Page 39 of Hannah and the Hitman

But the bastard hadn’t gotten that memo.

“What’s going on?” All playfulness slipped from his tone.

I quickly glanced in the rearview mirror, then switched lanes around a slow-ass semi as I barreled down the mountain.

“He’s having me followed.”

“What? Right now?”

Another glance and all that was back there was a Subaru with a kayak on top. Probably not one of Sal’s men. “Not right this second, although maybe. I’m on my way back to the city.”

I couldn’t pick out a tail on the steep and twisty highway, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t one.

“Why?”

“He texted me when I was with Hannah.”

“Do I need to tell you being with this chick is bad?”

“You just did, asshole. Sal texted and asked why I was in Coal Springs. That’s bad.”

There was a pause. “Yeah, that’s bad. Is Hannah with you?”

I wanted her to be. It was the only place I could keep her safe. Except, I was what was a danger to her. She’d been living her librarian life, trying to keep herself alive, before I came along and brought the mafia with me.

If Sal wasn’t happy with me or my work ethic, it wasn’t like he was going to write me a one-star review. He was going to kill everyone I cared about to make his point. That meant Dax, but he could take care of myself. That also now meant Hannah, and shereallydidn’t want to die. But she couldn’t take care of herself. In a normal person way, yes, but not in a dating-the-hitman-I’ve-got-bad-guys-after-me way.

“No. She’s still in Coal Springs.”

“I doubt Reggiano took a vacation to the Colorado Rockies for a chainsaw bear statue.” Meaning Sal wasn’t in Coal Springs watching me eat pizza with the town librarian. Dax was trying to be reassuring, but it wasn’t helping.

“Either he sent men or pulled in Paul’s goons to tail me.” Using his son’s men made sense.

“I bet neither and he had a tracker put on your car.”

“Fuck!” I gripped the wheel, swerved into the right lane and took the fast-approaching exit.

The Subaru honked and I ignored it, pulling over on the dirt shoulder, halfway down the ramp. This was a no service exit with the steep slope of a mountain right at the edge. There was nothing in this area but pine trees, sheer rock and bighorn sheep. The sun had long set behind the peaks, and it was getting dark.

I climbed out, the call with Dax switching back to my cell.

“Why the fuck does he want to track me? My day involves picking up my dry cleaning, going to the gym and other boring shit.” I bent at the waist and looked under the wheel well by the driver’s door. Nothing.

“Until Hannah,” Dax said, meaning I’d been to Coal Springs twice in two days, not offing Turkleman like I was supposed to. “It sounds like he doesn’t like you stalling on the project you’ve been assigned.” He wasn’t going to say anything incriminating like murder on the phone. “Why haven’t you finished that project yet? Oh yeah, Hannah.”

I was already around the hood and looking under the wheel wells on the other side. And found the tracker on the back one. “Fuck. Found it.”

I tugged the small tracker free, went back to the driver’s side, climbed in and threw the device on the passenger seat. I wanted to smash it with my heel, but then they’d know I’d found it. It was better for them to follow me back to Denver and away from any connection to Hannah. In the distance, traffic whizzed by on the highway. When I shut the door, the road noise dropped off.

“Thank fuck I didn’t take Hannah home.” I ran a hand over my face, relieved. I’d wanted to be a gentleman, follow her home from the library, make sure she got in safe, but I’d needed to get back to Denver. Also, that would have meant I kissed her at her front door and that would have meant I’d have fucked her in her bed. I knew what she looked like when she came and I wanted to see it again, this time when she was riding my dick. Not much of a gentleman. But shewanted both sides of me, and I’d give them to her, but not when a mafia boss was pulling shit.

“Hannah’s saferawayfrom me until I figure shit out.” I literally hadn’t led Sal to her door, thank fuck.

“Kill the turkey and don’t take any more jobs with the mob boss.”

Captain Obvious.

“That’s top of my list,” I replied. “Plus keep my girl safe. For tonight, she’s better off away from me, but I’ve got to stop running out during meals with her.”