“So let me take you to lunch today.”
Laney groaned. The mention of food brought queasiness to her stomach. “Why does everyone try to feed me?”
“Because we’re worried about you. I’ve been over at your place enough lately to see what you’re eating, which is next to nothing. Are you sure you’re fine?”
“I’m…doing…okay.”
“I know that tone, best girlfriend. You are not okay.”
“It’s just all this turmoil in my life. Really, I appreciate the offer, but I’m not taking lunches these days.” Laney wouldn’t admit to Julia that maybe something more was wrong with her. She didn’t want to worry her best friend. Her suspicions were unfounded at the moment. She’d been through a world of grief and upheaval in her life lately. That had to be the reason she didn’t feel quite like herself.
“Okay, then, but I’m holding you to lunch this weekend. You need to get away from the office, get your mind off business. We’ll go down to the beach and have a peaceful meal, clear your head.”
“Sounds great,” she answered truthfully. Julia was the one person who really understood her. Spending time with her always helped her forget her problems. “I’m looking forward to it.” She hung up the phone feeling much better.
* * *
An hour later, Laney looked up from the pile of reports on her desk when someone knocked briskly on the office door. Before she could acknowledge the knock, the door pushed open and a man strode into the room.
Laney rose immediately, startled.
“Hello, Laney.”
Ty? Her mystery man was here, standing in her office? Laney swallowed and stared in disbelief. That deep, sensual voice reminded her of romantic nights and sizzling sex. Her first thought was: he looked gorgeous. Her second: she was overjoyed seeing him. She hadn’t forgotten the glorious days they’d spent together last month. Alone in her Brentwood home at night, thoughts of him would filter in and she’d smile at the memory of her steamy, hot, short-lived fling. She’d never done anything quite so spontaneous or been so uninhibited as she’d been with him. He had helped her through a very bleak time in her life.
“Ty.” She drank in the sight of him, dressed in a black suit, with the collar opened at the throat. She remembered nibbling on that throat and gaining his undivided attention. She couldn’t keep a wide smile from emerging. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you.”
“But how did you know where to find me?”
He smiled slowly as he approached. She stepped away from the desk to stand a few feet from him, her heart racing. She stared into his eyes. And he stared back. That familiar gleam was there, the one that told her he appreciated what was before his eyes. “I’ll explain that later. How are you?”
“I’m…I’m…stunned, actually. I never thought I’d see you again.”
Ty nodded and closed the gap between them. He took her hand. His touch sent tingles from her palm clear up her arm. He closed his fingers around hers, drew her close and brushed a soft, exquisite kiss on her lips.
Laney responded instantly, savoring his warm lips on her, the familiar scent that could heat her instantly. She kissed him back with full abandon and was left breathless when their mouths broke apart. But when he looked into her eyes, regret marred his expression. “I didn’t really plan on it happening this way. I heard about your father.”
Laney’s eyebrows shot straight up. “You know my father? How?”
“I’m sorry, Elena.” Her secretary barged in. “I stepped away from my desk for a moment.”
“No, no. It’s okay, Ally.” She took her eyes off Ty to give a direct order to her secretary. “Hold my calls. And please tell my ten o’clock appointment I’m running a little late.”
“But, he is your ten o’clock appointment.” Ally glanced at Ty, puzzled.
“Don’t be silly,” she said. “He doesn’t have a…” Then she walked over to the appointment book sitting on her desk, just to double-check. She’d known about her ten o’clock, dreading the meeting. She’d seen his name on the schedule this morning and immediately her stomach had clenched. “Just tell Evan Tyler to wait.”
She’d like to keep that man waiting until hell froze over. He’d been a thorn in the Royals’ side and had added to her father’s stress level over the months, advocating a buyout of the chain. When she found out he’d been the last appointment on the books before her father’s fatal heart attack, Laney knew she’d have to face him one day.
Today, was the day.
And she’d wished that she’d asked Preston to stay for that appointment. Laney had suspected the man capable of aggravating her father enough to send him into cardiac arrest. But thankfully, she’d gotten a short reprieve when Ty entered the room.
“Uh, Elena?”
“Ally, what is it?”
“I’ll straighten this out.” Ty turned to face her secretary. “You can go back to your desk now, Ally. Miss Royal doesn’t need you at the moment.”
Ally peered over Ty’s shoulder, her eyes wide with desperate concern.
“It’s…fine,” Laney said, trying to ease Ally’s alarm, but Ty had already ushered her secretary out of the room. Laney had never heard that tone in Ty’s voice before, or seen this commanding side of him.
“Ty?”
Then it struck her. Like a giant oak toppling onto her head. Or should she say, a tall palm tree, from the island. Ty…Tyler? Ty, her mystery man, was of course, Evan Tyler. They were one and the same! Laney closed her eyes as impending dread crept in. “Oh, no! Tell me it’s not true.”
She opened her eyes. Ty stared at her. “I’m your ten o’clock appointment, babe.”
Laney backed up, shaking her head, her body trembling. “Babe,” she repeated, quietly stunned. “Babe? Are you kidding me? You’re Evan Tyler! You’re…you’re… Oh, God!”
He just stood there, watching her meltdown. She shook so violently now, she had to brace herself against her desk. Then she gave up trying to stand on legs that would surely buckle under her. She plopped into her chair, the desk protecting her from Evan Tyler, the man responsible for her father’s heart attack. She was certain of it now.
“You coldhearted bastard.”
“Laney, listen—”
“You took advantage of me. Of my situation. And I played right into your hands, didn’t I?”
As the shock wore off, fury filled her. Fueled with anger she rose from the chair, refusing to submit to the scoundrel another second. She faced him head-on. “You used me in the worst possible way! You did, didn’t you? Tell me the truth, if you have it in you. You knew who I was the whole time at the Wind Breeze, didn’t you?”
Evan Tyler’s lips hardened into thin lines. “I knew.”
Laney wanted to throw the Waterford vase on the desk at him. She wanted to knock him out and drag him from her office from the pain he caused her. Everything inside burned with humiliation. She’d been duped, fooled by an unfeeling, hard-nosed deceiver. And what really ticked her off, aside from having slept with the enemy, was that he’d destroyed the only true good memory she’d had to hold on to during her time of mourning. “Damn you. I’d heard of your ruthless reputation, but this has to be one that would make it into the Guinness book.”
Evan Tyler didn’t argue the point. He didn’t apologize for anything, either.
“I came here to offer my condolences.”
Laney