The Society #StalkerProblems

by Ivy Smoak

  I felt like I was going to barf. Not because of his outfit. He looked amazing. But I was so freaking nervous. Was he going to grill me about last night at Club Onyx? I didn’t want to have to lie to him. But Chastity’s plan had been working…

  Nigel opened the door for me.

  “Are you stalking me?” Tanner asked in that sexy way of his.

  God, that smirk of his made my knees feel weak.

  He didn’t wait for a response. He just helped me out of the limo. “Wow.” He put his hand up so I could do a little twirl. “You look stunning in this dress.”

  I couldn’t help the blush creeping along my cheeks. I wanted to tell him that he looked amazing in his suit. And that I was so sorry for all the craziness last night. And that I wanted to be his girlfriend more than anything in the world. But then I heard Chastity’s voice in the back of my head. No! Play hard-to-get! “I hope I’m not overdressed,” I said. “Chastity wanted to go dancing afterwards and I didn’t think I’d have time to change.” Total lie. I was absolutely not going dancing with Chastity tonight. I’d be too busy banging my new boyfriend in his penthouse.

  Tanner’s eyes darkened. “We’ll see about that. These cake tastings sometimes go longer than you think.”

  “I wouldn’t know. Joe thought buying a wedding cake was a waste of money when we ran our own bakery. So for our cake tasting, he bought me a bunch of flour, sugar, and let me loose in our kitchen.” There had been so many signs that he wasn’t a catch. What had I been thinking? And why the hell was I talking about Joe right now?

  Tanner drew his eyebrows together. “Seriously?”

  “Yup.”

  “Wow. Then I guess tonight I have to work twice as hard to show you a good time. And even if I fail, I have a feeling we’ll be attending lots more of these.”

  Like…for our wedding?! Oh my God, is he actually going to propose?

  Tanner opened the door for me. “After you, m’lady.”

  I loved when he said romantic stuff like that. I stepped in and had a total fangirl moment. Because standing at the hostess stand was Chef Santiago. And the entire restaurant was empty.

  He seriously rented out the whole place?! Yeah, he was definitely going to ask me out. I was so close to getting out of the wifey-zone!

  “Good evening my friend,” said Santiago to Tanner.

  “The pleasure is all mine,” said Tanner. “I can’t thank you enough for fitting us in on such short notice.”

  “Anything for you.” They kissed on the cheek.

  How very European of them. Or gay? Maybe he wasn’t going to ask me out after all. I tried to take a deep breath and clear my thoughts. I needed to just enjoy this moment.

  “And you must be the lovely Miss Cooper?” asked Santiago. He took my hand and kissed it.

  “I am. And I take it you’re the lovely Chef Santiago?” Fuck. Why? Why did I just call my chef-idol lovely? I wanted to hide under a table. And there were so many to choose from…. Stop it! Stop being weird for one second of your life!

  Tanner laughed and squeezed my hand. “I told Santiago all about how you taught yourself to bake by watching his videos.”

  “I did. But how’d you know that?”

  “Chastity made a note of it on our list. Among other things.”

  Other things? What kind of other things did Chastity tell Tanner?!

  Chef Santiago took us to a table at the center of the restaurant. There were lots of plates and forks, but no cake yet.

  “The cake will be ready in just a moment,” said Santiago. “I just need to add a few finishing touches. Please, make yourselves comfortable. Can I get you anything to drink?”

  Tanner pulled out a chair for me. “Just water, please.”

  I could have used some wine to calm my nerves, but Tanner was probably right to order water so that nothing competed with the flavor of the cakes.

  “Muy bien.” Santiago nodded and retreated to the kitchen.

  “What else did Chastity tell you?” I asked.

  “Nothing important. Hold that thought. I need to go wash my hands. Claude had me hand-feeding monkeys all afternoon.”

  What kind of wonderful man washes his hands before a cake tasting? Tanner really was the best. With Joe I’d been lucky if he even washed his hands after using the bathroom.

  While Tanner went to wash up, I started texting Chastity to ask her what the hell she’d told Tanner. I assumed it was sexual. Because…Chastity.

  The kitchen doors swung open and two waiters walked out with some water. Wait…no. Not just any waiters. They were Angel and Diablo.

  Oh God, oh God, oh God. Last night I’d told them they could do whatever they wanted to me because of Rule #8. And then I’d booped their penises. I’d been strongly hoping to never see them again. Maybe they won’t recognize me with my red hair. They’d only ever seen me in my black wig.

  I shifted away from them and buried my face in my phone. Please don’t look at me.

  They put the water on the table. They were about to walk away when Diablo stopped.

  “Raven?” he asked. “Is that you?”

  “I’m sorry, you must be mistaken. My name is Ash, not Raven. We don’t even have the same hair color. And she’s much more confident than me.” Crap! If I wasn’t Raven too I wouldn’t know all those details about her. Be cool! I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear in hopes of looking nonchalant and not guilty of a lie. But all I proceeded to do was almost knock over the water on the table. I grabbed the glass right before I sent it crashing to the floor.

  “Ah, so that’s your real name. I’m digging the red hair, by the way.”

  “Thanks.” Damn it! My cover was blown.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Having a cake-tasting with my soon-to-be boyfriend. What are you doing here?”

  Diablo leaned against the table. “We own the place.”

  “Actually our dad does,” added Angel. “But he’s going to retire soon, and then it’s all ours.”

  “Your dad is Chef Santiago?”

  Angel nodded. “The old man taught us everything we know about baking.”

  They’re bakers? Somehow that made them even more attractive. Not that such things mattered, because I was about to be Tanner’s girlfriend.

  “So where is this soon-to-be boyfriend of yours?” asked Diablo.

  “He went to wash up before the tasting.” Because he was amazing.

  “Then this is the perfect opportunity to finish what we started last night.”

  I stared at him in disbelief. How could he be so brazen? “Not gonna happen.”

  “But what about that Rule #8? You just said Ryder is still your soon-to-be boyfriend. Which means you’re still single. Man, I can’t wait to see the look on Ryder’s face when he walks out of the bathroom and sees you getting fucked on this table. He’s such an idiot to not ask you out and then bring you out in public looking like that.” Diablo’s eyes went right to my cleavage.

  Angel put his hand on Diablo’s shoulder. “What he meant to say is that you look absolutely stunning in that dress.”

  “She does,” agreed Diablo. “But she’d look even better with her tits out and her lips wrapped around my cock.”

  Oh my God. I crossed my legs under the table and I looked over at the bathroom door. What would Tanner do if he came back and heard them talking to me like this? He’d freaking lose his mind. I bet his eyes would get all stormy again like they had last night. God, that had been so hot.

  Wait a second! I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it sooner. Angel and Diablo showing up was just what I needed to push Tanner over the edge! I just needed to stick to Chastity’s crazy plan.

  It was time to flirt back.

  “Can I tell you a secret?” I asked.

  They nodded.

  “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you two since last night. I’d been so close to finally getting to feel your huge cocks inside of me.” Did I seriously just say that? H
ow much champagne did I have in the limo?! “I want nothing more than to turn this cake tasting into a cock tasting.” Wow, I was channeling Chastity perfectly.

  Diablo gave me a cocky smile. As if he’d always known that I’d give in.

  “There’s only one problem,” I continued. “Tanner is gonna come back any second. And when he does, he’s going to flash that little badge and stop all our fun.”

  “Then we better get started.” Diablo reached back to untie his apron.

  Good God, no. Flirting to make Tanner jealous was one thing. Banging two guys was on a whole other level that I was hoping I wouldn’t have to get on in order to win Tanner over. “Wait,” I said. “I don’t want to blue ball you guys. So here’s the deal. If you can get Tanner’s permission, then you can do anything you want to me.” Smooth. I’d get them to make Tanner jealous for me. I would have high-fived myself if that was a suitable thing to do in public.

  “Anything?”

  “Anything.” Except butt stuff. Not that anything was going to happen anyway. Because there was no way Tanner would give them permission.

  “Even filming a gif for next year’s Onyxies?”

  Nope. No way. I’d learned my lesson about sex tapes after the whole blackmail thing with Joe. But luckily this entire conversation was nonsense. And not only was it fun to see how excited Diablo was, but the more outlandish this got, the more jealous it would make Tanner when they went and asked his permission.

  “Of course we can make a gif. You guys got totally robbed this year. We can’t let that asshole Karl win again. What would you make the caption be?”

  Diablo grabbed a fork and flipped it around while he thought. “There are so many options. How about: She wasn’t planning on cheating, but once she saw the waiter’s cocks, she couldn’t resist.”

  “That’s decent. But it’s a little generic. It would be better to really lean into the cake tasting theme. Tanner and I are just tasting cakes for a party, but for a hotwife gif we could pretend like we were at a cake tasting for our wedding.”

  “We’ll workshop it,” said Angel. “But we better get back to the kitchen. I think the cake is probably just about ready.”

  “We’ll be back soon,” said Diablo with a wink.

  I took a huge gulp of water as soon as they were gone. My heart was beating out of my chest and I had gotten so sweaty. Saying all those saucy things had made me so nervous. And a little turned on. I knew that making another sex tape was insane, but I kind of loved that they thought I was hot enough to be a porn star.

  None of that really mattered, though. Because Tanner was going to ask me out in a few minutes.

  Right? Oh God, why had I just said all that stuff to Angel and Diablo? What if Tanner didn’t ask me out…

  Chapter 59 - Absolutely Delicious

  Thursday

  Tanner got back from the bathroom just as Chef Santiago came out of the kitchen. Santiago was flanked by his sons, each carrying two plates of mini-cakes. I made sure to keep my eyes trained on the cakes instead of looking at Angel and Diablo. Which was actually easy because the dessert looked freaking amazing.

  They put them down on the table and added labels in front of each.

  Tanner narrowed his eyes slightly at Angel and Diablo. Does he recognize them from last night?

  Santiago gestured to the cake plates. “I have prepared for you the three flavors you requested, along with our house specialty - angel food with my signature frosting.”

  “These look incredible,” I said.

  Santiago waved off my comment. “This decoration is nothing compared to what I will do for the final cake.”

  Nothing? I’d spent years making cakes for Joe’s business, and it still would have taken me hours to decorate something half as fancy.

  “If you are ready to begin, please put this on, Señorita.” Santiago pulled out a black satin blindfold and handed it to me. “The most important thing my mentor taught me was solo un ciego puede ver de verdad. Only a blind man can truly see. It is nonsense in most cases, but when applied to tasting the beauty of my confectionary creations, it is quite accurate. Cutting off one sense enhances the others.”

  I thumbed my finger over the silky fabric of the blindfold. I couldn’t believe I was about to taste Chef Santiago’s cakes. I’d watched hundreds of his YouTube videos, but I’d never imagined I’d actually get to try one of his cakes. Much less four of them. This was a freaking dream come true.

  “I’m sorry, but I must excuse myself,” said Santiago. “I have a cake I must finish for a wedding tomorrow.”

  “Of course,” said Tanner. “Thanks again for fitting us in on such short notice.”

  “It was my pleasure. Please enjoy. If you have any questions, we will be in the kitchen.” Santiago and his sons left us alone to try the cakes.

  I breathed a sigh of relief when the door closed behind Angel and Diablo.

  Tanner looked at me. “You okay? You seem a little nervous.”

  Of course I’m nervous! There had been at least a 50% chance that Diablo would come right out and ask Tanner if he and Angel could bang me. But I couldn’t tell Tanner that. “Wouldn’t you be nervous too if you were meeting your culinary idol?”

  “I suppose so. Try to relax and enjoy this.” He rubbed his hand on my leg and all my worries melted away.

  “I still can’t believe you convinced him to do this,” I said.

  “He owed me one,” said Tanner.

  “For what?”

  “His restaurant was going to go under a few years back. I gave him the cash he needed to keep going.”

  Wow, I had no idea. Tanner had saved my chef-idol. That made me like him even more.

  “Which cake do you want to try first?” asked Tanner.

  “How about the triple chocolate?”

  “Works for me.” He lifted up the blindfold. “Might as well try it the chef’s way.”

  I smiled as Tanner slid the blindfold over my eyes.

  I heard a napkin unfold. A clink of silverware. The delicious sound of a fork cutting through cake. Really none of this should have been erotic, but I was a little overheated from my conversation with Angel and Diablo. And the blindfold did actually heighten everything. Especially the smell of Tanner’s expensive blueberry cologne.

  “Open up,” said Tanner.

  I parted my lips and holy shit. I had been expecting it to taste amazing, but this was next level. Cake had a tendency to be too sweet - sometimes even grainy from all the sugar. But this cake was moist and chocolatey and just the right sweetness. It was heaven.

  “That good, huh?” asked Tanner.

  “I didn’t say anything yet.”

  “Your orgasmic moans said everything I needed to know.”

  “I wasn’t moaning.” Was I?

  “Yes you were. And now that I’m tasting it too, I can see why.” Tanner made an exaggerated moaning noise.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. If I hadn’t been blindfolded, I would have shoved him. Or smooshed some cake in his face. Which gave me an idea… If I could somehow get him to put the blindfold on instead of me, I could really have some fun with him.

  “I know you’re mocking me,” I said. “But if you had tasted it with the blindfold on, you would have moaned too. Chef Santiago was right about it really enhancing your senses. Wanna give it a try?”

  “I’ll go blindfolded at our next cake tasting.”

  Another mention of future cake tastings?! Ahhh! I could have squealed with excitement.

  “Besides, I prefer you wearing one.” He lightly touched the side of my neck.

  A shiver ran down my spine. Not because his words were dirty. But because I was almost positive what his secret was now. He had me blindfolded and had just touched my neck in a really seductive way. I knew it! He was a freaking vampire! My heart started beating even faster. Oh God, was this how I was going to die? Blindfolded during a cake tasting with a secret vampire? What was my life?

  “Ready for another bite
?” asked Tanner.

  Was he referring to me eating more cake? Or to him biting me? I needed to stall him. “Yeah, but I need a palette cleanser first.” I reached out for a water glass and promptly knocked over three glasses. Oops. Actually, not oops. Because even though I hadn’t meant to knock anything over, this was an even better distraction than just drinking some water for a second.

  “Whoa!” I heard Tanner jump back and then lots of rustling of fabric. He was either drying his pants or taking them off. Or doing whatever vampires do before devouring their prey.

  “Did I just spill that all over you?” I asked.

  “Yup.”

  “Sorry about that,” I said with a laugh.

  “It’s fine. Here.” He grabbed my wrist. I almost pulled away, but he quickly guided my hand over to a glass of water without any more accidents. I sipped some down. And then some more. And some more, like I was a freaking horse in a desert. #HorseFacts. Wow, I really nailed that one! Maybe I should just start talking about horses to distract him. Or I could keep drinking. That seemed like the more normal thing to do to prevent him from sucking my blood. I gulped more down. I was going to have to pee like a racehorse after this. OMG. #HorseFacts again! Double #Horsefacts!

  “You’re thirsty,” Tanner said.

  “Well that’s rude. I’m not a thirsty bitch.”

  “Um…what? I never said anything about you being a bitch.”

  “You just called me thirsty.”

  Tanner laughed. “Because you just downed a whole glass of water like you hadn’t had anything to drink in a week.”

  He didn’t know what a thirsty bitch was. Because of course he didn’t know current slang. He was clearly from another time. A time where vampires were spreading rampant all over America. So like…maybe civil war time? That made sense.

  “Open wide,” said Tanner.

  Shouldn’t that be what he was doing? But it seemed better to follow his directions, so I did.

  “Wider. I accidentally cut an extra-large piece.”

  Oh no. Suddenly all my thoughts about vampirism faded away. Because a terrible thought had just occurred to me. Was I going to get food on my face? That was one of my biggest fears. Not top 5 bad. But definitely top 10. And with my blindfold on, I wouldn’t even be able to grab a napkin to wipe it off. Why had I not planned for this?! Eating blindfolded was about to be added to my list of fears. Or maybe it was just kind of a sub-fear. Hmm…