Sweet Surrender (Sugar Rush #3)(8)

Faintly surprised that he'd actually made an effort, Kate took the clipping from him. Dating to 1926, it was an ad featuring a new lollipop from Stone Confectioners, the name of the company before Luke changed it to Sugar Rush twelve years ago in a corporate overhaul and rebranding.

"This is an incredible piece of history." She gestured to the photo on the ad, which showed a man standing beside a truck labeled Stone Confectioners: San Francisco. "That's an old Ford Model T pickup, too. Classic vehicle."

"How do you know about classic cars?" He sounded faintly baffled.

"My father and his friends are into working on old cars." She shook her head with fond amusement. "Though sometimes instead of actually working, they stand around drinking beer and talking about the cars they had as teenagers."

"Kate?" The door to Luke's office opened, and he came out with a sheaf of papers. "All-company email about the annual report."

"Yes, sir." Kate rose to take the papers, which only put her in closer proximity to Tyler.

Luke paused, glancing from her to his brother lounging on her desk.

"Hey, bro," Tyler said. "How's Switzerland?"

"Swiss." Luke's eyes narrowed slightly. "What are you doing here?"

"Tyler just brought me some library materials I asked for," Kate explained quickly. "They're for the revamp of the website."

"Found them like that." Tyler snapped his fingers.

"Good," Luke replied mildly, turning to go back into his office. "Glad to know you're making an effort." 

After the door closed, Tyler raised an eyebrow at Kate. "It's a start, right?"

She indicated the clipping. "Thanks for this. Where did you find it?"

"In one of the drawers."

"But you just shoved it in your pocket?" Kate shook her head. "You know, newspaper clippings should be protected by acid-free paper and handled with gloves to prevent damage. You can't just manhandle archival materials."

"Hey, you got a problem with this, take it up with Luke or my father." Tyler shrugged. "I never pretended to know a damned thing about libraries or archival materials or whatever."

Kate sighed. It certainly wasn't her business to get involved in a Stone family decision, but she couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for Tyler. He'd been put in a position where he had no idea what he was doing. Surely his father and brothers could have given him a job he could actually do.

"Is this all there is in the entire library?" she asked.

"Well, I haven't searched the entire library yet," Tyler replied defensively. "Not that I know much about where to look or what to look for."

Kate pushed back from her desk and stood. Her arm bumped against Tyler's. Goodness. He certainly had a hard set of biceps. Granite-like, even. Must be all that working out at a fancy gym instead of actually working to make a living.

She texted Luke that she'd be away from her desk for a short while, then grabbed her small briefcase filled with office supplies, skirted around Tyler, and headed for the elevators.

"Well, come along," she tossed over her shoulder.

"You've got a real commanding schoolmarm thing going on," he remarked, coming up alongside her. "You'd have been right at home as the headmistress of some Victorian girls' school."

"I imagine you're an expert on girls' schools, Victorian or otherwise," Kate replied dryly.

"I'm an expert on many things," he said with a wink, "Victorian or otherwise."

Hah. If only he knew how immune she was to typical male charm, having witnessed its effect on women. Though the hard-working quarry guys were light-years away from a spoiled trust fund baby like Tyler, they shared an appreciation for good times and believed in the power of their charm. And in their overly protective way, they'd warned her away from men like them-not that she would have succumbed to such superficiality anyway.

They entered the elevator, and she pressed the button for the lower level. The doors slid shut. Kate stared straight ahead to avoid having to make further conversation with Tyler.

Why was he standing so close to her? This elevator was big enough for a dozen people, and yet the air was warm with his body heat, and she could feel the brush of his granite-hard arm against hers, and her nose filled with the pepperminty scent of him-

The man certainly had a tendency to loom. She cleared her throat and glanced to her side, prepared to ask him to please step out of her personal space.

He was leaning against the wall on the other side of the elevator, a good four feet from her, his head bent as he scrolled on his phone.

Kate's heart gave a weird little thump. She'd never encountered a man whose presence had quite so profound an effect on her. Tyler had the physique of a quarry worker, if not the work ethic. Broad in the shoulders, with long muscular legs and those arms that could easily heft an eighteen-pound double-edge rock hammer. Even his hands were big and wide-probably clumsy with delicate tasks but capable of controlling a power drill while it sank deep into a sheet of limestone.