At first, he had to contend with the slightest edge of irritation. She was lying. It was more than obvious that she did indeed want to have sex. Why was she fighting him so hard? It wasn't as if either one of them was a virgin. When two people felt a mutual attraction, shouldn't they just do what their bodies were meant to do? Get na**d and get it on, right?
"Yes, you do," he finally replied when the silence had stretched on for too long.
"No. I know you probably think I'm nothing but a tease, but I don't want to have sex. I just … "
She trailed off as if she didn't know what she wanted. But he wasn't worried. He knew what she wanted. He could think for the both of them.
He leaned against her, taking her chin with his fingers and lifting her head so she was forced to look at him. "If you want to wait a while longer, I'll wait."
He was bowled over when those words exited his mouth. That hadn't been what he'd intended to say. But when a shocked but grateful expression entered her eyes, he knew he'd said the right thing. He leaned down and kissed her chastely, and then backed up. He absolutely couldn't keep touching her right now or he would quickly have her back up on the counter.
"I brought wine," he said, going back to the door and grabbing the bottle he'd left just inside the door, where he'd hastily set the bottle his assistant had brought to him at his request.
Kyla looked a little unsure, but after a couple of seconds, she went to her cupboard and pulled out two glasses.
"I don't have fancy wineglasses, but I'm sure it will taste the same no matter what we drink it from," she said with a self-conscious giggle.
"Of course it will," he said, though some experts claimed that the shape of the glass could influence wine's flavor and aroma. No need to point that out. Could he taste or smell anything but her? Not bloody likely. So he poured the wine and asked, "What can I do to help?" He leaned against the counter as she began taking the cookies off the pan and setting them on wax paper.
"You can stay out of the way so I can finish up in here."
"Have you forgotten that I'm a master chef, Kyla?"
"I haven't forgotten that, but this is my cooking time, and I don't like to be shown up."
With a grin, Tanner grabbed a couple of the cookies, taking a big bite from one and groaning his approval. "Oh, this is good," he mumbled. Once he'd swallowed, he popped the rest of the cookie in his mouth.
He saw the delight in her eyes at his compliment, and though she scolded him, telling him to quit eating all the cookies, she put a glass of milk in front of him and said he needed it to wash them down. Cookies and wine just didn't have the same flair.
"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.