I smile in the dim light.
I’m counting on it.
OceanofPDF.com
10
OceanofPDF.com
DIJON
OceanofPDF.com
SLOANE
There’s an art to cornering a man like Thorsten Harris.
The first trick is to approach him in a place where he feels confident, one where he thinks he’s the apex predator in his little pond because he’s successfully hunted there before. Like this place, Orion Bar, an upscale cocktail lounge within what I already know is Thorsten’s preferred range. It’s just far enough from his home that he feels like it’s an adventure, just close enough to his house to make luring his prey there viable.
The second step in the process is to learn what he likes. What excites him. What he loathes. In Thorsten’s case, he enjoys red wine, impeccable cooking, and expensive things. Not always nice things, in fact they’re often gaudy and pretentious, but expensive nonetheless. As for what he hates? Bad manners. And yams, apparently. Then take all that knowledge and start to build a rapport with him.
And the last step is the tricky part: you have to make him believe you’re smart enough to be an interesting conquest—you might be prey, but you’re worth the risk to take a trophy. But you also have to come off as just dumb enough that you would willingly accept his dinner invitation at his home tomorrow night, even though he’s essentially a stranger.
…Or, you can throw all that out the window and just be Rowan Kane.
A motorcycle helmet drops onto the empty space next to me on the white leather couch.
Instantly, my blood turns volcanic.
“Fancy seeing you around these parts,” Rowan says as he plops down next to it with a shit-eating grin.
I give him a dead-eyed glare in reply.
My ferocity only earns me a wink before he’s leaning forward with his arm extended over the coffee table toward the man sitting across from me.
“Hi, pleasure to meet you. I’m Rowan.”
“Thorsten Harris, pleasure is all mine,” my well-dressed, older companion says as he accepts the handshake. I’ve spent the past four days trying to avoid this exact scenario in my attempts to corner Thorsten, who Rowan now knows is our annual target, though he doesn’t seem to know why.
I thought I finally escaped Rowan when I slipped out of the hotel and his rental car was still in the parking lot.
Clearly, I misjudged him.
And he is fucking elated about that.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Rowan barrels on, ready to light the fuse for every cannon in his arsenal of charm. He aims his fucking flawless smile at my prey, his skin bright and flushed, probably from the excitement of successfully chasing me down. “I saw my friend’s car here as I was passing through and it’s just been so long, I thought I should stop in and say a quick hello to her.”
And then he turns the full force of his charm attack on me. “Hello, friend.”
“What a deep joy it is to see you here, Rowan. I’m so thrilled.” I take a long sip of my wine before I give him a tight smile. The silence between us stretches. Thorsten shifts in his seat and I suppress a groan, aware that I’m already pushing Thorsten’s boundaries for manners. “Would you care to join us?” I ask woodenly. My smile has a vicious edge that clearly says ‘fuck the hell right off’.
And Rowan says, “I would be delighted.”
Within one minute, Thorsten has poured him a generous glass of expensive Chianti.
Within five, Rowan has him whooping with laughter and clapping his hands.
Within ten, Thorsten is nearly tripping over himself to invite Rowan along to our dinner at his home tomorrow night, something I’ve spent all evening orchestrating as a solo venture.
Two hours later, we’re leaving the swanky bar side-by-side in Thorsten’s wake, tomorrow’s dinner plans etched in stone.
And I’m seething.
“I have to hand it to you,” I whisper as Thorsten gets into his car and we wave him off. “Your grocery delivery trick to my home was very cute. You nearly had me fooled there with that cooking together thing.”
“Fooled?” Rowan’s eyes roam over me, bright and wry. “Not sure what you mean, Blackbird.”
“Fooled into thinking that you weren’t going to turn around and become a monumental pain in my ass at the first available opportunity for this season’s game,” I say. He bellows a laugh and I fold my arms across my chest as I glare up at him. “You are a cheat.”
“Am not.”
“You’ve been following me around relentlessly to figure out who we’re after rather than looking on your own.”
“It’s not in the rule book that I can’t.”
“We don’t have a fucking rule book. But we should. Rule number one: do your own fucking research.”
“Why, when I can have so much fun following you?” Rowan’s smile only grows more devious when I growl in my most accurate Winston impression. “So…who is that guy anyway?”
I huff and roll my eyes before I pivot on my heel and stomp toward my rental car. “You are the worst,” I hiss as Rowan pulls open the driver door for me. “You and your…” I wave a hand in his direction as I slide into my seat. “Skullduggery.”
Rowan snorts as he leans down into my vehicle, his face so close to mine that I feel his every breath on my cheek. I try to ignore the way it twists my belly with a different kind of fury. “Skullduggery. Should I take this as a sign that you’ve moved on from dragon smut to pirate porn?”
“Maybe I have.”
“You know, you’re kind of adorable when you’re indignant.”
“And you are still the worst,” I growl as I tug my door free of his grip.
He manages to move before I slam it on his hand, but I still catch his teasing laugh and his parting words: “You’ll love me someday.”
The next day is not that day.
No, not when Rowan invites himself to my breakfast-for-one at the hotel restaurant. Nor when he shows up in the mall as I shop for an outfit, even though he does carry my bags and help me pick out a cute little retro-style halter dress. It’s just a ploy to gain an advantage, after all. Crafty fucker. And someday is definitely not today when I park at Thorsten’s grand, secluded home in Calabasas and Rowan’s rented motorcycle is already there. He’s leaning against it, hot as sin in a black leather jacket, his gaze raking from my toes to my eyes with a look like that sets me on fire, and he knows it.
“Evening, Blackbird,” he says as he pushes off the side of the bike.
“Butcher.”
Rowan draws to a halt in front of me as I cross my arms and cock a hip. “That’s a pretty dress. Someone help pick that out for you? Whoever they are, they clearly have impeccable taste.”
“Great taste. Absolutely zero boundaries.”
He grins. “I’m so happy we’re on the same page.”
I give him my most dramatic eye roll and am about to launch into him when the front door swings open and Thorsten stands on the threshold with his arms spread in greeting.
“Welcome, my young friends,” he says, looking ready to host illustrious guests. His white hair is perfectly coiffed. His burgundy jacquard dinner jacket shimmers in the setting sun. The smile he flashes us has a hidden, sharp edge. “Please, do come in.”
He steps aside and motions for us to enter the palatial home.
We start with cocktails in the living room where first-edition books and ceramic figurines and paintings surround us, and I take the time to appreciate the art as Thorsten gives us a tour of his collection, his most prized possessions carefully labeled. Even after he’s moved on, I stare for a long while at a signed drypoint and etching print by Edward Hopper called Night Shadows. The sketch shows a man from overhead as he walks alone on a city street, the lamplight casting deep shadows around him. Something about him seems sinister. He could be stalking. He could be hunting. And when I look left and right, I see the narrative emerge from the art that engulfs me.
