Occasionally I’d wake up to him climbing in bed with me, and I’d take advantage of the opportunity. One night he’d found me swimming in the pool and had talked me into skinny-dipping instead of doing laps.
We’d settled into an odd, but easy, pattern. I did my thing, he did his, and when I’d least expect it? he’d show up at the shop, lunch or coffee in hand, and spend a half hour talking business, making sexual innuendos that I’d collect on later with a dirty-text booty call, or arguing with me about letting him take care of something I wanted to handle myself, like my insurance situation. He was still Lucas Titan—bossy, arrogant, and sexy as hell—but he was becoming so much more.
The insurance company kept asking me if I’d settled on another place to live, but I’d been dodging the question. I needed to decide soon. I couldn’t stay with Lucas much longer. It would be crazy, regardless of how much I was strangely enjoying him helping me out. And that grip I had on my heart? It was getting dicey.
And so was my bid to buy Dirty Dog. I hung up the phone. I’d just left Harriet another voice mail. She’d apparently left the country for a landscape painting class in France and wasn’t answering her messages. I didn’t have a solid plan, but I had a couple of ideas that would work if she were open to them. Lucas had given me a crash course in the business of mergers and acquisitions a few nights ago when we’d had a rare dinner together. The man’s body was sexy, but his brain—even sexier.
The door chimed and I looked up, expecting another group of the tourists who’d been a constant stream today. But it wasn’t someone wearing beads with a hurricane in hand. No, it was a man in a slick suit, skinny black tie, and shoes that probably cost more than the vintage Dolce & Gabbana cocktail dress I’d just priced and put out on the dress form.
Ryder Colson. I still remembered his name, and the cheap way his long, slow examination made me feel. Lucas’s number two in command.
What could he want?
“Did Lucas send you?” I asked.
Maybe it was like the times he’d sent Jerome, who’d just stepped out into the back alley to take a call from his sister. He’d continued babysitting duty on Lucas’s orders, and I hadn’t objected.
Lately I couldn’t get over the feeling that every time I left the shop, I was being watched, and the police had no leads in what had been determined to be arson. Neither Ginny nor Valentina had any idea where Jay was, so Jerome was becoming my security blanket. Although honestly, I was getting used to him, and would miss his company when he was no longer around.
Ryder Colson’s company, however, I could do without.
He wasted no time crossing the floor to stand in front of the register. “What’s your angle, Yve? Looking for a new sugar daddy? Think Titan’s the man for the job?”
I’d wondered how long it would take before someone made an accusation like that, but I refused to show any weakness to this guy. “Don’t you think your boss can take care of himself?”
Colson’s gray eyes went flinty. “My job is to have his back, especially when someone of your . . . reputation is involved.”
My reputation? Ooh, someone had done his homework.
“As soon as he moved you into the house, I started digging, but I honestly thought you were too smart to try that angle. And yet it’s over a week later and you’re still there, so I have to wonder what your plan is. If you’re trying to buck the family tradition again, Titan is the wrong man to pick.” Colson pressed both palms to the counter between us. “He’ll never marry you.”
Marry me? Whoa. I’m still trying to figure out if I’m falling in love with the man. The realization jarred me because I hadn’t yet admitted the possibility in those words, even in my own brain.
I forced out a laugh. “Well, I’m sure not waiting for a proposal.”
“Good, because he’ll pick someone like Valentina Noble for that. He’ll probably keep you on the side, though, if you’re a good enough fuck.”
Valentina’s name on Ryder Colson’s lips sent shock waves through me. Long ago, she and I had decided that no one needed to know of our connection because it might cause people to ask how we’d become so close.
“What are you talking about?”
A condescending smile curled up the edges of his mouth. “She’s the woman Lucas has picked out to be the first Mrs. Titan, because God knows he’ll probably go through more than one.” He raised an eyebrow. “It’s better for you to be the mistress anyway, though. If you’re anything like your mother, you’ll last a hell of a lot longer than a wife.”
Hot shame slid through me at the mention of my mother. Colson had clearly done his digging effectively.
“What do you want?” I asked, because he had to want something.
“It’s time for you to move on out of the house; you’ve overstayed your welcome.”
“According to you, maybe.”