Under Age and Undercover: A Hannah Clark Novel (under edit)

4. Mr. Cool (edited)

Ta-da! Comment your thoughts :)

The first thing I noticed was that he was tall. He easily surpassed six feet, and was very masculine in every sense of the word. Rugged clothing, as if he had just stepped out of a camping magazine, and a noticeable tan on his broad shoulders told me that he was out in the sun a lot.  Our age difference was obvious, at least one to two years, and I was obviously younger. Despite all desperate attempts to remain completely unmoved by his presence, I couldn’t help but notice his amazingly good looks. I may or may not have inconspicuously wiped drool from the side of my mouth after a moment of gazing at the guy.

 The mere sight of him told me that he was familiar with dissonance; that he often brought trouble everywhere he went. The minute he walked in the room, I had a feeling that I would get the brunt of his reputation on this mission. He had an aura about him that seemed to scream affliction, and yet his facial expression was completely calm and under control. His confidence reminded me of my own. Even the way he stood reminded me of someone in a high political office. He would make a fantastic bodyguard, if not for his strength then for his strictly business demeanor. I mused over the different personality traits he might posses, considered all of the different places he may have come from for a few moments before Michael interrupted my daydreaming.

"Hannah, this is Shane.” He announced. “He will be your partner on this mission and future assignments if you prove to work well together." Yeah, I thought, like that will ever happen.  Between his by-the-rules stubbornness that I could practically smell coming off of him and my sometimes unethical work habits, the chances of Shane and I working well together were very slim.

"Oh," I said, shock showing plainly in my tone of voice. "OK."

I had never had a partner before in my four years with the agency and the idea that he of all people, with his big biceps and serious facial expression, was assigned as my partner astonished me.

"Um..." I hesitated, not sure what to say. "Hey," I said, deciding to act friendly, "I'm Hannah. A pleasure to meet you."

"Charmed I'm sure," he replied sardonically in a deep, accented voice. Whoa. I thought, shocked. He was British? That explains his all-business attitude.  He must have come from MI6 or some branch of the British Secret Service.

" Yeah," I said brilliantly, laughing as an attempt to ease the tension. After watching Michael explain to Shane the details of the mission, he left the room while dropping a not-so-subtle hint that we might want to begin brainstorming strategies for the assignment before we left in the afternoon.

"So," I said, instantly tense from our lack of an audience, "Where are you from?" My

intense curiosity leaking through the words. He laughed at my obvious discomfort. Jerk.

"I was born in London but I lived in Bakewell up until about two years ago,” He finally answered,

“That's when I moved up here. I reside in Marshal County now." Drawing a mental map based on my little study of geography, I remembered that Bakewell was located in Derbyshire England and Marshal County was in Northwest Minnesota.  His smile while I mulled over the tiny bit of information angered me.  Did he think me dumb?

"Oh. Well, that's cool." I said. "What made you move up here in the first place?" He smiled again, the parallel rows of pearly white teeth knocking me breathless for the second time in ten minutes.

"It's beautiful in Minnesota, that’s why my mum chose to move to Marshal County.  It was pure luck that they offered me a job here at the FSS right after my citizenship was approved." I nodded. It really was beautiful with all the greenery, so it made sense for a Brit to choose Minnesota when relocating to the U.S.