Page 346 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 7
“You’re welcome. I figured you’d want to wear them while Spaceboy performs at our launch party.”
I blinked and then stared at him. “Don’t mess with me like that.” A few days ago I’d jokingly suggested that we invite DJ Spaceboy to our party, knowing full well that it would never happen. I figured he was too busy polishing his Grammys or banging groupies in his ten thousand square foot Beverly Hills mansion.
“I’m serious,” said Tanner.
What?!“Just so we’re on the same page. You’re telling me thattheDJ Spaceboy agreed to come to some random launch partyfor a virtually unheard-of winery? Will Taylor Swift be attending as well?”
“No. Why would we have two headliners? We aren’t throwing a music festival - we’re having a launch party.”
“Oh my God. You’re being serious. You really got DJ Spaceboy?!” I couldn’t believe him. He was freaking amazing. I was pretty sure I’d single-handedly paid for his aforementioned Beverly Hills mansion with all the ad revenue he got from me watching his videos non-stop on YouTube.
“I had to call in a favor with an old friend. DJ Spaceboy demanded that we move the party to a yacht, but yes. I got him.”
I stood on my tippy-toes and gave Tanner a big kiss. I didn’t care that we were supposed to be just friends. It felt like forever ago that I’d told him I wasn’t interested. And he must have known I was lying. Because I was. And this wonderful man deserved a kiss. Actually, he deserved a lot more than a kiss. I didn’t want to scare him off though. And as a cherry on top of my already perfect surprise, he actually kissed me back.
And kissed me.
And kissed me some more.
I had to step backwards to keep from falling over. Tanner used that momentum to push me back against the wall. I opened my mouth wider, letting him in.Yes!
I wanted it to last forever. But a little voice in the back of my head knew that Tanner was going to come to his senses soon andpush me away. Just like he always did. And then things would be painfully awkward for the next week or so.
I couldn’t let that happen. I bit at his lower lip and then pushed with all my might to force him off of me.
“Excuse me, sir,” I said. “I think you were getting dangerously close to doing something inappropriate with your favorite employee.”
He raised an eyebrow. “That was nothing more than a congratulatory peck between coworkers.”
“Right. A congratulatory peck. Glad we’re on the same page.” I smoothed my skirt out and fixed my hair. And then I shook his hand. Because that seemed like something colleagues would do whilst congratulating each other on a big win.
Tanner stared at me for a long second and then went to sit behind his desk. Which was probably for the best. Without that space between us, our congratulatory peck easily could have turned into a congratulatory fuck.
I sat across from him. I needed to compose myself and get us back on track. Because that was the only way to keep him from freaking out. And honestly, I was already freaking out enough for the both of us.He kissed me back!I cleared my throat. “So the launch party we’ve been planning for the last two weeks - a laid back sweatpants-party after hours at a furniture store - is now a yacht party headlined by Spaceboy?”
“Correct. Why do you think I told you to get that website finished? We have a crap-ton of work to do if we’re gonna pull this off. This is gonna be the party of the century.”
We went back to the drawing board with our planning. At first I was a little concerned that getting Spaceboy - as amazing as it was - wasn’t going to fit the brand. But Tanner and I put our heads together and came up with a pretty epic plan. It was so tempting to text Chastity to tell her the good news, but it didn’t seem like a text could do this justice. And I really wanted to see her face when she found out. She was going to absolutely lose her shit.
I was planning out different epic ways to drop the news to her when Tanner’s PI, Marty, walked into the conference room. I was about to have to relive the day Rosalie disappeared. And just like that, all the exciting energy I had immediately switched to nervous energy. Or…actually, I was still kind of excited. Because seeing how closely he resembled Liam Neeson immediately gave me hope that we would find her. And also hope that he would kill everyone involved in a totally epic action sequence and then say some badass line to make the kidnappers look like a bunch of little bitches.
“Pleasure to meet you, Miss Cooper,” he said. His voice was even deep and gravelly like Liam’s.
“Thanks for coming,” I said.
“No problem.” He pulled up a chair and got ready to jot some notes down in a folder labeled TOP SECRET. “So here’s how this works. I don’t know if this case is going to take two days or two years. But I promise you that I will do my very best to find outwhat happened to your sister. And when I do, I’ll send you the report. When I first started, I used to send weekly updates to my clients. But that just wasted my time and got my clients hopes up for no reason. So until you get my report, assume I have no new information. Got it?”
I nodded. It was going to drive me crazy waiting, but I’d have to deal.
“Good. So I’ve read the police reports and have a general sense of what happened, but I’d love to get your take on that day.”
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. It had been three years, but I could still picture the day perfectly. I opened my eyes and tried to focus on Marty instead of Tanner, who was watching me silently. “Okay. So it was May 25th, 2020. Rosalie’s 23rdbirthday. I woke up at 5 a.m. sharp, baked Rosalie’s birthday cupcakes, and then biked over to Belvedere Lake. Ever since she’d moved to the city, that was where we would meet on her birthday. We’d hang out all day laughing and having fun.”Those were my favorite days.
“And when did each of you move to the city?” asked Marty.
“Um… Joe and I moved here after I graduated from college. Summer of 2017. Rosalie transferred to NYCU that fall.”
Marty made a few notes. “Got it. And what was the significance of Belvedere Lake?”
