“Leering?” Erin was sensitive to the opposite sex and unwanted attention. Considering she was recovering from her ex-husband, who once used her as a punching bag, and then took it farther and tried to kill her for leaving him . . . yeah, Erin was quick to conclude any action from a man was a threat.
“No, no . . . nothing like that.” Grace reached a hand across the table. “No. Dameon was admiring me. You know, like from across the bar, only I was outside and he was inside.”
“So you met him?” Erin asked, her smile slowly returning.
Grace waved a hand in the air. “Not yet. I mean, I saw him . . . he’s tall and pretty easy on the eyes. Wearing a suit. Which I looked past.”
Erin frowned again. “Never trust anyone in a suit.”
She laughed. Her father had the same line. “Anyway, he smiled at me, I pretended not to notice. He totally knew I noticed.”
“What did you do?”
“I sucked in my stomach and walked away. Back to the reception. Figured that was the end of it. Cute guy making googly eyes. Game over. But no. Fast forward to Sunday. I’m looking three shades of hell frozen over and kicking myself for tipping that last taste of champagne in my glass. I left my car at the hotel so I have to go get it—”
“You saw him at the hotel again?”
“No. I stop for coffee and there he is. He starts up a conversation. I pretend I don’t recognize him. Pretty sure he saw through that, but he plays along. This time he’s wearing a turtleneck and slacks and looks even better than the night before. Which is bad, right?” She stopped to sip her drink.
“Why is that bad?”
Grace shook her head, swallowed. “He’s in a hotel. So he’s either from out of town or cheating on his wife or girlfriend.”
Erin pulled back. “Sometimes you need to stay in a hotel because your house is being fumigated.”
“In a suit?”
“You have a point.”
The waiter walked up to the table. Erin ordered a glass of white, and he rushed off.
“Anyway . . . we shake hands, he tells me his name, I tell him mine. I walk away.”
“What? No phone numbers?”
Grace lifted her index finger in the air. “From out of town.” She put another finger in the air. “Or cheating. No. He didn’t ask. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.”
“I’m guessing the story doesn’t end there.”
Grace leaned forward, rested her elbows on both sides of her drink. “He was my eleven o’clock meeting. Big freaking investment company CEO from LA. Bought a bunch of property up San Francisquito, wants to develop it.”
Erin’s lips turned to an O. “He’s totally stalking you.”
Grace shook her head. “I don’t think he knew I worked for the city. He seemed shocked when I walked in. And in reality, I was given the project two hours before the meeting. I had never heard of Locke Enterprises before today. So even if he knew I worked for the city, the file could have ended up on any of our desks.”
“Good scammers investigate their prey before they engage.”
Grace stared across the table and let Erin’s words seep in. “I really hope you’re wrong about that.”
Erin’s wine arrived and she took a taste. “What happened at the meeting?”
Grace reached across the table. “He did this thing.” She waited for Erin to grasp her hand and squeezed it . . . twice.
Erin pulled back. “Oh . . .”
“Right? Totally flirting.”
“Yeah. The double squeeze is always an invitation.”
Grace sat back, brought her drink with her. “I didn’t bite. Completely inappropriate to go there.” She fished the olive out of her glass and bit into it.
“So, if you’re not taking his flirty-double-squeeze handshake and running with it, what’s the problem?”
“He’s super hot and oozes confidence. And I have to work with him.”
Erin started to chuckle.
“It’s not funny. I have to act like I don’t notice. I have a feeling if I give him so much as a sideways smile he’s gonna sniff at my heels until I give in.”
“Assuming this guy is legit and didn’t know you worked for the city and isn’t sniffing, as you put it, just to use you to get what he wants with his project . . . why exactly would you not ‘give in’?” Erin asked over the rim of her glass that did a shitty job of hiding her smile.