For a second, there wasn’t a sound in the whole restaurant except for my heart pounding. Why did I lick his thumb?He’s going to think I’m a lunatic.But I couldn’t think of a single thing to do to fix it. And his thumb was still just paused on my lip. So my brain short-circuited and I licked his finger again.
He groaned and shoved his thumb into my mouth.
If this was what being weird together meant, I wanted more of it. I closed my lips around his thumb and sucked hard.
“Fuck,” he hissed.
“What’s the verdict?” Santiago said.
I jumped and Tanner laughed. Although, I don’t know why he was laughing, because I could have easily bit him. He was lucky to still have that finger.
Tanner lowered the blindfold from my face. “What do you say? Which one was your favorite?” He kept his hand on my cheek and stared into my eyes.
All the cakes were astounding. But I knew which one Tanner preferred. “The Marie Antoinette one.”
He smiled and turned to Santiago. “Cake #4.”
“Perfecto. They shall be delivered to the yacht tomorrow afternoon. It was wonderful meeting you, Ash. I will work on that handshake.” He winked at me and then hurried back into the kitchen.
“So that’s a wrap.” Tanner dropped his hand from my face. “Your work on this party is officially done.”
“Kind of. Except for everything tomorrow before the actual party.”
Tanner waved off my comment. “Not necessary. You’ve already done so much. You should just take the weekend off.”
What? But…“I can still come to the party though, right?”
“Did you get an invitation?”
“No. Do I need one?”
“Of course.”
I stared at him in disbelief. Was he seriously disinviting me to the party that I’d planned?! God, he was doing that thing again. Running because I’d made things sexual. I’d licked his finger one time and now he wanted to avoid me again? It wasn’t even his dick. If he knew what he’d done to me in my dreams he’d be in Montana by now.
He stood up. And for a second, I thought he was just going to walk away. But then he put his hand out for me. “Luckily for you, I have a plus one. Would you like to be my date?”
“Your date?”
“If you’ll do me the honor.” He bowed slightly like he was asking me to dance with him circa 1850.
He always surprised me. “Why, yes, sir. I’d love to accompany you to the ball.” I placed my hand in his.
He laughed and helped me out of my chair. “There are two conditions though.”
Anything.I just nodded.
“No more of this Rule #8 nonsense. I’ve never been good at sharing.”
It was somehow like my dream but also the opposite. I nodded again.
“And promise me you won’t go to Club Onyx again without me. It’s something we should really be experiencing together.”
I nodded. But…then I started freaking out. His note told me to go to Club Onyx. But it also said not to open it unless he disappeared.Damn it.I started to sweat. I needed to tell him everything. I started to hold my breath because I didn’t know what else to do.
“Good.”
“Good,” I said. But then I shook my head. “Wait. Did you just ask me to be your plus one to the party? Or did you just ask me to be your girlfriend?” Because those conditions made it seem like it was more than a one-date kind of thing.
