Page 6 of Tops
She nodded in quick agreement, which seemed to please Tanner enough. He turned, pocketing his phone before heading out through the sliding door, closing it behind him.
I released a shaky breath the moment he was gone.
“Honestly, I think he likes you,” Hannah said.
Nervous laughter burst from me as my entire body shook from the whole ordeal. “If that’s what it looks like when he likes someone, I would hate to see what dislike looks like.”
“Hot though, right?” she said with a wide smile.
“More like terrifying,” I muttered. She wasn’t wrong. He was the type of hot that would reduce me to a rambling mess under normal circumstances.
“That, my dear Nessa, is called excitement. You can just tell he’s the type to bend you over a table and just rail you,” Hannah said with a groan like that was the best possible position for sex.
Considering I was likely the only twenty-four-year-old virgin left in New York City, I wouldn’t know. I shrugged, as I always did when Hannah started talking about sex. I wasn’t holding out for marriage or even the right guy. I was waiting to feel so passionately about someone that the thought of not being in bed with them hurt. Hannah disagreed, stating that this was the time of my life for random encounters and a bit of fun before I met Mr. Right. I wasn’t sure there was a Mr. Right out there for me, but I knew I wouldn’t find him in the middle of an exotic club.
“You look like you could use those drinks I promised. Perhaps the loft wasn’t the best place for you after all. You’ll have to see my bouncing tits all night, and I can’t guarantee no one will hit on you. Drinks on me tonight downstairs?” Hannah shuffled from side to side. This was her way of apologizing. Or at least as close as you could get from Hannah.
“Free drinks all night,” I said.
“Deal.”
“About what time were you mugged?” Tanner asked from his seat in front of two large monitors. Really, it was a lot more sophisticated than I would have imagined for the owner of an exotic club.
“Somewhere around five o’clock,” Hannah said like she wasn’t entirely sure.
“That sounds close,” I thought, factoring in how long it would have taken her to get home after the attack. “She was home by five-thirty, for sure.”
“How far is your place?” Tanner asked as his fingers slid across the keyboard, typing words and entering commands faster than I could keep up with.
“It’s usually a ten-minute walk,” Hannah said.
Tanner’s fingers stopped moving against the keys as he turned in the chair to look at us. His eyes narrowed as his gaze wandered between us. I had on a simple baggy t-shirt and leggings and my trusty tennis shoes. I walked around too much to endure doing it in heels. Hard pass on that one.
Hannah had changed into her non-work attire: leggings and a simple shirt. Even wearing the same outfit, she somehow came across as the stunning girl next door, where I looked like a housewife with at least one child. Most girls I had gone to high school with were doing just that.
“You walk home alone after every shift?” Tanner fixed his gaze on Hannah as he talked to her like an errant child.
“I don’t always go home,” Hannah said with a wink and a flirtatious smile. If this was her way of flirting, it made much more sense why Tanner had rejected her so far. “I get how all this looks, Tanner, especially after earlier. But I’m a big girl, and I don’t need an escort wherever I go. I didn’t even want to bother you with this.”
“But you did,” Tanner said as his gaze shifted to mine. I felt my skin heat, and I wasn’t sure if it felt like he was scolding me or simply commanding me.
“I felt like you should know. Keep an extra eye out in that area. From what I’ve heard about you from Hannah, I thought you would’ve wanted to know.” I left the sentence just sitting in the small space between us. Some part of me rose up against the fact that I wanted to find a fault in him.
“Of course, I wanted to know.” His gaze shifted back to Hannah. “You should have returned and told a security member immediately.”
I found I could breathe so much easier out of his stare.
“Right. I’ll remember to circle back around for my attacker to make sure they get a second chance at grabbing me,” Hannah scoffed.
Tanner ran his fingers through his hair, disheveling his appearance. He was getting frustrated, and something about his frustration felt like a live wire under my skin. Part of me wanted to see this man come unhinged.
“You could have called as soon as it was safe to. You could have come to me at the beginning of the shift. And you certainly could have told your friend what kind of room you put her in. That way, I didn’t have to be accused of abusing women. You’re getting an escort home every night or a cab to whatever destination,” Tanner declared, his gaze an impenetrable wall. His face dared her to object.
Something happened that I had never seen before. Hannah didn’t resist. Her mouth pressed into a thin line to display her feelings on the matter, then nodded in agreement. The Hannah I knew would never just accept something that suggested she couldn’t take care of herself. I wondered just who Tanner was to elicit that kind of response.
“I’ll go over the videos with my security team. Any information found will be used to increase security measures to ensure we avoid these situations in the future. Also,” Tanner said, switching his attention back to me.
It was almost like the rest of the room seemed unimportant, as I felt the heat of being under his stare. Some primal part of my brain screamed that I either needed to fuck or fight him. I can honestly say I’d never had that kind of reaction from meeting another person before. Something about Tanner sure brought out weird reactions in people.
