Page 41 of Somebody's Watching Me
“I guess you could say I’m the lucky agent assigned to handle all things Fairweather.” Klausen popped open the folder in his hand to read its contents. “You were the one who spotted the intruders on the security camera and set off the alarm.”
“Yes.”
Klausen made a noise as if the information were the most fascinating thing he’d ever heard. “You were running a security check?”
“A standard one,” he replied, careful to keep his tone even. “I was about to log out when an invalid security entry popped on the screen, and I traced the error code to Haven’s front gate.”
“Do you normally execute security checks late at night?” Klausen asked, turning his attention from the file back to Rowan. The man scanned every tattoo, every piercing, even the scar on his upper lip left behind after racing his sister on dirt bikes as a kid. “As head of IT, I would think you have employees to do such menial tasks.”
“Depends.”
“Depends on what?” Klausen’s eyes narrowed behind his dated glasses that looked straight out of the eighties. “You don’t seem like a man who would start your weekend off in such a way. Were you looking for something in particular?”
“Maybe I find numbers more interesting than people.”
“Right.” Klausen gave him a half smile and returned to reading his file. “It says here you’re based in Texas. Why are you in Florida currently?”
“I closed on a condo yesterday.”
“Looking to move to the area full-time?”
Rowan refused to glance at Annabeth. “Maybe one day.”
“Get to the point, Klausen,” Liam spoke slowly, enunciating each word as if talking to a small child. “If you even have one.”
“You know he doesn’t,” Samuel goaded. “He never does.”
Klausen turned to Ben. “Mr. McIntyre is the son of one of your biggest competitors, is he not?”
“He is,” Ben replied, not at all impressed by the questions. “But that doesn’t matter.”
Klausen huffed. “Oh, I beg to differ.” Snapping the folder shut, he pointed it at Rowan. “This man could be the one who let them in. This could all be a ruse by a competitor and have nothing to do with Tobias Miller.”
“Excuse the fuck out of you,” Rowan snarled. His family and the Fairweathers might be at odds ninety percent of the time, but he wasn’t about to stand here and listen to bullshit. “Who in the hell—“
“We were having sex!”
The shouted statement came from Annabeth, who swiftly covered her mouth as if she could shove the words back in. Every pair of eyes in the room swung toward her. Some wide. Some laughing. Some confused.
Removing her hands for a split second, she spoke again, the words tumbling out so fast Rowan could actually feel his soul leaving his body. “We have sex on Friday nights via the security system. He’s usually inTexas, so we do this whole voyeuristic thing where he watches while I... uh… take care of myself as he does the same.”
Yep.
That was most definitely his soul leaving his body.
All attention shifted to him, with only one person remaining unfazed by Annabeth’s confession. Lifting on her toes, Evangeline Fairweather whispered loudly to her husband. “You owe me fifty dollars.”
Harper’s hand shot up. “What does voyeuristic mean?”
“I’ll explain in the kitchen.” Taking the girls by the hand, Evie led them out. “We can have ice cream while we talk.”
Theo squealed, doing some sort of gyrating dance as she went. “Ice cream breakiefast!”
The girls and Evie left, and silence blanketed the room until Selah’s voice shouted from Abe’s phone. “Damn it, Abe! Turn me around so I can see him.”
“I think that clears up that, Klausen.” Ben was the first to compose himself. “Congratulations on embarrassing someone who went through hell last night.”
“I’m sorry.” Annabeth hid her blushing cheeks behind her hands, and Rowan forced himself to stay where he was. She might appear small and vulnerable right now, but he knew better. That inner strength would get her past this. “I just don’t want Rowan in trouble.”
