Page 15 of Maneater (The Mavens #1)

“It’s small and doesn’t have the amenities the pools or other surrounding areas have. Staff aren’t assigned to monitor this area heavily, but that’s part of why I like it. It’s smaller but more impactful.”

“Hmm,” I say, taking in him and then the ocean. “Didn’t peg you as the type.”

It’s not a line: I didn’t peg this for him, and each time I find myself wrong regarding him, I get a bit more concerned. I’m never wrong. I can often discern someone’s thoughts, desires, and likes within just a few minutes of conversation.

But Rowan seems to be a complete and total anomaly.

“What?”

I shrug and give him a playful smile, burying my own concern behind my charm. “You’re the kind of man who thinks bigger is better. This is not bigger.”

He’s staring at me now, taking in my face without shame or trying to hide it before he answers, voice low.

“But it’s better.”

A long moment passes as I take him in. Fuck, he’s handsome. So much more so than I gave him credit for the dozen or so times we’ve bumped into each other. Like this, smiling and at ease for the smallest moment in time, he looks completely different.

His eyes drift down to where I know the mark he left on my neck the other night is just barely visible, and his eyes flare with satisfaction.

I didn’t cover it up this morning, since I knew I’d be getting on a plane, and I forgot before we left for the pool, but now I’m wondering if, like so much of this trip, it was meant to be.

That I met up with Rowan a few days ago was exactly for this reason: for him to be my source of information.

Without even meaning to, I take a step closer.

“This feels like kismet, you know?” I ask with a smile, pushing my hair over my shoulder and subtly leaning in toward him.

“Both of us at that bar, then both of us showing up here? Right place, right time.” He looks down at me, and a rush runs through me, pleasure and satisfaction rushing through my veins.

He isn’t nearly as unaffected as he’s making himself out to be.

“I’m starting to think nothing is the right place, right time when it comes to you.”

My heart pounds at his admission, and I force myself to take the deepest breath I can, inconspicuously, before I attempt to play it off.

“Maybe we should go somewhere and talk about it,” I say with my sexiest voice. “We could get dinner together tonight.”

I tell myself it’s because I want to have more time to ask him questions, to crack through that exterior and convince him to let me in, but I know the truth: despite the fact that he seems utterly annoyed with me, I want to spend more time with him.

I tell myself it’s because I love a challenge that I took my need to make people like me and shifted and molded it into a career.

But deep down, I don’t know if I’m buying it.

I watch Rowan’s face carefully as a dozen different thoughts cross his mind, holding my breath for his answer, but then the unthinkable happens.

He steps away.

“That won’t be happening.” My body stills with his emotionless words. “I’m here for work.” He takes another step back, and to his credit, or maybe mine, he looks a bit pained. It’s a small consolation, I suppose.

“What does that have to do with anything?” I ask.

“I don’t fraternize with guests.”

“Is it against company policy? You don’t technically work at this resort, right?” I’d understand his hesitancy if it were, but he shakes his head.

“No, just my personal policy.”

I tip my head to the side and give him a small smile.

“Well then, I bet you could make an exception for me,” I say in my softest, most convincing voice. “We have history, after all.” There’s a moment, a slight, short moment in time, where his face shows hesitation, but then it’s gone.

“You’re going to have to try harder than that, Josie,” he whispers, just as tempting as my own tone, but his is low and gravelly and hits me straight in my belly, sending warmth through my body.

“What?” I’m dazed by him, lost in his eyes with their unfairly long, dark lashes.

“All those other men, they fall for your act, hook, line, and sinker. Not me.” For the first time that I can think of, I’m speechless, a feat considering I love to talk, but there’s no time to add anything when he tips his head back toward where we came.

“Come on. I’ve got things to do. Let’s get you to your room. ”

I shake my head, both in response to his attitude and in an attempt to clear my mind as I start to move in his direction. “God, you’re such an—” Unfortunately, there’s a small puddle on the ground that I don’t notice, and I slip in my sandals, almost falling on my ass.

But I don’t.

That’s because a strong arm is around my waist, catching me and turning me into him as I trip.

My hand reaches for Rowan’s shoulder to steady myself.

His skin is warm and firm under my hands, and my heart races, not from the fear of almost falling but something else altogether.

His eyes take in my face, dipping from my eyes to my lips and back up before speaking.

“Are you okay?”

“Thanks to you,” I say, and the words are breathy, though this time it’s not intentional. He shifts me, that arm bandaged around my lower back tightening and pulling me in closer before his eyes dip to my lips once more, and I think for a moment, he’s going to kiss me.

I’d let him.

It goes against every rule I’ve made for myself in the years since I’ve been a Maven, but I’d let Rowan Fisher kiss me right now.

“Are you two okay?” a voice calls, breaking the moment.

Rowan steps back, his hand sliding to the bare skin of my waist and burning there until he’s sure I’m on even footing.

Then, he steps a full two feet away from me.

If I wanted, I could reach out and touch him, but the distance feels like an ocean after being in his arms.

“Yeah,” I say to my new enemy, the kind older woman who’s simply worried about me. “I’m okay. I just slipped.” But my eyes never leave Rowan’s.

“Come on. Let’s get you to your room before you get into too much trouble,” he says, a reluctant measure of warmth in his words.

I smile then, a soft, self-indulgent smile.

“Good luck with that. I’m very good at finding trouble.”

The hint of a smile plays on his lips, but it’s gone almost as fast as it came as he guides me out of the area and back into the hotel. We walk through the resort in silence, my mind stuck on the way my lower back is still burning from the heat of his arm while Rowan is lost in his own thoughts.

“I’ll see you around?” I ask when we stop at my door. He looks at me and opens his mouth to speak, but I can’t let this door close on this easy target of information. I smile at him, knowing that while the answer is probably yes, since the resort is big, it’s not limitless. “Hopefully.”

“Hopefully not.”

I roll my eyes and shake my head before stepping back. “See you around, babe.”

He looks at me over his shoulder, his eyes burning, and I know I got under his skin. “Later, troublemaker.”

A win is absolutely a win.