“I’m a reporter,” I say, just as Banks hangs up his call, his attention immediately zipping back to me. Staying there. All three of them are hanging on my every word. Why? No way am I physically disturbing all three of them the way they are disturbing me. “I was on the island to get some details about the housing project.”

“This late on a Thursday?” Tobias asks, arching a dark brow. “Very dedicated.”

“Yes. I am.”

Gabe’s boots scuff the floor as he stands. “I can help you with that. If you want. I’ve been working on it since the beginning and I know every corner of it.”

“I’d like that,” I say, guilt making my throat dry. Best to see the deception through before I lose my nerve. “Maybe we can meet over coffee. Are you doing anything Saturday night?”

Those words cause a silent commotion in the tram car.

I’m pinned by three different sets of eyes, that jealous energy I thought I imagined earlier now coming from both Tobias and Banks. It creates a disturbance in the air.

Too bad.

I’m not getting a boyfriend out of this wacky turn of events. I’m getting a point of contact for the exposé I’m writing. The one that is going to land me a staff writer position. I decided to pursue a career in journalism and I have to see my journey through this time. I’ve done too many things halfway and not only have my parents lost faith in me…

I’ve completely lost faith in myself.

I need it back. I don’t know who I am without my confidence.

“Saturday night? Oh yeah. I’ve got this fancy party. For work.” Gabe looks like he’s waiting for the punch line. “Wait…you’re not asking me out, are you?”

I’m smiling, but it wavers. He’s a nice guy and he’s been through a lot. Why couldn’t it be Tobias or Banks that had a potential inside track on Jameson Crouch?

I realize I wouldn’t like that either and feel a flash of impatience with myself.

Something is very wrong with me.

“Yes, Elise,” Tobias clips, smiling once again in that way that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Are you asking out the one with the erection?”

Over Tobias’s shoulder, Banks tilts his head, expression questioning.

“Maybe I am.” I wet my lips. “And that’s between me and Gabe.”

“Is that to say there’s nothing between us?” Tobias asks. And then with a wink and a nod in Banks’s direction, he adds, “Or you and him? Let’s not pretend something isn’t happening here. All of us feel it.”

If I thought the air was charged before, nothing compares to the way it crackles with electricity now. With those words, the odd attraction between me and these three men has been acknowledged. I haven’t been hiding it, as I assumed I was. Maybe I was too surprised by my reaction to them to play it cool. I don’t know. But they’re all coming closer to me now, at the same time. They are circling me. Tobias in front, Gabe behind, Banks to my left.