Page 117 of The Stalker

Daniel looked between the three of them, then back at Tatiana. “Yeah, he said he got them from security. What is this about?”

The crew had been given minimal knowledge about Hayden’s stalker, but she had no doubt that rumors were flying. There wasn’t much that could truly be hidden, particularly in such a close community, like the people traveling on tour. Still, as much as she liked Daniel, she didn’t want to contribute to that with too much solid information.

“One of the gifts was concerning, so we’re trying to find out where it came from. Did you see the security guard at all?”

Daniel shook his head. “No. I just saw Anthony as he came backstage, and he had a whole bunch of gifts that he told me were given to him by security.”

“So, what did you do then?” Hayden asked, and Tatiana glanced at him quickly before looking back at Daniel.

Hayden’s face was completely neutral, but she could still see the stress and concern from the tension in his body. It was mixed with what she could only assume was jealousy as he looked at Daniel.

“Um, I helped him carry them to the rooms, then we stopped and split them into whose gifts were whose. I took Sebastian’s and Harrison’s to their dressing rooms and left Anthony with yours and Gabriel’s.”

Daniel seemed disconcerted by this interrogation and Tatiana smiled at him. “That’s really helpful, thanks.”

“No, it’s not,” Hayden said quickly. “He didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know.”

I told you to send him to the fucking bus.

She took a deep breath and said as calmly as she could, “Correct. But Daniel has been very kind in answering our questions, and now we should all get on our buses and head off. Thank you, Daniel. I’ll see you at the soundcheck on Friday, I guess.”

“Ham and cheese?” he grinned at her.

“Maybe. I might go for something fancy like roast beef. You never know,” she joked.

Daniel gave them a friendly wave, and Jesse looked over at Harrison’s tour bus, which was nearby, before he asked, “Are you okay to take Hayden to the bus without me?”

“Sure. Night, Jesse.” She nodded at him and led Hayden toward his bus.

“Why didn’t y—”

“Not now, Hayden,” she snapped at him.

They were only fifty feet from his bus and she was frustrated with everything that had just happened, along with his wanting to talk about it in the open. She led the way onto the bus, greeted their driver, and unlocked the secure door. She stood aside to let Hayden walk through it before her, then locked it behind them and had him stand and wait while she checked the bus. Everything was in order, and she walked back to where he was now sitting on the sofa.

“What question did you want to ask me where every man and his dog could hear you?” she asked him.

“Why didn’t you tell Daniel that he’d probably handled the gift from my stalker?”

“It’s on a need-to-know basis, and Daniel doesn’t need to know, regardless of if he had the package or not. Neither did Anthony, but I notice you’re not asking about what I did and did not tell him,” she said pointedly.

Hayden shrugged in response and said, “For some reason, I don’t care as much about your interactions with Anthony as I do about your interactions with Daniel. Want to know why that is, Tati?”

Heat flooded through her, even as she placed her hands on her hips and glared at him. “I’m pretty sure I know why, and it’s completely baseless. Daniel is a friend, and you’re acting more like a jealous boyfriend right now than a client. It’s not very attractive, you know.”

Hayden stood and took the three steps he needed to take in order to stand directly in front of her. He was so close that there was barely an inch of space between them. She tilted her face up to look at him automatically, and she could barely breathe as he stared into her eyes.

“Isn’t it, Tati? Why do you look like you could happily ride me all night long, then?”

“I don’t,” she managed to tell him.

He raised an eyebrow at her and then ran his gaze slowly over her body from head to toe. She knew she was soaking her underwear, and he was right. She was absolutely aching to be fucked by him.

“You’re lying to me. You said you’d never do that.”

“It’s not a lie because I don’t know what I look like to you, Hayden.” She shrugged as casually as she could.

Well, that was a mistake.

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