Stalker Problems - Chapter 39 - Swimming with the Sharks
I gave a little knock on Tanner’s open office door. I’d been working up the nerve to come talk to him all day long.
His face lit up when he looked up from his laptop and saw it was me. “Hey.”
“Do you have a minute to talk?” I asked as I stepped into his office.
“Oh.” Damn it! I just wanted to get this over with. “No problem. It can wait until later.”
Tanner waved my comment off. “It doesn’t have to wait. You should just come with me.”
“To your doctor’s appointment?”
“Doctor? Who said anything about a doctor?”
Right. Not everyone scheduled as many doctor’s appointments as I did. He was probably a normal person who only had quarterly checkups. Or was it annually for regular people? Who knew. It made sense that it was a business meeting instead.
“Shall we?” Tanner shut his laptop and stood up.
“Uh…sure.”
I followed Tanner out to the elevator.
“So why’d you think it was a doctor’s appointment?” asked Tanner. “Do I look sickly this afternoon?”
“Not at all.” I gave him a quick up-down. Usually he wore a full suit at work, but today he’d taken his jacket off and rolled up his sleeves. His strong forearms were spectacular. “If anything, you look like a strapping young lad.” What the fuck did I just say?
“Well that’s awfully sweet of you. You’re looking swell yourself.” He held the elevator door open for me. “After you, m’lady.”
I stepped on and tried to quickly change the subject. “Are you sure I should come? I don’t even know who we’re meeting.”
“Neither do I. Honestly that’s half the fun.”
What the hell is he talking about? How could he not know who he was meeting?
Then it hit me. He was a billionaire investor.
Part of his job was to help his businesses grow, but he also heard pitches from new entrepreneurs who were hoping he’d give them an investment.
Like on Shark Tank . Which meant this was going to be freaking amazing.
“You’re really going to let me join you? ”
“Sure. It’s not a big deal.”
“Uh…it may not be a big deal to you. But it’s a huge deal for me. I always used to dream of getting to do this. Joe kept telling me that one day we’d get to if we could grow the cupcake business big enough.”
Tanner gave me a weird look. “What are you most excited about?”
“I don’t really know. I’ve always imagined just sitting there like a total boss. But I think the best part will be closing the deal. Being able to make someone’s wildest dreams come true will be such an amazing feeling.”
For a second he just looked…really sad. Which made sense. I sure as hell wouldn’t want someone to make investments with my hard-earned money.
“Wow, I’m a crazy woman making this all about me. I know that I’m just going to be sitting in the background while you do your thing.”
He cleared his throat. “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s adorable how excited you are. I admit, I’m not thrilled by the idea of it. But I’ve always known this would happen eventually. It’s best to just rip the Band-aid off.”
I shoved his arm. “Stop. Seriously…I won’t say a word. I’ll just sit and watch.”
“Let’s just see what happens.”
We stepped off the elevator at the top floor of the building. But instead of walking through a hallway lined with shark-filled tanks, we were greeted by a bubbly blonde wearing what looked like a cross between a maid uniform and very colorful lederhosen.
“Hello again,” she said in a weird European accent. “If you need anything, just let me know.” She hit a button and two doors slid open to a hallway. Still not lined with shark tanks.
“Thanks, Olga,” said Tanner like they were old friends. “Ash here is new to all this, so it might be nice if you can walk her through the etiquette.”
“Of course,” she said.
“Great!” Tanner turned to me. “I’ll see you in a few minutes. Room three.” He walked off down the hallway.
Olga walked around the reception desk. “So there are a few things you need to know.”
“Okay…”
“First, you must shower before entering the sauna.”
“Sauna?”
Olga smiled. “Yes. This is a Finnish sauna. The very best in the city.”
“What about the pitch meeting?” Does Tanner conduct his pitch meetings in a Finnish sauna? Rich people were so weird.
She ignored my question and led me down the hall to the women’s room.
“There are fresh towels there,” she said, pointing to a stack of pristine white towels. “Please sit on one in the sauna.”
“Quick question. How likely am I to get a horrible butt fungus today?”
Olga looked shocked. “This sauna is a place of health and purity. There is no butt fungus.”
“Pinky promise?”
“I do not know what that means. Any other questions?”
“Uh…” I had so many questions. Mainly I was wondering why the hell Tanner conducted his meetings here.
But I also wanted to know more about their sanitation methods.
I still wasn’t convinced about the whole no-butt-fungus thing.
I didn’t think I was going to get any more out of Olga though. “Nope. I’m all set.”
“Excellent. Enjoy your sauna. If you’d like a lemonade or a sausage, just order through the app.”
A lemonade or a sausage? What the actual fuck?
Before I could think anymore about that gag-inducing pairing, the water in one of the showers cut off and a girl in a towel stepped out. Then she walked straight out of the bathroom, not bothering to change.
By the time she was gone, I realized that I should have followed her.
Because I literally had no idea what the hell I was supposed to be doing.
I would have just left, but I was still so jazzed about getting to play Shark Tank with Tanner.
Even if I had to listen to the pitches while wearing a towel and sweating my ass off.
Honestly, I would have been sweating my ass off either way from my nerves, so it probably worked in my favor that now I could blame it on the sauna.
There were still a few showers running, so I stripped out of my work clothes and threw a towel around my naked body. Yeah, I know I was supposed to shower. But I didn’t want to mess up my makeup and I didn’t want to get foot fungus, so the public shower was a no-go.
I waited patiently for another girl to finish showering, and then I followed her out of the bathroom.
She walked down the hall and through a pair of double doors.
And then we were freaking outside. On the roof of a skyscraper.
In the middle of New York. Why did no one ever talk about the fact that there were five giant wooden saunas on the roof of this building?
In winter it might have felt like Finland up here.
But in late spring, it was already starting to feel a lot like a sauna.
Except for the wind, which nearly tore my towel right off my body. I reached out just in time to avoid giving all the nearby office buildings a great look at my naked body. In retrospect, I really should have kept my underwear on.
Oh well. No going back now.
I found the sauna labeled three and walked inside. Within half a second, I was drenched in sweat. But for the first time, it wasn’t nervous sweat. Well, maybe a little bit. But mostly just good sweat. If that was a thing. It was more humid than Florida in the middle of summer.
My focus quickly shifted from the awful humidity to Tanner. Because he was sitting right by the stove with a towel wrapped around his waist. His skin glistened with sweat, accentuating every muscle. Damn. Now I was soaked everywhere, and not just from sweat.
“I was beginning to think you’d chickened out,” he said, waving me over.
“No way.”
His eyes went to the heels I was still wearing. “Uh, you know you’re supposed to go barefoot, right?”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
“I have to admit, heels and a towel is a good look for you.” He patted the spot next to him. “Take a seat.”
I did. And then we sat there in silence for a few minutes. Somehow it was actually really relaxing.
Eventually Tanner turned to me. “So what did you want to talk to me about earlier?”
Oh right. All this sauna nonsense had distracted me from my main mission today. “I was hoping I could have a day off. May 25 th .”
“Shouldn’t you be asking your boss about that? I may be paying for your expertise, but you still work for BIMG.”
“Yeah. But I just started a few weeks ago. I don’t have any vacation days yet.”
“Ah. So you want me to let you play hooky for a day? While still paying your hourly rate?”
I nodded. “Yup.”
“And why would I do a thing like that?”
“Because you’re such a nice guy? And I need the money.”
For a second he frowned. I would have missed it if I hadn’t been staring. But then he smiled, put his hands behind his head, and leaned back on the bench. “Hmmm…”
That position could only mean one thing.
I could have the day off, but only if I blew him first. “Oh, I see how it is.” I started putting my hair up.
I couldn’t have it getting in the way while I blew him.
Finally! I couldn’t wait to pull his towel down to get a look at what he was packing.
And it was a win-win, because I wasn’t going to even have to start talking about Rosalie and bawling my eyes out.
I was just about to yank his towel down when he said, “Okay. I’ll consider letting you take the day off. But only on one condition.”
“Anything you want.” I glanced down at his crotch.
“You have to tell me why you’re taking the day off.”
“Oh.” So no blowjob then? Why did I always think men were asking for it?
“Is that super tall pervert taking you somewhere fancy?”
“No. Dr. Lyons and I aren’t friends anymore.”
“Well that’s an interesting development. What are you doing then?”
“Instead of talking about why I need the day off, I have a better idea…” I traced my finger along his hip towards his towel. This sauna was about to get even hotter.
He grabbed my hand to stop me. “Are you sure you don’t want me to put a privacy sign outside?”
And miss the Shark Tank pitches? “No way.”
He lowered his eyebrows. He didn’t look happy. At all.
I knew a way to fix that. If he’d just let go of my hand so I could grab his penis.