The Schemer (Harbor City 3)

“About the trip,” she said, placing her hands in her lap to stop from taking another bite. “I don’t think I’ll be able to make it.”

He shook his head and muttered something in Italian that she didn’t quite catch. “But without you, the plan will fail.”

Wait. He’d approached this as if it was all new to him. She wasn’t some fresh-faced girl who didn’t realize when she’d been hustled. Still, she couldn’t stop the logical question before it popped out. “What plan?”

“I will tell Everly that I am trying to seduce you and ask her to leave on an earlier flight for Key West than you and I so I can get you alone and charm you.” After making that announcement as if he’d just told her the weather report, he sat back in his chair and demolished the rest of his croissant half.

Seduce her. Of all the ridiculous things to say. “I’ll have you know that I’m a widowed woman and have no interest in seduction,” she said, putting every ounce of haughtiness she’d learned in finishing school into it. “Anyway, no one would ever believe that.”

He scoffed. “Why wouldn’t they?” he asked as he picked up the espresso cup that looked especially tiny in his large hand. “It’s the truth.”

Alberto may have been the one getting a shot of concentrated caffeine, but it was her heart that was racing.

Chapter Fifteen

The Saturday sun was high, but it wasn’t anywhere close to being Florida warm out on the tarmac at the private Paisley Airfield. Everly couldn’t wait to get down there and peel off the sweater she’d tugged on this morning to fight the blast of frigid air announcing winter was near. She was a woman made for the tropics—at least according to her heating bill, which had arrived today and told her by adding in one too many numbers in front of the decimal point that she needed to learn to love wooly socks and blankets more than turning up her thermostat.

Tyler stood by Alberto’s jet. He wore a long-sleeve gray Henley, jeans, and a scowl as if he were impervious to the cold. He probably was. The fact that she hadn’t seen him since she’d lost her sanity in the parking garage had her discombobulated. It wasn’t a feeling she was used to but was all too common around Mr. 2B. Not that she really thought of him like that anymore. No, she spent way too much time over the past few days imagining him naked for that.

He must have felt the heft of her gaze because he turned and stared at her. Suddenly, it wasn’t so cold out on the tarmac anymore. Heat curled in her stomach and places lower—exactly what she didn’t need. Her visit to Nunni had brought back all the memories of nights spent hoping that somehow, someday she’d be good enough for her dad to want her in his life. He never had, and she’d promised herself that she’d never pin her hopes on a man looking to climb the social ladder instead of finding what he needed in the people he already had. Tyler may not be exactly that kind of man, but there was no denying his determination to be a part of the world she could only ever be on the periphery of. The fact that the realization had hit at the very inopportune time of being right after one of the best orgasms of her life stung almost as much as the frigid blast of wind that blew back her hair.

“Tesoro,” Alberto said as he stopped beside her near the nose of the jet. “There’s been a slight change in plans.”

That was the story of her life lately.

“Do we need to reschedule? It’s no problem.” Probably it was for the best. Maybe by then she’d have time to get this attraction to Tyler under control.

“Oh, there’s no need for anything that drastic. I just need a favor.”

She looked at Alberto in his wool sweater with his silver hair dancing in the wind. He didn’t seem to be enjoying the early arctic blast any more than she was.

“Of course, anything.” And she meant it. He’d done so much to help her career after they’d met in Italy, how could she not? But it was more than that. Alberto had become family, the kind a girl like her tended to adopt and keep close out of loyalty and love.

“There was a scheduling mishap and I need you to go ahead to Key West with Tyler. The house is all ready for you and you can start on your valuations right away.” His gaze drifted over to where Helene stood in her cream full-length coat, the wind not daring to move even a strand of her perfectly coiffed hair. “Helene and I will meet you there later.”

Her and Tyler? Alone? On an island? Her pulse sped up, whether because of panic or excitement didn’t matter. Either way, Alberto’s plan did not sound like the way to clear her head—and her body—of whatever was drawing her to him.

“We should wait until we can all go together.”

“You misunderstand, tesoro, this mishap was, how do they say it, accidentally on purpose.” Alberto ran his fingers through his mussed hair and gave her a sheepish grin. “Helene and I would like a chance to get to know each other a little better when it’s just us.”

“Oh,” she said, understanding dawning.

Alberto had been running his A flirting game with Helene, and while the other woman hadn’t been returning the attention at the same level, she hadn’t been shutting him down like she was known to do without a second thought. While Everly’s love life, or lack of one, was for the best, she wasn’t about to ruin the start of something between two people who would in a weird way be perfect for each other. For as outgoing and enthusiastic as Alberto was, he had a solid, dependable core and was loyal down to his custom-made Italian loafers. And Helene? She’d had a rough time of it since her husband had died and maybe it was time for her to remember how to enjoy life for herself again. If helping them get there meant spending a little alone time with the man she thought of way more than was good for her sanity? Well, she could do that. It was all part of being there for those you love.

“Tyler and I will be able to manage on our own for sure.”

He took her by the shoulders and planted a kiss on each cheek. “Grazie, tesoro.”

Alberto hurried off to Tyler, no doubt to explain the change in plans, and she followed a few steps behind, giving herself a pep talk with each foot forward that she could do this. She could keep her hands—and her lips—to herself. It was the smart thing to do because she wasn’t about to make the same mistakes her mother had.

…

Tyler stepped off the plane into the slap-you-in-the-face heat of South Florida. The flight to Key West was as silent as it was uneventful. Everly had read a book on some Flemish ar

tist on one side of the aisle while Tyler had pretended to play solitaire on the table in front of his seat while in reality he spent the four-hour flight watching her. The way she twisted a lock of hair around her finger as she read. The way her body had tensed when the jet went through turbulence. The way she ignored the hell out of him as if he wasn’t even there.

After bingo night, he’d thought they’d gotten past the push and pull, one step forward and two steps back of their what…friendship? That wasn’t what he wanted from her. What did he want after that mind-blowing bout of fucking? Hell if he knew, he just wanted more whenever he was around her. Calling it distracting was an understatement. It was like sitting too close to the fireplace while wearing a parka but not being able to move away.