Page 45 of Hannah and the Hitman

She nodded. “I picked the salmon.”

The waiter, dressed in black pants and white dress shirt, waited patiently.

“Steak, medium,” I told him.

We handed off our menus and with a slight bow, he was gone.

Flicking my gaze over Hannah’s shoulder again, I got confirmation that Turkleman was back in his seat, their waiter swooping in with their meals on a huge tray nestled on his shoulder.

I couldn’t kill him while he was eating, so I focused on Hannah.

28

HANNAH

All at once, Jack turned his gaze on me. It was potent and almost mesmerizing. Tonight he wore–surprise!–a suit. Black over a black dress shirt with a black tie. With his equally dark hair and five o’clock shadow, he looked menacing. Except his eyes were warm and his look almost soft, just for me.

“Your mother mentioned you wanted to open a bookstore.”

I licked my lips. His eyes followed the action.

I eyed the remainder of the bread in the basket but decided against it since I’d already felt like a pig eating two slices. God, it was good.

“Yes. Romance fiction is a billion-dollar industry. There’s a voracious demand for” –I made air quotes with my fingers– “those types of books,as my mother calls them. Ihave a business plan, the layout of the store already planned.”

“In Coal Springs?”

I nodded. “Yes. While small, it has a huge tourist industry eager to spend money. On Main Street, there’s a vacant store.”

“What’s stopping you? Don’t tell me it’s your family that’s holding you back or wanting you to open a potato salad food truck.”

I rolled my eyes, then sobered. “No, it’s not them. Or my mother’s obsession with side dishes. The money I saved to open the place got redirected to my medical bills.”

He frowned. “What about a small business loan?”

I studied the white tablecloth for a moment, then glanced up at Jack. “No collateral.”

The last thing I wanted to do was have a depressing conversation or point out how broke I was, so I smiled. “It’ll happen someday, regardless of my family’s support.”

“Have they always been like that?”

“What? Overbearing, insensitive, and plain crazy?”

He shrugged. “I was going to say self-involved and petty, but they are your family and don’t want to hurt your feelings.”

I smiled, because they werereallyself-involved. “I always liked to read. To get lost in a story. As you saw, Perry and Briana are… a lot. My parents’ attention was always pulled to them. I was overlooked probably because I wasn’t as needy.”

“You had quiet independence.”

I realized I was swirling the butter in the little dish with my bread knife, and I set it down.

“They don’t see it that way. They see me as difficult.”

He shook his head. “Which makes zero since because there’s no question your brother’s a cult leader and your sister–”

His words cut off and his gaze shifted slightly.

I frowned. “Jack?”