Page 47 of Maneater (The Mavens #1)

“Okay. Let me know if you need anything; I was here with them as well. If they need me to give a statement, I’m willing.”

Rowan’s shoulders relax just a hair. It’s almost indiscernible, but it happens all the same, and he nods.

“Thank you. I’ll let you know if we need anything.”

Nearly an hour later, the woman is off to the hospital for some basic care and monitoring, though she seems okay, and I’m following a tight-jawed Rowan to his office.

He hasn’t talked to me since he asked me to stay except to ask me to follow him.

I stood in a corner most of the time, panicking about what to say to him and how to talk myself out of this mess.

Still, it wasn’t time wasted: I took many mental notes, watching reactions and faces, tracking where eyes diverted.

While Daniel looked absolutely wrecked at the idea of another guest getting hurt, profusely apologizing not only to the guest but to Rowan as well, Tanya looked distraught in another way.

Panicked, almost. With each passing moment and every added piece of evidence that this was not an accident, her face seemed to grow paler, and she kept checking her phone as if waiting for a reply.

Is she involved? Is she our guy? Maybe she went to Daniel to distract him, to make him hard to reach if and when an emergency occurred.

But what would the motivation be?

And why would she continue to use her own department? If she was trying to fuck with the resort as a whole, why would she continue to mess with the spa? I would assume she would have to recognize it would put a target on her head as the issue.

But I can’t think of it any longer when we finally step into Rowan’s office, a gorgeous room with a balcony and a beautiful view of the ocean behind him. Unfortunately, I can’t take it in, not when he’s staring at me like that, as if I am a child who has explaining to do.

“What were you doing there, Josie?” he asks, finally breaking the silence as he leans against his desk and crosses his arms on his chest. His jaw is tight, and the levity that I was starting to see on his face this afternoon is completely gone.

“I told you. I’d just gotten done getting my scrub. We were on our way out?—”

“If I weren’t completely entwined by you, I might have started to wonder if you were behind at least some of the issues plaguing the resort a long time ago.”

Every molecule of blood leaves my face. I knew this was coming. Rowan is smart and attentive. But still, there’s something about hearing the accusation out loud that turns my stomach.

I had convinced myself, I think, that if we could just get past the last few days of this mission, if I could just close the case without any real questions, it would be fine.

But that clearly was wishful thinking. It’s a double-edged sword, after all: I’m into Rowan because of how attentive he is, how he notices things…

but it’s his attentiveness that is coming back to bite me.

“It wasn’t me, you have to believe me, Rowan. Seriously,” I whisper. He doesn’t move. He doesn’t breathe. He doesn’t blink. And when he does move, it’s to speak his next words, low and emotionless. Robotic, even.

“Why were you down there? Your appointment was at three, but when I came, it was nearly six. A scrub is not three hours long, Josie. Why are you at almost all of the locations when something goes wrong? Why do I keep finding you places you shouldn’t be?”

“I—”

He shakes his head like he’s dismayed and doesn’t want to hear my excuses before cutting me off, leaning in a bit.

“You know something. I know it. I don’t know what it is or how you’re involved, but you know something. You know something about what’s going on here, and you’re hiding it.”

I shake my head, wanting to refute it but not able to, but he keeps speaking. “Was meeting you at the bar planned?”

That twists in my heart.

“No,” I say, quickly and firmly. “No, Rowan. It wasn’t. I just happened to be at the bar, and you were there, too.”

He nods like he believes at least that, and relief rushes through me. It’s gone just as quickly as it came.

“And here? What about you being here?”

I open and close my mouth a few times, trying to decide how to answer before I do.

“It had nothing to do with you. I didn’t know what you did for work, much less where you worked. And even then, how would I have known that you were coming to this resort?” I don’t deny that I’m here for a reason.

“If you’re working with someone here, you could have assumed I’d make my way here once the fire came to my attention.”

I can see his line of thinking, really, I can, because if I were in his shoes, those are the connections I’d make. But I need him not to. I need him to stop digging, stop searching. My eyes are wide and pleading when I say my next sentence.

“I need you to trust me, Rowan. I can’t tell you right now, but as soon as I can, I will. I promise.”

It’s more than I’ve ever given anyone, on a mission or not. I’ve never told anyone I was casually seeing or hooking up with someone about my job, but Rowan isn’t either of those.

That’s the conclusion I’ve been slowly coming to terms with over the past few days. I finally found a man who I want to give a chance to, who I want to prove to me that not all men are liars and cheats, and now, because of this job I love, I might have fucked it up before it even started.

He changes the subject then, and my pulse pours.

“Where did you get my keycard?” he asks, his voice low and deceptively calm. I am anything but calm in this moment.

“I… I… I…”. I stutter, unsure of what to say or how to talk myself out of this. “I found it with my things yesterday. I must have grabbed it without thinking the other day, I don’t know, Rowan. I swear, it was just a happy circumstance. I was here because I thought you might be here and?—”

“A happy circumstance,” he says with a humorless laugh, disbelief in the words.

“So you were at the party the other night—was that also some plan to distract me? Using jealousy to get me distracted so you could break into the room? Or your accomplice, I suppose?” Guilt lashed through my stomach once more.

“This afternoon, were you stealing something else? Giving Rory a free pass to set this up for the next sabotage, knowing I’d be distracted by your mouth? ”

My eyes are wide as his words hit their target, slicing deep. That’s exactly the conclusion I would come to if I were in his shoes, but hearing the accusations thrown at me hurts.

“Rowan, I can’t believe you would even ask that. You really think I would do that?”

“What else am I supposed to think, Josie? You were at the scene of the crime holding my stolen keycard. Sometimes one plus one equals two.”

“And sometimes things aren’t what they seem,” I say, my voice wavering, my hands out at my sides. “Rowan, it wasn’t me. I know what it looks like, but it wasn’t. You have to believe me.”

“No, I don’t.” A sudden look of sadness crosses his face before it’s once again smothered by anger. “I don’t have to believe you.”

It’s the truth, of course. He doesn’t have to believe me. And really, he shouldn’t. But, god, I hoped he would.

“Rowan—” I start, my voice cracking, but he cuts me off with a shake of his head.

“Look, I have things to do,” he says, tipping his head toward his desk. “Go back to your room. But don’t go far, in case we have to ask you any questions.”

I stare at him for long, long moments where I wish things were different, where I wish I was allowed to tell him everything, but that’s part of the job.

If I spilled it all now without talking to Rory and Gabriel, I could lose my job.

I could blow the case. I would lose the trust of people I care about.

So I nod, and I turn away, hoping to hear him call my name to try and work this out.

But I never do.

And as I’m walking back toward my room, I realize that while I may have kept the true nature of the mission safe, I may have ruined all we might have had.