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“What’s going on?”
“You walked past one of the extra scanners we use to search for bugs. It went off,” I explained.
Her eyes widened. “Bugs?”
“Listening devices. Tracking devices. If you had walked through the detectors at the front door, they would have gone off as well.”
“But…” She looked around wildly. “You know about them. You added them.”
“No. Ours would register with the scanner. Whatever this is wasn’t from me. They’re blocked in this room—there are extra precautions taken here so nothing gets through, even the most sophisticated devices. Leo will be up in a minute, and we’ll find where they are.”
“How?” she asked.
“Let’s find it first and figure that out.”
Leo came in, grim-faced. It only took us a minute to figure out there were two bugs. One listening and one tracking. Both were on a little fuzzy animal Raven had clipped to the outside of her satchel. I held it up, showing her the tiny devices.
“Did you leave your satchel behind at some point when you were out with Andy?”
She frowned and thought it over. “Yes. He spilled his coffee the first day I met him, and I went to get napkins. The bag was on the seat between us. Would that be enough time? I was only gone a moment.”
“Yes. He would have had them ready and reached over to press them into place. He only needed a few seconds.” I sat down, studying the small devices. “This explains how he knew where you were and could follow you.”
“He could hear me all this time?” Her voice was garbled, thick.
I lifted my head, shocked at her expression. Tears were running down her face, and she was white as a ghost. She covered her mouth, her hand shaking.
“He listened—he listened toeverything?” she gasped, her breathing fast.
I stood. “Leo—”
He picked up the little stuffed animal and headed for the door. “I’ll come back.”
I crossed the room, kneeling in front of her. I cupped her face, shaking my head.
“No, baby. Not when you were in my apartment complex or my home. Not inside this office building. If we had come in the front door, you would have walked through a security checkpoint that would have shut down the trackers and alerted us to their presence. Because we came up inside the building already, the machines by the front door didn’t pick them up. Leo’s extra scanners did.”
“But before today…?”
“He may have tracked you to my street, but he would lose all capabilities to hear or track you once you’re inside the apartment complex.”
“So, he didn’t—he didn’t hear us? When we were together?” she whispered, her voice heavy with tears.
I stroked her cheek in gentle circles. “No, Raven.”
I pulled her to me, wrapping her in my arms. I sat in the chair she had been in, holding her tight.
“Those wereourmoments. Our intimate, private moments,” she sobbed. “To think he’d stolen that from us…”
I kissed her head, something tender and new unfurling in my chest. “No, Raven. The only one who hears how you sound when we make love is me. I’m the only man who will ever hear that sound again.”
She shuddered and buried her face into my neck. I stroked up and down her back in long passes, marveling at her sweet, worried thoughts. But I hated to see her so upset. She calmed, releasing a pent-up breath of air.
“Why didn’t you turn them off when you discovered them just now?”
“I didn’t want to tip him off that we had discovered them if he was listening.”
“That makes sense,” she agreed.
