saw the stick figure stickers on the back window that indicated that whoever was driving had too many kids. And a dog. Was that a turtle, too?

“I want the real thing.”

“What? A date? So you’re going to… what? Walk into the library and ask to sign up for a library card? You don’t think she’s going to freak the fuck out when a guy from a flight she was on tracked her down to her place of work? A guy who read over her shoulder? There’s a term for that. Stalking.”

“I’m not stalking her,” I muttered, feeling called out.

The library door swung open and out came an older woman. Gray hair, pink pants, floral shirt. Thenshefollowed. Dark hair, long like I remembered. The jeans and t-shirt from the plane were replaced with a blue dress that fell to her knees. There was some kind of pattern on it and the cut was loose, probably meant for comfort and keeping cool, not for ogling her gorgeous tits or perfect peach of an ass.

Sitting across the street and checking her out, I was totally stalking her.

Dax grunted as I watched her turn toward the door and lock it. “She’s a librarian from Coal Springs, the town that has the annual North Pole parade in December with candy canes and dreidels decorating the lampposts. You sure she’s the one you want?” He had a valid point, but I didn’t have to like it. I couldn’t help an obsession, especially seeing her again now in person.

I had no idea whythiswoman got me all crazy and made my dick hard. It would be simpler otherwise, but no. I wanted her.

“Yes,” I gritted out through clenched teeth. My hand itched to open my door and go to her, except she wasn’t alone as I imagined.

“Fine, say she doesn’t care that you’re a stalker. What are you going to do on your first date when she asks what you do for a living? Lie?”

She turned around and her gaze cut across the street and toward my SUV.

Shit! I ducked so she couldn’t see me. Slumped low in my seat, my heart pounded.What the hell was wrong with you?I asked myself as I stared at the trident emblem steering wheel, angry at myself.You drove all this way! You came to see her and now you’re hiding like a fucking coward.Dax’s words were fucking with me.

“I told her the truth on the plane,” I muttered, trying to come up with an excuse to validate why it was okay that I was in Coal Springs and also sitting here hiding. This position was not comfortable. The bottom of the steering wheel was wedged in my chest.

I was met with silence and for a second I thought the car’s hands-free system had cut out.

“You told her you were a hitman.”

“Yes.”

“You said, I’m a hitman.”

“Pretty much.”

“And she believed you?”

I frowned. “No. We were talking about romance novel tropes.”

“What the fuck?” He was laughing at me. I could hear it.

“You heard me.” I clenched my teeth. I was not repeating myself. I peeked out the side window. She and the older woman were walking toward the small parking lot on the side of the building where two cars were parked. The other woman went up to a new mini-SUV while my obsession unlocked a small, older model sedan. White. That was a terrible choice for Coal Springs. Not four-wheel drive and with the snow in the winter? No one would be able to see it. It was a four-wheel death trap. She’d need a new vehicle before it snowed.

I could follow her home. See where she lived. Make sure her place was safe.

If not, she’d need a caranda new house.

“Do you even know if she’s married?” Dax asked, nudging me from my thoughts.

She waved to the other woman–fuck, her smile was pretty–then climbed into her car. “She mentioned a cheating ex.”

It still made no sense, anyone cheating on her. I wasn’t sure if I should kill him or send him a fucking fruit basket for being a dumbass. Definitely the first option.

“I gotta go make popcorn.”

The other woman drove off first. Then my girl followed,looking both ways as she came out of the lot, then turned toward me. I ducked again until I heard her car drive past. “For what?”