Page 22 of The Stalker

Hayden let out of a peal of melodic laughter, and she looked at him, thinking just how sexy he looked when he was amused.

“Hey, that’s me!”

“It sure is.” Tatiana took a sip of her coffee and swallowed it, closing her eyes as she enjoyed the rich taste. “Mmm, this coffee is good. So yeah, now you know basically everything about me.”

“Thanks, and ‘basically everything,’” he quoted as he laughed harder, and Tatiana couldn’t stop herself from joining in. “Fair enough. Well, thank you for telling me ‘basically everything’ about you.”

“You’re very welcome,” she said as her laughter eased off.

They looked at each other for a few seconds, and Tatiana became very aware of the space between them. His eyes were so deep and brown, and his tanned skin was perfect and blemish-free. With his square jaw and full lips, he was incredibly handsome.

“I hope you don’t think I find you any less interesting now,” he said into the thick tension in the air.

“I’m really quite boring,” she said.

“How come you’re allowed to lie to me, but I’m not allowed to lie to you?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

She smiled at him and asked, “Perks of the job?”

His face fell, and he frowned at her before looking out the window. He looked out for about thirty seconds before he finally spoke in a quiet voice.

“Please don’t lie to me, Tati. I know you’re joking now, but in general. Please, just don’t.”

She wondered what had brought this on, but she hated seeing him look so upset. He was still staring out the window, looking forlorn. She didn’t mean to, but she reached her hand out and placed it on his chin, turning his face to hers.

She felt sparks of electricity shoot through her body as she did and pulled her hand back from his face as soon as he was looking at her.

You can’t touch him like that, Tatiana!

She was completely horrified that she’d touched a client without his express consent in a way that wasn’t required for her job.

“I won’t lie to you, Hayden. There are things I won’t be able to tell you, but I won’t lie about them, okay? I can do that if you can accept me telling you that I can’t tell you something.”

He stared into her eyes, and Tatiana found his scrutiny intense. Fuck, everything about him was intense. She forced herself to meet his gaze, resisting the temptation to turn away and give herself the relief of not looking at him any longer.

“Thank you,” he whispered, then cleared his throat and said, “I accept that you can’t tell me things. That is an okay answer. Just, no lies.”

There was silence while they still looked at each other. Tatiana was unable to look away, and she felt uneasy over her promise to Cooper to keep Hayden in the dark about the email he’d been sent from the stalker. She tried to read his expression, but it was unreadable, and she wondered again what had caused this reaction from him.

Finally, he smiled at her and said, “And you’re not boring.”

“Okay. I’m not boring,” she agreed. The spell broke, and Tatiana was able to look away from him again. “I should probably finish eating quickly, though. We have quite a few things to do today.”

“Sure,” he said.

She finished her food swiftly and thanked Hayden again for the coffee. He’d called Jesse while she was eating to ask him to come around.

“Does Jesse know about the library?” she asked Hayden before Jesse arrived.

Hayden shook his head. “No. I’ve never gone in there when he was here.”

Tatiana was torn. On one hand, it was a security issue for his bodyguard to remain in the dark, but on the other hand, the fewer people who knew, the better.

“Do you want him to know about it or not?” she asked.

Hayden took a few seconds to respond, then shook his head. “Not if you don’t think he needs to know. I don’t normally tell anyone about it.”

“Is there a reason you keep it a secret?”

---