"You disappeared," she said. Her look was clear: Don't think you have a chance at a repeat of our night together, Tanner. You had your chance, and you lost it.
"I was only ever going to be living here for three or four weeks. But it was an … experience," he said, pasting on his most charming smile. "Why don't you invite me in?"
"I don't understand. Who moves into a place for only that little stretch of time?" The door shut as she unlatched the chain. She opened her door wider, but she blocked the opening, letting him know that he definitely wasn't being invited inside.
"It's a long story and I don't want to get into it," he told her.
"Everything seems to be a long story to you. You seem to love keeping your secrets. That's fine with me, Tanner, because I don't see that we really have anything to talk about. You moved in, we had sex, you moved on. It's pretty much the end of our story."
Though she was trying to be flippant, he could see the hurt behind her eyes and in her voice. Kyla wasn't the type of woman a man slept with and then left with only a few words and no explanations. He'd known that all along, and yet he'd still done it. He was the type of man mothers warned their daughters about.
The thought didn't sit well with him.
"I would like to take you out on a real date, Kyla. If you come with me, I'll tell you more of my story."
"I don't think so, Tanner. I just … I don't think we have anything in common."
"We sure had a lot in common on Christmas Eve," he said, leaning toward her, taking in her sweet scent and instantly flooded with desire for her. Even without makeup and wearing sweats, she turned him on far more than his last supermodel had during their one-night stand.
"That's sex, Tanner. There's a difference between having good sex and having a relationship. Does that come as a surprise to you? No, I didn't think so. We both knew when we slept together that it wasn't going to lead into anything more. So I expected not to sleep with you again. But I didn't expect you to completely disappear."
"You said you wanted to be alone," he said in a helpless effort at self-defense.
"I did. Thank you for respecting that."
"Have you made any decisions?"
"Not yet. I spoke to my parents' attorney. I think I'm going to sell the house. I just can't stay there. It would hurt too badly, and the place I loved needs to have people in it who will create their own happy memories. I want to wait until I'm sure, however; I don't want to do anything rash."
"I think that's wise. But it's time for you to start living again."
"Yes, I agree, which is why I spoke to the admissions office at my old college this week. I'm hoping to get back to school for spring term, though I'm cutting it close. I'll have to see if it works out."
"That's wonderful, Kyla." Shockingly, he actually meant it.
"I think you should go now, Tanner. It's been nice seeing you, though." She tried to shut the door, but he blocked it with his hand.
"Please. I just want to talk, Kyla." What the hell? He wasn't the kind of guy to beg a woman for attention.
Before she could respond, there were footsteps in the hallway, and as Tanner moved around to see who was coming, he heard his name being called.
"Mr. Storm, I'm so glad to find you here. The demolition crew is going back through the building for a new plan to turn into the city, and they need your signature on some papers."
Tanner turned back just in time to watch Kyla's eyes widen when reality hit. He knew his chances of getting her to speak to him had just flown completely out the window. His team had told him that they were getting new bids on various costs for what to do with the building, but he hadn't realized they'd be working as soon as today. For a man whose luck was nearly perfect - could that be only in finance? - today was turning out not to be his day.
"You own this building?" she gasped.
Unless he was prepared to make up a story and lie outright, Tanner was caught. "My father handed it over to me six months ago."
Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "So you're the worthless bastard who's been trying to evict us since you got your greedy hands on the place. What were you doing here, Tanner - or should I say Mr. Storm? Were you scoping out the place, hoping to find proof that it needed to be condemned so you could rip it all down and then come in and build some fancy high-rise?"
At his guilty look, her eyes narrowed even more, if that were possible.
"That's what I thought. I am such a fool. I knew you were out of my league. I could practically smell it on you, but I had no idea how far out you really were. Did you have fun slumming it with a poor girl down on her luck? You must have really wanted to close the deal - after all, you subjected yourself and your manicured hands to serving food at a homeless shelter."