The Billionaire Player (In Too Deep)

He shook his head. “Nah, I’m not stupid. It’ll come up when it comes up, but I’m not going to force it. She likes your place, though. Did you really not even invite her to check out your current space before?”

“I would’ve, but I didn’t think about it,” I replied, annoyed for not having had the idea myself. “I hate to have to say it, but thanks. It was a good call.”

“No problem. Just stick with me, man. I’ll work this thing out for you.” He said it in a way that, if she overheard, would make it sound like we were talking about the house, but what he really meant was my relationship with her.

I sighed internally, but again, I couldn’t get mad about it. I’d known he was going to meddle when I’d okayed the two of them working together on the house. I just hadn’t realized it would start as soon as they met.

Steph nudged him in the ribs, grabbing his attention away from me. Batting her lashes, she jerked her head toward the bar. “Are you going to get us those drinks, or are you going to leave us thirsty?”

“I’m getting you the drinks,” he said, standing up and glancing at Larisa. “You’re good with wine, right? Were you still planning on going back to work after this?”

She shook her head. “No, I actually had the rest of the day set aside for this project, so we’re good. If you have any, I’ll take some ice with the wine, though. I need to get myself home eventually and it’s still light outside. If we’re going to start drinking now, I’ll need to take it slow and water the alcohol down some.”

Steph chuckled. “We’ll make sure you get home safe. Don’t worry about it.”

Jeremiah got up to get the wine, and I followed him to the bar to help him. As I filled up an ice bucket, he turned to wag his brows at me. “One day, and you’re already having a drink with her again. Just don’t go hooking up with some other chick tonight, and we should be okay.”

“I told you I was done with that,” I said quietly. “This is the only girl I’m interested in right now, so just do me a favor and don’t interfere too much, okay?”

He laughed, pointed a finger at his chest, and mouthed, me? When I rolled my eyes at him, he nodded to where the girls were sitting. “My interference has got you this far, hasn’t it? You’re finally on your way to getting back on her good side, but at some point, you’re going to have to apologize profusely for what you did.”

“Yeah, I’ll get right on that,” I said. “Just as soon as I can actually talk to her properly about anything other than work again.”

He winked at me. “You should’ve just said so. I’ll make it happen.”

“How?” I asked. “It’s not like you’re some kind of genius at relationships. You couldn’t hold down a girl before Steph to save your life.”

“No, I didn’t want to hold down a girl before her,” he corrected. “Let me show you how it’s done. Watch and learn, baby. Watch and learn.”

A couple of hours later, Jeremiah made a show of checking his phone. “Dang it. I just got a notification from the takeout place. Our order is delayed. It’s going to be late.”

He gave an obviously fake yawn, slinging his arm around Steph’s shoulders and pulling her to him. “We’re both really tired. Why don’t you guys eat the food at Tanner’s place when it gets here?”

Not impressed with his not-so-subtle attempt to push us together, I shot him another narrow-eyed glare before, to my surprise, Larisa nodded her agreement with his suggestion. “Sure. You guys have been great hosts, but we don’t want to overstay our welcome.”

She stood up after draining the last sip of wine that had been left in her glass. Then she turned to me and tilted her head slightly to the side, her gaze imploring. “What do you say, Tanner? Should we get out of their hair so they can finally get on with their night?”

I nodded, absolutely fucking marveling at whatever the hell was going on right now. I didn’t know what Jeremiah and Steph had said or done to her, but it was obvious that she didn’t quite hate me anymore.

Would you look at that?Maybe he really has become some kind of genius at relationships after all.