Page 27 of Tops
“Tops is Bottoms tonight. Bottoms is a sort of opposite day. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays are Bottoms nights where everything is backward. Up is down. Left is right.”
“And Tops is Bottoms,” Nessa said, nodding her head and smiling as it clicked. “Very clever. So, walking around Bottoms like this would really be like….”
“You’re wearing the sexiest dress out there, or entirely naked by some people’s imaginings.” I couldn’t always control what the opposite translated to in another person’s mind. Mostly we tried to keep the theme loose, but no matter what, Nessa had made a statement whether or not she intended to.
“Right,” she trailed off, and I saw the faintest hint of pink as it started to tint her cheeks.
My hands twitched to cause her skin to redden under my hand. But I needed to wait until I talked with Colten and Nik. It hadn’t escaped me that Nessa caught both of their attention from the moment they saw her. She was simply amazing. An uncut diamond ready to be transformed.
“I might need to escort you back to your room for the movie night you wanted so badly. Unless there was anything else you needed to accuse me of?” I said while getting up.
Her feet swung off the chair before she stood, giving me a clear view down the gaping neckline of her shirt. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and I really wished I wasn’t alone with her right now. Being alone with her made it harder not to try for a taste, just to see how she would react. When our gazes met, the look in her eyes told me she felt the same magnetic pull.
Nessa
Tanner left his office, content as always on simply assuming I would follow along after him. He was right, of course. I didn’t want to travel back down the stairs like some sordid walk of shame into an opposite day nightmare. At least if I walked behind Tanner, I wouldn’t be worried about how my ass looked in these fabric shorts.
Speaking of asses, Tanner stopped and pushed a button inside the wall. We had gone the opposite direction out of his office this time. A soft ding sounded before a panel slid to the side and revealed an elevator.
“Your bracelet gives you access to elevators and security passages all over Tops and Bottoms,” Tanner said without bothering to look at me.
“It would be helpful if you gave me a map of this place, since you seem too busy to show me all these passages yourself.” I let some of the bitterness bleed into my voice. This was the second time I had made an ass of myself by accusing Tanner of doing something wrong. I might as well kiss any ideas of a romance between us goodbye.
I remembered Colten and how I had simply referred to him as “the suit.” Fuck.
“After you,” Tanner said as he pointed inside the elevator. Since we were just standing in the hallway looking into the hidden room. Maybe I would need to escape, after all. Just to hide from all this embarrassment.
I led the way into the elevator, turning to see Tanner stepping into the small space with me, adjusting the collar of his shirt.Why did he always look like he was walking out of a magazine shoot?My feet shuffled to the side to give him more room. This wasn’t a large elevator by any standards, and we stood nearly shoulder to shoulder in the space.
It felt like it took an eternity before the panel slid back into place and the elevator started to move. But it didn’t move downwards like I expected. We were moving up. I hadn’t imagined there was anything beyond the loft.
The awkward silence caused me to start to fidget as I felt the creeping sensation of unease washing over me. I had just accused him and his business partners of being involved in illegal activities. If he was a bad guy, he easily could have made up a lie and was now taking me up to the roof to throw me off. Nik could always make sure it was ruled a suicide.
My breathing started coming in short, shallow bursts as my body moved from side to side. There wasn’t enough room to house both Tanner and my fidgeting in the tiny elevator, causing me to bump into his side accidentally.
“Sorry,” I muttered, wrapping my arms around myself, trying to melt into the wall.
“Are you okay?” Tanner asked. He turned to face me.
“You’re not planning on throwing me off the roof, right?” I said, half laughing in the madness of my fear and my apparent bluntness combined. I wasn’t being smart in how I needed to be if my goal was to stay alive.
“Why do you always think the most absurd things?” Tanner said as his hand ran through his hair. “I wanted to show you the rooftop in case you just need a place to be outside. You can’t keep yourself locked up in your bedroom all the time. It isn’t healthy.”
“Right, you’re so concerned. Is that why you haven’t bothered to be around me for the past two days?” I snipped at him, finding my anxiety turned into anger. I wasn’t even sure who I was mad at or why, but Tanner seemed to be my preferred outlet.
“I’ve been busy trying to arrange a meeting with Fynn. Not to mention running my business and looking after the safety and wellbeing of all my staff. You haven’t bothered to leave your room. Why do I need to worry about you when I devote all my resources to your protection?” Tanner’s back straightened as his words came out even sharper. He aimed them at me like knives.
I straightened up, pushing off from the wall. He could try to cut me down with his words, but all they did was send a hum of energy through my veins. Arguing with Tanner in person set my blood to fire even more desperately than texting him.
A soft ding sounded before the panel moved to the side. I hadn’t even realized we had stopped, but it didn’t matter because my gaze was still trapped within Tanner’s. His entire body was rigid, as if he was holding himself back. I wondered what he would do if he snapped.
The door stayed open for several seconds before slowly shutting us back in.
“Were we not going to the rooftop?” I bit out, hoping my words could hit him like venom. If he wanted his words to feel like knives, then I wanted mine to eat away at him.
“I don’t think we are quite done here yet,” he said tersely.
“I don’t think we are done on a lot of ground, but that’s how it is between us, Tanner,” I sighed in frustration. Something between us needed to break if we ever hoped to be in each other’s presence.Fight or fuck,was all my mind seemed to add to the conversation.
