Page 121 of The Stalker

Leave. Now. This whole fucking contract. You’re done here, Tatiana.

She strode into the sitting area of the hotel suite and dropped onto the sofa. She couldn’t do this, and she knew that she needed to break her contract with him. Her heart was breaking at the thought of it, but it was absolutely what she needed to do.

She’d been sitting there for about ten minutes when Hayden walked toward her, and she looked up at him as he did. He had gotten dressed into jeans and a t-shirt, and was looking as sexy as ever. Thoughts about how amazing he’d felt when he was fucking her crossed her mind, but she pushed them away.

“Can we talk, Tati?” he asked her.

She nodded and said, “We need to.”

He frowned, then sat on the sofa next to her. Tatiana was overwhelmed by the memories of him deep inside her. She closed her eyes and shook her head as she tried to focus.

Tell him. You need to tell him. Do it now before it’s too late.

“I have to break the contract, Hayden,” she said quietly, hating herself and everything about this.

“What? No, you don’t.”

Tatiana sighed and turned to look into his eyes. He was so handsome, and she realized that he was everything she never knew she wanted in a man. But she couldn’t be with him, and that knowledge was painful.

“Yes, I do. I should’ve done it the night we kissed. Or any night since then, but I’ve stuck around because…” Tatiana trailed off; she didn’t want to voice why she had stayed.

“Because why, Tati?” His voice was low and seductive, urging her to tell him the truth.

She looked away because it was too hard to keep looking into his eyes. “Because I care about you. Because I’m the best, and you need me. But I can’t be the best when I’m like this. I can’t be the best when I’m avoiding doing a sweep of your room because I’m worried I’ll see you naked and spend the next two hours horny because of it. You need the best, and I’m not the best with you.”

There was silence in the room, and Tatiana stared at the blank TV, displaying the reflection of the two of them sitting on the sofa. She could see that he still had his face turned to hers, though, so she looked back at him.

He had a curious look on his face, but when she met his gaze, he gave her a sexy smile and asked, “Seeing me naked would make you horny for two hours, huh?”

Heat rushed to her cheeks and she shook her head. “That’s not the point.”

“I think it’s kind of the point, though,” he disagreed. “You’re right that this thing between us has been distracting. Well, I know that it’s been distracting for me, so I can understand that it would’ve been distracting for you, too. I think about you all the time. I’ve masturbated while thinking about you more times than I can count. Fucking you just now was amazing, even better than my wildest dreams.”

She couldn’t disagree with that. Everything inside her ached to do it again. The idea of leaving him instead of staying and fucking him was intensely painful.

“If we actually did this, surely it would be less distracting? We could fuck when it was safe to do so, and have a completely professional relationship the rest of the time. We wouldn’t even need to tell anyone about us. I don’t want you to break the contract, Tati. I need you, but more importantly, I want you.”

Desire flooded through her body. She wanted Hayden, too, but it wasn’t something that she should let happen.

If you care about him at all, you need to do what’s best for him. Please, Tatiana, do the right thing here.

“I don’t want you to die, Hayden,” she whispered, a chill of foreboding running through her at the thought of it.

Hayden moved on the sofa so that he was right next to her. He placed his palm on the side of her face and stroked her bottom lip with his thumb while staring into her eyes.

“I don’t want to die, but I don’t want to live without you, either.”

Tatiana’s breath caught in her throat. She had no idea what to say to that. Everything with Hayden had been so intense since the day they met. She had been fighting her feelings for him for so long. First, because he was in a relationship, and then because he was her client. She was tired of pretending.

You’re pretending for a reason. If you get involved with him, you’re putting him at risk.

Could she actually have a relationship with him and still keep him safe, though? The thought of anything happening to him was unbearable, but the thought of actually breaking the contract and walking away was just as bad. The only solace she had was that it would mean he could get another security specialist to keep him safe.

“Tell me what you’re thinking, Tati.”

He slowly removed his hand from her face, then placed it on her thigh and softly stroked it with his thumb.

“I’m thinking that leaving you would hurt just as much as you dying,” she admitted.

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