“And to make it easier to get things up and running, you and I will be working at his office starting Monday.”
“For how long?” I asked. “And what about Madison?”
“She was assigned somewhere else. And I guess we’ll work there until someone tells us otherwise. So pick out your hottest work clothes and get ready to make Tanner jealous. We’re gonna bag you a billionaire vampire werewolf sex god.”
***
I almost threw up three times on the way to Tanner’s offices. It was like the first day of high school…if you had made out with the principal the week before. Oh, and also pissed off the secretary and thrown everyone’s cupcakes in the trash.
Despite that, I was still giddy to see Tanner. How would he act around me? Would he be distant? Would he flirt with me? Would he ask if I was stalking him in that deep sexy voice of his?
Come to think of it, I wasn’t even sure he’d be there. He was a freaking billionaire. He had places to be and things to do. Why would he stay in his fancy corner office in NYC when he could be off sipping martinis on a private island in the Caribbean?
The thought of him not being there calmed my nerves. But that was no fun. He needed to be there so I could follow Chastity’s advice and ignore him and make him jealous of Dr. Lyons.
And it was my lucky day. Because Tanner was there. He even greeted us at the door.
“Good morning, ladies,” he said. He looked so dumb and ugly with his tailored suit and perfect 5 o’clock shadow.
Chastity shook his hand.
No! Don’t touch him, you whore!Okay…so maybe he looked good in his suit. And maybe I definitely did still have feelings for him after my date with Dr. Lyons. Was I a glutton for punishment?
“Thank you so much for this opportunity, Mr. Rhodes,” said Chastity.
“You’re quite welcome. Everything you need is on your desks.” He gestured to a little cubicle that we’d be sharing. “If you need anything, my door is always open.” A second later he was gone.
“Why didn’t you talk to him?” whispered Chastity.
“Did I not?”
“Nope. You just stared at him like a crazy person. You’re supposed to be making him jealous, not scared.”
“Damn it. I really thought I talked.” This was not going the way I had pictured. We needed a new plan. “Keep an eye on him. If you see him coming, kick me and I’ll start talking about Dr. Lyons.”
An hour later, Chastity kicked me.
“Ow!” I kicked her back.
“What the hell?” she hissed. “You’re supposed to talk about…”
“Everything okay?” asked Tanner. He’d stopped outside our cubicle and his arms were folded across his chest. I remembered the feeling of those muscles beneath my hands…
“Yup,” I said way louder than I meant to.
“Actually,” said Chastity. “We need to know what our hours are. And how long can we take for lunch? Because Ash has a lunch date with her new doctor boyfriend.”
Tanner raised an eyebrow. “A lunch date? Sounds…romantic.”
I shrugged. “We’ll see. I’m a little intimidated by how tall he is.”What else would make Dr. Lyons sound amazing?“And he loves kids a littletoomuch.” I heard it the second the words left my mouth, but by then it was too late. Rather than make him jealous, I’d just confirmed what Tanner already thought: I was dating a 10-foot-tall pedophile.
“Take as long as you want for lunch. I only care that the work gets done. It doesn’t much matter to me if you finish at 10 am or 10 pm. But uh…be careful. That guy sounds like kind of a creep.”
“She’ll be fine,” said Chastity. “They had an awesome date on Saturday. He took her to Barracuda.”
Tanner nodded. “Great place. Did you try the grits?”
Grits.Did he know?Oh God.Someone had probably filmed me barfing all over Dr. Lyons and made a meme out of it. My life was officially ruined. I tried to play it cool. “Sure did. He even paid for them.”
