Page 79 of Mourner for Hire
J + J
L + E
I + A
There are also names spelled out. Jimmy and Ellen. June and Jessica. Anthony and Sarah.
My fingers freeze on Dunner and Kayla.
“Hmm,” I remark out loud.
“Something interesting?”
I jump and pull my finger back.
“Hey,” I squeak out. I’d rather continue to play peacekeeper no matter how much he loathes me. “I was just looking at all the names.”
“Everyone in this town has a history,” he says simply, unflinching.
He just stands there, towering over me with a pulsing jaw and a mind racing behind his eyes. His amber eyes soften just enough for me to remember, just for a fleeting moment, the man I met. The man with hard edges and a soft heart.
He looks away, breaking my hopeful trance in one blink.
“Did I scare you?”
“A little bit,” I confess. “I thought you might be one of those coyotes I heard on the way up. They sounded like a dying woman.”
He almost smiles and breathes in a way that seems like he might laugh. “That’s just how they sound when they mate and kill.”
I draw my chin back. “That’s… kind of gross.”
He shrugs. “Mating season is wild, but that was probably them just telling their buddies there was an easy kill near the trail.”
The intention lands, but the joke does not. “Oooh, shaking in my boots.”
His face remains placid, and my heart continues to pound like it’s trying to beat out of my ribcage.
He stares out at the ocean, a fraudulent smile on his face. “Beautiful day, isn’t it?”
I smile out at the view, realizing he hasn’t made an entirely crass remark at my expense. It makes me hope that maybe he is finally going to play nice.
“Don’t get sunburned… you might turn to stone or something.”
My head snaps back in his direction and I snort out a laugh. “Oh, so now you think I’m a vampire?”
“No, you are just… here.” He scratches his neck like he’s allergic to me. “And impossible.”
A brief expression of remorse drifts over his face. Dominic’s moods change faster than the wind on the coast.
But I know he’s just trying to needle under my skin until I break. Instead of giving him the satisfaction, I laugh.
TWENTY-SEVEN
DOMINIC
“I don’t haveto be impossible.” The soft hue of green in her eyes is so mesmerizing I have to blink away. “We could play nice.”
“I am nice,” I argue.
