Nigel opened the door for me. Tanner was waiting by the entrance, looking amazing as ever in an impeccably tailored suit. Usually he would have been wearing a colorful tuxedo at this time on a Thursday, but tonight he was just Tanner.
I felt like I was going to barf. Not because of his outfit. He looked amazing. But I was so freaking nervous. Was he going to grill me about last night at Club Onyx? I didn’t want to have to lie to him. But Chastity’s plan had been working…
Nigel opened the door for me.
“Are you stalking me?” Tanner asked in that sexy way of his.
God, that smirk of his made my knees feel weak.
He didn’t wait for a response. He just helped me out of the limo. “Wow.” He put his hand up so I could do a little twirl. “You look stunning in this dress.”
I couldn’t help the blush creeping along my cheeks. I wanted to tell him that he looked amazing in his suit. And that I was so sorry for all the craziness last night. And that I wanted to be his girlfriend more than anything in the world. But then I heard Chastity’s voice in the back of my head.No! Play hard-to-get!“I hope I’m not overdressed,” I said. “Chastity wanted to go dancing afterwards and I didn’t think I’d have time to change.” Total lie. I was absolutely not going dancing with Chastity tonight. I’d be too busy banging my new boyfriend in his penthouse.
Tanner’s eyes darkened. “We’ll see about that. These cake tastings sometimes go longer than you think.”
“I wouldn’t know. Joe thought buying a wedding cake was a waste of money when we ran our own bakery. So for our cake tasting, he bought me a bunch of flour, sugar, and let me loose in our kitchen.” There had been so many signs that he wasn’t acatch. What had I been thinking? And why the hell was I talking about Joe right now?
Tanner drew his eyebrows together. “Seriously?”
“Yup.”
“Wow. Then I guess tonight I have to work twice as hard to show you a good time. And even if I fail, I have a feeling we’ll be attending lots more of these.”
Like…for our wedding?! Oh my God, is he actually going to propose?
Tanner opened the door for me. “After you, m’lady.”
I loved when he said romantic stuff like that. I stepped in and had a total fangirl moment. Because standing at the hostess stand was Chef Santiago. And the entire restaurant was empty.
He seriously rented out the whole place?!Yeah, he was definitely going to ask me out. I was so close to getting out of the wifey-zone!
“Good evening my friend,” said Santiago to Tanner.
“The pleasure is all mine,” said Tanner. “I can’t thank you enough for fitting us in on such short notice.”
“Anything for you.” They kissed on the cheek.
How very European of them. Or gay? Maybe he wasn’t going to ask me out after all.I tried to take a deep breath and clear my thoughts. I needed to just enjoy this moment.
“And you must be the lovely Miss Cooper?” asked Santiago. He took my hand and kissed it.
“I am. And I take it you’re the lovely Chef Santiago?”Fuck. Why?Why did I just call my chef-idol lovely?I wanted to hide under a table. And there were so many to choose from….Stop it! Stop being weird for one second of your life!
Tanner laughed and squeezed my hand. “I told Santiago all about how you taught yourself to bake by watching his videos.”
“I did. But how’d you know that?”
“Chastity made a note of it on our list. Among other things.”
Other things? What kind of other things did Chastity tell Tanner?!
Chef Santiago took us to a table at the center of the restaurant. There were lots of plates and forks, but no cake yet.
“The cake will be ready in just a moment,” said Santiago. “I just need to add a few finishing touches. Please, make yourselves comfortable. Can I get you anything to drink?”
Tanner pulled out a chair for me. “Just water, please.”
I could have used some wine to calm my nerves, but Tanner was probably right to order water so that nothing competed with the flavor of the cakes.
