by Tammi Lynn
“My brother says he’s going to score tonight.” Oh, does he now? Only thing he’ll be scoring is those hoops he shot earlier.
“He said that did he?”
“Yup, he said he’s going to get you home after this and that’s why he cleaned his room.” Still living at home with mommy? I wasn’t positive this could get much worse.
“Ryan, how old is your brother really?”
“Don’t tell him I told you, cause he’ll get mad at me.”
“I won’t tell.”
“He just turned nineteen, he’s a senior.” Nope, nope, nope. A senior in high school? He must have been held back a year. I’m fucking out of here.
“Hey Ryan, I have your brothers change from ordering pizza.” I hand him a ten and some ones. “Why don’t you get some more tokens and find Sam? I’m just going to go to the bathroom real quick.”
“Okay! You want to play some games too?”
“No, that’s okay, you use all those tokens for yourself.” I smile down at him. He’s a cute kid, foul mouthed, but a cutie.
Taking one last sip from his soda he runs off to a token machine. Checking to make sure that Sam is still occupied with an arcade game. He didn’t even bother coming over and talking to me, he probably wanted to come here as much for himself as for his brother.
I grab my purse and head outside. I kept my jacket on while in the restaurant but the cool night air is still like prickles of ice against my cheeks. Peter Piper is only about a mile from my house so I decide to walk home, at least I wore slacks today. I can just get a Lyft to work in the morning.
Chapter Eight
I’m about halfway home when I start to hear footsteps behind me. Putting my knife in my right pocket I keep one hand in my purse on the air horn and the other holding my keys through my fingers. My pace quickens to a speed walk and my heartbeat follows in sync. I’m not about to be mugged or hurt and left to lay dying in the snow. I hate the cold. There has to be a better end for me. Morbid I know but tell me a scary situation you’ve been in and I bet you had some of the same thoughts.
As I turn down my street, it’s dark. The one streetlight that is situated in front of a house two down from mine has been out for months, and I don’t want to risk losing the protection in my hands for the light from my phone.
A hand I didn’t hear approaching lands down on my shoulder and I twist around in a flurry, pulling out the airhorn and blasting it in my attackers ear. Not one man goes down to their knees holding their ears, but two. The first is dressed all in black with a hoodie over his head, and the other is my private investigator hottie. Oops.
My favorite stalker was obviously about to grab my attacker when I turned and deafened them, one of his hands still gripping the back of the guys black sweater. Awe, my knight in shining armor. Well my knight in dark blue jeans tight against his muscular legs with a black sweater and tan suede overcoat.
Sending a kick to my attackers side I knock him over and, I really need to learn his name, my PI’s, not the attackers, stumbles over. I rush over to him and help him up, a stunned look on his face and a finger in his ear. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know you were behind me too.”
“What?” He yells out. Fuck. I damaged him.
“I’m sorry I blew an air horn in your ear.” Hearing commotion behind me I turn to see the guy in black stand and start to take off down the street. I begin to take off after him when I’m pulled back by my purse.
“Just let him go, I doubt he’ll be bothering you again.” Damn straight.
“Are you okay? Can you hear me a little better now?”
I’ve never been up close to him before, he’s been a shadow or a random in the crowd. I thought he was hot before, but fuck, in reverse monet he only gets better to look at up close instead of worse. His black hair is nicely styled on top with a fade on the sides, he has dark brown eyes that are almost black, and a chiseled jaw with a trim beard on his tan hispanic face. His full lips are currently in a smirk from watching me check him out. How could I not check him out? Still holding onto his arm I can feel his bulging muscled bicep under his jacket, and his sweater is tight over his sculpted chest. He’s almost the same size as Lance, but a little bigger.
“I’m sure I’ll get my hearing back someday.” The PI smiles. He has a nice smile.
“So where did you come from anyway? I had only heard that asshole behind me.” Come to think about it, this is the first I’ve seen him in a week. He’s either becoming more stealthy, or the Bitch had him back off a little since I haven’t been doing much lately but go to work and home. Well until this week anyway.
“My truck is parked just down the street, I saw him following you and jumped out to help, not that I think you need it.” His eyes trail down to the knife bulging in my front pocket.
“Well thank you. You never know how a situation will turn out.” Thank you for finally letting me get an up close and personal look at you. Fuck, I’m surrounded by hot guys, but I can’t manage to snag one for myself, just get really bad dates.
“You’re more than welcome ma’am.” Ugh.
“Please don’t call me ma’am, makes me feel like I’m fifty. You can call me Sydney.” A name I’m very aware he already knows.
“It’s nice to meet you Sydney.” He smiles again and those dark eyes bore into mine.
Yes, it's nice to finally meet you, when you’ve been stalking me for two months now. “And your name is?”
“Gage Jimenez at your service.” I have something in need of service now, if he’d like to attend to it.
“So you were just driving around?”
“Um, yeah. When I get bored, I like to just take a cruise.”
“Well if you get bored stalking me, you should make the Bitch pay you more.” Fuck! Did not mean to say that aloud.
Gage’s eyes go wide and his mouth opens, nothing coming out. Ha! Gotcha! “I don’t... What? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Sure.
“So it hasn’t been you I’ve seen stalking me the past two months? It wasn’t you I saw talking to my step mom, and getting paid that first month?” Time to fess up hottie.
“Fuck.” He muttered looking slightly embarrassed. It was sort of cute to be honest.
“Yeah, you might want to work on your not being seen skills. I found you out that first week. So how much is she paying you to report back with gossip on my life?”
“I gave the money back.” What?
“What do you mean? You’ve been stalking me for her for free?”
“No, I mean after the first week I told her I couldn’t work for her anymore.” Then why has he still been my shadow?
“But I’ve seen you? You’re here now.”
“I like following you. In my spare time I just continued to watch you,” He admits freely as if there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, “There’s something about you Sydney.” Okay, so he’s a super stalker, but if I have to have one, his sexy ass will do. I’d fucking stalk him if I had the time.
“That’s… Wow.” I don’t know what else to say to his admission.
We’ve been standing in the same spot for a few minutes now and without the warmth of moving my legs and the adrenaline of the chase, I start to shiver. Dark and low clouds covering the visibility of the stars, bring warning of another few inches of snow to fall on the already sparkling white ground. It’s a good time to get inside and warm up.
“I should probably get to my house.”
“I’ll walk you.” Gage places my arm in the crook of his and we start walking. The comfortability and ease I feel with him so close, is unnatural to have with a stranger. But let me tell you. I. Do. Not. Care. I’d probably and stupidly follow him anywhere.
We get to my house in minutes, and he starts walking me up the walkway to my door. “Careful, this walkway gets slick with the drop in temperature at night.”
Just as I say it, my own foot slips and Gage turns quickly to grab me by my arms. In his speed to react his own feet come up
from under him and we fall to the snow on the edge of the slick cement. Our bodies go down with force and I land on top of him, my face at the crook of his next and my lips touching his warm skin. Damn he smells good. Whatever kind of cologne he’s wearing drifts up my nose and I relax into him.
Neither of us move for a moment, my body laying on his and his arms around me.
“Sydney?”
“Yeah?” The warm breath of my words beneath his ear has his body stiffening, in more places than one.
“We can get up now.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry.” Do I really have to? I feel like I could lay here in his arms all night. I get up and lend him a hand to help him up too. On extra steady feet, we walk to my door and stop. I fish out my keys and then once again give Gage a long look over. The snow has melted into his pants and jacket and he has got to be freezing. “Would you like to come in and warm up before getting back to your truck?” Snow has begun to fall and that walk back to his truck will have him frozen through.
“I could do with warming up.” Lust flashes in his eyes and the suggestive tone in his voice has me shaking more from his words than the cold.
Fumbling with the keys I finally get the door open and go inside with Gage trailing behind. Other than Knox I haven’t had any other guys in my house yet, and Gage’s large size makes the open space seem smaller. His presence engulfs the room and all I can see is him.
“You’re soaking wet. I’m sure I have some of my friends clothes you can wear and I can dry yours.” Or you could just wear nothing while I dry them. I bite my bottom lip at the thought and he steps forward, his dark eyes intent on mine. Lifting a hand he places his thumb on my lip to drag it from my teeth and runs it across. Fuck! My libido goes into overdrive and my knees lock up. His simple touch has my body going crazy.
“That sounds good.” Releasing my lip and stepping back he looks around with what I can only describe as a detective eye. I hope I don’t have anything embarrassing lying around.
“I’ll be right back.”
Running up the stairs I go into the spare room that Knox designated as his when he stays over. Not that he sleeps in it, he always ends up cuddled with me. Hoping he’s left some type of clothing that will fit Gage I search through the drawers. Almost everything here will be too small for Gage’s large size. Jackpot. I find an extra large pair of black sweatpants that just might fit him. I can’t find a shirt, but his jacket did keep most of the snow from seeping through.
Quickly changing into a pair of sweats and a tight long sleeved tee, I go back downstairs to find Gage holding and petting Panda, while looking at all the pictures on my mantle. Pictures of me. One when I was twelve with my mom, me at graduation from both high school and college, and numerous ones of me and Knox, a few with Jade.
“I was able to find a pair of sweats that might fit you.” Gage turns to face me and smiles, making me want to melt at his feet.
“Those will work.” Setting Panda down gently on the couch with one last pet he walks toward me and takes the pants from my hands. “Where can I change?”
“The downstairs bathroom is just over there.” I point him in the direction of the bathroom and he walks in shutting the door.
I can’t believe I have this gorgeous man in my house right now. Keeping busy while he changes, I light a fire in the fireplace and turn the TV on. Fast and The Furious is on Netflix so I go ahead and start the first movie. When I go to start some hot water on the kettle for some hot chocolate I hear the bathroom door open.
“Where would you like me to put these?”
Turning around I find Gage in only the sweatpants I had handed him. Holy shit. The man is ripped and his chest is on full display. My jaw drops a little and I can’t help but stare.
“Sydney?” Oh, right, the clothes.
“I’ll take them. I can throw them in the washer real quick before drying them since there was a lot of mud with that snow in the yard.” I walk to him and take his clothes from him, resisting the urge to rub my hands, and body, all over him.
Taking his clothes to the laundry room and throwing them in the washer I find that he gave me all of his clothes. All of them. There is an adonis of a man in my living room wearing sweats that fit snug over his muscular ass and legs, and he’s going commando under them. Totally going to have to take a closer look.
Gage is sitting on the couch when I come back to the living room, my whore of a cat curled up in his lap. Now I can’t check out the goods. She’s always snuggling up to Knox when he’s here too. I know how to fix that though. Heading to the pantry I pull out a can of catfood and pop the lid. Panda’s at my feet meowing in seconds and I put the smelly food in her bowl.
“She’s a sweet cat.” Gage calls over the back of the couch.
“She is, she’s a little beggar too.” After making sure my cat is occupied I take a seat on the other end of the couch as Gage, curling my legs up under me. “Do you have any pets?”
“I’d like to, but with my job I’m not really home much and don’t have the time they’d need.” Shifting his body he gets a few inches closer to me.
Alright enough with the small talk, I need to get a few answers from this guy. “So how long exactly have you been following me?”
His eyes lower a little in embarrassment. “Three months.” Three months? I had only suspected two. “When you saw me talking to Patricia, it was probably when I was telling her I could no longer work for her.”
“So why did you quit?” His demeanor gets shy again and he starts looking at everything but me. Might have to find another way to get him talking a little more. I get up from the couch and head back into the kitchen. “Okay, so how about we play a game. Since you already know so much about me and I know nothing about you we’ll ask each other questions back and forth.” I grab a bottle of Jameson from a cupboard and two shot glasses. “If you don’t want to answer the question then you have to drink. You in?”
“Sure, I’ll play.” The smile on this man lights up his face.
I get back to the couch and sit down about a foot away from him, placing the bottle and shot glasses on the coffee table. Gage scoots closer to where our knees are touching and the contact has me warming up inside before I’ve even managed to take a shot. Filling up the shot glasses I hand him one. “Since you already evaded one question, you get to drink, and then ask me something.”
Gage throws the shot back and I refill his glass. “So why is your step mom so interested in your love life?”
That one is easy enough. “Honestly, I think she’s just bored, her own girls are off and married now so her attention has turned toward me.” I answered his question, but decided to take the shot anyway, making him chuckle and fill it back up. “So if you quit working for the Bitch why have you still been stalking me in your spare time?” I really want to know the answer to this one.
He takes a shot. Damn, is he going to answer any of them? “What’s with the increase of dates lately, before this week I had only seen you go on one.” Now that really deserves a shot, and I shoot one back, the burn of the liquor going straight down my throat and warming my belly.
I still answer him. “Such a bad detective.” I chide him, turning to face him by bringing my knee up on the couch. My knee lays across his leg and I go to scoot back but he stops me by placing his large hand on it. Even though my knee is at least a foot from my pussy, his hand might as well be caressing it with the arousal he has me in from that simple touch. “There may or may not be a Harem Wanted ad in this past Sunday's paper. Jokingly written by me and frustratingly submitted by my friend Jade.” You know what? That one deserves two shots, and then I’ll slow down, I do have to work tomorrow.
Gage takes another shot with me, even though I have yet to ask him another question. His eyes never leave my face, and except a quick look to finally catch a peek at his crotch, mine never leave his. Let’s just say the man is big all over.
“You want to be with more than one guy?” He raises an eyebrow and a
n interested look goes across his face. Fuck yeah! Please let him be into it, I could have at least one of my guys in my imaginary harem.
“Why not? People call me spoiled and I have always wanted more. What’s your favorite color?” The question just shoots out but at least it’s one he might actually answer. I all of a sudden got a little nervous about where that conversation would have gone.
“Currently it’s a golden honey color.” The color of my eyes. Swoon! A smirk pulls at his lips and his hand starts rubbing my knee and thigh. “So what did you buy at that sex shop you visited?” Well shit, guess he just needed a little liquor in him to get a little brave. Although this huge man being shy at all is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.
I take a shot. He’ll have to find out the answer to that question another night.
After putting Gage’s clothes in the dryer and about ten questions later and about two shots more each, I find myself laying on my couch spread across his chest and cuddled under a blanket watching the TV. I don’t even understand how I could be so comfortable with someone I basically just met, but I’m almost as comfortable as I am with Knox.
“Sydney?” I like the sound of his deep voice saying my name.
“Yeah?” My eyes close as I melt more into him.
“I kept following you because there’s just something about you. I was trying to find a way to approach you but kept backing out. You can be a little-”
“Intense?” I’ve heard that before with my go go go mentality.
“Intimidating.”
Little ole me? Intimidating? My fuzzy and drunken head goes over and over that in my mind until I fall asleep. Is that why I can’t even find a boyfriend?
Chapter Nine
The next morning I wake up on the couch alone, covered with a blanket, and a note on the coffee table. How sweet of him not to just leave without a word. It was short and sweet telling me he had a good night last night, and that he would contact me soon.