“So if you didn’t kiss Penny, what did the two of you do?”Tanner asked.
“She’s setting up a dating profile for me on some stupidapp.”
“What?” Tanner leaned forward so that I’d stare at himinstead of the brunette with sex eyes. “You’re going to start dating? Whydidn’t you tell me? You don’t need a ridiculous dating app. Those things areuseless. Their algorithms know nothing about true love. Delete it. I know plentyof single women to set you up with.” Tanner pulled out a binder from…somewhere.
I blinked. I was pretty sure that binder hadn’t been there asecond ago. “Where the hell did that come from?” I asked. “Did you walk in herewith that thing?”
“Of course I did.” Tanner flipped open to a random page.
“But you…” I shook my head.
He continued scanning the pages, ignoring me.
I’d had too much to drink. But I was sober enough to knowthat I didn’t want to go through this binder. Because each page he flipped pastcontained a headshot of a woman accompanied by a detailed profile.
“Ah. Right here.” Tanner pointed to some rando on the page.
“I’m really not interested in your weird binder full ofwomen.” I pulled it away from him and closed it. I didn’t want Tanner’srejects. Hell, I didn’t even want to date anyone, so this conversation waspointless. “I’m not actually looking for anything. You know that. It’s just aruse to hang out with her.”
“Oh. Well, that’s brilliant. You get one on one time withPenny to get her to fall in love with you. Nice plan.”
I shrugged. I was pretty sure it was more idiotic thanbrilliant. And it wasn’t really about her falling in love with me. I just likedspending time with her. And constantly dreaming about fucking her. Yeah,it was a problem. But for some reason I had no desire to squash it.
“Well, if you do go on any dates, make sure you introduce meto the girl before you sleep with her.”
I looked over at him. “Why?”
He shook his head. “Because if you sleep with her it could betrue love, and I want to make sure she seems like a good fit. After all, I’llbe hanging out with her a lot too if you get hitched.”
So he willingly wanted to be a third wheel on my dates? I’dbeen actively avoiding that same scenario with James and Penny tonight. Whoactually wanted to be the third wheel? Yeah, Tanner was a weird guy. But he wasalso my best friend. Which probably made me just as weird. “What about her?” Iasked, nodding over to the brunette. “Think she could be a good fit for me?”
“Wingman on duty.” Tanner saluted me before sliding out ofhis seat. “I’ll go see.” He had the brunette laughing in two seconds flat.
I’d never tell Rob, but Tanner was an even better wingmanthan him. Women just melted into a puddle at his feet. I would have been jealousof his game if I didn’t think I was just as good.
Tanner whispered something in her ear and she laughed again. Andthen he walked back over to me, without the girl on his arm. “Nope,” he saidand sat back down. “Definitely not a great fit for you.”
Honestly, that sounded perfect to me. I went to stand up to gotalk to her.
Tanner grabbed my arm. “Seriously? I just said she isn’t agood fit for you. I told her you owned a finance firm and she asked what afinance firm person does.” He blinked at me. “Finance firm person. Who the hellsays that?”
“It doesn’t matter if she understands what I do. I’m notgoing to marry her, I’m just going to fuck her.”
Tanner shook his head. “I don’t get it. You had young love. Youknow how wonderful it felt to have that. And now you just never want it again? Don’tyou miss it?”
“Do you?”
He exhaled slowly and then took another sip of his drink. “Yeah.Every fucking day.” He didn’t offer any more.
I sat back down. “Then why aren’t you trying to find your truelove?” I sounded ridiculous saying it out loud. But actually, unlike mostpeople, I did believe in it. Because I’d had it and lost it. And I’d never haveit again.
He took another sip of his drink. “I am. I just…haven’t foundher yet.”
Tanner dated a lot of women. Every time we went to any highsociety function, he had a beautiful woman on his arm. Always a differentbeautiful woman. Same as me. So I wasn’t sure why he was judging me here.
“Well, same with me,” I said.
He narrowed his eyes at me.
Sometimes I hated that he was part friend part therapist. “Fine,”I said. “Every woman I go on a date with is someone I 100% don’t see myselfwith. Happy?”
“No, that doesn’t make me happy. What would make me happy isif you let me find you someone instead of Penny. Well, not instead of. If youwant Penny, I’m all for that. I just mean, if you are actually looking forsomeone, you should let me handle it instead of her. She has zero experience. She’san amateur.”
“I thought you liked Penny?”
“I do. But she’s not a matchmaker.”
“She kind of helped push Mason to Bee. And Rob to Daphne. Ina weird roundabout way. She didn’t actually introduce any of them.”
“Great. Two sort-of success stories. And even that’sstretching it. I’ve introduced hundreds of happily married couples.”
I lowered my voice so no one nearby could hear us. “Tanner,you own a sex club. Not a matchmaking service.”
“It’s not a sex club. How many times do I have to tell youthis? It’s a club to find true love. If you would just come see…”
I laughed. I
