The little minx obviously knew it, too.
“Gotta go. See you later.”
And she turned and practically ran away.
Tyler leaned against the tree and took deep steadying breaths. What he should do was march into her office, bend her over, and take her right there on her desk.
Not his style. He would wait. But not much longer.
Chapter Twelve
Elena found herself smiling even as she walked down a claustrophobic Seattle sidewalk. So many people. She really didn’t understand her smile; she just knew that she was in a good mood. The only negative was the fact that she’d spent a lot of time with Tyler this past month, and she was getting used to it, getting fond of his phone calls and of having him around.
After his sneak attack in the park last week, she’d had no choice but to let her guard down slightly. He’d been growing far too suspicious and her plan would never work with him constantly analyzing everything she did. So a couple days later when he’d asked her to go to dinner, she hadn’t hesitated.
The problem had been the walk through the park after dinner. She was getting far too comfortable with the man, and he was making her laugh much too easily without even trying much.
Could she go on with this? She sincerely hoped so.
She stopped and stared at the door before her in surprise, and then she double-checked her phone to make sure this was where she was supposed to be.
This wasn’t the sort of place where a billionaire like Tyler would hang out. But it was the address that he’d given her. And the name stenciled on the front window confirmed it: Nascosto. It seemed to be a bit of a dive, and she was happy at the thought. Was he human after all?
Once she walked through the doorway, she glanced around and found Tyler sitting by the bar with one of his brothers. They both looked a little grim. She hadn’t wanted to run into any of his brothers. Tyler was her only target. The more involved she became in this, the harder it was going to be when the walls came crashing down. Scorn one brother and maybe they wouldn’t care so much, but scorn them all, and certainly they would seek some revenge of their own. Think about it, she told herself. Billionaires are dangerous. They didn’t become so rich by playing nice.
But she wasn’t about to wimp out at the first hurdle. Screw these fat cats. So, pasting a fake smile on her face, she walked up with an air of what she hoped to be total confidence and draped her arm around Tyler. Let his brother think what he wanted.
“I’m sorry I’m so late,” she said with a rueful laugh.
“It’s not a problem,” Tyler replied. “I was talking to my brother here.”
“Oh, your brother!” she exclaimed, and then almost winced at her fake enthusiasm. She should have studied acting in college. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Then Elena shocked herself when she stepped forward and gave the guy a hug. What in the world was she thinking? Her nerves had taken charge and screwed her over.
“What ever happened to handshakes?” Byron, Tyler’s brother, remarked.
She was instantly filled with hurt, and she didn’t know why. She’d barely spent any time with either Byron or Blake when she’d been young, but still, it stung that he had zero recollection of her. Hadn’t she made an impression on any of these men? Clearly not. He was just another of the wealthy elite who wouldn’t notice, let alone socialize with little ol’ her.
She kept her smile firmly in place — she wasn’t about to let him know that his careless comment had affected her in the least — and she looked him directly in the eyes.
“Sorry,” she told Byron. “I’m impulsive.”
“We’ll leave you to brood, big brother,” Tyler said. He stood up and wrapped his arm around Elena, and he led her away.
When they got outside, Elena wanted to shake his arm off, still feeling the sting of Byron’s rejection, but she somehow managed to keep from showing how much the man had hurt her. Another Knight with less than shining armor.
“I thought we were eating there,” she said when they walked farther down the street.
“I was going to, but with my brother in a bear of a mood, I thought it would be safer to try somewhere else,” he said. He ushered her into a parking garage.
“Where are we going?” This wasn’t in her plans.
“I’m going to surprise you,” he told her, and he flipped her a wink before walking up to his car and holding the passenger door open.
“I have things I need to do this afternoon,” she said. And she didn’t step in.
“I won’t keep you out too late, Elena … unless you want to.”
“Fine.” She climbed in and waited for him to come around to the driver’s side.
He revved up his fancy little car, and then they were heading away from the city. The farther they got away, the more nervous Elena became. When they turned off the freeway and began entering what appeared to be a gated community — hell, it was more than gated; it was exclusive in the extreme, not for plebeians like her — her stomach dropped.
“I want to show you my actual home, not just my cabin,” he said as he pulled up, entered a code, and then began driving down a long and fancy paved road. No. It wasn’t a gated community. Silly of her even to think that. It was an estate, his estate.
“I guess this is a surprise,” she told him quietly. She was nervous. Incredibly nervous.
“There’s nothing to worry about. I just thought it would be nice to show you where I live. I have a great view of the water,” he said. And he pulled into a massive garage attached to a house that would make the word mansion sound pitiful. What was wrong with this guy?