Page 26 of Loved By the Hacker

“No, but you watch me?” she all but growled. “Why?” I was done with giving her distance. Her eyes widened, but before she could step back, I was right in front of her, picking her up. “Oleg! Put me down! This isn’t funny!”

“I’m not laughing, babochka,” I growled, sitting down on my office chair and setting her down on my lap.

“Oleg!” she yelled, but I smacked her ass instead.

“Sit still,” I ordered. “You’re mine, babochka. Only mine.”

“That’s not…” she started to say but stopped. Almost like she wasn’t able to outright lie to me.

“I love you.”

“This isn’t love.” Her shoulders dropped, and now it was my brows that bunched.

“Excuse me?”

“You watching me. Controlling—“ This was where I was going to have to stop her.

“When have I ever tried to control you?” I rasped. She opened and shut her mouth and then pressed her lips together.

“I’ve watched you. Watched us. But never have I ever tried to steer you away from doing anything you want to do. I’ve gone on hikes with you and swam in that lake with actual fish.” I shivered, and she chewed on her bottom lip.

“You’re right.” Her hand rose, and when her palm touched my cheek, something inside me started to slowly relax. “You watch me?” Her eyes were watching me closely, as if afraid to somehow miss something or catch me in some kind of lie.

“I do.”

“When?” I could see the curiosity gleaming to life behind those pretty eyes of hers.

“All the time.”

“How?”

“Do you really want to know?” She stared at me for a moment, silence creeping around us like a cloak. I just wasn’t sure if the quiet that lay between us was good or bad.

“I do. I think… I think I need to know.”

“Why?”

“Just indulge me? Please?”

“If I do—” I swallowed hard. That inkling of fear I had just started to shake off came back to life. “If I do, will it change things between us?”

“I don’t know,” she answered so damn honestly, I couldn’t fault her. “What if… what if after you tell me, I tell you something that will most definitely change things between us?”

“What?”

“Nothing.” She shook her head, readjusting herself on my lap. I was ready to reach for her if she tried to jump off and get away, but I should have known better. My girl, my sweet, beautiful butterfly, simply straddled me, and her hands cupped my face.

“Tell me,” she pleaded, distracting me from what she’d alluded to. “Please.” Fuck, her littlepleasewould ruin me. There wouldn’t be one thing I’d ever be able to deny her when she asked so sweetly.

“On your laptop,” I rasped. “Both at home and the one you have at work. The desktop was tricky because that thing should have been retired a long time ago.” Her eyes widened, and because her thumb started to stroke my chin, I kept sharing.

Like a fucking psycho telling her all the ways I’d kept watch on her.

Hiding in the shadows.

Keeping my distance even when it killed me because her path crossed with her dumbass ex.

She didn’t say anything. She didn’t react. Her face stayed neutral as I got into the nitty-gritty details of having cameras in her home and a tracker in her car. The way I watched us in bed when I got home, stroking myself to the sight we made on screen. It wasn’t until that little confession that her breathing changed. It became shallow. Quicker.

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