Chapter 10 - Naked Girl Incoming!
Monday – September 25, 2023
Ash
“Breakfast is served,” said Tanner.
“Rawrg,” I grunted. My body was even more sore than when I’d gotten up in the middle of the night. It felt like I’d just run a freaking marathon. Not that I knew what that felt like, but you get the point. There was no way I could wake up. I pulled a pillow over my head and tried to sink back into the mattress.
The smell of bacon changed my mind.
I sat up as Tanner put a tray on my lap. It was piled high with all the best breakfast foods. Waffles. Eggs. Hash browns. Bacon.
“I wasn’t sure if you wanted coffee, guava juice, goat’s milk, or sparkling water,” said Tanner, pointing to the four glasses on the tray.
Damn, he even brought beverage options? They were strange options, but I still appreciated it. I had totally hit the man-jackpot. “I actually don’t mind having all four.” Why did I just say that? I’m not going to drink a random goat’s milk for breakfast.
“Well then, you’re all set.” He grabbed his own tray off one of those fancy little room service carts and hopped back into bed with me.
We ate in silence for a bit. After last night, I was absolutely famished. And I’d never tasted such fluffy eggs before. I had no idea if Tanner had made everything or Nigel had…but I didn’t really care. I just wanted this breakfast every single day of my life. But maybe I needed to tell him I was an orange juice sorta gal.
“Last night was incredible,” he said after he’d polished off half his waffle.
“You’re incredible,” I replied. Especially with your tongue.
He brushed his hand through my hair. “Are you sure you have to go to work today?”
Oh shit. I’d been so caught up in everything that I’d totally forgotten that it was Monday morning. “What time is it?”
“A little past noon.”
“WHAT?!”
Tanner laughed. “No, it’s 7. Come on…that was too easy. You can even see the sun rising.” He pointed out the huge window at the sun rising over Midtown Manhattan. For a second I wondered what had happened to the glass ceiling, but then I remembered that we’d ended up in one of his spare bedrooms thanks to me soaking the sheets in the master bedroom. Gross. I really needed to talk to Chastity about that. But first I had to retaliate to Tanner giving me a mini heart attack.
I punched his arm. “Dude, not cool. I woke up like two minutes ago.”
He rubbed his arm to pretend like I’d actually hurt him. “Why do you care what time it is?”
“Uh…because I have work.”
“Do you?” he asked with a laugh. “Because I’m pretty sure you’re gonna get fired. You do remember that Dr. Lyons and I beat up your boss, right? And trashed the whole office? And then you and Chastity turned the conference room into Guantanamo Bay?”
“Ugh. You really think I’m gonna get fired?”
“Absolutely. But that’s fine. That means you can focus on breaking this curse. You did promise me that it would only take a week…”
“It’s definitely not fine if I get fired. I have rent to pay. And unlike you, I haven’t had 300 years to amass a fortune.”
“You can live here,” said Tanner, gesturing to the huge guestroom. “And I’ll pay off your lease. There, problem solved.”
For real? I was so tempted to say yes. But after my breakup with Joe, I’d promised myself that I’d never rely on a man again. Tanner could disappear at any moment - as he’d shown time and time again - and I’d be left with nothing. No apartment, no job, no boyfriend. Joe had already done that to me. And I was no fool. “Thanks,” I said. “But I really like my job. Well, except for my awful boss. And I know my apartment isn’t nearly as nice as this, but it’s still my home.”
“Suit yourself,” said Tanner.
Shit! Why did I just turn that down? “But if I get fired, then my answer is definitely yes.”
“Perfect. I’ll have Nigel run out to get you a toothbrush. Nigel!” he yelled.
“No!” I yelled back. “Stay away, Nigel!” I yanked the sheets up around my naked body and turned to Tanner. “You can’t go summoning your houseboy when I’m sitting here naked.” Then something hit me. Shit! “What am I going to wear to work? I’m pretty sure you tore my skirt in half last night.”
“I was thinking you could go like that.” He pulled the sheets down to expose my body.
“What?! First you want your houseboy to see me naked, and now you want my whole office to see me too?”
He laughed. “I don’t love that idea, no. But you said you’d move in with me if you got fired, so…”
I pulled the sheets back up. “Seriously, I need to get home immediately so I can find some clothes. Unless you happen to have a skirt and blouse lying around.”
“It’s your lucky day,” replied Tanner. “Come with me.”
Um…what?
He hopped out of bed and walked out of the room.
“Wait!” I called. But he didn’t slow down. Where is he going? Did he really have a skirt and blouse for me? If so…why? Was he a cross dresser? Or had he actually had his way with those slutty maids. I wasn’t about to head to work in a frilly little French maid outfit. Or was it from the last girl that he brought home and absolutely ravished? Were there pictures of another girl in his masturbatorium? More than one? Dozens? Cole had definitely said Tanner was a player.
I shook my head. Cole was just making stuff up to try to get in my pants. Right? But if Tanner had women’s clothes lying around, then I might start second guessing everything.
I tried and failed again to create a makeshift dress out of the sheets, but I couldn’t even get them off the mattress. Whoever made this bed - probably Nigel - must have liked a deep tuck.
“Nigel!” I yelled. “If you’re out there, close your eyes. Naked girl incoming!” Why did I tell him I was naked? That basically ensured that he wouldn’t close his eyes under any circumstances. “Just kidding!” I yelled into the hallway. “I’m clothed. And very, very ugly. And smelly. Run away!” What?
I was going to keep adding to my weird spiel, but there was no time. I needed to follow Tanner now or I’d lose his trail. And then I’d end up wandering around the house, which would basically ensure an awkward encounter with Nigel. Gah!
I let go of the bedsheet and ran into the hallway, holding my girls both for support and modesty.
Tanner was waiting in the hall for me, laughing at all the crazy stuff I had yelled at Nigel. “Right this way,” he said.
I followed him through a few twists and turns of the hallway until we were back at the bedroom with the glass ceiling. He ushered me inside. I tried to avoid looking at the bed that I’d destroyed as he opened the door to the master closet.
It looked almost the same as my magical closet, but instead of having a million dresses and high heels, this closet was mostly filled with tuxedos in wild prints.
“Yeah, I’m definitely not wearing one of those,” I said, pointing to the tuxedos. “That would be more Madison’s speed. I’d rather go naked.”
Tanner laughed and waved me deeper into the expansive closet. Not that closet really described it well. It was more the size of a department store .
Eventually he stopped and turned a mannequin 90 degrees. As he turned it, the mirrored wall behind it also rotated as if the two were connected.
“Your closet,” said Tanner.
My closet? I stepped through the secret passage. He was right, it did look a lot like my closet. No…not just a lot like it. It looked exactly like it. “Do you seriously have a secret passage into my closet?”
“Yeah,” he said. “When I made it, I figured it would be easier to just expand my closet rather than make a whole new one. I did mention how picky my overseer is about unauthorized uses of magic, right? Ghazi is a real stickler for the rules.”
“So any time you wanted, you could just come watch me dressing?”
“What kind of pervert do you take me for?” asked Tanner, pretending to be shocked at the accusation.
I just rolled my eyes and started searching for a good outfit to get fired in. Even though it was kind of creepy that he had a secret entrance to my closet, it was also super convenient. Because it meant that our two apartments were magically linked. On one end was the secret bookshelf entrance from my apartment, and on the other was the closet door to his bedroom. The question was…did he have entrances to other girls’ closets too?
“What other magical doors do you have in your apartment?” I asked. “One to my shower? Or maybe one to the girls’ locker room at Club Onyx?”
Tanner looked up from a rack of pencil skirts. “Don’t be ridiculous, the steam from your shower would ruin some of my leathers. And I don’t want my closet smelling like a locker room. But this closet is linked to my apartment below Club Onyx. And then I have three other portals – one to my mountain retreat, one to my private island in the Caribbean, and one to my vineyard in Italy.”
“For real? Last night when I went into your wine cellar I thought I heard people speaking Italian. Had I teleported to Italy?”
“Yup. If you want, you can skip work and I’ll show you around the vineyard. Or we could go to the beach. Odegaard Island is lovely this time of year.”
It was so tempting to say yes. So. Tempting. But I couldn’t just skip out on work. No matter how much it seemed like Tanner liked me, I was still terrified that he’d get bored of me in a week and throw me out on my ass. And I had to be there for Chastity. If she was going to get fired because of my drama, the least I could do was show up to get fired with her. “Can we go after work?”
“Of course.”
“Then you’ve got yourself a date.” I settled on some classic black slacks and ran off to get some makeup out of my apartment. I knew the secret door would work, but it was still trippy to go from the penthouse of One57 to my crappy Hell’s Kitchen apartment just by walking through a closet.
More importantly, I couldn’t freaking wait for tonight’s date. This was going to be the longest day in the history of work. Or, you know…the shortest. Because I was going to get fired the minute I stepped through the door.