Page 36 of Dangerously Tempting

“What’s wrong?” she asks, and I wish the answer was nothing. I wish that I’d pulled away to say something funny or sexy that would really get things progressing, but here we are.

“I need to tell you something.”

Crash. Boom. Those words are all it takes for the gates to slam closed and the walls to go up.

I grip the underside of her thighs, pulling her a little closer even though she’s stiff under my hands. “Please, don’t let your mind run wild before I even tell you what’s going on.”

She swallows like she’s struggling to get it down, but nods stiffly.

“The woman from the convention,” I begin, and she somehow grows even more tense against me. “She’s…” I trail off, shaking my head. “I feel like a nutcase even saying it out loud, so I’m sorry. She’s stalking me.”

A plethora of emotions pass over her face, starting with humor, probably thinking that I’m just fucking with her, until she realizes that I’m being serious. From there, they flit through so quickly I can’t keep track, and I know that her mind must be going wild.

“How? Like… are you sure?”

I huff out a flat laugh. “Yes, I’m sure. She’s planted stuff in my vehicles.”

“Planted stuff? Like what?”

I flinch slightly. “Panties. Lipstick.”

“...When?” I don’t answer right away, because I know this is when this conversation is going to take a turn for the worst, and she must pick up on that. “When, Jameson?”

“The first night you came over.”

She blinks at me several times before shaking her head. “So two weeks ago? And you didn’t say anything because…?”

“Because I wasn’t certain that you’d believe me. Because I didn’t want to worry you over something that I thought was small and insignificant.”

“And it’s not small and insignificant anymore? What else has she done?” I don’t even have to say anything. I can see it clear as day on her face as she pieces it together, and funny enough, that she drew the same conclusion so quickly makes me feel a lot less crazy. “Your tire. The food. The elevator?”

“I’m not positive, but I’m assuming that she had a hand in all of those, yes.”

“What the fuck, Jameson! You thought that wasn’t serious?”

“I’m not even sure it’s her—“

“It’s her! Stop lying to yourself and admit what’s right in front of you.” Before I can stop her, she climbs from my lap and starts pacing in front of the coffee table. “Please tell me that you’ve gotten the cops involved in this.”

“I have.” She stops, swiveling to face me. “And what did they say? Do they have enough to arrest her?”

“They don’t have shit because her prints aren’t in their database. They pulled prints off my truck, but they don’t seem to be taking it very seriously. They’re acting like she’s a jilted ex, not someone I had a single date with.”

“Even with the additional things that she’s done?”

“They don’t know about those, because I have no proof they were even her.”

She rubs her hands over her face. “Do yourself a favor and report those, too. Jesus, Jameson. How much are you going to let her get away with? And don’t you dare say you’re not sure if it’s her again. You’re sure, you just don’t want to admit that it’s gotten this far.”

I nod, pressing my lips together. “You’re right.”

She sighs, shaking her head. “I don’t even know what to say to you. She conveniently plants things in your vehicles the night we get together, and you don’t think that this is something I should have known? She obviously wanted me to see those, to think that you’ve been with someone else, and make me upset enough to stop things with you before they even started. She’s fucking clever, that’s for sure, because that’s probably exactly what I would have thought, and exactly what would have happened.”

“Which is why I didn’t—“

“Stop! I get that’s why you didn’t tell me, okay?” She drops to a seat on the edge of the coffee table, dropping her head into her hands. “But that doesn’t make me any less upset that you didn’t tell me about this. You’ve had all this time and didn’t say a word. I already knew about her, and you didn’t think to even just mention that she was being stalkerish?”

I know that she’s right that I should have told her, but we’d just gotten over our first hurdle, and already there was another one. It felt like bringing it up would have been an early death to our budding relationship, and still could be because I hid it. I feel like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place, between a woman who doesn’t know how to take no for an answer, and one that I’d give it all to keep.

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