“And now, here you are. Hired to follow me around and what? Take a few pictures?”
Says the man who swings a stick around all day.
Just when I was about to let him have it, onlookers be damned, he adjusted his belt, drawing my attention—yet again—to his crotch.
“You’re wasting your time.” My eyes shot back up. I couldn’t tell what pickled my herring more—his stupid smirk or the challenge in his eyes. “There are plenty of pictures ofthatalready out there.”
I hated the way my cheeks warmed, one of the many hazards of having such fair skin.“Like a porcelain doll.”I shuddered as the memory of Walden’s grating whine rolled through me.
No, that was another time, another day, another asshole.
Thisasshole, the infuriatingly handsome one dressed in a Rose City Roasters jersey and standard issue baseball pants that (gulp) left little to the imagination, had another thing coming. And I’d be all too happy to give it to him.
In a wicked move that would without a doubt give my mind—and my vibrator—a workout tonight, he leaned down until his face was just inches from mine and whispered, “For what it’s worth, you look just as good with your clothes on, blondie.”
Fortunately, Dani had already covered fire safety equipment with me during our tour. Because my panties combusted then and there.
He studied me with an air of amusement, though I couldn’t imagine why. The downward curl of my lips should’ve been enough to tell him I was anything but amused. Little did he know, I was silently plotting his demise. And thanks to the catalog of “murder shows” I enjoyed—Deadly Women, Dateline,andLicense to Killto name a few—I knew of at least a dozen ways to dismember and dispose of a body.
“Woah, what’d we miss?” Jared asked.
I stepped back, needing to put some distance between Soren and me. What was it about this man? Never had someone suckedme so deep into their orbit while simultaneously driving me to contemplate homicide.
My attention shifted to Dani, whose eyes were flickering between the two of us.Sugar, how much had she heard?
“Nothing,” I said, pasting on a saccharine smile. I knew all about fake smiles. From my debutante days to my sham of an engagement, I’d had years to perfect them. “Sorenand I are . . . old friends.”
“I’m touched you remember my name,blondie.”
“It’s Clarke, actually.”
“Like Clark Bar?” he teased. How painstakingly unoriginal.
“Like Clarke Gable,” I told him. “My mama had a thing forGone with the Wind.I have a sister named Vivian.”
“I’m more of anIt Happened One Nightkind of girl,” Dani added.
“Manhattan Melodrama,” Pink said. All three of us pivoted to face him. “What? Turner Classic Movies,” he explained. “I spent my summers at my grandma’s house until I was sixteen.”
Soren stared dazedly, which made me smile. It was refreshing to see him—and not me—out of sorts for once. Plus, it wasn’t every day you came across a group of millennials so knowledgeable about black-and-white movies.
“Well, Ms.Gable—”
“That’s not her name, dumbass,” Soren grumbled. He crossed his arms over his chest like a toddler not getting their way.
“—and seeing as we’re both new to town, we can get together and, you know, explore.” Jared winked. In the history of winks, nobody had ever looked cuter—in that adorable little brother kind of way—than Jared Pink.
“No, you can’t,” Soren interrupted. For heaven’s sake, who licked the red off his candy? “We have team photos in five.”
“That’s right,” Dani said. “I forgot about that.”
“It was nice meeting you, Jared,” I told him. If the rest of the team and staff were as pleasant as he was, I was sure we’d get on swimmingly. Mr. Sourpuss, on the other hand, didn’t deserve my pleasantries. No, I had something extra special reserved just for him, the most searing Southernism of them all.
“Soren,” I said, smiling sweetly, “bless your heart.”
Elated that this time,Ihad the final words—and a deadly combination at that—I turned to the door. I had left him speechless. Maybe Rose DeWitt Bukater had rubbed off on me because suddenly, I was feeling like the king of the world. Like for the first time, nothing or nobody could possibly get in my—
“It suits you,” he mumbled, startling me.
