Incompatibly Yours: Charity Anthology Supporting Fertility Research (22 page)

Dwayne reads his mood and takes a step back. "Sorry, dude. You need to call me sometime soon, I want more ink done and no one does it as well as you."

"I'm booked for the next three months, but Zac can fit you in." He folds his arms over his chest as he says this and waits silently for Dwayne to reply. Tanner has more patience than I've seen on any man and I find that impressive. My father had a temper and zero tolerance for pretty much everything, and while I struggle a little with mine, I don't love a quick temper on a man.

Dwayne slaps him on the back again. "Cool, cool. I'll book in with him." He eyes me again for a moment before looking back at Tanner. "I'll see you around, yeah?"

"Sure," he agrees, but even I can tell he doesn't mean it.

Dwayne appears to buy it, though, and with a grin, he nods and saunters in the direction of a table a few over. When I give my attention back to Tanner, his body is still quite tense as he watches me. "I take it you don't like him."

He takes a deep breath and finally relaxes his shoulders. "He's an old client of mine and nothing more, but the guy thinks we're friends. As far as I'm concerned, he's a fool and not the kind of person I want to spend any significant time with, but he never wants to take no for an answer."

"And Vanessa was an old girlfriend?" I'm dying to know more about her. Usually I wouldn't be so forward with someone I hardly know, but I feel comfortable enough to ask him.

"She was, and she's the only woman I've ever lived with. We dated for a couple of months and she moved in after her flatmate asked her to leave. It was only supposed to be for a week or so, but she stayed for five weeks before we broke up. Turned out we weren't compatible after all."

"You argued too much when you lived together?"

He reaches for his drink and takes a sip before elaborating. "Not at all. The reason we weren't compatible is because I'm not the kind of man who tolerates cheating, and she was the kind of woman who cheated."

Memories surface of being cheated on by my ex, Jeff, and sympathy for Tanner fills me. It's one of the worst feelings I've ever felt in my life. All my insecurities flared when Jeff cheated, and I replayed conversations and situations over and over in my head, imagining him thinking I was a fool the whole time for believing everything he'd ever told me. I started to doubt myself in ways I never had, and when you added all that new doubt to the lack of faith I already had in myself, I was a walking bundle of confusion and humiliation.

"I'm sorry." My voice is soft and I hear the traces of pain in it that I still feel over the betrayal. It happened just over a year ago, but some days, that pain rears its ugly head and is as fresh as it was then.

His eyes narrow on me. "You've been through it, too?"

"Yeah, my boyfriend of seven years cheated on me with someone he worked with." I rub my thumb and pointer together in my lap. "They'd been together for a year before I ever realised."

"You must have met him when you were young?"

"We were high school sweethearts from the age of sixteen. I thought he would be my forever. As soon as I found out, I left him and then a couple of months later, I got evicted from where I was living, so I took the plunge and moved to Sydney to follow my dream of working in fashion. It's been hard, but things are starting to work out and leaving him was the best thing I ever did."

He doesn't say anything, just watches me for a beat before asking, "Do you want dessert here, or are you up for some fun?"

I'm wary of what his kind of fun might be, but I take a chance. "I'm up for some fun."

His face breaks out in a huge smile and he practically jumps up. "I'll be back in a minute." Before I have time to ask where he's going, he leaves, and I wonder exactly what I'm getting myself into.

Tanner is pulling me under his spell. After spending some time with him the other night and now tonight, I bet he has women falling at his feet. Not only is he good-looking, he has the kind of personality that charms you and leaves you hanging for more time with him.

My phone sounds with a text, interrupting my thoughts. It's my sister.

Lesley: How's your date going? Did Mr Ink prove you were right about not wanting to date him?

Me: No, he bloody proved me wrong.

Lesley: LOL. So what happens now?

Me: I don't have time for dating.

Lesley: Everyone has time for dating. You need to move on from Jeff and put yourself back out there
.

Fear curls through my stomach at that thought.

Put myself back out there to be trampled again. I've only just started recovering from the last time.

Lesley: You still there?

Me: Yes, and I know, but I think I need more time to think about it.

Lesley: God, you think too much! Just do it. Take a chance for once in your life.

Me: What does that mean?

Lesley: It means you spent seven years with Jeff in your comfort zone. You took a chance by moving to Sydney but then you moved back to your comfort zone. I'm worried you'll end up an old spinster. Get back out there. Love can hurt like a bitch but it won't kill you. Don't end up like Mum.

Her words sting and I shove my phone into my purse. She's right, even if I don't want to admit it. Mum never found anyone after she left Dad. Instead, she closed her heart to love and refused to even consider dating.

I don't want to be my mother.

"You ready?"

Looking up, I find Tanner smiling down at me, holding his hand out.

I refuse to be my mother.

Placing my hand in his, I stand and nod. "I'm ready."

Chapter Six

TANNER

"We're nearly there."

"You do know that heels aren't made for this kind of thing, right?" she grumbles, but it's only a half-arsed grumble. Beast mode has completely left the building and I'm fucking ecstatic about that. I estimate a week, tops, and her walls will be down.

"Sweetheart, heels aren't made for anything."

We've walked about seven blocks and are now climbing the stairs inside the building that will take us up to the most breathtaking view of Sydney I know of. The chef at the restaurant I just took her to is a friend of mine and lives in this building. I borrowed his key for this. She's a few steps up from me, and turns to look down. Pausing on the step, she says, "So you're telling me that at this very minute, you're not loving the view of my legs in these heels? You'd take flats over these heels any day?" The grumble has disappeared from her voice and in its place is a new sexy tone that I'm digging.

Goddess mode.

My gaze traces her legs down to her shoes, and I appreciate everything she has to offer. Juliette must exercise like a demon, because her legs are made of some gorgeous muscles and tone.

"Well?" she challenges me.

Grinning up at her, I hold my hands up in defence. "So it turns out heels
were
made for something."

Heat flashes in her eyes and those pouty lips of hers twitch with a smile. "I rest my case." With that, she turns and continues her climb while I slow my pace down so I can enjoy the view a little more. She reads me like a pro, though, and says, "Come on, Mr Ink, don't slow down now. You have fun to show me."

I chuckle, loving the hell out of her new playful tone. Picking up my pace again, I catch up to her and murmur near her ear, "What's with the Mr Ink?"

At that moment, we reach the end of the stairs and as she steps out onto the roof she turns to face me. I'm so close that she ends up in my arms. Our eyes lock, and the world spins around us while we both catch our breath.

She's so damn beautiful.

Her hands land on my chest while my arms embrace her. I watch as she blinks and her long lashes sweep over her skin. It's like everything's happening in slow motion and I'm overcome with emotions. Jesus, I want this woman more than I realised. She's bewitched me in a way I don't ever recall experiencing before.

"Mr Ink is what my sister and I call you," she finally admits. "You know, because of all the tattoos you have." I can tell by the hesitant, almost shy tone in her voice that she doesn't want to tell me this.

"You've been talking to your sister about me?" The fact I fucking love this is evident in my grin, and when she returns that smile, I want to kiss her and celebrate my first victory.

Her walls are coming down
.

I don't kiss her yet, but I'm working up to it. She might have laid down the law about no sex tonight, but she didn't say anything about me kissing her.

All traces of hesitancy are gone when she replies to my question. Goddess mode is back. "I had to tell
someone
that I met an inked guy with a confidence problem, and she's my person. She was the one who named you Mr Ink."

I chuckle. "A confidence problem?"

Her eyes twinkle and I don't miss the fact her hands relax against my chest. "Yeah, as in way too much confidence."

"Bullshit. I don't have too much confidence. How did you come up with that?" She's right, but I'm not letting her have that one.

"Uh, almost the first moment we met. You said, and I quote, 'I'm amused when a woman, who is clearly attracted to me, flinches at my tattoos.' Tell me that's not confidence."

"That is not confidence, sweetheart.
That
is the truth."

One of her hands begins to trace lazy patterns on my chest, but I'm not sure she even realises. She stares at me for a long moment, not saying anything. "My sister would agree with you."

My breathing slows. "But would you?"

Now her breathing slows and I love her voice when it is all breathless like this. "I would."

I was going to wait to kiss her, but I only have so much self-control, and when it comes to breathless women standing in front of me letting their walls down a little, I can't hold myself back. Bending, I brush my lips over hers. It's only a whisper of a kiss, but when her hands slide up my chest and loop around my neck, I press my lips to hers and give her another reason why she should take a chance on me. As our tongues tangle, I tighten my hold on her, forcing our bodies together. Her scent—some kind of flower, rose maybe—is driving me crazy, and I can't get close enough.

I want everything she has to give.

Now.

Fuck.

I need to end the kiss or I may not be able to stop, but she's moved her fingers to thread through my hair, and it feels so damn good that I don't want to ever pull away.

Groaning into her mouth, I attempt to get myself under control. "Sweetheart, as much as I'm enjoying the hell out of this kiss, we need to stop."

Her lust-filled eyes blink and she looks up at me in confusion. "We do?" Jesus, even her voice is made of lust, and I groan again.

"We do. If you keep kissing me like that, with those soft lips of yours and those fingers doing that thing they're doing in my hair… I'm not sure I'll be able to drop you back at your house and not ask you for more."

Her fingers stop moving as she sucks her bottom lip in and bites it. "We should stop," she whispers, but it's clear that's the last thing she wants to do.

I need to take charge here, but goddamn it, this shit is hard. Taking a deep breath, I let her go and take a step back. I rake my fingers through my hair and watch as she tries to get her breathing back to normal. "Just so you know, that's the hardest thing I've had to do in a long time."

She's still biting her lip.
God, I wish that was my lip
. Closing the distance between us again, she stands on her tiptoes, places a quick kiss on my lips, and agrees. "Not stopping you was the hardest thing
I've
had to do in a while." Once her words are out, she steps around me and walks to the edge of the roof.

Staying where I am, I track her steps. My gaze travels the length of her body and when I get to her heels, I silently thank the universe for leading my sister to her.

While my eyes are glued to her arse, she spins around and catches me looking. Her arms spread across the ledge she's leaning against, and she shakes her head at me while still smiling.

I grin and head over to where she is. "A man can't be blamed for admiring beauty."

"You say all the right things, Tanner Brady. I feel like you've had a lot more practise at this than me."

"I'm older than you by a couple of years. I've definitely had more practice at this."

"That's not what I was getting at, and you know it."

Moving close to her so I'm standing in her personal space, I take hold of her chin. "You can practice on me."

Her breath catches and although I had decided kissing should be off the table tonight, I bend to kiss her again. I can't help myself—those lips call my name in a way it's never been called.

She presses her chest against mine and wraps her arms around my neck again while opening her mouth to mine and letting me in. I don't even care that there will be no sex tonight; I'm down with kissing her for hours instead. When her lips leave mine, I hold her close and murmur, "We should practise that some more."

Her mouth curls up into a grin and she kisses me again. "We really should." She brushes her lips over mine once more. "I've decided I like your kind of fun."

"You were expecting something else, weren't you?"

"I had no idea what to expect, but I thought for sure it would be something wilder than this."

I laugh. "I'm sure you've got the wrong idea about me. Mind you, I did have something else in mind, but this is better so I vote we forget all other plans and you keep practising whatever you want on me."

"I was just hoping it didn't include getting a tattoo done."

The idea of tattooing her jolts desire through me. Images of my hands on her milky skin flood my mind and I do my best to push them away. I'm on my best behaviour tonight and those kinds of thoughts are
not
what I need in my head right now.