Page 25

“Context helps.” A flutter of a laugh lifted his chest.

“There’s this hospital fundraiser that I accidentally agreed to go to.”

“Accidentally?”

“You know when you say you’ll go, and maybe you even wanted to when they asked? Although, it was really my boss’s boss’s fault for asking me at the end of a very long, very miserable shift. They promised good food and wine, and I was delirious enough to agree. Lexi was going to come with me, but she has an actual date, and it’s been way too long since she’s been out with someone as decent as this guy. Then I was going to go stag, but… ugh. It’s a long story, which I will be happy to explain on the way?” Hip cocked out, eyes wide with mischief, she grinned.

Unable to resist the tease, he melted deeper into his relaxed post. “I’m perfectly happy to jump in anytime, to fix your heater, stuck drains, whatever. But I don’t think the rental agreement includes providing emergency plus-ones.”

Dusk settled over the evening. A night off wouldn’t hurt. The weeks he’d spent searching since arriving hadn’t been productive, anyway. He’d found a feral werewolf in the mountains. A murderously bloody banshee. Not much else.

Recon was usually his favorite part of the hunt, but this was one dead end after another.

Eryn lifted an eyebrow to match her impish grin. “Nor does the lease mention I have to cover for you when you come home covered in blood…”

Delighted surprise smacked him in the gut, and he huffed a laugh. “Like I said, it was work-related.”

“Sure. If you work security for the mafia.”

His pulse hammered as he met her look. Hot honeyed whiskey flooded his veins and held him enthralled. He swallowed and broke the connection. “Are you really blackmailing me into a date?”

Eryn turned on her very pointy heel.

“Hey, wait. Kidding.”

She paused and flicked a look back at him. “Because I’m blackmailing you?”

“You made me breakfast and didn’t freak out over the blood. I owe you.”

“I was making breakfast anyway, so that wasn’t out of my way.” Honesty and intensity crystalized in her honey-brown eyes as she held his look, sending a shiver running down his spine. “I can sense death like I’ve got a cranial nerve for it, and you, my tall and mysterious friend, are not one who would deliver it lightly.”

As if at her command, the wind jetted in the open door, swirling at the hem of her dress and tugging at stray tendrils of hair. Without even relenting to a shiver, she lifted an eyebrow in challenge.

Blood and death were no more strangers to her than they were to him.

Vann relaxed against the doorframe and tipped his chin. “You must be pretty desperate, to ask your serial killer landlord.”

“Aside from Lexi, you’re the only person I know. Outside of work.” Something flickered in her smile.

“And?”

She parked her hands on her hips and released a groan of a sigh. “My boss is really sweet, and he called to ask how I feel and to see if I was already on my way… or if I wanted to ride to the fundraiser with him. He lives at the other end of town. I am not on his way, and I don’t think he was offering a friendly carpool. I think he likes me, but I’m not into him like that… so bringing a date would be a nice, pre-emptive brush-off. No hurt feelings.”

“Got yourself in a bit of a pickle.”

“I’ll pay you back in the form of baked goods? Or, well, maybe no-bake goods. I make a mean no-bake chocolate peanut butter bar.”

Vann’s smile lifted a twitch higher until he breathed a silent laugh. “Better than your omelets?”

“For that comment, you can make me breakfast in the morning—I mean—” A rare blush reddened her cheeks to match her dress, and she laughed richly at her slip.

Without a word, Vann switched his crossed feet and adjusted his shoulder against the doorjamb.

“Wow. So. Yeah. I didn’t mean… wow. Okay. My point is, after enough digs at my sleep-deprived omelet failure, I think you now owe me breakfast.”

“Sure.” He bit his bottom lip and calmed his smile. “I wondered if you were sick. You didn’t leave your apartment for a week.”

“Stalking me now, serial killer?”