Page 10 of Maneater (The Mavens #1)

“That one,” I say, tilting my eyes to where a middle-aged blonde lies on a beach chair.

She’s in a cover-up, a thick book in her hands, seemingly reading.

But moments before, she had her phone behind it, stealthy tapping at the screen while not looking at it before sliding it back into her bag.

The entire move was smooth, I’ll admit, because if I hadn’t been looking for the smallest thing, I would have missed it.

But unfortunately for her, my job is exactly that.

“She’s taking notes of something or messaging someone.

She’s pretending to read, but her gaze hasn’t left the couple at your two o’clock. ”

Rory pretends to shift to dig in her bag while inconspicuously looking at where I tipped my chin.

“The leak?” she asks.

I shrug.

Among the corporation’s list of things that have gone wrong in the past year are a series of unauthorized celebrity leaks from various locations.

My gut and the owner’s instinct tell me it’s not related to the issues this location has been facing, but it’s something of note as they haven’t been able to find the source.

“Could be. It’s not her writing a to-do list, that’s for sure. She looked around right before and after, making sure that no one was watching her.” Some people are just not good at being stealthy.

Rory nods in agreement and picks up her book to look less obvious, and I slide my sunglasses back up my nose, grabbing a book of my own. A minute or two later, a tall man with short-cropped hair and a wide, panty-dropping smile comes over to us, his shadow blocking my sun.

“Hey ladies, how are you enjoying your stay?”

From the corner of my eye, Rory lowers her magazine and fights a sneer that would send him scampering off at the very last minute. There is nothing Rory hates more than pretty meatheads.

He’s good-looking, of course, but the problem is, he knows it.

My least favorite kind of man. Of course, it doesn’t help that my mind is still twisted up, thinking about Rowan and wondering if he’s going to try and find me after the other night.

I swear I can still feel the aftershocks of that orgasm, though it’s probably just because it had been so damn long since I’d had one that wasn’t self-induced.

I swipe that thought away and get my head on the assignment at hand.

“Hello,” I say, sitting up, leaning forward, and smiling at him with my most coy look. “It’s been lovely so far.”

“Glad to hear it. I just wanted to come over and introduce myself, since I haven’t seen you lovely ladies here. I’m Daniel, the general manager of this resort. We’re so honored to have you here.”

I give him a conspiratorial smile. “You know we’re not celebrities, right?”

His smile goes even wider, and god, from that look alone, I’m sure he gets whoever he wants, whenever he wants them. This is my favorite kind of target, because they never see my brand of coercion coming. The kind where I use all of their own weaknesses against them to get what I want.

“All of our guests are a priority,” he says smoothly. “Especially when they’re as gorgeous as you two are.”

“You’re too kind,” Rory says, fluttering her lashes. She’s not the Maven who is known for conning men out of their deepest, darkest secrets with a smile and a head tilt, but all Mavens are experts at flirting, and Rory is no exception.

“Did you two just get in? I think I would have noticed you by now if you had been here for a while.”

I nod. “Sure did. Just arrived today, and we have two luxurious weeks ahead of us.”

He nods approvingly.

“Anything fun we should keep an eye out for?” Rory asks. “Excursions, nightlife?”

He seems to think on it for a moment before answering.

“There’s a mingling dinner and drinks tomorrow night in the main restaurant, and on Monday, there’s a cocktail party.

Dress up, meet some people, that kind of thing,” he says with a shrug, giving us the same spiel that we heard at the front desk .

“What if we don’t want the guest experience? What if we want to have some real fun?” I ask with a wink, and his smile goes a bit devilish.

“Real fun?”

I lift a shoulder. “You know. Employee parties, nights out. A local bar that’s a lot of fun?” I ask conspiratorially.

“Oh, I don’t know, there’s a lot to do around here for guests on the resort grounds.”

“Come on, I know you know where the fun stuff is,” Rory says. “Just look at you.”

He thinks for a moment before looking left and right as if someone higher up than him is about to out him, despite him being the general manager.

“You want a party?”

Rory claps and nods. “Yes! The guests here seem nice, but a bit too…stuffy, you know?”

He nods. “Trust me, I know. Everyone here is a rich asshole.” I raise an eyebrow because even if in real life I am anything but, I would have to be at least one of those things in order to be a guest at this resort. “No, no, not you guys, of course.”

“Of course,” I say with a teasing smile.

He looks around again before leaning in. “There’s an employee party on Wednesday at eight. We have them once a month or so to keep up morale. Dancing, drinks, that kind of thing.”

“Oh, fun!” Rory croons.

“Guests normally aren’t allowed, but I can pull some strings.”

I lean forward, touch his forearm, and let out a small giggle.

“Oh, we would love that,” I say with my most seductive smile that insinuates so much more than he’ll ever get.

“Give me your room number, and I’ll make sure you get all the information.”

I look at Rory, trying to judge if that’s a good idea, then determine we need it and give it to him. He writes it in a notepad before slipping it back in his pocket. He smiles again and opens his mouth to speak, but before he can, he’s stopped .

“Hey, Daniel!” a voice calls out from the other side of the pool, and he looks over his shoulder and sighs as if he knows he’s in for it. “Daniel, can you come talk for a second?” a redhead asks, smiling deceptively sweetly. He stands then and nods at us.

“I gotta go. It was great meeting you two.”

“You too, Daniel. See you on Wednesday.” He smiles again before he looks over his shoulder and sighs. He looks tired but professional, which is something I think would be expected if the resort where he works is experiencing incessant issues.

Daniel is currently on our very long list, though we don’t have any true motivation for him. He holds the top position in the resort, and the application process for securing this role was lengthy. It doesn’t seem like a logical move for him, unless there’s something happening we can’t yet fathom.

After he’s gone, we continue sunbathing, Rory keeping an eye out for the best time to dart off to the taped-off crime scene while I look around, keeping my ears open for any kind of useful information or anything that feels out of place.

And that’s when I feel eyes on me. Slowly, I turn my head to the sky and shift around the pool, trying to find the source without revealing what I’m doing.

Finally, I catch the source of the gaze beneath my dark sunglasses: a woman.

I pass right over her and her burning stare as if it doesn’t exist, then turn to Rory, putting my back to the source of the killing glare.

“Seven o’clock, red hair, white uniform. Works here, I think.” Rory reaches for her drink as she sits up, taking a long sip as she covertly looks to the side.

“My god, why does she look like she wants to rip out your intestines and use them to strangle you?”

My face screws up at the mental image. “Rory, that is so weirdly specific.”

She shrugs as she lies back down. “I listen to a lot of true crime.”

“In this line of work? Where you get to not just hear about it, but witness how dangerous and deranged people can be?”

She shrugs. “It quiets my mind.”

“Oh, you’re a serial killer,” I whisper, then sit back, fussing with my glasses as I do, taking one last look at the woman.

Her arms are crossed on her chest, and Rory is right, she does look like she wants to kill me.

I look at the pretty landscaping a few feet from her but keep her in my peripheral vision as she talks to Daniel, her jaw tight.

He reaches a hand out to her, but she takes a step back before speaking to him, clearly annoyed.

Her head tips toward us, and from here I can see him roll his eyes and throw his hands up exasperatedly.

“I think you were flirting with her man,” Rory says under her breath. “No wonder she was giving you the evil eye. Do you think I should tell her that unless he’s some hottie from your past, you’re so totally uninterested?”

I let out a loud laugh, louder than intended, but it helps to prove our point when Daniel’s head moves our way. Almost instantly, the woman’s hand moves to his jaw, shifting his head to face her.

“Oof,” Rory says.

“Something to take note of. She’s in an employee uniform. I wonder what she does.”

Rory shrugs but picks up her phone, and a moment later, a ping comes to my phone, indicating that Rory has updated the shared note we use to keep track of things while out in the field, probably adding a description and photo for reference.

I continue to watch the unhappy couple before she shakes her head and stalks off to the other side of the large pool area, clearly frustrated.

Daniel sighs and walks off into the resort out of sight.

“I got photos of both of them for the files,” she says, and I nod, but I’m still subtly watching the woman, who looks like she’s about to throw a full-on temper tantrum, foot stomping included. I’m glad I am because in an instant, her face changes, eyes catching on something in the distance.

Then she begins to move with a purpose toward a man.

He’s not in a uniform like she is, and as soon as he notices her, her smile goes sweet.

Not just sweet, but flirty. His back is to us, so I can only note he’s maybe a foot taller than her, with dark hair.

I watch her hand move out, touching his shoulder, and he dips it a bit as if to shift away from her.

I laugh quietly at the entertaining show of rejection before Rory nudges me.

“Hey,” she says, tipping her head toward where our first target is. I note that the area is now free of anyone. “Leave your stuff, let’s go.”

And then we’re off.