Season of Mercy

by Melissa Storm

  Hunter stared at her blankly for a few horrible seconds, then broke out into a smile. “Of course, of course. One Shirley Temple it is.” He motioned for the bartender and gave him an order for two non-alcoholic drinks.

  “Thank you,” she murmured. Would it be rude to rush off and find her friends the moment the drink arrived? Or would it be worse to blow off Blinky and spend the rest of the night with Hunter, pretending they could ever be a thing? Somehow, she didn’t anticipate the two very different men getting along, so then why did she like them both—Blinky as a friend, and Hunter as…?

  No, that wasn’t going to happen. Couldn’t happen. Sofia shifted in her chair and glanced around the bar, plotting her escape.

  Hunter put a hand on the back of her chair and turned his whole body into hers. “So, what’s a pretty girl like you doing in a rundown place like this?” The end of his sentence broke apart in laughter.

  “Sorry, sorry,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to say that, but now that I have, I hear how ridiculous I sound.”

  Sofia smiled politely, then searched Hunter’s arms, hoping the partially hidden tattoo she’d noticed at the vet’s office would be fully visible.

  He caught her eye and rolled up his sleeve. “It’s Japanese. Means honor bound.” Of course. Kanji tattoos were as basic as they came, but still, the design looked good on him.

  “I like yours, too,” he said, nodding toward Sofia’s chest, a slight pink hue rising to the apples of his cheeks. “The Garden of Eden?”

  “It’s the forbidden fruit. I have twelve others, too.”

  “Forbidden?” Hunter stroked the scruff on his chin as the bartender set their pair of mocktails before them.

  “Fruit,” Sofia finished for him, feeling like a moron.

  Hunter chuckled. “I like it.”

  Sofia took a delicate sip of her drink, enjoying the taste of grenadine on her tongue. Normally she wasn’t the delicate type, but Hunter kept her on her tiptoes. After their first meeting, she’d thought he was just another police flunky, but he seemed different tonight. And he definitely liked Sofia despite her “rebel as a fashion choice” style.

  This left her equal parts excited and confused. She couldn’t start something with Hunter, though she did like that she had the option should her judgment—or her willpower—lapse unexpectedly.

  “So, tell me.” Hunter leaned in close as if to reveal a long-awaited secret. Her head spun as he drew nearer. If Sofia were a superhero, then Hunter would definitely be her Kryptonite. Something about this man just got under her skin and made her tingle all over.

  “Why didn’t you call?” he whispered in a breathy growl.

  Her focus drew to his lips, and it took Sofia a moment to realize what he had said. “What? Oh. I…”

  He smiled and shifted back in his chair to face the bar. “Relax, I’m just giving you a hard time.”

  The tension in the air dissipated somewhat as Hunter put those few precious inches back between them. Still, Sofia didn’t know what to say, so she said nothing.

  “Maybe this time you could give me your number,” he suggested with a quick shrug and a lingering grin.

  Sofia panicked. She couldn’t see any way out of this one, and she hated to start a relationship on lies—such as letting Hunter believe she wasn’t a criminal. Then again, her heart raced for him. Sofia had never been one for clichés, but she’d also never felt the first pinpricks of love.

  She was so royally screwed. Unable to avoid it—to avoid him—any longer, she took a deep breath and opened her mouth to speak. “I—”

  “Hey, there you are!” Blinky rushed up behind her and leaned over the counter. “I was beginning to think you stood us up, Sofi.”

  “Sofia?” Hunter asked with a pointed gaze, perhaps awaiting her number, perhaps an introduction. She would give him neither.

  Blinky looked over to the other man and broke into a nervous fit. His composure remained relaxed and easy, but the rapid contortion of his face clearly revealed his anxiety.

  “Gotta go. Nice seeing you again.” She leaned forward and offered Hunter a quick kiss on the cheek, emboldened by the fact that she now had a way to escape. “Thank you for the drink.”

  “C’mon, c’mon.” Blinky grabbed her by the arm and pulled. “Lots of people for you to meet.”

  When Sofia glanced back at Hunter, he seemed more than a little confused.

  Yeah. Me too, she thought. Me too.

  Sofia followed Blinky over to the corner of the pub where three dilapidated pool tables stood in a slightly crooked row. Six people crowded around the edges of the farthest table, and Blinky pulled her right over to them.

  “I’m racking up. Who’s in?” the tallest one said as he eyed Sofia suspiciously.

  She felt trapped beneath his gaze, unable to look away herself as she watched the overhead lighting reflect off his cue-ball scalp. He could have been handsome if not for his oversized ears, which protruded uncomfortably far from his bare head. One of his arms was covered to the wrist in a full sleeve of colorful tattoos, while the other was totally bare. Both were long and thin, accented by oversized hands.

  Blinky jabbed her in the ribs and whispered in her ear, “That’s the D-Man. He’s your date.”

  “What? Oh, no, no, no, no, no.” Sofia took a step back, her chest tightening with a sudden spike of anxiety. Was it too late to hightail it the heck out of there?

  Blinky took a swig of the beer bottle he held by the neck. The label had been peeled off messily, leaving a sticky residue behind. “Hey, D-Man! Come over here for a sec!”

  “What are you doing?” Sofia growled as quietly as she could despite her growing anger at having been set up.

  At that moment, she desperately wished she’d somehow managed to smuggle Wolfie into the bar with her. He would have put a stop to this—defended her like he did with Celeste.

  “It’s fine. You’re fine,” Blinky whispered to her before hooking his arm around D-Man’s shoulders and pulling him over. His eyes danced with mischief as he made their official introduction. “This is the girl I told you about. Sofi.”

  “Hi, Sofi,” D-Man said with a half-hearted wave. His shy blush overtook not just his cheeks, but his entire head. She probably would like him if it weren’t for Blinky’s ill-advised matchmaking.

  “Umm, hi, D… M-Man.” She felt ridiculous for calling him by the stupid nickname when she hardly even knew him. What if the D was for something scandalous? She didn’t want any part of that, thanks.

  He laughed good-naturedly, putting Sofia slightly more at ease. “The D is for Dope.”

  “Because you’re so cool?” Sofia laughed, too. Even if Blinky was being rude tonight, at least D-Man had the good sense to treat her like a gentleman.

  Blinky hooked an arm around each of them and pulled their small group into an awkwardly intimate huddle. “No, because he’s our supplier. If you ever need anything, D-Man is your guy.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” Sofia said as she wriggled away. “Umm, can you introduce me to the others?”

  D-Man’s face fell for a brief moment before he rearranged it back into a placating grin. Sofia didn’t know what Blinky had told him about her or what he had promised about tonight, and she suspected it would be better if she never knew.

  Blinky shoved the two of them together again, then traveled from one friend to the next. Each had a ridiculous nickname, making her think she’d gotten off easy seeing as he’d only dropped the last syllable from her name. Sure, Sofi wasn’t her first choice in nicknames, but it beat being called any of these other things.

  “And this is Pretty.” Blinky introduced the final member of his friend circle by crushing his lips to hers in an over-the-top display of public affection.

  “It’s Preeti, actually,” the woman explained once Blinky had pried his face off hers. “You can call me that if it’s easier.”

  “Preeti,” Sofia repeated.

  “It’s Indian. My parents are second ge
neration, I don’t know why they couldn’t have given me a more normal name, but whatever.”

  “Hey! I love your name, babe.” Blinky claimed Preeti again with a sickening display of teenage-like saliva swapping.

  “Yeah, they’re always like that,” D-Man said softly beside her. “And, yes, they’re trying to set us up. If you haven’t noticed, everyone else is coupled up, and they’re sick of me being the odd man out.”

  Not this again. How many times did she have to say no before it would stick? “That’s really nice of them, but—”

  “Relax, I can tell you’re not interested. And you’re very beautiful and everything, but I’m not interested either. Besides, that guy over there hasn’t been able to take his eyes off you all night.”

  Sofia’s eyes shot back to the bar, where—sure enough—Hunter sat watching her with a bemused smirk.

  “Thanks, D-Ma—” She stopped and shook her head. “Is there something else I could call you?”

  D-Man laughed and pointed to one of his tattoos.

  Sofia squinted to read the small tattoo in the poor light of the pub. “Matt?”

  “Yup. That’s why the nicknames started. Not that you could really confuse me and Blinky for the same guy, but anyway… You should go talk to that guy. It looks like he has something to say.”

  “Thanks for understanding,” Sofia said. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  She took a deep breath before turning toward the bar, once again drawn in like a fish on the line. What was it about Hunter that affected her so?

  And how could she make it go away?

  “Why are you staring at me?” Sofia demanded after marching straight up to Hunter and slamming her hand down onto the bar in front of him.

  He shrugged, completely unfazed. “Why not?”

  “Really?” She shifted her weight and crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s your explanation?”

  He took a slow sip from his drink before answering. “Okay, okay. I was just measuring up the competition.”

  “What? D-Man? No.” Sofia looked back toward the group. They’d already moved on to their next game of pool. D-Man caught her eye and waved, bringing a fresh wave of guilt bubbling to the surface. She’d summarily rejected him without giving it even a second’s worth of thought. Was she being unfair?

  Then again, he was a drug dealer—not exactly the top of Sofia’s list when it came to potential boyfriends.

  Still, neither was a cop like Hunter. And yet…

  A grin of satisfaction crossed his face, almost as if he knew the exact effect he was having on Sofia—and relished in it. “So I’ve got you all to myself then?”

  “I didn’t say…” She stomped her foot, making her skirt swish across her knees with a soft tickle. “You’re infuriating. You know that?”

  “I can see I have that effect on you.” Another slow sip, a raise of his eyebrow, an entirely too self-assured demeanor.

  She sighed and waited for him to finish his drink before asking, “Look, if I give you my number, will you let me enjoy my night?”

  Hunter wiped his lips with the back of his hand, drawing Sofia’s eyes once again to the last place she needed to be looking. “No can do,” he said before winking at her as if they shared some unspoken secret. “Besides, it didn’t really look like you were enjoying yourself all that much anyway.”

  She looked back at the group again, then turned to Hunter, hoping her irritation came through loud and clear. “How would you even know that? You’ve known me for a grand total of, like, ten minutes.”

  A roar of thunder sounded above, so loud they both heard it over the music and din of the bar. Not a second later, a torrent of rain pounded down on the roof, creating a steady background melody to their conversation.

  They both looked up and then at each other before Hunter picked up their conversation from the exact point they’d left it.

  “Detective skills.” He winked at her again and made an odd clicking sound that might have resembled cocking a gun. Sofia had never held a gun a day in her life, so she really couldn’t be sure. “They don’t pay me the big bucks for nothing. By the way, did you know I’ve picked up that guy with Tourette’s at least a half dozen times for petty theft?”

  “That’s none of my business.” Sofia flushed at the mention of Blinky’s crimes, especially since she’d been an accessory to them at least once. “What I want to know is why you insist on bothering me.”

  Hunter turned in his seat and brought the full force of his gaze directly to Sofia. “Am I?” he asked.

  “Yes… No… Grr, I don’t know!” For the second time that night, she wished Wolfie was at her side. Maybe that was why she’d channeled him in her response. For the time being, unfortunately, Hunter was her problem and hers alone.

  “You want my number, right? Here.” She grabbed a lipstick from her clutch and wrote her digits on a fresh napkin from the stack at the end of the bar.

  “Oooh, sexy,” Hunter said as he accepted the napkin with what she now thought of as his signature smirk.

  “I’m mad at you now.” She pouted. “That was my favorite lipstick.”

  He laughed, tucking the napkin into the breast pocket of his button-up flannel. “You could have asked for a pen, or for my phone.”

  Yeah, that’s what she should have done, but she couldn’t think straight when Hunter was around. Yet another reason she needed to get out of there ASAP. “Are we done here now?” she demanded.

  He shook his head before rising to his feet to stand intoxicatingly close. “No, not yet.”

  “Then?” Sofia widened her eyes and let out a little huff. She just couldn’t win with this guy.

  Hunter placed one hand at the edge of the bar. His arm was so close to hers that even a slight shiver would cause them to touch.

  “Now you have to agree to meet me for a date,” he said.

  A little thrill shot up Sofia’s spine and—sure enough—the extra little jolt was just enough to make her skin connect with Hunter’s. Why did he have this effect on her? And why didn’t she just walk away? She didn’t owe him anything, but still she couldn’t escape—didn’t want to, either.

  “You said you only wanted my number.”

  He moved his hand further down the bar, bringing more of their skin into contact. How come the feel of his arm against hers was a million times better than any first kiss Sofia had ever had? And if being close to Hunter was this good, what would it be like to kiss him?

  He smiled slowly. Oh, he knew how much torment this caused her—and he obviously liked it. “Yeah, but you blew me off, so I’ve upped the stakes.”

  Another knife of thunder sliced through the air unseen, and Sofia gulped. “The stakes? What is this? A game of poker?”

  “It kind of feels that way with you. So, hey, let me lay all my cards out there, then you’ll know I’m not bluffing. I like you. I want to get to know you better.” He slid closer still.

  Sofia winced from equal parts pleasure and pain. “Why?”

  “Why not?” Hunter slipped his hand onto hers, lighting a blaze within her.

  “You really know how to charm a girl.” She rolled her eyes, hoping the sudden sarcasm would throw him off the scent, would hide how much she enjoyed being near him.

  He frowned. “Not enough?”

  Sofia shook her head and, despite her best efforts, a little smile slipped through.

  “Well, you’re gorgeous for starters,” Hunter said without the least bit of hesitation, squeezing her hand in his now. “And somehow you manage to be both shy and sassy at the same time. I already know you’re a dog person, which gets you major points.”

  “That all?” she sputtered. Normally, words were easy to find, but not with Hunter.

  He chuckled. “Well, I’ve only known you for a grand total of like…” He swiped at his phone to revive the screen. “Fourteen minutes now? But I’m willing to bet there’s a lot more I’d like about you, which is why I want you to meet me for a date.�
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  She glanced around the bar, her eyes locking momentarily with Blinky’s before she turned back to Hunter. “Where? Here?”

  “Yeah, no.” Hunter looked genuinely offended by this assertion. “What do you take me for? We’d go somewhere much nicer.”

  “Like?” Sweat began to bead on Sofia’s palm. She needed to end this.

  “It will be a surprise,” Hunter promised with an optimistic grin.

  “A surprise, meaning you haven’t figured it out yet. Maybe because you know I’m not planning on saying yes.” She yanked her hand away from his and folded both arms across her chest. Hopefully the physical shield would help to put her guard back up.

  Hunter laughed, unperturbed by this small rejection. “First off, you’re dying to say yes. Secondly, I have the perfect place in mind, but I like to lead with a bit of mystery. Basically, you’ll have to agree to go out with me in order to find out.”

  Sofia shivered again. “You drive a tough bargain, Mr. Burke.”

  “Remembered my last name, did you?”

  Sofia’s breath felt stuck in her chest. “So what?”

  “But you don’t like me,” he said flatly. “Yeah, I’m not buying it.”

  The more time she spent in Hunter’s company, the more deeply she fell under his spell. At this point, there was no way she could win. She needed to go before she unwittingly accepted a second date or a marriage proposal.

  “Fine. I’ll go out with you,” she said with more confidence than she felt before turning back toward the billiard tables and shouting the rest over her shoulder. “Text me the details. You have my number.”

  After she’d finally caved and accepted Hunter’s request for a date, Sofia returned Blinky and his friends at the pool tables. Not long after, Hunter disappeared from the bar, which meant she could finally allow herself to relax and enjoy her night out.

  “I love your dress and your hair and your lipstick,” Preeti gushed as she ran her hands across the fabric on Sofia’s sleeves and then dug her fingers into her hair. “I should have you give me a makeover,” she concluded with a smile that didn’t seem entirely genuine. Still, at least she was making an effort to be nice. Most of the others—including Blinky—had decided to largely ignore her after she vetoed their ambush matchmaking.