The last surprise I’d gotten was her showing up on my doorstep. But that had been Tanner’s idea. Not hers. Surely Penny was better at surprises than Tanner. “It’s not another teapot, is it?”
“That’s a terrible way to say thank you, Matt. But no, it’s not another teapot. Clear your calendar for tomorrow night. I’ll text you more details.”
That was super vague. But I found myself typing back okay. Hopefully I wouldn’t regret it. I made my way to the parking lot and my feet froze when I heard the squeal of tires. I looked up to see an SUV speeding out of the parking lot. I swore it was the same SUV from the graveyard last night. What the hell Mr. Pruitt?
I climbed into my car. Tanner better have good news for me.
***
Tanner had texted me the address of the restaurant. It was some swanky new place he wanted to try. When I pulled up outside, I sighed. The name of the place was literally in the middle of a neon heart. This was a restaurant for couples. Tanner loved trying all the newest places as he scoped out appropriate dating sights for his club. But I was seriously sick of being the guinea pig. If we got mistaken for a gay couple one more time I was going to lose it. He knew I hated this shit.
I gave the valet the keys to my car.
“Enjoy your date,” he said.
Kill me now.
I walked into the restaurant and looked around for Tanner. I spotted him at the same time he saw me. He waved me over with a smile on his face, completely oblivious to the fact that I was annoyed.
“Another place to check out for the club?” I asked when I reached his table.
“I like to kill two birds with one stone, you know this.”
“What I know is that I told you to stop taking me to places obviously designed for couples. The valet told me to enjoy my date.”
Tanner tried and failed to hide his amusement. “If I recall, I just did you an immense favor. So you’ll be a good date and eat your lobster and steak and say no more, or I’ll have to give you a one-star rating.”
I laughed. “You talked to Penny about my date huh?”
“She said your date set your dick on fire.” He chuckled. “If only.”
I didn’t get his joke. Ash had set my dick on fire. Penny must have told the story wrong.
“Sit down,” Tanner said. “I already ordered their most popular apps and we’ll be doing a wine sampling as well.”
There was no use arguing with him. I knew for a fact that the only reason I was here with him was because he didn’t really like to eat alone. Neither did I. It was a win for both of us. And honestly, the lobster and steak on the table next to ours looked delicious. I sat down without another word.
“So let’s start with the issue at hand.” Tanner put his menu aside.
Good. I’d been dying to hear the dirt he’d dug up on Mr. Pruitt. Poppy showing up had shaken me. I needed to put an end to her threats. And being followed wasn’t making it any easier to sleep at night.
Tanner took a deep breath. “Whatever possessed you to go on a date without telling me?”
“What? Tanner, we need to talk about Mr. Pruitt. You swore you’d tell me in person when you refused to do it over text.”
“We can talk about Richard in a minute. I thought we had agreed that you’d tell me about all your dates on the app ahead of time so I could properly scope them out. And I don’t recall getting any notice about this one.”
“I thought you were joking.” Honestly, I didn’t think he was joking. But it was a really weird request so I’d chosen to ignore it.
“Well, what happened after she set you on fire?”
“She threw a glass of wine in my face and then took pity on me and helped put the fire out before running out of the restaurant.”
Tanner kept a completely straight face. “So you didn’t sleep with her?”
“No, she was an insane person.”
He nodded. “Do you think you’ll have another date? Because I really think the two of us need to meet if…”