Page 210 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 2
No.
And Matt wiped some sawdust off his cheek before he saw me and winked.
No!
They started walking down the stairs.
“I’ll leave you to it,” Briggs said from behind me and left. How badly I wished I could run after him. I wanted to hide. I wanted to do anything other than face Matt and Tanner.
“Nice to see you again, Penny,” Tanner said. He grabbed my hand and drew it up to his lips. He placed a soft kiss against the back of my hand. I’d seen so many movies about old fashioned gentlemen, but Tanner was the only one I’d ever met in person. We hadn’t hung out that much, but every time I saw him, I likedhim more and more. I had no idea why Rob hated him so much. He was so nice.
“So…um…hi,” I said. I didn’t really know what else to say.
Tanner smiled and dropped my hand. “You’re blushing.”
Yeah, that made sense.
“How was food tasting with Daphne?” Matt asked and opened up the fridge. He pulled out two beers and tossed one to Tanner.
Tanner caught the bottle in one hand and then flicked the top of it off with just his thumb.
How the heck did he do that? Did he have the world’s strongest thumbs or something? That was an oddly particular and impressive talent. “You know how Daphne is,” I said and turned to Matt. “Is that why you didn’t come today?” I was thankful for the change of topic.Let’s talk about Daphne and how she should be banned from all restaurants.
“Nah. I just already had plans to hang out with Tanner.”
“In my house?” I asked.Damn it, why did I just redirect the conversation to the awkwardness?
Matt laughed. “No, we were on our way to the bar around the corner when James called me.”
They were on their way to pick up chicks at a bar. And James diverted them here for…God.I looked back and forth between him and Tanner.
Tanner took a long sip from his bottle. “I owed James a favor,” he offered.
“Oh. Okay. Cool.” I scratched the back of my neck. I had suddenly forgotten what to do with my hands. “Do either of you want some watermelon?” I couldn’t embarrass myself if I had a mouthful of watermelon.
“I’m quite alright,” Tanner said. “Thank you for offering. But you might want to rethink that. The last thing you want is to need to pee while you’re all tied up. Unless James is into watersports…”
I closed my eyes and pretended like this wasn’t happening. But when I opened my eyes Matt and Tanner were still standing there smiling at me. “If you’ll excuse me. I’m just going to go kill myself.”
Matt laughed. “It’s fine, Penny. We had nothing to do today anyway. And it’s not like neither of us has set one of these up before.”
How kinky were all my friends? I was beginning to think I was the only woman on earth who hadn’t been worshipped at a sex altar.
“I have one permanently mounted in my apartment,” Tanner said. “Or two, depending on the day.”
“See?” Matt gestured to Tanner. “Nothing to be embarrassed about.” But then he looked back at Tanner. “Wait, do you really?” He laughed. “Where are they?”
“In my sex dungeon of course,” Tanner said and then turned his attention back to me. “Well, we should probably get out of your hair, Penny. Your husband just got back and I have a feeling he’ll want you all to himself. But if you’d like an audience, I’m free all night. I can even arrange for an entire gallery if you’d like.”
A gallery?!Was that the official term for a group of perverts? I looked over my shoulder. James hadn’t come in yet. “No gallery. And how do you know he’s back?” I turned back to Tanner.
“He wrote to me.” Tanner coughed. “Texted me, I mean.” He pulled out his phone almost as if he needed to prove to me that he had one.
Okay.Tanner really was a nice guy. Hell, he’d just done James a huge awkward favor in his spare time. But Rob did maybe have a point…Tanner was a bit strange.
“Oh, I almost forgot my houseboy,” Tanner said. He walked to the bottom of the stairs. “We’re leaving!” he yelled.
Wait, was there someone else involved in this ridiculousness?
