His brown eyes were intense and far too piercing. “Apparently.”
She gave a humorless laugh. “What are the odds?”
“Small town,” he said easily. “Fewer options.” His casual tone belied the measuring gaze he kept on her.
“You didn’t know I was here?”
“Should I have, Sofia?”
The half-smile that followed didn’t reach his eyes—and she hated that she noticed. Hated the way it made something low in her stomach tighten.
Her grip tightened on the greasy paper bag. “You don’t seem surprised.”
“I try never to be. Keeps the stress down,” he said lightly.
“That’s not an answer.”
He leaned against the frame. Calm. Confident. Unreadable. The simple shift of his posture was unnervingly graceful.
She stepped back, pulse racing. “What is this really? Are you following me, or just bad at being subtle?”
Tonio chuckled, low and intimate. “If I were following you, you’d never notice.”
Her fingers tightened on her bag. “Uh-huh.”
“I’m pleased you’re my neighbor. Grant me your company from time to time, will you? Until I leave. Or until you decide you want more.”
Her heart tripped faster, and Sofia was shocked by the temptation beating at her. “You always this charming?”
“Only when it works.”
She didn’t want to smile. But she did, just barely. It felt like a surrender. “Don’t make this cute, and don’t be cute yourself,” she said, turning toward her door. “It won’t work.”
“Hell, a woman has never called mecutebefore. This is a damn novelty, and I’m not sure how to feel about it.”
Sofia almost smiled, because she understood. This man radiated danger and charm in equal measure, the kind of allure that slipped beneath the skin before a woman realized she’d let her guard down. Some instinct deep inside her—sharp and protective—warned her to keep her distance.
Sofia glanced over her shoulder and found him watching her with the raw, unblinking intensity of a predator. A quick, wicked thrill shot through her, traitorous and hot. This man was dangerous. A distraction she neither wanted nor needed. But another part of her, the part hollowed out by grief and loneliness, felt the pull of him like a spark to dry tinder. Maybe it was only physical attraction. Maybe she could ignore it. Or indulge it for one reckless moment to quiet the emptiness her mother’s death had carved into her.
Then, as if he read her thoughts, he hooked his thumbs into the belt of his pants and smiled.
God, that smile.
Heat tightened low in her belly, swift and startling. She tore her gaze away, praying he hadn’t seen the reaction she couldn’t control.
He lingered, his voice casual as he said, “Been chasing ghosts all week. Maybe you could use a break. A drink, maybe?”
She froze.Chasing ghosts?What did he mean by that? “I don’t drink with strangers.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to fix that,” he said, his eyes smooth and unreadable.
The tension stretched thin. Her instincts screamed to get inside andshut the door. Yet part of her stayed rooted, unwillingto look away. In a week of nothing but dead ends, his unsettling presence was the most real thing she’d encountered. He was indeed a dangerous distraction, and right now, a distraction was terrifyingly appealing.
Tonio held her gaze a beat longer, then smiled. "All right. Maybe next time."
He slipped back into Room 13, the door closing quietly behind him.
Sofia stood there, her key gripped tight in her hand, the air between their doors still charged. Every logical instinct screamed suspicion. But the frantic rhythm of her pulse beneath her skin told a different, more unsettling story—the story of a woman far too aware of the man twelve feet away.
