Page 72 of Stalker

“Tamen.” I growled, finally looking away from Peyton’s bright green eyes wide with shock and focused on the man I wanted to choke to death while she watched. Would she get as turned on as she did last night as she rode my cock and talked about who I killed in her absence? “Enough.”

“What?” He grinned with his stupid charismatic bullshit persona on and looked between the two of us. “Like you wouldn’t fuck your employees if they gave you something you were missing out on like I am.” He scoffed, taking the last piece of bacon off her plate and eating it. “I’m missing out on good home cooking from a beautiful woman. Speaking of which, want to come work for me instead of my boring brother?” He winked when Peyton looked up at him and I couldn’t help the monster inside as I grabbed my empty coffee cup, ready to throw it at his face.

“No! Don’t.” Peyton put her hand on mine, stilling me and silencing the rage in my head as she stood up, keeping her hand on mine. “Please don’t, Lincoln.”

Tamen’s face lit up as he watched over her back and I almost shook her off to chuck it at him, anyway. “Yeah,Lincoln. Wouldn’t want you to get hurt poking the bear or something.”

“There are extra pancakes over there,” Peyton interrupted, squeezing my hand once before letting go and facing Tamen head on. “And I’m more than satisfied with my current arrangement here with Lincoln, thank you. Find someone else to cook for you.”

My heart did a weird skipping in my chest as I starred at the majestic woman who not only told my brother off, but also defended me in the process.

Not once in my entire life, had someone chosen me in a fight against Tamen. Not even our father.

Tamen grinned, knowing exactly what she just did, and then busied himself getting his own breakfast while all I could do was stare at Peyton.

She ran her hands down the front of her shirt and stiffened her spine. “I have laundry to fold.” And she walked out of the room without a backward glance, completely unaware that she had just rocked my entire world.

Fucking hell, Puppet, that deserves a present.

Chapter 26 – Peyton

Congrats Puppet, you’ve earned yourself another gift.

Ismiled the entire way to the post office in town on my afternoon break, like a lovesick puppy. And I couldn’t care less. I was happy.

It felt a little foreign and kind of like at any moment it was going to be taken away from me, but I tried not to dwell on the foreign feeling. Because then I had to acknowledge how being happy was a new feeling for me.

And that would make me sad for all the years I wasted up to this moment. So instead I drove with a goofy grin on my face to the quaint little town for another round of Secret Santa from Dane. I tried getting out of him what exactly I had done to earn the gift, but he just chuckled darkly through the speaker on my phone in my guest house and said, “You’ll find out, eventually.”

As I parked in the parking lot of the post office, I looked around the quaint town with a different view as I tried to envision living in itfrom now on. Was Dane from this town, or did he come to me for our encounters from somewhere else?

He couldn’t have been far away, given how quickly he made it to me at the bar after I tried to sacrifice myself for his attention. Admittedly, a stupid idea. But I’d gotten what I wanted in the end. So I was going to mark that one down as a win.

The bells on the door rang as I stepped inside of the deserted post office and the little old lady looked up from her book at her desk and grinned. “Ah, Ms. Peyton.” She stood up and pulled her glasses down her nose as she came to the counter. “I see you survived the last few weeks, I kept watching the news for a missing person’s poster with your face on it like you asked.”

I smiled, feeling foolish for involving her now that I knew Dane. “I’m fit as a fiddle. But thank you for watching out for me.”

“Ach,” She waved me off, “All I do is watch. I watch who comes and who goes. Who leaves with who and who goes about it on their own.”

I squinted and leaned on the counter. “Any more info on my secret admirer?” I asked, hoping she knew something more about Dane this time.

She chuckled, “Besides the fact that he has superb taste in cars and, I’m guessing, presents?” She reached under the counter and pulled out a smaller gift box in matte black with a velvet bow on it. “And the fact that he is still devilishly good looking.” She shrugged, “I unfortunately didn’t get to take him for a test drive on the counter this time either, though.”

I snorted and took the box from her. “Bummer.” I winked and stepped back toward the door. “Because that man knows how to turn a woman wild for him.”

Her wrinkly face pitched up in excitement as a shit-eating grin broke out on her face and she whooped out loud. “That’s my girl!”

I chuckled and started to open the door when she stopped me.

“If you know how he is in bed, how is it you know nothing else about him?”

I shrugged and contemplated my answer for a moment before giving it. “Sometimes it’s nice not to worry about names, social standings, or future plans when you want to forget about everything else in the world, too.”

“Anonymity.” She nodded, “I like your style, girl.”

“Until next time.” I lifted the box in goodbye and walked out.

Once again, Dane’s instructions were simple regarding his present. I had to be free from distraction and available only to him before opening it. So when I walked back into my guest house, via my brand-new door that Lincoln had fixed sometime yesterday, I was eager to ignore the rest of the world for Dane.

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