Page 14 of Tops
“Where’sHannah?”Tannerlookedirritated. He ran his hand through his hair, making it look like he had just rolled out of bed.
I should still be in bed.
“Yeah, she took off when I was in the shower,” I said, giving him a smirk of annoyance before helping myself to a seat opposite him. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the text messages, but today I didn’t feel anxious about being alone with him.
He leaned back in his chair as his eyes bored into me.What if he was thinking about me in the shower?I hadn’t bothered to dry my hair since it was raining. Instead, I threw it up into a messy bun on the top of my head.
But the way he was looking at me right now suggested he was thinking about me in the shower. That still didn’t make sense, considering I’d been a pain in his ass. But those text messages suggested something different. On the off chance he really was interested in me, what then? I hadn’t thought my back burner stewpot would start boiling over so quickly.
The mental image of Hannah’s note, dick and all, floated into my mind. I pushed it back down. I really needed to lay off the romance drama shows.
Your friend’s boss does not want to bang you. Your professor does not want to bang you.
“Well, you dragged me out of my bed, where I happened to be having one of the best days of my life. At least show me whatever you need so I can get back under the sheets,” I blurted. I couldn’t just sit there and let him look at me like that. As if there was actual hunger in his eyes for me.
I couldn’t.
“Did you find another man, then?” Tanner folded his hands, placing his elbow on the top of his wooden desk.
“I meant before you interrupted,” I bit back. It felt like texting him all over again. A certain kind of rush of exhilaration that I was quickly becoming addicted to. Damn, if I wasn’t going to ride this wave of conversation until the surf swallowed me whole. I wasn’t sure banter with anyone else had ever felt so invigorating. Maybe it was because I thought he would kill me when we first met.There might be something wrong with me.
“You had more than one threesome request today?” His eyebrows came together in a sign of actual confusion. His confused look softened every one of his features, making him seem not so unobtainable after all.
“Why does the best day have to equal a threesome? Or sex at all, for that matter?” I felt my cheeks heat, “I was enjoying the sound of the rain while curled up in a pile of blankets on my unexpected day off. If you really needed to know.”
I met his hot gaze, firmly refusing the sensation to submit under his stare. We could have sat silently assessing each other for seconds or minutes; I didn’t know.
A knock at the door caused us both to look away.
“Come in,” Tanner said as his hand raked through his hair again.
The door opened slowly before a man dressed in a full suit came into the room, shutting the door behind himself. I noticed he had honey-brown eyes behind black-rimmed glasses. He was fucking hot. He looked older, maybe somewhere in his mid-thirties. His perfectly tailored suit looked sharp, revealing his fit frame. Without glancing my way, he gave a curt smile before he took a seat next to me.
“Who’s this?” I asked, looking at Tanner with a raised eyebrow.
“This is my attorney and friend Colten Black,” Tanner said casually, gesturing with his hands toward the hot but rather rude man in the suit. “I asked him to bring some paperwork for you to sign before I can share this video with you.”
Colten produced several sheets of paper from a briefcase. He placed them on the desk in front of where I was sitting. I had to reach forward to grab the top sheet. Pulling it back to skim over the words in bold letters across the top.He wants me to sign a fucking nondisclosure agreement. I knew this shit was about last night.Trickles of anxiety started to creep into the edges of my mind as I worried all of this was some elaborate setup.
“I’m not going to cause any problems for you, Tanner. Last night I was wrong about what happened. Now that I know, I’ll leave you alone.” My voice sounded as small as a mouse, and everyone knew it. I was sitting in the room with two apex predators, showing them I was nothing more than prey.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Colten giving me a strange look. I didn’t plan on acknowledging him, even with his sudden burst of curiosity. He clearly wasn’t here on my behalf.
“This isn’t,” Tanner said, slightly shaking his head, “aboutthat. I need you to sign these documents before showing you the video footage. What I will reveal to you is not to be discussed with anyone outside myself or my team. It protects my business from any sensitive information you might be privileged to because of this footage. But I want you to get a good look at this man because I don’t think Hannah was a random victim. I think she was a target, which means you could be one, too.” He paused to dishevel his hair.
He watched my eyes as they followed the path of his hand as it ruffled up his hair.It was the perfect length to tug on.He must have seen something in my gaze that encouraged his change in demeanor. He radiated calm as he took on a wicked, dark smirk. His presence seemed to whisper into the back of my mind, weaving its way into my deepest, darkest secrets.
“Sign the damn papers, Nessa,” Tanner practically growled out.
Pure, uninhibited heat rushed through me as Tanner’s voice filled my head. Every single vital part of me screamed out to do what he wanted.
I grabbed the stack of papers with a huff as I started flipping through them. Mom always said to read through things before I signed them, but honestly, it didn’t do me any good. I couldn’t understand what most of this was saying, anyway.
“Can I talk about our text messages?” I asked. Giving Tanner a smirk as I looked up from the papers.
“All that happened before these papers, Nessa,” Tanner sighed, bringing his hand up to massage the bridge of his nose.
“What about future communications?” I ventured. I was bouncing between fear and boldness, an exhilarating sensation. I could practically feel the heat of Colten’s gaze.
