by Anya Nowlan
Sawyer suppressed a growl. Naomi had made her lack of attraction to this Roy character pretty evident, and he knew he had no reason to have a problem with it even if she did like the guy, but his wolf seemed to have abandoned all logic and common sense.
“You think Roy has information we can use?” he asked, his voice coming out a little more gruff than usual.
“I’m sure he does,” Naomi nodded. “I could reach out, offer my condolences… I hate using David’s death as an excuse to get information out of him, but we need to know more. And I don’t want either of us ending up in jail after a botched robbery attempt.”
“Then let’s talk to Roy,” Sawyer nodded, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.
“You mean I’ll talk to Roy,” Naomi raised a brow at him. “I can’t have you looming over us while I try and butter him up. No offense, but you can be kind of scary.”
“Okay, you talk to Roy,” Sawyer replied. “But I’ll be close by.”
And I won’t be taking my eyes off you for one moment, he added in his thoughts.
Thirteen
Naomi
Naomi took a seat near the back of a local café known for great coffee and a quiet atmosphere. Given why she was there, though, she forewent her usual latte and settled on a hot tea instead. She was already anxious about her hidden agenda showing through when Roy showed up, and caffeine was the last thing she needed.
Forcing herself to stop tapping on the edges of her glass, she gazed around. It was still early afternoon, so the place wasn’t full by any means. A couple of students were typing away behind their laptops, and an older gentleman was reading a newspaper, but that was about it.
Well, except for Sawyer, of course.
He was sitting alone near the door, looking as tense as if they were about to try and trap some criminal mastermind on something, when it was just plain old Roy they were waiting for. Naomi had tried to convince Sawyer that Roy was just an unassuming archaeology professor, but the former investigator would have none of it.
To be truthful, a part of her enjoyed having Sawyer stand guard over her. She told herself it was because Verin was still on the loose, but there were other reasons. The fact that Sawyer was damn good to look at was one of them.
All right, stop ogling, she told herself. You’re not supposed to even know him.
But, even if she didn’t know him, Sawyer was someone who was likely to draw attention wherever he went. She chased those thoughts out of her head when the door opened, and Roy stepped inside.
He spotted her at once, giving her a brief smile as he walked over. Naomi stood when he came to a stop at her table, unsure of how to greet him. Growing more serious, Roy grabbed her into a long hug.
“Oh,” Naomi muttered awkwardly, patting him on the back.
Looking over Roy’s shoulder, she could spot Sawyer sitting in the same spot he had been before, now openly staring at them. He glanced away as soon as her eyes met his.
“How awful,” Roy said quietly next to her ear, smelling faintly of cigar smoke. “What happened to David and Melanie.”
When he pulled away, Naomi nodded at him.
“Yeah,” she replied. “I thought we both could use a friend right about now.”
“Of course,” he agreed, sitting down opposite her. “This is exactly the time to lean on each other.”
Naomi sat back down, wrapping her fingers around her hot mug, despite the sweltering heat outside. Subterfuge had never been her strong suit. She had always been a lot better at evasion than straight-up lying, and getting the right information out of Roy without seeming suspicious would take some finesse.
She remembered what Sawyer had said on their way over here – just let Roy do the talking. People liked to be listened to, and would reveal a lot more if you just nodded along, instead of when they were being pelted with questions.
“How are you doing?” she asked, leaning on her elbows on the table.
“Shocked, really,” Roy shook his head.
His sandy-Blake hair was neatly combed away from his face, his jaw freshly shaven. He had paired his usual khakis with a button-down, instead of the polo shirt she saw him in around the university.
Naomi just nodded, hoping she seemed to be hanging off his every word.
“David was a hell of a scientist, you know,” Roy sighed, waving down a passing waitress. “Coffee, black,” he said to her, before turning his attention back to Naomi. “I don’t know how the department will recover,” he shook his head.
What about how Melanie will recover? Naomi wanted to say, but bit her tongue.
“He was a real asset,” she agreed instead.
“I think they’ll tap me for his position,” Roy mused. “But, anyway,” he caught himself mid-reverie, “how is Melanie? She must be really shaken up.”
Naomi studied Roy with a whole new perspective. When David and Melanie had sprung that dinner on her, she had thought him a nice, if slightly awkward man who was passionate about his work.
There hadn’t been any spark between them, which was why she had avoided meeting with him again, but he had left a mostly good impression. Now, that impression was beginning to sour.
His thin lips were holding back a smile as his gaze slid over her, his demeanor oddly excited. Soft, round cheeks gave way to a straight nose and small, blue eyes with a hint of wrinkles around them, giving her the impression he squinted a lot.
But it was his inconsiderate attitude toward David’s death that really made him unattractive, though. And Naomi was starting to think that the man only agreed to meet her to somehow turn this into a date.
She glanced down. Even his shoes were freshly polished, and a silver watch glinted on his wrist. Sneaking a glance over at Sawyer’s table, she caught the man sipping his coffee, no longer looking her way.
But she knew, with his shifter hearing, he was having no trouble catching every word of her and Roy’s conversation. Suppressing an urge to shoot up from her chair and leave, so she wouldn’t have to be hit on by someone using grief as a way to get in her pants, she took a sip of tea instead.
“She’s dealing with it as best as she can,” Naomi replied vaguely.
“Of course,” Roy said, managing to look sympathetic. “Lucky for her she has a friend like you to help her through this difficult time.”
“It’s a difficult time for all of us,” she nodded. “Everyone at the university is affected by David’s loss. Everyone loved him.”
“He’s irreplaceable, that’s for sure,” Roy nodded. “And we’ll have to shoulder his work until they find a replacement.”
That’s what he’s concerned about? Naomi scoffed to herself.
“That’s gotta be tough,” she replied, hoping to lead Roy onto the right track.
“Tell me about it,” he said, leaning back in his chair.
The waitress came back, placing a cup in front of him. He blew on it, taking small sips, before continuing to complain.
“There’s this statue,” he started, and Naomi had to force her facial expressions to remain neutral. “No one’s been able to figure out where the damn thing actually came from, because it doesn’t match anything else found in the same dig. Everyone thought David would be able to crack it. Now…” he trailed off.
“I’m sure you’ll be able to figure it out,” Naomi replied. “David always spoke very highly of you.”
“Did he?” Roy immediately perked up.
“Mm-hmm,” she said, hiding her face behind her cup as she took another sip.
Hopefully that sounded convincing enough.
“Well,” Roy replied, looking pleased with himself. “The tests David ordered might shed some light on things, but I’m not holding out hope. The friend that sent the statue over already put it through the mass-spec, among other things.”
“So why did David even bother sending it out to another lab?” Naomi asked.
“Beats me,” David shrugged. “He wanted the statue to go through thermoluminescence
testing, but that data is hardly reliable,” he said, stopping himself from going on. “But I don’t want to bore you with the science.”
“Oh, no, I find it fascinating,” she quickly replied. “And it’s good to get my mind off… you know.”
Roy seemed to like that answer. He leaned forward, and for a moment she feared he might reach for her hand, but he didn’t. She couldn’t help but look over at Sawyer again, even though she knew she shouldn’t. He was still keeping his eyes down, scrolling something on his phone.
But just seeing him there, close by in case she might need him, reassured her.
“Okay, so thermoluminescence is used to measure the electron emissions of materials, to see if they have been exposed to heat. But it’s an unrefined technique, and most scientists don’t bother with it. David must have had some idea he wanted to confirm, but he never told me what.”
“What a mystery,” Naomi commented. “You’ve even got me interested. When will you get the results?”
“The statue will be transported back to the lab in a couple of hours,” Roy shrugged.
“It must be valuable, if everyone’s going to so much trouble to figure out its secrets,” she remarked.
“Everything’s valuable to someone,” Roy hedged, and Naomi feared she had pushed too far.
So, pushing aside every instinct she had, she batted her lashes at Roy, hoping she came across alluring, and not like she just had something in her eye. Leaning forward, she rested an elbow on the table, and gave him a warm smile.
“You don’t have to rush back to the university to sign for it or something, do you?” she asked. “I was thinking maybe we could have dinner after this.”
The idea of spending any more time with Roy than she had to was more than unappealing, and if he really bought that she would be flirting with him after her best friend was just widowed, Roy would prove to be even more selfish than she thought.
Then again, people dealt differently with grief. Some withdrew into themselves, shutting down. But others sought out any companionship they could in an attempt to distract themselves. Maybe Roy thought she was in the latter category?
When he grinned at her, Naomi had to keep herself from letting out a relieved sigh. Roy was taking the bait.
“Nah, it will be delivered straight into our climate-controlled storage room in the basement. That thing has survived thousands of years, it can wait until morning. Dinner with you sounds a lot more appealing than studying that hunk of rock,” Roy said, reaching across the table to place his hand on hers.
Naomi’s smile didn’t waver by sheer willpower alone, as she snuck another glance at Sawyer’s table. But he wasn’t there. No, instead, he was marching straight up to her table, and he did not look happy.
Uh-oh.
Fourteen
Sawyer
That little weasel, Sawyer fumed, glaring at the back of Roy’s head as he approached the table Naomi was sitting at.
Roy was all but drooling over her, probably thinking she was vulnerable after David’s death, and he could take advantage of that. Maybe Roy was oblivious enough to not see how uncomfortable Naomi was with his advances, but for Sawyer, it was clear as day.
He had always been good at reading body language. That sort of thing came in handy as a cop. And his shifter senses didn’t hurt when it came to sniffing out what people were really thinking.
Humans would be surprised at how much a person’s heartbeat gave away.
As far as Sawyer was concerned, they had gotten all the information they were going to get out of Roy, and Naomi was in need of a rescue. If she suddenly bailed on the dinner she had just promised, Roy might get suspicious about the whole thing. She needed an excuse to back out, and Sawyer was more than happy to oblige.
He told himself he was doing it just to get Naomi out of a bad date with a guy she obviously didn’t want anything to do with. But the wolf growling inside him was a clear sign that there was more to it than that.
Just the sight of Roy touching her hand made a primal, possessive part of him float to the surface. Sawyer had to remind himself he had no claim over Naomi. They were just working together to make sure Verin didn’t leave any more bodies in his wake.
But that rationale didn’t do much to quiet his animal side.
Taking a deep breath, he took a moment to collect himself as he stopped at Naomi and Roy’s table, making sure his anger didn’t show on his face.
“Naomi,” he said, watching those clear green eyes of hers widen at the sight of him. “There you are, I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“Uh, hi,” she stuttered in response.
Roy twisted around in his seat, looking up at him. He frowned at first, probably annoyed at the interruption, but put on a congenial smile once he got a better look at Sawyer.
“I’ve been trying to get ahold of you,” Sawyer carried on, taking charge of the conversation as Naomi looked like she didn’t know what to say. “There’s been an accident. Mr. Whiskers got hit by a car.”
As far as improvising went, Sawyer had to admit it wasn’t his best lie. Clearly he wasn’t really thinking with his head when it came to Naomi.
“Oh, no,” she replied, still looking just a tad confused. “Is she badly hurt?”
Caught in the middle, Roy looked from Sawyer to Naomi, raising his brows.
“Mr. Whiskers is a she?” he asked, and Sawyer could practically see Naomi kicking herself.
“I didn’t know she was a she when I adopted her,” she quickly replied. “She’s a tabby. I’ve only had her for a couple of months.”
“She’s probably going to make it,” Sawyer interjected. “I saw the whole thing and took her to the vet. But I thought you should know.”
“Oh my god, how terrible,” Naomi replied, with more feeling this time. “I better get right over there.”
“Uhh, excuse me,” Roy interjected. “What’s going on exactly?”
“Sorry,” Naomi shook her head. “This is a little crazy. This here is my neighbor,” she explained, gesturing toward Sawyer.
“Hi,” Sawyer replied, reaching out a hand toward Roy. “Tom,” he introduced himself without hesitation.
Roy stood up to shake his hand, yelping when Sawyer squeezed his fingers tightly. It was a stupid, macho thing to do, and unfair, really. Shifters were stronger than regular humans, that was just the way it was. And while Sawyer usually didn’t like showing off his genetic gifts, he just couldn’t help himself when it came to Roy.
He almost broke the man’s hand. And he felt damn fine doing it.
“I don’t know how Mr. Whiskers even got out of the house,” Naomi carried on, looking genuinely worried about the fictional cat. “I thought I closed all the windows before I left.”
“Well, you know cats,” Sawyer shrugged. “They’re wily.”
In reality, Sawyer knew exactly nothing about cats. No, that was a lie. He knew he didn’t like them. Or to be more exact, his wolf didn’t like them. Just the smell of cats made his nose itch.
“I’m so sorry, Roy, but I’m going to have to ask for a rain check on dinner,” Naomi said, standing and gathering up her purse from the chair next to her. “Poor Whiskers needs me.”
“Sure,” Roy replied, hesitant. “I can drive you to the vet…”
“No need,” Sawyer interjected. “I can take her there, and then back home. We are neighbors, after all,” he added, putting on a fake smile.
“Yes, I think that’s best,” Naomi nodded. “I don’t want to inconvenience you,” she turned to Roy.
“It wouldn’t be an…” Roy started.
“The worst part is, the car just sped off,” Sawyer drowned him out. “I saw it all from my window. People these days,” he shook his head.
“Thank god you were there to look out for her,” Naomi replied, and for a moment, Sawyer wasn’t sure if she was talking about the cat or herself.
Roy looked defeated, his eyes darting between Naomi and Sawyer. Sawyer couldn’t be sur
e what the man had expected from his meeting with Naomi, but this definitely wasn’t it.
“I’ll call you?” Roy asked, as Naomi brushed past him.
“Sure,” she threw him a quick smile, as Sawyer ushered her toward the door. “Bye!” she called out before stepping out into the street.
Leading her to his car, Sawyer was silent, feeling Roy’s eyes on them through the windows of the café. On her part, Naomi still looked appropriately concerned for poor Mr. Whiskers, while he opened the passenger side door for her and closed it after she hopped inside.
He got in next to her, peeling off the curb, and heading for his apartment. As the café was left in the rearview, Naomi puffed out a breath.
“Thanks for stepping in,” she said. “I don’t know if I would have survived dinner with him.”
“No problem. I can see why you’ve been avoiding the guy,” he nodded. “And you did good out there. We know when the statue will be arriving, and where they’ll take it. Not to mention, you looked genuinely concerned about that tabby of yours,” he added, throwing her a look.
“Thanks,” she laughed. “I’ve never been good at coming up with stuff on the spot, but you kind of hit on something real.”
“Oh?” Sawyer asked.
“I’m a cat lady at heart,” she shrugged. “My friend had a kitten when I was little, and I begged for my parents to get me one. But they said I was too young for that kind of a responsibility.”
“And what about now?” he questioned.
“I don’t know,” Naomi pursed her lips. “Hey, can you swing by my place?” she changed the subject. “I want to get some stuff, and then you could drive me to a hotel, if you don’t mind. I’d like to take a shower before we go and stake out the university.”
“I do mind,” Sawyer replied. “You can’t stay at a hotel all by yourself with Verin out there.”