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I shook my head. Water was fine. Unlike other drinks, it was easy to know when to stop.
Still, he stood there, grinning at me. “You’re either crazy, stupid, or gay.”
I cocked my head, waiting for the punch line.
“A man’s gotta be one of those three things to turn down a woman as fine as Pippa.” He chuckled.
I shrugged.Burned out— by work, by women, by life — was more like it, but let the guy think what he wanted.
“Oh, I get it,” he went on. “Bad breakup and you’re not ready.”
Close, but no cigar. Still, I kept my mouth shut.
“Or maybe her sister is more your type.” He motioned to one of the two women Pippa had joined. “Erin.”
I barely glanced over, then jutted my jaw. “I just came for a drink.”
My eyes must have flared, because he stuck up his hands and hurried away.
I turned my glass, adding wet circles to the bar. Heading to an out-of-the-way bar on my first night in town had not been my plan. But something had kept my blood stirring, and I’d had thesame itchy feeling I’d been getting lately — the one that insisted I had to be someplace in particular at a certain time, even if I didn’t know why.
And, hell. That feeling had brought me to Sedona. It had made me pull over to a strip mall and wander toward a supermarket exactly as an older guy was posting aHelp Neededsign. Five minutes later, he took the sign back down, and I had a job — starting tomorrow — and a place to stay.
So I’d figured I ought to go with that feeling one more time, and here I was.
Old habits died hard, so I studied the place, counting entrances and exits and sweeping my eyes over the crowd. All were human, from what I could tell — except three grizzled old shifters engrossed in a hand of poker across the room. Two wolves and a cougar, if my nose was right. It took a while for them to spot me, and when they did, their nostrils twitched. One huffed and the scruff on his chin thickened, but the others elbowed him.
I raised my glass in a subtle motion that said,Live and let live, right?After all, I was no longer in my previous job.
They held up their beers in a silent toast and went back to their cards.
I sipped my drink, relieved to have encountered shifters old enough not to give a damn about a dragon minding his own business.
I checked the rest of the crowd, finding nothing else of note — except the three women by the fireplace.
Just relax and watch the game,I ordered myself.
I tried to, but my eyes kept dropping to the mirror under the screen — a long one that ran the length of the bar, reflecting all the bottles on display — and among them, glimpses of the tables behind me. Lots and lots of tables, though my eyes landed on Pippa’s every time. Not for Pippa, but the woman next to her.
Erin,my dragon whispered, if what the bartender said was right.
One of those tough, brunette cowgirl types with intriguing, kaleidoscope eyes and something on her mind. Something I doubted she would find a solution to in the fire, but she kept staring there.
I towed my focus to the TV, but it wandered back to her again and again and noticing tiny, unimportant details. How she munched her burger, deep in thought. The way she dabbed her lips before reaching for her drink. Her eyes swept through the place, then over to the—
I jerked my gaze down to my drink a split second before her eyes met mine in the mirror.
Minutes later, I peeked again. She was in animated conversation with the third woman — the one with the tattoos.
Which made me think. Did Erin have a tattoo? She didn’t seem like the type, unless it was one she hid.
And, zoom — my imagination took off on that thought. A four-leaf clover on her ankle. A dolphin in the small of her back. A yin-yang symbol around her belly button…
I gulped and stared back at the game. Who was playing? Miami and…some other team.
Then I cussed, catching myself spying on that woman again. What was it about her?
She stood, heading to the restroom. As she did, my eye caught on a detail, and I froze.
