“Who taught you how to bake?” he asked when his mouth was finally empty.
“My mother,” she said quietly, and her eyes drooped.
He shouldn’t, but he really wanted to know her full story, know what had happened a couple of years ago. Yes, he could look it up, find out the information from a second party, but that’s not what he wanted. He wanted her to tell him, to share with him. She’d given him only a small snippet so far.
“You know you can talk to me about it if you need to.”
“Why would you want to listen to my drama?” Kyla was trying to make a joke here, but it was falling flat.
“Sometimes it’s easier to talk to someone you don’t know real well, someone who wasn’t there.”
“I may eventually take you up on that offer,” she said before pausing. “If you’re still around.”
She said that last part with a disappointment that lingered, and Tanner suddenly felt himself wanting to be around long enough for her to trust him.
But he wouldn’t be. They both knew that. Tanner wasn’t the type of man who stayed in the trenches too long. Yes, he’d had his moments in his life when he found himself among the masses, but those times didn’t last. There were a couple of kinds of people in this world, and he was certainly on the top of the list.
He didn’t know where Kyla stood. Yes, she was down and out right now, but he had a feeling it wasn’t a place she would stay too long, either. Did the two of them have more in common than he’d originally thought? She couldn’t have the kind of money and influence he had, even with all the billionaires now on the ground, but she could certainly be a powerhouse of her own. But what did all of that matter anyway? The rich bitches he’d known had been just that, really — bitches. Not that he was any prize when it came down to it.
Shaking off the mood-killing thoughts, he popped another cookie in his mouth.
“Let’s watch a movie,” he said as he watched her take out her last tray of goodies.
“A movie?”
“Haven’t I said this before? You really like repeating what I say, Kyla.” He chuckled, then stood up and moved over to her DVD stand.
“You just change subjects so quickly and so often that I’m trying to keep up,” she told him.
“I like to keep you off kilter. It’s fun.”
“That’s not very nice, Tanner,” she told him with a mock glare.
“Baby, I’m all kinds of fun,” he replied, snaking his arm around her and tugging her in close to his heated body.
“Tanner,” she said in a warning tone, but her breathing had already accelerated and he hadn’t even kissed her yet.
“I’ll break down your walls, sweetheart; you can trust me on that.” Tanner’s mouth moved dangerously close to hers. He felt immense satisfaction when her eyes widened. “But I’ll be good for now. Okay, not as good as I could be…”
With that, he released her and picked out a DVD, not even caring what it was as the two of them sat on her couch to watch the flick.
“This is my favorite one,” she said as It’s a Wonderful Life began playing.
He rolled his eyes. “I’ve never understood why everyone loves this movie so much. His life is completely destroyed.”
“That’s the point, Tanner. He has to see what effect taking his own life could have on those he loves. Before that happens, he can’t truly appreciate the good of what he is and what he does.”
Although he disagreed with her interpretation and still hated the film, Tanner shut up and watched the movie with her. As it continued to play, he scooted closer and closer to her on the couch, draped his arm around her, and began stroking her neck. But he kept his eyes focused on the TV.
She was a bit stiff at first, but she soon relaxed, raising her hand to rest on his chest. Then she snuggled closer and sighed at parts of the movie she particularly liked.
When the movie ended, Tanner looked down and noticed that she was so relaxed, in fact, that she’d fallen asleep in his arms. Carefully cradling her to him, he lifted her up and proceeded down the short hallway to what was obviously her bedroom.
He managed to pull back a handmade quilt while still holding her, and then laid her down on the soft sheets. After covering her up, he stared down at her face, so beautiful and at peace.
Turning and walking away – God, it was hard — he switched off her lights and made sure her front door was locked. Now this was frightening. In less than three weeks, this woman had become more than just a conquest to him.
The question was, what did he want to do about that?
When he stepped back inside his apartment, feeling pretty great, if still confused, his foot suddenly slipped out from beneath him and he went flying into the air, a resounding oof coming from his lungs as he landed hard enough to knock the wind out of him. Once he caught his breath, he realized he was flat on his back and in at least two inches of water. If he’d been paying attention, he would have noticed the water leaking out into the hallway.
Jumping up and feeling a nasty ache run down his back, he sloshed his way through the water and made it into his kitchen, where he could hear the distinct sound of gushing. When he opened the cupboard below the sink, he was immediately sprayed in the face. He jumped back and found himself staring at a burst pipe.
He was drenched by the time he located the shutoff valve, and the language he was using about this building and all its problems wouldn’t have gone over well with the cute little kiddies at the mall. This was hell, pure damnation, and suddenly the rest of his sentence in this building seemed like it would stretch an eternity.
He snatched up his phone and woke his assistant up to demand that a plumber be sent over right freaking now. This was going to cost him a fortune. Because of the judge’s orders, now that he had to repair the pipes in his own worthless apartment, it looked as if the entire building would be getting new ones too.
When he called the police to explain that he needed to change apartments, they were less than sympathetic, offering to bring him a pair of hip waders. After slamming down the phone, Tanner sloshed to his bedroom, his good mood long forgotten as he prepared himself for a “holiday” week without even a remote chance of comfort or joy.
Chapter Sixteen
Are you freaking kidding me?”
With the light from his phone, Tanner had finally found a flashlight, and he flipped it on. Then he went back to cursing into his cell. He was barely able to hear the voice on the other end past the rushing sound in his ears; it was born of pure fury. “What do you mean, there’s nothing you can do? If I say get down here, I mean it!”