Page 35 of Failure to Match

He placed his paw on my mouth after the last one and yelled right in my face.

“Mmkay. Sorry. I’ll go for real now.”

I pushed off the mattress, snatching my phone and keys on my way out the door. Two more air kisses to my little monster and?—

“Who were you talking to?”

I screamed, my feet lifting from the carpet as my heart lurched into a panic attack.

“Stop doing that!” Fucking hell.

Jackson cocked his head, his lips twitching like my distress amused him. Heathen.

“Apologies.” He did not look apologetic.

“What the fuck are you doing hovering outside my room like a creep?”

“I wasn’t hovering. I was on my way to dinner and heard your voice coming through the door.”

Lies. Bensen had sent me the floor map yesterday and I had the layout of this whole maze memorized. “The dining room’s that way.” I pointed a finger at said way. “At the other end of the apartment.”

“I’m well aware of where the dining room is, Miss Paquin. This is, after all, myhome. Were you speaking to yourself again?”

“None of your business.”

I started walking.

He followed.

“If you want to have guests over, you’ll need to go through the appropriate security channels.”

“I don’t plan on having guests over.” Oh, except, “I may need to bring in a petsitter, though.”

“For what?”

“Toebeans.”

“The cat?”

You know when you’re so done with someone that even the way they breathe pisses you off? Because the way Jackson was breathing right then was really pissing me off.

…

There was a good chance the hanger was setting in.

“Yes,” I said. “I need someone to feed him on time when I can’t.”

“Petsitter is fine. Bensen can have supervised access arranged for them if you let him know.”

“Great, thanks.”

“How was your mall sushi?”

I stopped, glaring up at him. “Why are you following me? Our cut-off was at seven today.”

“I’m not following you, I’m on my way to dinner. We’ve already had this conversation, Miss Paquin. Are you all right? First I catch you talking to yourself?—”

“I wasn’t talking to myself. I was talking to Toebeans.”

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