The Schemer (Harbor City 3)

…

Everly loved weddings. Loved them. How could she not after that? Walking toward the church doors with Tyler, their hands intertwined, behind the newly married couple, her heart fluttered in her chest.

“I can’t believe all of that just happened,” she said.

Tyler chuckled. “People are going to be talking about it for years.”

Her steps faltered. “And you’re okay with that?”

He jerked to a stop and turned to her, his face serious. “I couldn’t care less about what they say. You’re the only one who matters to me, and I promise to spend the rest of my life showing you that.”

What could she say to that? Nothing. So she kissed him, a soft brush of her lips across his that promised so much more—an eternity of more. She broke the kiss and they started down the aisle again. Just as they were about to walk out, though, Tyler pulled them to a stop. He took his wallet out and plucked the quarter from the little pocket inside where he always kept it. Then, without the slightest hesitation, he dropped it into the poor box by the door.

“But that was your favorite quarter,” she said, trying to figure out what in the world he was up to.

“That’s what I thought. But it wasn’t really. It was just a quarter I filched off my dad’s dresser the day I decided I’d never be like him, and I kept it as a reminder. I used it to take the emotion out of decisions—at least that’s what I told myself—but it turns out it was more than that. It brought me to you.” He looked sheepish as he turned to face her, his gaze not quite meeting hers. “I have a confession to make. Now, I know that what I’m about to say might end in my physical pain, but all I ask is that you keep an open mind…and remember, I never used my power for personal gain.”

She narrowed her expression as she tried to pull the truth from him. If he ruined their perfect reunion with another idiotic stunt… “Then what did you use this power for?”

“Funny you should ask. Umm… It’s entirely possible that I know how to finagle a coin toss to put the odds in my favor.” She is going to kill me. “But let’s think of all the good I did with each coin toss. I carried your bags in the rain, I cooked you oatmeal, I even saved your car from Mrs. MacIntosh’s ding jobs by leaving you only the one spot. Hell, I even bought a Harley I can’t ride for you. All of it for you—even when I didn’t realize it yet.”

She shook her head. The man was demented. He’d been tricking her all along with a cheat coin toss. It was bad, of course, but then why did the fact that this man, who was all about appearances, completely risked looking bad just to win more time with her make her want to grin ear to ear? They were both totally demented.

“So let me get this straight. You bought a bike—which apparently you don’t know how to ride—just so I wouldn’t park my Helga next to Mrs. MacIntosh?” She raised one eyebrow at him, daring him to deny it.

When he nodded while side-eyeing the exits, she knew she would love this man forever. This impossible, ridiculous, foolishly head over heels in love man from Waterbury. “Well, you know now there’s only one thing you can do to make it up to me, right?”

He brushed a stray strand of hair from her face and looked down at her with such love it took her breath away. “Anything.”

“You know, I’ve always had a thing for hot guys on Harleys…with tattoos,” she said, her eyes twinkling.

His eyes widened. “Oh hell no.”

She tsked. “But you said ‘anything’…”

Well, he’d said “anything” and he’d meant it. Today. Tomorrow. Forever. Whatever it took to keep that smile on the face of the woman he loved.

Epilogue

Three Years Later…

The Carlyle penthouse had been transformed. Oh, it still looked like the home of the über-rich Helene Carlyle, but it was different from the place that he’d first walked into as a scholarship kid in prep school because the people laughing and drinking and celebrating together in it. In addition to Sawyer, Hudson, and Helene, there was Sawyer’s wife, Clover, and her parents, who were cracking up on the couch; Hudson and Felicia, who had made the younger Carlyle wait for years before she agreed to marry him; and Helene chasing toddler Michael by the family piano where Tyler stood on the opposite side. Alberto and his son, Carlo, were catching up in the corner after the elder Ferranti’s latest trip with Helene to the French Alps. No doubt they were talking business; Carlo had become a bit obsessed since he’d broken it off with Irena at the alter—a fact that Alberto and Helene had both decided needed to be taken care of and soon. Those two, they were schemers after his own heart.

“Plotting again?” Everly asked, her voice a tickle on the back of Tyler’s neck.

Turning so that his back was to the piano, his breath caught. The woman was as gorgeous as the day she’d first stomped her way across his ceiling and into his life.

“Busting my chops again, sugar?” he asked. “I’m beginning to think that and my mad bingo skills at Nunni’s are the only reason you married me.”

“It’s true,” she said with a wry grin before leaning closer so that only he could hear her. “You figured me out. But you know what I love more—even more than my name you got tattooed over your heart to celebrate getting your motorcycle license?”

He knew what his answer was and it would be happening again tonight. “What?”

“You.”

And there it was, the unexpected answer from the woman who always managed to surprise him. “Are you getting soft on me, Ms. 3B?”

She laughed, the sound joining in with the joyful chaos around them. “You can’t call me that anymore, since now we’re Mr. and Mrs. Penthouse.”