Page 24 of The Stalker

“I know that you’re probably regretting being so accommodating to me right now. Trust me, I don’t enjoy being a pain in people’s asses, but I’m contracted to a client who has a stalker. You’ll regret this more if someone gets into your building and hurts my client.”

She left his office without another word, leaving him looking frustrated, and she heard a hand hitting the desk as she closed the door behind her.

Tatiana sighed, because she meant it when she said she didn’t enjoy these kinds of meetings. She had little doubt the security issues would be addressed, because Hayden would pay for them if it came to it. She never offered her clients’ money upfront, preferring for the building’s owners to cover these costs. Where they outright refused on the basis of money or offered a sub-par solution, she scared them with a lawyer first, and occasionally, her clients ended up covering some, or all, of the costs.

She traveled in the elevator up to Hayden’s apartment and walked in to see Jesse sitting by the door.

“Where’s Hayden?” she asked.

“Music room. How did your meetings go?”

Tatiana briefed him on the meetings she’d had, then headed toward the music room, sweeping the apartment on the way as a matter of course.

She reached the music room and stopped to listen. She could only hear soft drumming and music, so she was shocked when she opened the door and music blasted her ears.

She recognized the song as a Cruise Control one that was playing through a sound system, but Hayden was drumming along with it. He was shirtless, and Tatiana swallowed heavily as she watched him.

He looked phenomenal. Sweat was pouring off him, and his muscular arms were moving swiftly around. He caught her eye and smiled at her.

When the chorus hit, Hayden sang along with it. Tatiana couldn’t properly hear him, but she was entranced by the performance nonetheless. When the song finished, Hayden picked up a remote and turned off the sound system.

“That was amazing, Hayden.”

“Thanks. I can’t wait to get on tour. Performing our concerts is one of the best things in my life. You can remind me I said that at the end of the tour when I’m bitching about being ready to come home, though,” he laughed.

“Well, hopefully, I’m long gone before the end of the tour,” Tatiana replied.

Hayden froze for a second while in the process of putting his drumsticks away, then finished what he was doing and stood up to look at her. “Yeah, of course. The faster you’re not around, the better, I guess. Is it strange to have people always wanting you gone?”

He’d walked over to her as he was talking and stopped in front of her. Tatiana resisted the urge to ogle him shamelessly as he did, but couldn’t resist giving him a once over. His jeans were riding low on his hips and his waist tapered into a ‘V’ at the waistband.

Tatiana forced a casual laugh and said, “Well, I’d never thought of it like that, but now I’ll just always assume my clients are wishing I would piss off.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Hayden backtracked while an attractive red flush came to his cheeks.

“Oh, no. You said what you said. I distinctly heard you say you want me gone,” Tatiana teased him with a grin.

He finally laughed. “Okay, let’s go with that. I’m just counting down the hours until you leave. The last twenty-four hours since we met have been practically unbearable.”

Oof.

There was a bit too much truth to his words for Tatiana. Not because she wasn’t enjoying herself, but because she was enjoying herself too much with him. It was a good reminder that he was a client, and he had a boyfriend who she would no doubt be meeting tonight.

“Well”—Tatiana cleared her throat and tried to pull it back to a professional level of conversation—“as you’re stuck with me until your stalker is found, I’m assuming that’s not what you’re wearing out tonight?”

“No, I’ll definitely need to shower before we leave. We’ll be having dinner at Sebastian and Lita’s, then we’re meeting the rest of the guys at Club Delirium afterward.”

Tatiana pushed away the images that the mention of him taking a shower had forced into her brain and smiled casually at him as she said, “Excellent.”

Good gravy. This might just be her hardest contract yet.

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