Tease Me (Private Listing #4)

“Thank you for letting me go out tonight,” she says softly. Her hand slides into mine and our fingers lock together.

“I’m sorry your night out got interrupted.” I kiss the top of her head. Her hand is small and delicate. So fucking fragile, but so strong at the same time. This woman gets under my skin, makes me long to protect her. Makes me need to love her.

This was never supposed to be part of the deal. Falling in love with her? The contract between us was only for sex, but we didn’t factor in how much she would become a part of us.

None of the other women ever came close to making me feel what we all feel for Madison. They don’t hold a candle to her.

Coop leans on the island next to her. He brushes a strand of her golden hair behind her ear. “We’ll keep you safe, sweetheart.”

Her smile is a little sloppy. I’m glad she and I had our time alone already because I have a feeling the others won’t want her out of their sight after they hear this. I’m not sure any of us will sleep alone anytime soon.

Seth comes out of his room in a pair of pajama pants with no shirt and no socks on. He goes straight to Madison and kisses her softly on the temple before moving to the other side of the kitchen to start a pot of coffee.

“Decaf?” Madison asks.

“Of course, princess.”

We all watch as he prepares the coffee maker. The front door rattles and Noah comes in.

“I guess I’m the last.” He puts his hands in his pockets and walks to the island. He takes the chair on my other side. “Is it as fucked-up as I think it is?”

“Before I play this, it’s important you know that I’ve swept the whole apartment for listening devices.” Her hand tightens in mine and I meet her wide blue eyes. “There aren’t any currently transmitting.”

“Why does that not reassure me?” Coop groans and goes over to help Seth with the coffee cups.

When everyone settles with their coffee, I look to Seth. We listened to the audio and we’ve both been processing. I’m not sure how the others will react.

“Just play it, Blake.” He shakes his head. There’s no way to prepare them.

I press the audio file Play button. Coop’s voice fills the room.

“Bind her hands above her head. I want her to feel as helpless as we do.”

The sounds are hauntingly familiar. Madison clings to my hand with her eyes closed. Our moans, her pants, the sound of us fucking, it’s all there. It goes on and on. Crystal fucking clear.

“Please.” It ends with Madison’s plea.

“Fuck.” Coop slams his hand down on the island. Madison flinches. He paces angrily back and forth with his hands buried in his hair. “What the fuck? The conference room? How the fuck did anyone bug our fucking conference room?”

“It’s not currently transmitting, but we’ll have a team go in tomorrow and find it.” Seth’s focus is on Madison. It’s another invasion into her life. Another piece of her stolen. A piece of us someone else took.

“We can’t be sure how much the stalker has, but it’s safe to assume he has recordings back to when the fire alarm got triggered.” I set the phone away from me. “Madison saw someone go behind the building. We know it wasn’t a coincidence that the alarms went off. Someone triggered them. It would make sense that they could have gotten in during that time and planted it.”

“The other option is that someone who has access planted it.” Noah runs a hand through his hair and shoves off the stool. He strides to Madison and takes her in his arms.

She releases a sob as she turns to hold him. He curls around her like she’s a part of him he wants to take inside himself to keep safe. Her shoulders shake.

“Who all has access?” I rub my jaw. “The cleaning crew. Whoever got in that night. The security team. Patrick Beck. Fuck, we’ve had clients including Hunter Adams in there. It really doesn’t narrow down the suspect pool much.”

“We can’t forget the corporate spy might have planted it and the stalker either gained access, or they’re working together,” Seth says. “There are access cards that are supposed to be kept under lock and key, but it wouldn’t be hard to work around that. There’s a possibility that they know about our honey trap idea.”

Seth stays calm. This is why we excel at business. We remain cool under pressure even if it feels like the pressure is going to explode out the top of our heads.

To have a moment of joy sullied by this asshole’s need to control our woman is infuriating. This all needs to stop. We can’t deal with this on our own. The police are doing what they can, but their hands are tied. Stalking is important, but we don’t have a suspect to point them to. And while he’s sent shit like this, the stalker hasn’t done anything directly to Madison.

“We go forward with our scheme to interview the fake client.” Seth rubs his chin. “We need to go on as if nothing happened. He’ll expect us to find the bug or he wouldn’t have sent the audio.”

“I’ve already called Patrick.” Coop leans against the refrigerator with his hands on his head. “He’s coming in to help us with the corporate spy. He’s setting up the honey trap for us and making sure everything we do to catch the spy will hold up in court.”