Page 33 of Maneater

I give him a pitying smile. “Cute that you think that,” I say with a shrug before taking two more steps backward toward the door, a smile on my lips. “See you around, Rowan.”

“Not if I have anything to do with it,” he grumbles.

I laugh as I turn around fully and head into the restaurant without a second look. I make my way back to the table, a bit irritated and flustered despite my nonchalant act. Rory gives me a look when I sit, my jaw tight but my fake smile wide.

“No Rowan?” Horace asks. I shake my head.

“No, he had to go be a big party pooper andwork,” I pout.

“That kid. All work, no play.” He sits back with a wide smile. “Now me? I’m the opposite. All play, minimal work. I already put in my work.”

I flutter my eyelashes and open my mouth to say something, but an annoyed voice interrupts us.

“Are you done playing with the young things, Horace?” a middle-aged woman with blonde hair asks, looking down her nose at Rory and me. Horace clearly misses the rude move.

“Oh, Regina! You took long enough to get here. Ladies, have you two met my new friend, Regina?” The woman looks from Rory to me and deems us uninteresting. “I met her when I arrived here.”

“Great to meet you,” I say with as genuine a smile as I can give someone who clearly doesn’t like me without evenknowingme.

“She’s a writer,” Horace says, and despite his flirting with Rory and me tonight, it’s clear he likes this woman. The exchange is almost endearing.

“Oh, that’s so interesting. Where can we read you?” Rory asks with a soft smile that Regina returns, though hers is uncomfortable and tight.

“Oh, you know. A little here, a little there.” I shift my eyes to Rory, who is already looking at me, our minds on the same page. As people who diligently avoid talking about our work, it’s easy to narrow in on when someone else is doing the same thing. “Anyway, Horace, let’s go. I’m getting very…tired.” There’s a purr in her voice that almost makes me gag, and when I look at Rory, she’s fighting off a grimace of her own. “Would you mind showing me to my room?”

Horace, on the other hand, looks absolutely smitten with her and stands quickly.

“Of course. It was great to meet you, girls. I’m sure I’ll see you around,” he says. We agree and exchange goodbyes before we watch them head out together.

“Suspect,” Rory says low, and I nod as she types both Horace's and Regina’s names into her phone. “Okay, let’s go. We have some research to do.” We both stand and head out of the restaurant, and even though I feel good about the intel we gathered, I have a knot in my stomach.

“You going to tell me what happened with Rowan?” she asks as we step into the empty elevator.

I give her a quick look before digging into my small bag, pretending to look for something.

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit. He looked like he wanted to simultaneously run away from you and tear your clothes off when you left.”

“Well, he didn’t tear my clothes off.”

“So he ran away from you?”

I shrug then, still avoiding her eyes. “I told you, Rory. He’s not into me.”

She lets out a small huff of disbelief before shaking her head. “Sure, he isn’t.”

And I don’t even have it in me to argue with her. Because, despite the back and forth, Rowan clearly is into me. But I’m starting to wonder if that interest could come at a cost.

THIRTEEN

Suspect list for Daydream resorts based on current intel:

Daniel, the general manager