Page 19 of The Stalker

Hayden turned red and shook his head. “No, Blake doesn’t even know this room exists. I asked my friends not to tell him about it, because he’d insist on knowing how to get in.”

Tatiana made no comment on their relationship, which sounded as though it might just have more problems than Blake’s obvious jealousy issues.

She nodded her head. “Okay. Well, if there’s ever an emergency, I want you to hide in here. This is harder to get into than your bedroom. It also means you can have a little freedom if you want to shut yourself in here because I feel confident leaving you in here on your own. Anywhere else in the apartment, other than your bedroom, and I need to remain nearby.”

“Noted,” he said, and Tatiana noticed that the tension had left his body.

Hayden looked more relaxed, and the concerned look had left his face as well. She smiled at him and was rewarded with a bright smile back at her.

“Did you eat breakfast?” she asked.

“Yeah, I did.”

“Well, I need to shower and eat. Do you want to stay in here while I shower, or would you rather lock yourself in your bedroom?”

Hayden looked at her for a few seconds, then said, “I’d rather lock myself in the bedroom near you. Though, you did say this place would be harder to get into.”

His eyebrows knit together in a frown as he obviously took time to consider the two options.

Finally, he said, “No, I’ll go to my bedroom.”

They left the library, and Tatiana led the way back to their bedrooms. She shook her head to herself as she remembered him sneaking up on her. It had been years since someone had succeeded in doing that. The element of surprise had definitely been on his side, of course.

When they reached their rooms, Tatiana waited as Hayden entered his room and locked the door. She went to her room and stripped off her clothes before heading to the shower. Immediately once she was naked, she felt exposed and very aware that Hayden was in the next room. That was ridiculous. She’d been naked in plenty of clients’ houses before.

Of course, you’re not usually in the habit of masturbating while thinking about said clients.

Heat flooded through her at the memory of last night, and once again, she felt guilty for thinking about Hayden like that.

She tried not to take too long in the shower, pushing away any dirty thoughts that might be floating around in her brain about Hayden. Once she was out, she dressed quickly and headed to his room.

Tatiana twisted the door handle, and it wouldn’t turn. Good. She grabbed the keys out of her back pocket at the same time as her phone started vibrating in her front pocket.

She laughed as she saw Hayden’s name on the screen and answered his call. “Hello, Hayden.”

“Someone’s trying to get into my room. I’m guessing it’s you, though.”

Tatiana laughed, “Yes, it’s me. I’ve got the keys. See you in a second.”

She hung up the call, and returned to opening the door. She’d unlocked the handle lock and the first deadbolt when it swung open. Hayden was standing in front of her, in the same jeans and t-shirt he’d been wearing before, but he was so close to her now that she could smell his clean, fresh scent, along with the hint of coffee he always seemed to carry.

“Uh, hi,” Tatiana said, so disturbed by his nearness that she couldn’t even form the words to tell him off for opening the door instead of letting her do it.

She pushed away a helpful image her brain supplied of him wearing swim trunks and frolicking in the surf with the rest of his friends on some tropical vacation that she’d seen online.

“Hey,” he said, and smiled at her. “Did you have a good shower?”

Tatiana blinked at him for a second. Talking to him about her shower was not exactly helping the issues she seemed to be having with maintaining her professional relationship with him.

Get it together. He’s just being polite because he’s a client.

She definitely should not be thinking about this man in any way other than about how she needed to keep him safe.

“Yes, it was lovely, thank you.” She gave him what she hoped was a professional smile and pretended she hadn’t come the previous night to images of him in her head. “What do you need to do today? Are there any plans?”

“I’m pretty sure we’re going to Club Delirium tonight, but that’s it.” A soft smile came over his face. “I do want to go over to Sebastian’s to see him and Lita. They just had a baby.”

Tatiana nodded. She’d found this information out during her research as well. “We can do that.”

---