Page 47 of Angel In Armani

And he was late. He’d stopped to check his messages when they’d gotten off the plane at JFK, and she’d taken the opportunity to put some distance between them for a while and gone on ahead to get the helo ready. But they’d agreed on a time for takeoff, and she knew exactly how long it should take him to get from the terminal to her—and he was now fifteen minutes late. What was taking him so long?

Just as she reached for her cell phone to call him, it buzzed to life. The man himself.

“Sara speaking,” she said, trying not to let irritation overtake her.

“Sara, change of plans.”

“You’re not coming?” A girl could hope. She could leave as fast as she could and be home even sooner than she’d planned.

“I’m on my way. But I have to stop in the city. Can you take me to downtown Manhattan?”

“You’re staying the night in Manhattan?” She tried to keep the hope out of her voice. If she just had to do the hop to Manhattan and then fly on to Staten herself, it would hardly put a dent in her plans.

And surely any sensible person would want to stay in town and sleep in their own bed after commuting from several states away. She assumed Lucas lived in Manhattan rather than on Staten Island. No doubt he could afford a place on the island as well, but she didn’t picture him as the type to live anywhere but the glittering heights of the Big Bad Apple. Upper East Side, probably. In one of those condos that cost more than most people made in a lifetime. All marble and steel and glass.

A million miles from aging TiVos and linoleum banged up by big black dog paws.

“No, I still have to be in Staten Island later tonight. Can you wait for me and bring me over? I’ll only be an hour or two.”

Crap. She felt her teeth clench, and the knot in her back twinged in sympathy. But Lucas was paying her the big bucks, so she could hardly tell him that she wouldn’t wait for him and, you know, do her job.

“Service with a smile, that’s me,” she said and hung up before she could say what was really on her mind. So much for a quiet night with her dog. She might still get the Thai takeaway, but hanging around the city for a few hours while Lucas did whatever the hell it was he had to do that was so important was definitely not what she was in the mood for.

She missed Manhattan but tonight, she didn’t have the energy to even think of something fun to do. She knew that Viv was out for the night, she’d called her from Orlando the night before, so she couldn’t even try and meet up with her for a long-overdue girl talk.

At least she had her eReader in her flight bag. She’d have to make do with a new book instead of TV. And then there was Dougal. Who would be waiting patiently for her to get home.

She made a quick call to her mom, who was happy enough to keep Dougal a little longer. That was all she had time for before she got the message from the terminal that her passenger had arrived.

Chapter Eleven

Sara Charles was not happy with him, Lucas thought as he followed her through the chilly night back out to her chopper. Her greeting had been almost as cool as the wind whipping through his bones. Apparently two days in Florida was enough to make him forget that it was still winter in New York. Other than reconfirming which heliport he wanted to go to, she hadn’t said a word to him.

Which made him wonder if his plan was going to work after all. It had made sense at midnight the previous night when he’d come up with it, but maybe that had been some sort of horniness crossed with tropical madness descending upon him.

Tropical madness in the form of the sight of Ollie Shields talking to Sara every time he turned around. He knew Ollie had been hung up on Maggie, but with Maggie now pretty firmly glued to Alex’s side, Shields had to be on the hunt for a distraction.

Ollie wasn’t going to distract himself with Sara.

Nor were any of the other Saints players.

Sara was going to be busy distracting Lucas.

She hadn’t been talkative on the flight back from Florida. In fact she’d spent the time either sleeping or reading with her headphones firmly clamped over her ears. The carefully neutral expression on her face now suggested she wasn’t feeling any more talkative now.

But damn it, he was going to try anyway. She’d opened the chopper door for him, clearly expecting him to take up his usual spot in the passenger seats behind hers.

Screw that. He climbed into the seat next to Sara’s before she could say anything. Hard to ask a girl out when you were sitting behind her after all.

She shot him a look but kept her mouth shut. Better give her some time to cool down a little. He waited while Sara got the chopper in the air and headed toward the sparkling lights of the city before he spoke.

“Sorry about the change of plans,” he said. There, that was a nice and gentle, if somewhat boring, opening.

“It’s fine,” she said.

Fine was never a good sign.

“Did you have plans tonight?” he tried. He fervently hoped the answer was no. In retrospect, he should have tried to get that information out of her. She really was distracting him if he couldn’t even think of the basics.

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