Tease Me (Private Listing #4)

My gaze stops on Blake. Once again, he’ll be the odd man out.

“Are you going to come?” I ask him.

Blake’s eyes widen in surprise. “No, tiger, but I’ll be close in case anything happens.”

Excluding Blake leaves him on the outside. But for this particular night, it wouldn’t make sense for him to be there unless he had a date.

Blake has refused to find dates before. I’d trust him to remain true to me if he brought a date, but me trusting him isn’t the larger issue.

“If seeing Drew doesn’t get Elizabeth to crack, we have a plan B.” Seth nods to Coop.

“I’ll get Elizabeth alone so she can confess her actual plan.” Coop’s light blue eyes meet mine. “I can be very persuasive. Can’t I, goddess?”

Coop does have a track record of getting his way, especially with me. Heat flares inside me.

“This is important, princess. You can’t leave the table alone.” Seth breathes out. His dark blue eyes lock on mine and I can feel his seriousness down to the center of my being. “Sara will escort you to the bathroom if you need to go, but you don’t leave without one of us.”

I nod. I’m not foolish enough to believe I’m invincible. My stalker could be there. Even if I can’t picture him, he’s a normal man. Well, normal and rich. He has the means to do a lot of things. It’s likely he’s in the same circles as Coop. Which doesn’t make sense because when would I have run into a guy with that kind of money?

We all eat a little, lost in our own thoughts. Seth straightens and clears his throat.

“We need to discuss Patrick again.” Seth rubs his jaw. “We’ve left him alone in our offices on more than one occasion. He’s supposed to know our business, but does he seem too invested in Madison at times? He received texts, but anyone can send texts.”

Coop blows out a breath. “I’ve thought about it, but I’ve also spent time with him. He doesn’t actively seek Madison out. If she comes into the room, he doesn’t stop what he’s doing. He doesn’t even acknowledge her. But while we’ve known him for years, do any of us really know him? He’s not really the kind of guy you ask to have a drink after work. He gets the job done and goes home to his wife and kids.”

Exactly.

“I wouldn’t rule him out though.” Blake puts his fork down and looks around the table. “He’s known Madison longer than he let on. He didn’t mention she worked for him when he ran the background check.”

When I open my mouth, Blake shakes his head. “I know he doesn’t run the household, but as a father, he should know who’s being let into his home and who takes care of his children.”

Okay, that’s fair.

“He has access to us here. He knows our business. He knows that the four of us are in a relationship with Madison.”

“Wouldn’t the stalker want that to stop?” Noah leans in. “If Patrick is the stalker, then why didn’t he try to interfere with Madison being hired? He knew we’d offer her the deal. He knew we wanted to fuck her. If he wants her to himself, why would he allow that to happen?”

Everyone is quiet and contemplative for a moment. I just can’t connect the faceless terror in my life with Patrick. Robert would be more likely than Patrick. But it’s not Robert.

“Does Patrick even have that kind of money?” I ask. “Yes, he’s a lawyer, but why would he waste resources on me when he has a house, a wife, and kids to take care of?”

“Anna.” Coop taps his finger on the table. “Anna is a Whitley. If she’d been a few years younger, my parents would have approached hers about arranging a match. But Anna fell in love with her college sweetheart. Her parents are a love match, so they wouldn’t consider arranging a marriage over love.”

Well, fuck. That means he would have access to wealth. “But they both work.”

Coop nods. “And they have a huge trust fund to fall back on if they ever can’t work. They work by choice, not necessity. If he left Anna, he’d be leaving her money. The stalker also doesn’t like the fact I’m fucking Madison. Patrick knew about our offer.”

“True, but we shouldn’t discount Patrick just yet.” Seth rests his elbows on the table. “That means his access to her and our areas needs to be limited. We also need to consider everyone in our lives as a potential suspect.”

I poke at my food, suddenly not very hungry. They have to deal with this stalker because of me. So far it’s just me he’s been after, but if he’s going after Coop, that means he could go after all of them.

That announcement sounded really bitter.

“Did your publicist figure out who put in the announcement?”

Coop’s blue eyes meet mine as he shakes his head. “It was done through their website using a generic web payment. Whoever did it was not my fan.”

“We’ll need to update Bill and check on where they are on the phone.” Blake watches me. “Maybe this might be the escalation we need to push it to a higher priority.”