Now that the misunderstanding about that phone call had been cleared up and I knew that he didn’t hate me for having paid for a design he detested, everything felt different. It felt like we’d leveled up since I also now knew that he hadn’t, in fact, been with another woman and that the reason he’d looked the way he had about the house was because he’d been disappointed that I’d done it up as a bachelor pad.
It finally felt like something more wasn’t just possible between us but like it was already happening.
When I heard a soft pop, I turned to see him opening the champagne. He grinned at me, picked up one of the waiting flutes, and motioned for me to have a seat.
“This is better than murder,” I said.
He laughed. “Right? We’re going for a cruise around the marina, but I won’t keep you up too late. I promise. I know you have to work in the morning.”
“Keep me up as late as you want.” I sighed happily and sat down, tucking one of my legs underneath me and curling my fingers around the stem of the glass when he handed it over. I shifted in my seat to look out at the city as we got underway. “Who’s driving this thing? Shouldn’t we have seen someone else around by now?”
“The crew has been instructed to give us our privacy, but we’re in good hands. They’re seasoned professionals and it’s just a cruise around the marina. You don’t have to worry. We’re perfectly safe.”
I chuckled. “I figured, but it’s just weird to know that there are other people around that are staying out of sight. They can see us, though, right?”
“Nope, not up here.” He set the bottle down once he’d filled his own glass and then came to sit down next to me. “Since this is the top deck, no one can see us unless they come up here, and they won’t. They’re down below in case we need something, but it’s also only the captain and two others. I think the others are mostly onboard to keep him company, to be honest. They set up our food and drinks, but I told them we wouldn’t be needing them for the rest of the evening.”
“We won’t?” I asked teasingly. My gaze met his when I finally managed to yank it away from the orange glow of the view. It still fascinated me that towering skyscrapers could seem so small the minute you managed to get far enough away from them. The smile on Tanner’s face was more radiantly beautiful and mesmerizing than any building, though. “So what are you planning on doing out here if you’ve instructed them so specifically not to come up?”
He shrugged, sending a pointed look at the food. “We could just eat and talk. I didn’t really plan on doing anything else. I don’t want to be presumptuous.”
I smiled and lifted my glass, letting it hang between us while I waited for him to toast with me. “Here’s to me being okay with you being presumptuous.”
“Seriously?” He grinned. The soft clink of our glasses touching rang out in the quiet air. “That’s funny. I’m okay with it, too. What did you have in mind?”
I took a sip of the crisp, bubbly champagne, and once I’d swallowed it, my smile widened. “I don’t know, but let’s see where the night takes us.”
“I’ll drink to that, too.” He clinked his glass against mine again and took another sip before setting it down.
Picking up a spoon, he slid it through the mousse and brought it to my lips. “Here. Try it. Apparently, it’s the best chocolate mousse in the city.”
I licked the creamy, cocoa deliciousness off the spoon. I didn’t mean to moan but the sound came out anyway. My eyes even closed. “Wow. That’s amazing. I could eat it all by myself and still want more.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” he said, but his gaze was fixed on me. “I want more, too. Of the moaning, anyway. But hey, I’m willing to give the mousse a try as well. There’s some on your lip, so hold still and let me try it.”
He suddenly caught my face between his hands and swiped his tongue across my upper lip, then groaned. “Okay, you’re right. It is amazing. Let me try some more.”
Instead of reaching for more on the table, he sealed his mouth over mine and kissed me. Oh, so that’s what he meant about tasting more.
I giggled against his lips, but I didn’t pull away. Just like it always did once we started kissing, things heated up fast. The last bit of humor and laughter faded out of me when he tugged me into his lap, gripping my hips and passionately devouring my mouth. I was still confused about what all this meant, but I didn’t break the kiss to ask.
The questions could wait a little while longer. It had worked out fine for us to do it that way earlier, and I was sure it would happen that way again. First, I was going to let myself be utterly consumed by him and his talented mouth, and then we could talk. I knew what I needed to know for right now anyway.
There hadn’t been anyone else in his life recently. He wanted me and he’d planned out this unbelievable night for us. If that didn’t mean that he might just want more, then I didn’t know what did.