Page 24 of Hannah and the Hitman
“She doesn’t need her head turned. She’s already gother head in the clouds with those books she reads,” Mom said with a haughty sniff. “And she thinks people will come to a bookstore that caters to…thatif she opens one.”
Oh my God, I wanted to die of mortification. Jack knew all about my reading habits, knew one of the stories… intimately.
“You mean fiction?” Jack asked.
Perry huffed, a gluttonous forkful of beans just shy of his mouth. “Fictionis dangerous. Wild imaginings. Impossible dreams. And when the content is pornographic…”
“‘He shall lie all night between my breasts–’” Jack murmured.
“See? Pornography!” Perry said, pointing at Jack.
Briana eye fucked my date and murmured, “He can lie all night between my breasts.”
“Stop your smoting,” Jack replied, holding his hand up. “That’s in the Bible. Song of Solomon, I believe.”
Perry opened his mouth, then snapped it shut.
I bit my lip, never having seen him shut down like that before. I wasn’t sure if I should be impressed or scared Jack was out Bible versing my church-leading brother. I couldn’t remember a time when anyone put Perry in his place.
“You a man of the Lord, Jack?” Dad asked. “You a preacher?”
“That would explain the suit,” Mom added, eyeing Jack critically.
I picked up my tea, took a sip.
“Mortician.”
I spit it out in a spray across half the table.
My family started talking at once.
I slapped my hands down on the table, making the burger platter jump. Stood.
“He said mortician, not murderer!” I shouted.
My family was rude and awful. I’d handled it fine when it was only me. Used to it. Expected it even. But they were doing this in front of a man. Sure, he was a stranger, but I brought him. Liked him.
They could fuck with me, but not Jack.
I ran for the powder room off the hall. I grabbed the knob, pulled and ripped the door right off the hinges.
“What the hell?” I muttered, staring at the door. I leaned it against the wall at a slant, then went into the powder room, letting the door fall shut behind me.
Five seconds later, Jack joined me. I whipped around away from the sink. Thank God I hadn’t pulled my pants down to pee.
“What’s the deal with the door?” he asked, studying how it had come off the hinges.
I shrugged. I was somehow ridiculously strong all of a sudden? I’d hefted that book box and now this? He wouldn’t believe it–because I didn’t–so I said, “Termites?”
He shifted his attention from the broken door to me. The ceiling was sloped since the room was tucked beneath the stairs. It was definitely a one-person space and it forced Jack to stand close to me. Very,veryclose. If I took a deep breath, my breasts would bump his suit. I felt the familiar charge being this close to him. Was this normal when attraction wasthispotent?
I recognized his male scent from the airplane. It wasn’t potent cologne, but something dark and manly. It didn’t make me sneeze like irritating scents did. In fact, it mademe want to lean in and sniff him, which would make me weirder than Perry and Briana combined.
“Please tell me you’re not a mortician,” I said before he could comment on my family. The suits and the Bible verses made it a possibility. I had nothing against the profession, but… yeah, dead bodies.
“Please tell me you’re adopted,” he countered.
I flung my hands in the air and chuckled, although it was more from mortification than humor. “I told you!”