Page 83 of Hannah and the Hitman

Was it possible that I brought out the best in him as well?

He said he quit.

For me.

That he was done as a hitman.

For me.

He wanted to have a quiet life.

With me.

He mentioned my bookstore which meant he’d live in Coal Springs.

The only reason Jack would relocate to a small, Hallmark town was…

Me.

I hadn’t used any soap. Or shampoo. All I did was stand under the spray and think. But I couldn’t wait another second. I turned off the dials and opened the glass door. As I stepped out onto the plush bathmat, I saw Jack’s reflection in the mirror. He was leaning against the open doorway, the sunlight from the bedroom windows at his back. Still in his suit, he’d done up his pants. Looking at him, no one would know how virile and sexual he was. What he was packing in those pants.

“Are you done thinking?” he asked. Pancake came into the bathroom to see what was up, sniffed with his head and tail high like a snooty king, then tore off like the lunatic he was.

I nodded.

His body was tense. His face unsure. He–Mr. I-Kill-People-And-People-Want-To-Kill-Me was scared. Of me. Afraid of what I was going to say. I wasn’t even sure if he was even breathing.

“If you’re going to work in a romance bookstore, you’re going to have to read more and get to know the tropes,” I said. “You can’t justbeone.”

A smile split his face and he crossed the bathroom in three strides; it was a big bathroom. His arms went around me, not concerned I was getting him all wet.

“What should we read tonight?” he asked. “Cowboys? Those shifters you mentioned that like to bite? Or is that vampires?”

I couldn’t help but grin. “I was thinking BDSM.”

His eyes flared with heat and interest.

“You want me to tie you up, gorgeous?”

“You said you have a lot of ties. And new toys.”

“Then teleport to the bed, gorgeous.”

55

JACK

She stared at me like I was crazy. Maybe I was. I had time to panic while she was in the shower. That she might wash the idea of anusdown the drain and want to leave.

But my girl surprised me yet again. She wanted me. Dead bodies and all.

Since it was my job to keep her safe, we had to work on the one aspect of that I couldn’t control. Her superpowers. Yeah, they were real. I admitted it. I believed it.

Her teleporting to the grocery store and a fucking adult store wasn’t safe. Her ability to control disappearing from one place and ending up in another scared the shit out of me. I needed to know she could be on top of it, that it wasn’t a response but an intention.

“What?”

“Teleport to the bed.”