Page 4 of Unburied

She was pretty—more than pretty, actually. He’d noticed her giant doe eyes and long brown hair the moment she’d walked in and plopped herself down at the bar, but she was even more beautiful up close. Her heart-shaped face was highlighted by those gorgeous eyes and pouty pink lips. A tiny dimple flashed in her chin, and his fingers twitched in their need to touch the tiny divot.

He clenched his hand into a fist where it rested on his thigh. “How could you tell?”

She canted her head to one side and studied him, her dark gaze sweeping from the top of his head down to his waist, every place not concealed by the table. “Your posture. Most people probably wouldn’t be able to tell, but it was practically screaming ‘get away from me.’”

“Yet here you are.” He smirked.

“I’ll leave in just a sec.” She waved a hand dismissively, then paused. “Unless…” Her gaze darted back to his. “Was I wrong? If you’re meeting someone or want me to go, I can⁠—"

“Not a chance.”

This was way more entertaining. Who cared about the mark he was supposed to be watching tonight when he had this gorgeous woman next to him? The man he was currently tailing would be leaving soon anyway, and he’d already gotten a few pictures of the woman his wife suspected he was having an affair with. He would probably take her to one of the hotel rooms later or he’d go home to his wife where he belonged. Either way, his recon for the night was complete.

“Oh. Okay, good.” She looked relieved. “I was worried there for a second. Sometimes I act before I even think about the consequences.”

No kidding.

Undaunted, she continued. “My brother complains about it all the time, says I have no impulse control.” She rolled her eyes like she didn’t believe a word, and he couldn’t help but side with the brother in question. Then she caught him totally off guard when she leaned toward him and sniffed. “You smell good.”

“Um… thanks?” It came out more as a question than a statement, but she nodded regardless.

“I don’t like a lot of men’s cologne. Some of it is way too strong. I like a guy to smell good, but not bathe in it, you know?”

Did she ever stop talking? And her mind—not to mention her mouth—went a hundred miles a minute.

She shot him a questioning look and he realized he hadn’t answered what he thought was a rhetorical question. “Right.”

She turned her attention back to the drink in her hand, and he wondered how many she’d had. It appeared she’d only taken a few sips, but she didn’t seem inebriated. Far from it. It seemed like she’d hit the coffee shop across the street and chugged the contents of their espresso machine before striding into the bar and touching down in his booth like a tornado. Mason felt bad for her brother, whoever he was.

“Speaking of,” she continued, “did you know that by calculating the current unsolved murder rate, there’s a possibility that there may be up to two thousand active serial killers in the US right now?”

How in the world she’d managed to segue from cologne to killers was beyond him, and he wasn’t entirely sure he even wanted to know her train of thought. She turned those big brown eyes on him, head tipped slightly to one side as she waited for his response.

“Are you one of them?” he asked, only half joking.

She blinked, then let out a laugh. “You think I’m some kind of black widow, preying on men in bars?”

“Never know.” He shrugged. “It seems to be working so far. You came over here and pretended to be my girlfriend under the guise of saving me from having my hide chewed out by the Barbie doll.”

“Okay, yeah.” She grimaced. “It sounds way creepier when you say it out loud like that. I’m just gonna…” She grabbed her drink and started to slide out of the booth, but he grabbed her hip and pulled her back to him.

“You can’t leave now. It was just getting good.”

She lifted a brow his way. “You compared me to a serial killer.”

“In my defense,” he replied, “you hit me with the true crime facts first.”

Her nose wrinkled. “Fair point.”

He found himself wanting to draw out the conversation. “So, what happens now? You lure me in with your pretty face and irresistible knowledge of useless trivia?”

“That’s not useless!” Still holding her glass, she used her pinky to point around the room. “What if there’s a serial killer in this bar right now?”

He winked. “I’d protect you.”

“Please.” She rolled her eyes, but a faint smile curved her lips.

“Okay, you’re right. I would totally sacrifice you as bait and make a run for it.”