CHAPTER21
TANNER
Larisa put her number into my phone, her rich brown gaze coming back to mine once she was done. Her hair was in a loose ponytail and some strands had come out, framing her gorgeous face. My heart was pounding as her eyes locked on mine when she handed the phone back.
Our fingers touched again, and once again, she didn’t pull away. We were both holding on to the phone, neither of us moving as we sat there staring at each other as the rest of the world seemed to fade into the background.
Although we were on the corner of the two busiest streets in town, there still wasn’t much traffic and it was easy to ignore it as I moved my hand forward to take hers. She wrapped her fingers around mine without saying a word, her lips parting as she brought her tongue out to moisten them.
I leaned over slightly, waiting for any sign from her that I was making another move she didn’t want me to make. When she tilted her face up to mine and her eyes darted down to my lips, I knew we were a go.
Tightening my grip on her hand, I gently pulled her to me and smiled as I reached up to slide my fingers into the hair at the nape of her neck. She smiled right back at me, bringing her face closer to mine as I bent forward to kiss her.
Just when our lips were about to touch, someone called my name from the corner. I frowned, not recognizing the voice. I was immediately pissed off about it anyway. Who interrupts a moment like this when it’s obvious what’s going on?
As I jerked my gaze away from Larisa’s, my eyes widened when I saw the girl from last night marching toward us. My frown deepened. How the fuck did she find me and why would she?
She was walking so fast that her red hair sailed out behind her. Her high-heeled boots clacked against the sidewalk as she stalked over with a deep scowl on her pale face. Large sunglasses were perched over her eyes, but I could practically feel her glaring at me from behind the lenses.
“Tanner?” She yanked her glasses off her face and gaped at me, her gaze moving from mine to Larisa’s and back again. The scowl was firmly etched onto her features as she came to stop right in front of us. “Wow. You really move fast. You woke up next to me, what, six hours ago? Who is this?”
I felt Larisa tensing next to me, but the girl—whose name I couldn’t even remember right then—didn’t notice. Or maybe she just didn’t care how uncomfortable she was making anyone.
“Seriously, Tanner, this is ridiculous.” She shoved her hand into her hair and dragged it through to the very ends as she shook her head. “How has it taken you only a few hours to move on to the next girl? It’s disgusting that you’ve just forgotten what we had without even taking a damn day to get over it.”
“Get over what? It’s not like we were serious.”
She rolled her eyes before checking her watch. “It’s also not like we were nothing. You lied to me just this morning when you said you had a business meeting to get to, and now here you are, making out with another girl. Why couldn’t you just have been honest with me?”
“I was honest with you,” I said, exasperated but realizing that she was making it seem like we’d been an item or at least had been something much more serious than a one-night stand. My chances with Larisa were going up in flames, and if I didn’t calm the girl down, I would have no shot at trying to explain to the girl I wanted what had really happened.
“What are you even doing here?” I asked. “I didn’t lie to you, but it shouldn’t matter what I’m doing today either way. We met last night. Don’t try to make it sound like we just broke up this morning when we were never in a relationship to begin with.”
Her eyes narrowed. “We had a connection, and we both know it. I was wondering why you didn’t ask for my number, but I guess I understand it now. Emotionally, you’re a fucking teenager whose hormones are so out of control that you climb out of one bed and right into another. It’s gross.”
I scoffed. “If I’m so gross, why are you talking to me? Just for the record, I’m not climbing into any bed and the only connection we had was the tequila shots we were doing together. Can we just dial this back a notch?”
“Dial it back?” she echoed disbelievingly. “You were with me last night and I just caught you making out with someone else.”
“Caught me?” I frowned. “Catching me implies that I’m doing something I shouldn’t be, and that’s not the case.”
Another girl moved into my line of sight, and she linked arms with the redhead, talking to her soothingly as she tried to pull her away. “Let’s just go. We were going to spend the day not thinking about boys, remember? We came here to pick up some bargains for the apartment and then to go to the spa before we head back. Let’s just stick to the plan.”
“We might not be here for him, but he’s here and he shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this,” she snapped. “Men like him are the reason we need days away with rules not to think about boys. I don’t know why they just expect us to give them a free pass. Besides, she should know what she’s getting into.”
She jerked her head toward Larisa, then focused on her. “Take it from me, run as far away from him as you can get. He’s pretty and funny and charming, but it’s not worth it. He’s just going to hurt you tomorrow morning when he forces you out the door before you’re even properly dressed yet.”
“I didn’t hurt you,” I said immediately, sitting up straighter. I gripped Larisa’s hand when she tried to pull it away. “This is all just getting way out of hand. We hooked up and I told you I had somewhere to be this morning, but you insisted on showering first and then having coffee after. You were more than fully dressed by the time I told you I had to go and I sure as fuck didn’t hurt you in the process.”
“I meant that you hurt my feelings, asshole.” She looked at Larisa again. “There you have it. Straight from the horse’s mouth. Did he even tell you that he hooked up with someone last night? If I’m too late and he’s already fucked you, don’t worry. I’m clean, but God knows where else he’s been.”
With that, she turned around and stalked off with her friend hurrying to catch up with her. Completely thrown off by the encounter, it took me a beat to realize that Larisa was getting up and tugging at her hand again.
I released her instantly, jumping to my feet when she did and shaking my head. “That went way wrong. If you’ll just let me explain, I—”
“No, Tanner.” She laughed, but the sound was completely devoid of any humor. Tugging at her ponytail, she stared at me with wide eyes, looking at me like she didn’t know who I was at all. “You don’t have to explain anything to me. We’re not together, remember? And thank God for that. I should send that girl flowers or something to thank her, only you don’t even know her name, do you?”
Too upset to give me a gap to say anything, she backed away and put up the hand not holding her folder. “I guess there’s a reason for that old saying that when something is too good to be true, it probably is. There was never any chance that a guy who looks like you, who’s just come into billions and is a freaking local hero of an athlete, was actually going to be a nice, decent person. I was stupid to think you could be, so that’s on me.”