She watched him out of the corner of her eye and in the mirror. Medium height. Slender build. Dark hair that looked like it might have a tendency to curl. Blue eyes. Gray suit. White shirt. Blue tie. He looked out of place in this bar full of jarheads, although, given the proximity to Quantico, he might be associated with the Bureau.

Laura’s date?

He caught her gaze and gave her a nervous smile. “I hope you don’t mind me standing here. I’m waiting for my date to show up and worried I’m about to be stood up because if she looks anything like her profile picture, she’s way out of my league.” He checked his phone and scanned the bar. His face lit up as Laura returned from the restroom. “But there she is.”

Yael smiled. “Well, you’re a lucky guy. She’s gorgeous.” Yael took a sip of her beer, determined not to ruin Laura’s chances if it turned out she really liked this guy. He wasn’t Yael’s type but few men were.

The image of that grim-faced, green-eyed HRT operator from last week once again flashed through her mind. She pushed the image away. He’d filtered in and out of her thoughts all week long and she wasn’t sure why. However handsome he might be, Shane Livingstone definitely wasn’t her type. Even less so than this guy. But they’d shared something on a fundamental level. Something that wouldn’t be so easy to forget any time soon.

Laura’s date gave Yael a shy smile. “Enjoy your evening.”

She looked away and Mister Tinder walked over to Laura and held out his hand, laughing and joking. Yael pulled a face at herself in the mirror behind the bar as she watched Laura and her new beau chat away like old friends.

Her stomach growled rudely and she pressed her hand against it. When was the last time she’d eaten? She checked the mirror. Laura and her date were clearly enjoying each other’s company.

She caught the barkeep’s attention. “Can I get a basket of chicken wings, please?”

The barkeep nodded and sent her order to the cook. She was starving and hadn’t gone grocery shopping yet so there was hardly any food in her new place.

Yael tipped back her beer. She should be celebrating. She’d just purchased her first home which felt like a miracle. She should have ordered champagne but this didn’t seem like a champagne sort of joint. Plus, drinking champagne alone seemed even more pathetic than drinking beer alone so…

She raised her empty bottle to ask for another.