Page 39 of Stalker's Valentine

merritt

. . .

“Would you like something to drink?”I offered once we were inside my large cabin. She simply looked around and shook her head. “You sure? Water? Hot chocolate––“

“Merri,” she warned, and I sighed.

I glanced down, and my hand around hers tightened. I hadn’t let go of her hand since I’d opened her door, and we’d walked in. I wasn’t about to start.

“I’m sorry,” I started off by saying.

“For what?” she asked, her eyes locked with mine. She was so much smaller than me. Her head reached my shoulders, but barely. But there she stood, still holding on to my hand after figuring out what I’d done and doing it so damn bravely I couldn’t help but feel proud of her.

I opened then shut my mouth. For all my damn bravado, I couldn’t get myself to say it.

“Was it you?” she asked, but I stared at her. My brain was firing off a million miles a minute, trying to come up with an answer. An honest one that wouldn’t scare her away. Obviously tired of waiting, she impatiently repeated herself. “Was it?”

“Cutie––“

“Don’t.” She tried to pull her hand from mine. When I didn’t let her, she let out an adorable little growl. “Are you telling me it was you? The gifts? The notes? My secret admirer?” she asked directly, pointing out just some of my grievances.

“Yes,” I admitted, hating I couldn’t read the look on her face.

“Why?” she asked. “Was it some kind of joke? Or bet?”

“No, Jesus, no!”

“Why, then? And have you been watching me? Following me?”

“Baby––“

“Tell me, Merri,” she insisted, stomping her foot with frustration, and I lost my mind.

I needed her in my arms when we had this conversation. I’d hold her tightly not only so she couldn’t run away from me but so I could remind her that’s where she belonged. I pulled her arm towards me, and as if going by instinct, her body telling her she was safe with me, she let herself come closer. I used that to my advantage and bent to lift her up.

“Merri!” She tried to wiggle free, but I didn’t let her. “What do you think you’re doing?!” she complained, but I wasn’t going to let her go.

“Still,” I ordered.

I had no right. I probably sounded like a bastard. But fuck me, she was mine, and she needed to be reminded. I was desperate. I needed her to not only hear me out but listen to what I had to say. Not that I knew how the fuck to explain I’d lost my ever-loving mind after I’d seen her one time. When Scarlett realized I wasn’t letting her go, she wrapped her legs around my middle and her hands rested on my shoulder.

“Why?” she finally asked again, breaking the silence that had fallen between us.

“If you give me a moment, I’ll explain,” I mumbled, carrying her through my house and into the living room. I sat down,keeping her straddled on me. She tried to wiggle free, only to wake up the monster between my legs.

“Merri,” she whispered when she felt it. My jaw clenched.

“Ignore it.”

“Ignore it? Ignore—“ Her voice cracked. “How does anyone ignore that?” Her hips rolled to make her point, and my nose flared.

“Knock it off, baby girl.”

“Well, if you let me off your lap—“ Not happening. I wrapped my arms around her, and she moved closer, her body relaxed. I had no idea how. She should have been freaked out by me. But she was still here. Sitting on my lap, touching me. She should have been trying to break free of my embrace and run away from the monster that had been watching her when she had no idea.

“I saw you at the New Year’s party.”

“I know. I bumped into you—“ she cut me off with a cute, bratty eye roll. But when I shook my head, her head tilted. “What?”

---