“You know the alternative.”
She rolled her eyes.
And the elevator doors dinged open, ending our conversation. BecauseTanner was standing there.
He looked at us standing on opposite sides of the elevator.
“I guess the conversation didn’t go as planned?” he asked.
Kennedy stared at me.
“Not exactly,” I said. I didn’t try to take her hand as Istepped off the elevator. “Kennedy, this is Tanner.”
“Matt’s best friend,” he said. “It’s lovely to finally meetyou.”
“From one of Matt’s friends to another, it’s nice to meet youtoo, Tanner.”
“Friends?” Tanner looked at me. “Oh, it really didn’t go asplanned then.”
“I thought you said no one knew about us yet?” Kennedy askedme.
I smiled. “Don’t worry. Only Tanner knows.”
“Okay. Well, Matt and I decided to just be friends until hesorts out whatever he needs to do with Poppy. So, maybe just don’t mention thatwe dated for all of two seconds to anyone else?”
Tanner smiled. “Luckily for you, I happen to be an excellentsecret keeper.”
“Now which apartment is James’?” she asked.
There were only two doors on the floor. One for James’apartment. And one that led to his security team. I knocked on the closer door.“Why hadn’t you gone in yet?” I asked Tanner.
“I was waiting for you two. You know how uncomfortable Robertmakes me.”
Kennedy laughed. “Please don’t tell me Rob goes by Robertnow?”
“Only I call him that,” Tanner said. “Because he hates it andwe’re sworn enemies.”
“Why?”
“He loves to claim that he’s Matt’s best friend when thattitle clearly belongs to me. And his jokes are rarely funny. And his haircut isstupid.”
Kennedy looked up at him. “It kind of sounds like you’re jealousof him.”
“Of Young Robert?” Tanner laughed. “Never.”
“Young Robert? How old are you?”
Tanner cleared his throat. “Age is only a number.”
“So…Rob’s actually older than you?”
“It doesn’t matter either way. What matters is that hecertainly doesn’t act like it.”
“Hmm,” Kennedy said.
“What? What was the hmm for?”
“It’s just…your sense of humor is actually a lot like Rob’s. Ifeel like you two are more similar than you think.”
Oh, this wasn’t good. I knocked on the door louder this time.We needed more people so that Tanner wouldn’t flip out.
Tanner gaped at her. “Similar to Robert? If Matt wasn’t inlove with you I’d tell you to wash your whore mouth.”
I didn’t know what was more shocking. The fact that he’ddropped the “L” word when I hadn’t or that he’d told her to wash her whore mouth.“Tanner, what the hell?” I said.
But Kennedy started laughing really hard. “I guess it’s agood thing Matt’s in love with me then.”
I glared at Tanner.
“I take it back,” Kennedy said to him. “I think you’refunnier than Rob.”
“I can tell we’re going to get along swimmingly,” Tanner saidand put his arm around her shoulders.
“What else has Matt told you about me?”
“What hasn’t he told me?” Tanner said. “Where do I evenbegin?”
Fuck my life.
James finally opened the door, but he wasn’t paying attentionto me. “It’s the button that has a pause sign on it!” he yelled over hisshoulder. When he turned around, the smile faltered from his face. But notbecause he was upset. Just because he was probably as surprised as me when I’dfirst seen Kennedy again. Or maybe he was confused because Tanner’s arm was aroundher shoulders when it should have been my arm there. “Kennedy? What are youdoing here? When did you move back to the city?” He leaned down to hug herbefore she had a chance to respond.
“It’s good to see you too,” Kennedy said.
“Guys!” James yelled. “Kennedy’s here!”
“Who?” Rob asked as he walked into the foyer holding theremote. “Holy shit. Is that you, Kennedy?”
Kennedy laughed. “It’s good to see you too, Rob.”
“Decided to crash our guys’ night?” Mason asked as he leaneddown to hug her.
“Actually, I was invited by my friend here,” Kennedy said andlightly punched my arm.
Friend. It sounded more like a challenge thananything.
“How long have you known she’s been back in town?” Rob asked.
“A few days.”
“A few days, huh?” Mason asked. “Interesting.”
“Why is that interesting?” Kennedy said.
Mason shrugged. “No reason. Want a beer?”
“I’d rather have a tour.” She stepped into the living room. “Whata view.” She wandered over to the windows overlooking Central Park. Everyonestarted to follow her. But I grabbed Tanner’s arm to hold him back.
“What the hell was that?” I asked.
“What was what?”
“You called her a whore and told her I loved her.”
“No, I said I would never call her a whore because you loveher.”
“Same thing!”
“Actually it’s quite different.”
“Kennedy and I just had a fight outside. We agreed to befriends. The last thing I need is to scare her off by tossing out the L word.”
“I don’t know,” he said and looked over at Kennedy with theguys.
I followed his gaze.
Kennedy was staring at me instead of the amazing view. Sheblushed and turned back to listen to what James was saying.
“It seems like maybe that was the exact word she needed tohear,” Tanner said.
Kennedy stole another glance at me over her shoulder.
God she was sexy. I smiled and she smiled back.
“I told you I was good at helping people find true love,”Tanner said. “Just trust me.”
“You own a sex club.”
“That’s a matter of interpretation. But this is all going accordingto plan. Quite perfectly as a matter of fact.”
“What plan?”
“You and Kennedy falling for each other.”
“You had nothing to do with that.”
“Of course I did. I admit, I was a little perturbed that youasked Penny to be your matchmaker instead of me. So I decided to interfere. Irecently acquired the real estate company your agent Bill works for. I had theowner hire Kennedy’s photography company. It was a huge contract. I knew she’dbeen considering moving back to the city and just needed one final push.”
“What? How did you…”
“And I hired a security team to follow you after all thehitwoman nonsense. So they knew you went straight home the other night insteadof coming to my place. Which I’m still quite angry about. But it was a goodopportunity, so I let it go. I arranged for Kennedy to show up to take yourlisting pictures that night. And bam. True love. You’re welcome.”
“But last night…you thought I was dating
