Page 94 of Maneater

“Sure, Rowan,” she says with a laugh, and I can’t be annoyed: I wouldn’t believe me either. “And that tattoo is just, what?” So shedidnotice that one. “A coincidence?”

“My luckiest charm,” I whisper, then, because I can’t resist, I brush my lips across hers once more. That seems to stun her, and I smile at finally getting one up on her. When she seems to clear her mind and get her footing back, she speaks again.

“So what happened next?”

“You were leaving, your friends saying it was time to head out. I tried to get your number, set up something so we could have a date.”

“I don’t date,”she whispers.

“Yeah, that’s what you said then, too,” I tell her with a smile. “And then a week later you were out with some frat asshole and…I took it personally.”

I run an embarrassed hand through my hair. It was years ago, and I’d held on to it for years. I wonder what would have happened if I’d just been an adult at any point between then and now and talked to her about it? “He was some rich asshole I knew from class, and I thought you’d turned me down because he hadwhat I didn’t.”

I let the words hang between us before she shakes her head vehemently.

“Oh my god, no. Rowan… If anything, not coming from money is what keeps youinthe running,” she says, and I can’t help but let out a laugh.

“Thank you?” I question.

“I just mean…with my job, and even back then, I met a lot of assholes with more money than common sense. They’re all the same, and they’re all assholes.”

“Back then? Were you a Maven then?” She shakes her head.

“In college, I had a bit of a…side hustle. I’d tempt girls’ boyfriends. A loyalty test, so to speak. See if they’d fall for it before they got in too deep with him and got their hearts broken. You’d be shocked how many did,” she says, and I shake my head.

“No, I wouldn’t. I’ve seen you work.”

She smiles like it’s a compliment, which I meant it as. Now that I have the full picture of what she’s been doing on all those dates, I see it for the game it is, the trap it is, and sheisamazing at it.

“But once they fell for it, I still had to follow through on the dates or else they’d start to add things up, you know?”

Slowly, I nod, understanding.

“So you weren’t on dates? They were just so you could keep your cover?” She nods. “Good practice, I suppose. How’d you go from that to the Mavens?”

She shrugs. “No one really knows how Gabriel finds us. I was about to try and enter the FBI academy after graduation, but he offered me a job first. It was the perfect opportunity to use my unique skills.”

“Flirting?”

“Conning men out of whatever I want them to give me.”

“Mmm, well, it’s worked on me,” I say, rolling to my back and pulling her on top of me. “What do you want?”

“What have you got?” she asks with a smile.

“I think it’s better I show you,” I say low, rolling once more untilI’m hovering over her. Her own smile widens, and as I start to kiss a trail down her body, she puts her hands behind her head.

“I think that’s a great idea.”

THIRTY-SEVEN

JOSIE

“I need to tell Rory, you know,” I say, long after a second round and once again, more orgasms than I can keep track of. I thought it was some kind of trick, his own spy-level method of interrogation: orgasms until I cracked. But I think the truth of the matter is that making me come is Rowan’s own personal kink.

I am so totally okay with that.

But now we’ve cleaned up, and I can see a new text or seven blinking on my phone on the bedside table. Knowing it’s my partner makes dread knot in my stomach.