Page 17 of Targeted By Desire

“Isaac felt so bad when Justin told me he still has feelings for you. So, I gave him permission to set up a dinner for you two.”

“Wait, you did what?”

“Don’t make that face. You need to make amends. Since you two broke up, you’ve been spending all your time cooped up in that FBI office. You need to remember there’s more than evil out in the world. That there’s a man out there who loves you.”

“But, I don’t love him, Mom. Not like that. We’d just be wasting our time.”

“He’s a good man, Simone. He wants to settle down and start a family.”

“And that’s great. He deserves a woman who wants to do the same.”

“Simone, you’re thirty now. You need to start thinking about how you want the rest of your life to look. If you keep going on like this, you might get too comfortable spending time alone.”

“What if I already am?” I argued. I liked my routine. I liked my space. And most importantly, I liked my peace. While the thought of having someone around at night to hold and keep me warm was nice, I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my piece of mind over someone I didn’t truly connect with.

My mother inhaled a deep breath, trying to maintain her composure since we were out in public. “Justin is handsome, makes good money, and is helplessly in love with you. The least you can do is give him another chance.”

“I don’t have to do anything.”

“Well, arrangements have already been made. He’s already made dinner reservations for next Saturday at Cinderhouse. I know tension has been high between you two, so he agreed to forgo picking you up and is expecting you to meet him there.”

I threw my back against the seat and shook my head. I wished I could say I couldn’t believe this lady, but this wasn’t the first time she’s set me up on dinners against my will. Every time I was single, she was trying to play matchmaker with me and some heir to a multimillion dollar company. Even before Isabelle became engaged to one, it was always a goal of my mother’s to marry her daughter off to someone wealthy and powerful. She just failed to see it was never a goal of mine.

“Cheer up,” Isabelle whispered as she nudged me. “A night out with free food and drinks is never a bad thing.”

I smirked. “And what do you know about those?”

“Mind your business.”

Giggling, I thanked the heavens that I had Isabelle by my side.

I opened my mouth to tease her more, but the uncanny shiver ran down my spine again. The hairs on the back of my neck rose like a cat arched in fright.

Confused by the sudden feeling, I glanced around the crowded restaurant and only saw the cheerful expressions of the other patrons in the room. I turned my gaze toward the window near where we were sitting.

Some pedestrians strolled down the street. Cars rolled by in light traffic. A few service vans sat parked by the other establishments across the street. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Yet, I couldn’t shake the eerie feeling of eyes on me.

THE ASSASSIN

Fuck, did she see me? I thought as I locked eyes with Simone. She was sitting yards away, sheltered by the walls of the restaurant she was dining in. Yet, her gaze traveled through the window and fell right on my position in my van.

I quickly looked away and pretended to scope out the building I’d parked beside. Although the windows of my van were tinted, preventing anyone from seeing through it, I didn’t want to feed into the intuition she was clearly feeling.

All week, I’ve stayed a few yards behind her, trying to learn her routine. Find a crack I could slip through. But, it hasn’t been as consistent as I thought.

She gets up early every morning to jog through a local park, but she hasn’t gone back to the FBI headquarters since the other day. Instead, she’s been busying herself running errands at the mall or the grocery store - and today a bridal boutique with her family.

I must’ve hit her head too damn hard on the floor the other night and her boss put her on the back burner. For all that, I might as well just have added an extra slam and turned all her lights out. It would’ve saved me a hell of a lot of time.

Usually, I wouldn’t mind taking my time hunting a target, especially one who gave me such a gracious view every morning. But, Simone wasn’t on our schedule. I didn’t have the luxury of time to waste. Ares could give us an assignment at any moment, and I’d have to temporarily drop this whole operation to complete it.

Sure, I could tell him about our little mishap, but that’d result in more trouble than I wanted to deal with right now. The sooner I took care of her, the less likely he’d have to hear about it.

My eyes wandered back to Simone, and I saw her conversing with her family again. Her once tense shoulders had relaxed and a small smile was painted on her lips. I noticed the only time it grew any wider was when she was looking at the woman sitting beside her.

I was surprised when I saw them walk out her house arm-in-arm together earlier. The vibrant colors of the other woman’s trench coat clashed dramatically with Simone’s simple black puffer jacket. I thought they couldn’t be any more different from each other.