Read Online Crazy in Love by Lani Diane Rich - Free Book Online Page A

twitching up in a smile, “I think coffee would be nice. There’s kind of something I want to talk to you about, anyway.”
    She watched him warily. “Does it have to do with whether or not I’m selling this place?”
    “ A little. Maybe.” He let out a long breath, and something in him seemed to tense up. “There’s this guy. Local businessman. He’s probably going to contact you today, and I just wanted to warn you about him.”
    “ Warn me?”
    “ Yes. He’s… uh… he’s not a good guy. You need to watch your step around him.”
    Flynn wanted to laugh, but Tucker didn ’t look like he was joking.
    “ And what exactly do you think this man is going to do to me?”
    The line of his mouth went flat, and there wasn ’t the slightest hint of amusement in his eyes. “Just don’t trust him.”
    For the first time since she ’d met him, Jake Tucker was actually dead serious. It was a little unsettling.
    “ I don’t understand,” she said. “I just got here. What would this guy want with me?”
    “ It’s not you he wants,” Jake said. “It’s the inn. He wants you to sell the inn.”
    Flynn allowed her annoyance to seep into her laugh. “I knew it. This is what all that ‘this place is so great, don’t sell it’ stuff was about? It’s about you wanting to stick it to this guy, right?”
    “ No.” Tucker took a step toward her. “This is a great place, and you shouldn’t sell it. But this guy has an agenda—”
    Flynn had to laugh at that. “Pot calling the kettle, sounds like.”
    “ Look, I just…” He sighed heavily, and turned plaintive eyes on her. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
    “ Funny,” she said, “because I think this actually has very little to do with me.”
    Tucker opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. Flynn kept her eyes on his.
    “Gee. I wonder who that is?” she said flatly.
    Tucker cleared his throat nervously. “Hey, mind if I use the bathroom?”
    “ Sure, go right ahead,” she said, but he had already disappeared through the bathroom door before the words were out.
    Okaaaaay. She went to the front door and pulled it open.
    “ Good morning. Flynn Daly, I presume?”
    The first thing she saw were the teeth, smiling at her so brightly that she swore she could hear that little tink sound like in the toothpaste commercials.
    Next, she caught the eyes. Blue and crystalline.
    Then the suit. Armani.
    Finally, the hair. Black, naturally shiny, and graying just a touch at the temples.
    This was possibly the most classically-handsome, well-groomed man she’d ever seen in her life. How the hell did a guy like that end up in a place like Scheintown?
    Or more specifically, on her doorstep in a place like Scheintown?
    “Good morning,” he said again, a little louder. He held out his hand. “My name is Gordon Chase. I hope you don’t mind me dropping in on you so early in the morning, but Annabelle told me you’d be out here and I wanted to introduce myself.”
    “ Hi.” Flynn shook his hand, which was big and strong and warm and softer than a baby’s bottom. He must manicure twice a day. “I’m Flynn Daly.”
    His smile tinked at her again. “I know. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much.”
    “ Really?” she said. “From whom?”
    His smile faded into an expression of sincere concern, and he covered their joined hands with his free one. “I was so sorry to hear about Esther’s passing. Your great-aunt was a treasure in this community, and she’ll be sorely missed.”
    Hard to miss her if she won ’t go away. “Yes, she sure will.”
    He finally released her hands, digging his own into his pockets in an affected boyish manner, which put Flynn instantly on her guard. Anyone who ’d muss an Armani line to appear boyish was not to be trusted.
    “ Anyway, I’m the president of the Historical Preservation Society, and I was hoping you’d let me treat you to breakfast this morning. I think