"So, you new around here?"
The man leans on the bar next to her on one elbow. She glances at him out of the corner of her eye, takes in the wide smile filled with dazzlingly white teeth, the fashionably tanned skin, the buttoned shirt with the top buttons oh, so carefully undone, the easy "I'm a personable sonofabitch" manner. Casual chic. Cut him and he'll bleed Ralph Lauren aftershave.
Not that she'll get a chance to try that, more is the pity.
Her silence isn't enough to deter him. If anything, his smile gets wider. Likes a challenge, he does. "It's just that I haven't seen you around before, and I know everyone in this town." Of course he does, and everyone knows him, his tone says.
She still doesn't look at him, taking a drink. Soda water at the moment. She's working.
He continues, undaunted. "I'm sure I would have noticed you before." Perfect, delivering the compliment smooth as a horn on the devil's brow.
Thing is, it's probably true. She's a woman that garners notice. Despite the scars, or maybe because of them. When she finally turns her head to regard him coolly, he finds himself wondering almost dreamily what that soft black hair framing her face would look like fanned against a pillow.
Her eyes narrow as if she's sensing what he's thinking and doesn't appreciate it in the slightest. He sharpens his smile a bit. "My apartment is just down the street."
She snorts and turns her head away.
"Oh, now, miss, what a dirty mind you have," he almost pounces with the words, eyes twinkling with good cheer.
She can almost hear Dante's voice in her head begging her to punch him.
"I was only mentioning it because you may have heard of it. The old Holloway building." He pauses, waiting for some sort of acknowledgement, and continuing on anyway when he doesn't get it. "One of the only honest to God haunted buildings in the state."
There, he's showing that he's rich, popular, and brave enough to live in a haunted building. Sure enough, it gets her attention, bringing those duel colored eyes back around to rest on him. "Oh?" Her voice is as cool as her expression but there's something in those eyes.
He assumes its interest and leans forward. "No bull. A cult lived there years ago, used to do weird sacrifices. Makes for a spooky place but I've seen so much around, I'm kind of jaded to everything that goes on there." Jaded, worldly, mysterious.
She considers his words for a long while and decides it's worth a look. Pasting an eager smile on her face she leans toward him a little bit, tolerates his peek down the front of her shirt. "Show me…"
He gallantly flips a bill onto the bar top to pay for both their drinks and escorts her out, congratulating himself. Hopefully something really freaky will happen and she'll be so scared she'll run to him, ripe for the taking.
And Lady is hoping she doesn't have to fight to save this asshole…and kind of hoping something will end up eating him.
She's only human, after all.