Lazy Bones whined from his spot underneath Tyler, and he let his hand fall down onto the dog’s side. “I know, bud. I miss her too.”
So much his heart barely knew how to beat anymore.
A week passed, and then two, and Tyler still hadn’t figured out a way back to the life he’d had before the hospital gala. He went through the motions of meeting with his account managers, and eating, and even attending one Nine-0 meeting. He barely heard two words, but he’d gotten dressed and he’d left the house.
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, he was considering a trip off the island. He had plenty of time and money, and he thought about packing a bag and showing up at the airport and asking for a ticket on the next plane that was taking off. Whatever he didn’t have, he could buy when he landed.
One day, while he threw the Frisbee for Bones, his phone rang. A rush of adrenaline made his heart ba-bump with the hope that it could be Tawny. But it was Fisher, and that was actually good, because then Tyler could actually answer the call.
“Yeah,” he said. “What’s up, Fisher?”
“Have you gotten the mail yet today?”
“My mail?” Tyler turned back toward his house, which sat down the beach a bit. “I’m out with Bones. I don’t know if it’s come.”
“You need to check it.”
“Why?” While he normally enjoyed leafing through the mail—it was at least something that took up fifteen minutes of his miserable existence—no one ever sent him anything good.
“You just do.”
Tyler couldn’t judge Fisher’s mood by his tone of voice. “What do I need to know?” He picked up the Frisbee Bones had just dropped at his feet, and instead of throwing it out into the water, this time, he tossed it back toward his house.
As Bones tore after it, Tyler walked that way, forcing the dog back to the house.
“Nothing,” Fisher said. “You just really need to get your mail.”
“Fine. Is that all?”
Fisher laughed. “Yes, that’s all.”
“Great.” Tyler hung up and kept throwing the Frisbee back toward the house until he and Bones made it to the yard. He made sure the dog had plenty of cold water, which he lapped up enthusiastically, and then Tyler went around the house to the front to collect the mail.
He had quite the stack of useless envelopes, solicitations for credit cards, a couple of flyers for landscapers on the island, a coupon book, and a magazine.
He didn’t subscribe to magazines.
He flipped it over and found Aces High staring back at him. This issue had a well-dressed man on the cover, the current high-money winner on the circuit. Tyler remembered when he’d been on the cover of dozens of poker-related magazines, and he dropped the pile of mail.
The story was out.
No wonder Fisher had called. Tyler dialed him back, not sure if he was angry, irritated, or just plain old tired.
“You wanted me to see the Aces High magazine?”
“Yeah, you got it?”
Tyler stared at it on the ground. “I got it.”
“Are you going to read it?”
He scoffed. “No. Why would I do that?”
“It’s good.”
“You read it? Since when do you subscribe to Aces High?”
“The story’s online.”
“Great.” Tyler looked heavenward, really needing some divine intervention to make it through the next several hours. He suspected his phone would blow up with calls and texts from the friends he’d left behind or his brother, though Wayne and the rest of his family already knew about the fake engagement.
“Read it,” Fisher said. “It’s good.”
“I don’t need proof of Jason’s great journalism.” He toed the offending magazine on the ground. “I don’t even know how I got one.”
“I’m sure Jason sent it to you.”
He could’ve, but Tyler wasn’t so sure, especially if the article was online. “I have to go,” Tyler said.
“Oh yeah? Pressing deadline approaching?” Fisher laughed and ended the call. Tyler envied his carefree laughter. He felt like he may never laugh again.
He wasn’t the type of person to leave a pile of mail on the front lawn, so he scooped it up, magazine and all, and went inside.
The magazine mocked him from where he put it on the counter. He did his best to ignore it as he pulled a water bottle from the fridge and then went to let Lazy Bones in from the back yard.
Aces High felt like it had the gravitational pull of the sun, and he kept rotating back to it. He finally picked it up and leafed through the first few pages, just to see what articles there were.
“Stupid,” he said, adding a scoff and tossing the magazine back to the counter.
But he knew he’d read it eventually, and he just wanted to get it over with. Stop torturing himself. His phone hadn’t so much as beeped yet, and maybe Wayne was having an exceptionally busy afternoon behind his pod of computer screens.
He grabbed the magazine and went to his hammock, the safest place to read about his fake engagement to a woman that had anything but false feelings flowing through him.
The article wasn’t hard to find; it wasn’t buried near the back, with only half a page for the headline and no pictures.
Oh, no. Jason had made the most of his exclusive, and the title sang from the page in bright, bold, capital red letters.
THE POKER PRINCE’S ROYAL FLUSH
Tyler appreciated the wit, and he enjoyed Jason’s easy, conversational style of writing. He had all the facts right, and a couple of quotes from Tyler on why he’d done it.
“I just wanted to help her out. She seemed so panicked when that other guy came up to us, and I made a mistake.”
He had made a mistake. He shouldn’t have agreed to much of anything, let alone an engagement that went on for almost three months. After all, that gala was supposed to be no strings attached.
He went back to the article, and the perspective shifted to Tawny. Jason said she corroborated Tyler’s story and genuinely seemed apologetic that they’d lied to their friends and family.
The article only had a few more inches in it when Jason wrote, And now Tawny wants to finish the story in her own words.
“I just want everyone out there reading this to know how wonderful Tyler is. He stepped up when someone else wouldn’t have.”
Tyler felt like someone had dropped a piano on his chest, but he forced himself to keep reading.
I want his family to know that I didn’t mean to hurt them.
“I want Tyler to know that I fell in love with him months ago, and I’d do almost anything to make things right with him. He probably won’t read this, because he’s probably surfing or throwing a Frisbee to his dog.
But I don’t want the world to think I was after his money. I wasn’t. I was after his heart, and I didn’t realize how much I loved him until I realized I’d already given him mine.”
Tyler blinked, sure he’d read the quotes wrong. He went back, and the words were the same. Jason finished the article with, There you have it, poker fans. The Prince isn’t coming back any time soon, and maybe, just maybe, if he plays his cards right, he and Tawny will end up with a real engagement. It’s this reporter’s opinion, having spent time with them together, and both of them apart, that they genuinely love each other. And if the world needs more of anything, it’s love.
The magazine fell to Tyler’s chest, and he lay in the hammock for a moment, utterly stunned. Then he launched himself out of the hammock, the magazine clutched in his fist, hoping he could do exactly what Jason had said and play his cards right.
Chapter Twenty
Tawny smeared the last of the mint frosting over the pan of brownies, intending to take them to her yoga class the following morning. It was a few days before Valentine’s Day and Sweet Breeze was full of sickeningly sweet couples. Couples celebrating. Couples on anniversary trips. Couples, couples, couples.
Tawny was taking two d
ays off, something she hardly ever did. She wouldn’t see her regulars until she came back after Valentine’s Day, so she wanted to give them a treat before she left.
She was even leaving the island for the duration of her time off. The smaller island of Maui had beautiful hikes and waterfalls, and she could do those alone without anyone asking her why she didn’t have a date.
Someone knocked on the door, startling her. Because it was more like pounding than anything else.
“Tawny!” a man called, and for one horrible moment, she thought Omar had returned to the island to claim her as his.
She dropped the off-set spatula and then snatched it back up again as she crept to the corner and peered down the hall to the front door.
It opened, and he said, “Tawny?” again.
She stepped out and planted her feet, lifting the frosting-covered utensil in front of her like it could do any damage to anyone.
Tyler came through the door, gripping something in one hand. He saw her standing there and froze.
She couldn’t move either, and her heart wailed inside her chest. “It’s February tenth,” she whispered, her mouth barley moving. And he’d obviously gotten the magazine. Jason had sent her the article a couple of days ago, saying he couldn’t change anything at that point but that he thought he’d done a decent job doing what she’d asked.
More than decent, she’d texted back. All she’d been able to do was hope and pray that Tyler would read it and somehow find a way to forgive her.
He lifted the rolled up magazine. “Is this true?”
“Every word.”
“You told Jason all of this?”
“Right to his recorder.” And now the whole world knew too. Well, those who cared about poker, which admittedly, wasn’t that many people.
His gaze burned her from fifteen feet away. “What are you going to do with that?” He nodded to the spatula.
Tawny lowered it and then quickly took a few steps into the kitchen and dropped it back to the counter before returning to him. He’d come. He’d read the article and come to see her.
Her turn to be brave.
“I’m in love with you,” she said, taking slow, measured steps toward him. “I didn’t believe you when you said similar things, because I was sort of in this weird place inside my own head, and doing all kinds of strange things, and…yeah.” She sucked in a breath and told herself not to keep babbling.
He just stared at her, and it was a horrible feeling to say she loved him and not have him say it back.
Finally, he tossed the magazine onto her couch and took four strong steps toward her. “I love you, Tawny,” he said before he reached for her. She expected his touch to be rough, but it was gentle, soft as he cupped her face and gazed into her eyes. “You have my heart too.”
When he kissed her, the joy and heat exploded through her until she saw stars. Or maybe they were hearts. Spades. Whatever. She was in love with the man kissing her, and she wasn’t going to hide it anymore.
“Bones,” Tyler called up the path, and the golden retriever stalled. He didn’t turn and look back, but he waited, his tongue hanging out of his mouth until Tawny and Tyler caught up to him.
“I’ll put you on the leash if I have to,” Tyler threatened, but Tawny knew he’d do no such thing. Bones gave him a baleful look and started walking again as if to say, Well, hurry up then. You humans walk so slow.
But Tawny wasn’t in any hurry. The path through this tropical paradise seemed too beautiful to be true, and the rushing sounds of water falling over cliffs was loud in her ears, which meant they were almost there.
With this second day of their quick vacation to Maui almost over, Tawny wanted to prolong every moment until she had to return to Getaway Bay and her real life.
Though, now that Tyler was back in her daily routine, things had started to look up considerably.
They climbed a bit farther, Bones staying a nose ahead of Tyler, and rounded a curve. The waterfall field spread before them, the most glorious thing Tawny had ever seen. She pulled in a breath and said, “Isn’t it the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?”
“No.” Tyler pulled her close and kissed her cheek. “That would be you.”
She grinned and warmed at his words, snuggling deeper into his side.
“Should we eat?” he asked, slipping his pack off one shoulder. He’d told her he’d take care of all the details of food, activities, lodging. And he had. If it were possible, Tawny had fallen deeper in love with him in the past two days.
They’d had plenty to talk about too, and in the end, he’d said, “I felt like I didn’t know you at all once you’d told me you were doing things backward. But I see now that you can’t help being you.”
“And that’s okay?”
“Tawny.” He’d taken both of her hands in his. “You’re all I want. You’re exactly who I need in my life. You’re everything I didn’t even know I wanted.”
And Tawny had believed him. She ate to the chorus of falling water, Tyler lost in his own world. Truth be told, Tawny was too.
The sun started to set, and that got her to get moving. “Hey, so we should head back. It’ll be dark before we come off the trail if we don’t.”
“Yeah, sure.” But he didn’t get up. He took his time packing up his trash and stuffing it in his pack. She wandered over to the edge of the path with Bones and watched the water pound down into the pool below.
“I just have something I want to talk to you about before we go.”
Tawny turned back to him to find him down on both knees, a diamond ring pinched between two fingers.
“I sort of really liked being your fiancé,” he said. “And I love you with all my heart. I’m wondering if you’d like to wear this ring again, this time for real.”
“For real?” she echoed, sure they’d had the shortest time from first date to engagement in the history of the earth. Both times.
“For real,” he confirmed. “You’d make me the happiest man in Hawaii if you’d be my wife.”
“Do we have to set a date right away?”
His eyes twinkled. “Of course not.”
“Will there be strings attached?”
“Lots and lots of them.”
Tawny stepped closer and looked at the ring. “This is a different ring.”
“Yeah, you still have the other one.” He grinned at her. “Plus, Jasper said this one’s way better for a legit engagement ring.”
“So he sold us a lemon last time?”
“I actually didn’t buy that ring, so I’m gonna need it back.”
Tawny tipped her head back and laughed. She sobered and bent down to look him straight in the eye. “I would love to be your wife. I love you, and I hope there are so many strings, we get tangled up together for a long time.”
He slid the ring on her finger, and it felt right. Not too heavy, like last time.
She kissed him, pure delight and happiness to be finally kissing her fiancé surging through her.
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Sneak Peek! The Brazen Billionaire Chapter One
Sasha Redding arrived last to the beach, the group of women before her already laughing about something. Of course they had things to giggle over. Boyfriends. Dates that evening. Diamond rings.
She dropped her beach chair to the sand with a little too much force. Fine, maybe she threw it. No matter what, sand sprayed out and hit Esther on the right and Tawny on the left. Esther glanced up at her, her ultra-blonde hair practically white in the sunshine.
Tawny kept on talking as if she hadn’t even noticed Sasha’s arrival. And wasn’t that the epitome of Sasha’s life? She sighed as she s
prayed sunscreen on her bare arms and shoulders and settled into her chair.
Tawny had recently broken up with her boyfriend. Or her fake fiancé. The fake fiancé that she’d fallen in love with. But even though they weren’t speaking at the moment, Sasha knew they’d get back together. It was only a matter of time before the article in that poker magazine came out and Tyler—the fake fiancé/boyfriend—would come around and forgive her.
Sasha didn’t have a fiancé, real or otherwise. Nor a boyfriend. Nor anyone interested in becoming her boyfriend or fiancé. It was a problem that, until very recently, all the women in the Beach Club had been dealing with.
But one by one, love had claimed them all. Okay, just three of them, but it felt like all of them to Sasha, as the other ladies were a bit older and adamant they didn’t want another boyfriend or husband.
Sasha secretly did though, and when Tawny finally finished talking, Esther turned her and asked, “Everything okay?”
No, everything was no okay. Sasha didn’t want to talk about it, but at the same time, she didn’t have anyone else to tell. And wasn’t that why she came to these little get-togethers? It wasn’t to see the glinting diamonds, that was for sure.
“I’m taking a second job,” she said. “Starts tomorrow.” She stared out across the water, the winter sunlight still bright enough to hurt her eyes as it reflected off the bay.
“Things are that bad?” Esther leaned forward and peered at Sasha, obviously trying to get her to face her.
“Yes.” Sasha didn’t want to admit that she used money for her drink stand, The Straw, that she should’ve used to pay her electric bill. But if she didn’t have The Straw, she wouldn’t have any income. So she was a bit behind right now. She’d get caught up as soon as she started getting paid from this new job.
“What are you doing?” Tawny asked. “For the new job, I mean.”
“I’m cleaning some rich guy’s house,” she said, the words like poison on her tongue. She’d definitely had enough of wealthy men, that was for sure. Stacey, Esther, and Tawny didn’t seem to mind them, but Sasha preferred to meet a simple fisherman, or maybe a busboy. They, at least, wouldn’t give her unsolicited advice about how she should run her business.