Page 25 of Property of Anchor

“Hey,” I said.

“Hey,” he echoed.“Just checking in.”

“We haven’t burned anything down,” I said.

His mouth twitched at the corner.“That’s a good start.”

The others stayed quiet, letting the two of us talk while they “casually” eavesdropped from five feet away.

“I’m working out a design for the vampire hall,” I said, stepping slightly away from the group and gesturing toward the notebook tucked under my arm.“Might need a model.”

He raised an eyebrow.“That right?”

I nodded.“You interested in posing?”

“Depends.”

“On what?”

His smile turned slow, dark.“What you’d have me wearing.”

I laughed.“Nothing.Shirtless vampire, obviously.Gotta sell tickets.”

“You’re trouble,” he murmured.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

We stood there a beat too long, close enough to feel it, far enough to pretend we didn’t.

He stepped back first, the spell breaking as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

“I gotta get back,” he said.“Meeting.”

“Of course,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant.

He nodded toward the house.“You’re doing good work, doll.Keep it up.”

“Always do.”

He turned and walked off, and I didn’t miss the way Molly leaned in the second he was out of earshot.

“Holy sexual tension, Batman.”

“Shut up,” I muttered, hiding a smile.

“I saw the way he looked at you,” Bernice said from her perch in the shade.

I turned.“Here we go.”

“That man wants to do a lot more than check on your progress,” she added, peeling a banana with all the smugness of a psychic who already knew the ending.

“He didn’t even touch me,” I pointed out.

“He doesn’t need to.Men like that don’t waste energy unless they’re hunting.”

“Real subtle, Bernice,” Jake laughed.

She winked.“Just don’t let him distract you too much.”