Page 12 of The Hitman and the Psychic

“Of course we can. I wouldn’t be doing this if I couldn’t.”

“All right. Well then, let’s go.” His brow cleared, and he sent me a nod. “Have you ever ridden a bike before?”

“Uh… no.”

He flipped the pegs down on both sides of the bike. “That’s where you’ll put your feet, and you’ll be holding onto me. A motorcycle is a lot like a bicycle, so you need to lean with the bike. Just hold onto me and go with the flow. Got it?”

I barely kept from rolling my eyes. “I’m sure I can handle it.”

He met my gaze, and his lips twitched. “Good. And one more thing.”

I lifted a brow. “What?”

“Hold on tight. It wouldn’t look good for me if you fell off.” He snickered, and I barely refrained from smacking him.

He held the spare helmet out to me and I hesitated. If I touched it, would I see a vision of all the other women he’d taken on his bike? It had to be a possibility since he had a helmet that was just the right size for a woman to wear. How was I going to put that on my head and not see something? This was terrible. “Do I need to wear that?”

He glanced at the helmet as if seeing it for the first time. “You’re afraid of this?” Understanding dawned, and his eyes narrowed. “You don’t want to see who wore it last.” He smirked. “Why? You think it belongs to my girlfriend?”

My stomach jolted. “You have a girlfriend?”

He frowned. “Why is that so hard to believe?”

“No reason… I just…you seem too… uh… busy, I guess.” I barely managed to keep from sayingarrogantandegotistical, but it was close. Besides that, he’d almost kissed me in his apartment. What kind of guy goes after another woman when he’s already seeing someone?

He shook his head, so I reached for the helmet. “Here. Give me that. At least if your girlfriend wants you dead, I can warn you, right?” I grabbed the helmet and braced for the vision of a beautiful woman smiling at him with adoration glowing in her eyes. Nothing. Crap. Now that I’d made such a big deal out of it, I had to say something. “I guess you’re in luck.”

He smirked. “You didn’t see anything, did you?”

I huffed, but since he’d spot the lie, I had to give in. “No, I didn’t. So let’s go already.”

While he closed the trunk, I tried to slip the helmet on, but it was like stuffing my head into a soup can. It was either going to rip my ears off or pull my hair out in chunks. “Are you sure this will fit me?”

Stone glanced my way and his lips twisted, but he managed to keep a straight face. “Here. Put it on from the back like this.” Stone guided me through the process, and I finally had it on my head with my ears still attached.

“You fasten the chin strap on the side.”

I felt for it, but couldn’t find the snap.

He pushed my hands away. “Here… I’ll do it.” He fastened the strap together and stepped away. “Leave the visor up until we get going. Then just flip it down.”

“Okay.”

“After I’m on the bike, step on the peg, here, and swing your leg over the back.”

“Sure.” I waited while he got on the bike. Ready, he held out his arm for me to grab, and I stepped on the peg. I had to brace both of my hands on his shoulders before I could swing my leg over the seat.

It took me a second to find the peg with my other foot, but once I did, I settled down behind him. Glad to have that part over, I flipped my visor down and carefully placed my hands on the sides of his waist. I wasn’t sure how tight I’d need to hold on, but I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of me wrapping my arms around him.

He started off slow, giving me a chance to get used to the bike. After winding through the parking garage, we came to the exit. He stopped to look both ways before crossing the sidewalk to the street, where he stopped again to merge with traffic.

He smoothly pulled out and began to accelerate. I swallowed, and my grip on him tightened. A little thrill ofexcitement sent butterflies through my stomach, and a grin spread over my face. I liked this… a lot.

Soon, my arms were tightly wrapped around him, and I was molded to his back, my inner thighs touching his legs. I peered over his shoulder to see where we were going and leaned with him around every turn. I didn’t know if he was showing off, or if all motorcycle rides were this great, but I was hooked.

Several minutes later, we drove past an old building with yellow crime scene tape across the entrance. The police were still there, along with a fire truck, and I knew we’d never get past them.

That didn’t seem to matter to Stone. He drove the bike around the block and parked in an alleyway across the street from the back of the building. After he turned off the engine, I knew I had to get off before him, but I wasn’t sure how to do that.

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