Hannah and the Hitman

Chapter 54

54

HANNAH

I loved Jack’s shower. The multiple shower heads, especially the one that replicated rain. The last time I used it, Jack had joined me. And I hadn’t gotten very clean.

Now I was alone, letting the hot water pelt me from all sides. Steam billowed, making the glass foggy.

He was giving me room to think as I asked. I’d never had a man apologize to me. Dad always went with whatever Mom said. Perry was never wrong. Kevin’s shitty behavior he blamed on me being a bad girlfriend.

Jack was subtly groveling. Being cautious that I’d leave him, which was probably why he was okay with me being in here. There were only towels in his huge bathroom. No clothes. He’d been right. I wasn’t teleporting naked, or in a towel, anywhere. Although, I could think of my apartment, and I would end up there.

Maybe. I was risk averse in general, but even more so when it came to ending up in the grocery store or somewhere else without any clothes on.

I’d only done teleported twice and I wasn’t sure if my hypothesis of thinking it and going to it was accurate. Regardless of what Jack said, I wasn’t that brave.

There was no instruction manual.

It was surprising and new to me, and I could only imagine Joey Brains’ face after I disappeared on him. I could only imagine Jack’s.

Perhaps both of them deserved a little slack when it came to believing and understanding. Not Joey Brains because he wanted me dead, but Jack, yes.

There was no precedent. People had probably been stunned when the telephone first worked. Or saw an airplane in the sky for the first time.

Jack thought he was interested in a mild-mannered librarian and ended up with something else entirely.

I thought I was a mild-mannered librarian and it was turning out I was something else entirely. Something more. I liked this new and improved version. A guy looked at me like I was the center of his world. I felt pretty. I had an unknown sexual prowess. I could defend myself, and Jack.

The superpowers would have come about whether I met Jack or not, but because of him, I felt good, old-fashioned regular feminine power. That I was worthy of more.

More attention. More understanding. More love.

How could a man who killed people bring out the best in me?

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 just be one. ”

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.”