Free Deadly Night by Heather Graham

house,” Jeremy explained.
    Aidan found himself studying Kendall more closely. She was indisputably stunning, but had her dignity and pride earlier today been for real? Or had she been a leech, using Amelia Flynn until the very end?
    Truthfully, he didn’t think so. He had learned to read people fairly well over the years. He usually knew if someone was lying. There were little physical tics and twitches he’d learned to pick up on when someone was telling an outright lie or even coloring the truth. Lashes fluttered too quickly; pulses raced. People had a hard time looking you right in the eye when they were lying. Some liars were better than others, of course, and had learned to stare back—they were the seasoned liars. But even then…palms grew a little sweatier, and the veins in the throat were a giveaway. On top of that, just taking into consideration the way she dressed and the car she drove, she looked as if she were doing all right, but she wasn’t clad as if she was rolling in money. There were no diamonds dripping from her fingers, for instance. She just didn’t look as if she’d been milking Amelia to increase her own income.
    She had only veered away from his direct approach once, and that had been regarding Amelia and the things she claimed went on at night. Even then, her anger with them—no, with him —over any implied insult to Amelia had been real.
    She did have beautiful hair, he realized now, examining her more closely. It was long and rich and luxurious, a color like fire, even in the muted light of the bar. Her features were perfect: clear, large eyes, well-set; sculpted jawline; high cheekbones; perfectly formed, generous mouth; straight nose, not small, not large, just right for her face. She was like a poster child for symmetry. But the fact that she truly was stunning had even more to do with her demeanor than with her looks. She was tall, and she carried herself well. Elegantly. She moved gracefully, easily, her shoulders straight. She was the type of woman who could not only draw every eye in a room but keep it.
    It interested him that he could make such observations so clinically—then he wondered if he was really so clinical after all. She seemed to be a large factor in his tension. Well, they could try all they wanted to be contemporary males, but nature didn’t change. The woman was perfectly built, and it was just about impossible not to look at her and think that she would be great to touch—hell, that she would be great in bed.
    He turned away, annoyed at his own thoughts. It wasn’t as if he’d become a monk after Serena’s death. He had gone out with women since then. A lot of women. The game had changed since the last time he’d been dating on a regular basis. Some women were looking for a relationship, but plenty of others were only looking for a one-night stand, and those were the ones he liked. He didn’t want to see another face on the pillow next to his when he woke up in the morning. He didn’t want to be friends. He sure as hell didn’t want to fuck a friend.
    The women he went out with definitely weren’t friends. They were barely acquaintances.
    He turned to see that the bald man was staring at their table. Staring at him.
    “Will you excuse me?” he said politely to Matty and his brothers.
    “Absolutely,” Matty said with a knowing smile and a tilt of her head in Kendall’s direction.
    He didn’t bother to explain that her hopes were in vain. He wasn’t sure himself why he was going over, but it certainly wasn’t because he wanted to ask Kendall out to dinner.
    He headed straight for her table. “Hello,” he said, and introduced himself to the man, then offered his hand. The guy was a good-looking son of a bitch, probably her boyfriend. “Miss Montgomery, nice to see you again.”
    The bald guy smiled. “So you’re Aidan Flynn. I’m Mason Adler. I work for Kendall. Nice to meet you. Join us?”
    Aidan drew out a chair for himself. It was still