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“Has he been bothering you?” I didn’t like the look of the guy. He was too...pretty. While I wasn’t an ogre, I was a SEAL. And a cowboy. Those jobs came with tanned skin weathered from harsh environments, short hair that couldn’t be styled, and scars. Piper clearly went for the rugged type since she’d fallen for me, but I couldn’t help the twinge of possessive jealousy when he touched her hand, and she smiled.
“Oh, no,” Piper giggled. “That present is for his husband, Calvin.” The additional information made me feel marginally better. Although, I was of the opinion that my Piper was more than enough to tempt any man. “They’re coming up on their tenth anniversary, and Dr. Jessup enlisted me to help with a surprise for Calvin. He’s a nurse in the NICU, and Dr. Jessup is a plastic surgeon, so his presence would have been obvious. I left him little presents that were clues to the two-week European tour Dr. Jessup had planned. It was adorable.” Piper’s expression was a little dreamy, so I filed that story away for future reference.
I forwarded to the next segment on Merrick’s list, and Piper harrumphed when a tall, dark-haired man in a uniform strolled in front of the camera. “You know him?”
“Kind of. Greg is the security guard on my floor. I went to him about all the weird stuff happening, and he just dismissed my concerns. Said I was reading too much into the situation, and I should be thankful for the nice things someone was doing for me.”
An alarm went off in my head, and I began fast-forwarding through the footage but kept the speed low enough for me to pick out the guard whenever he appeared on screen. Not long after Merrick’s time stamp, I started seeing Greg more often, but he always seemed to just be strolling innocently by. However, the asshole was a fucking amateur, and I didn’t miss the looks he tossed Piper’s way whenever she was near. His intense stare was creepy and possessive, but then it shifted to angry.
Piper relayed the events of the day as we moved through the recording, and even though the camera never caught Greg leaving things for her, he always seemed to be around right before she found them. The guy obviously knew how to avoid the security feeds. But the more I watched, the more I was convinced I’d found our man.
On the day Piper called Merrick, Greg finally slipped up.
“I usually park near the stairs for some exercise, but there was a conference, so I had to find a spot wherever I could.”
Lucky for us, that spot was right under a security camera. About an hour before Piper’s shift ended, Greg showed up and slipped a note under her windshield. She’d told me what it said, and just watching him leave it brought back the homicidal impulses.
“No wonder he wouldn’t help me when I complained,” Piper muttered softly. “What a jerk.”
I loved that my woman was so soft and sweet, but I was too fucking pissed to be amused by her characterization of her stalker.
After shooting a quick email to Stirling, I swiveled around in my chair and pulled Piper down onto my lap. “I have to deal with this motherfucker. I want you to stay here, set the alarm, and don’t open the door for anyone except my dad or me. Is that clear?”
Something in my expression or tone of voice must have clued her in to how serious I was because she didn’t protest. “Okay.”
I started to move her off my lap, but she put her arms around me and held tight. “Don’t do anything that will get you taken away from me, Deacon Walker.” She pouted playfully, but her eyes showed how serious she was. “I fully expect you to spend the rest of your life with me.”
Cupping her face in my palms, I leaned in and kissed her thoroughly. “I promise,” I vowed when I moved to nibble on the corner of her mouth. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”
“Good,” she breathed.
My eyes strayed to the bed, and I considered taking her one more time before I had to leave. But I didn’t want to rush the next time we were together. I wanted to take my time and reacquaint myself with every inch of her perfect body.
I curled an arm under her legs and one around her back before standing and walking her to the bed. “Be good,” I ordered before giving her another quick peck on the lips. “I love you.”
Piper grabbed me behind the neck and yanked me down, sealing her lips over mine in a desperate, hungry kiss. When she’d nearly broken my control, she let go and flopped back onto the mattress. “I love you, too. So let that be a reminder of what you’re coming home to.”
I grinned and winked at her as I walked to my closet to get dressed. My sidearm was disassembled and locked in a case on the very top shelf. I retrieved the weapon, put it together, and loaded it, then returned the case to its spot. I grabbed a few other handy...tools and made a quick call to my dad, filling him in on the situation.
Armed and confident that my woman was safe, I got into my truck and headed to LA.
Stirling was waiting for me in the parking lot across from the hospital. I pulled up next to his Escalade and waited for him to climb into my passenger seat.
“Still here?”
He nodded and pointed toward the employee lot. “Shift ends in thirty. He drives that piece of shit van over there.”
I spotted the rusty, old junker and frowned. “Is that his normal vehicle?”
Stirling shrugged. “When I called in and informed him that his car was about to be towed, that's the one he came running out to.”
My laptop was in the back seat, so I reached back and grabbed it. It took me less than five minutes to get into the DMV database and find the car Greg had registered to his name. “A Prius. There’s no van registered to him.” A suspicion was forming in my mind, and if I was right, I’d be making a call to Merrick’s former boss.
I moved on to his bank account. “Cash withdrawal for two grand the day before yesterday. Every other transaction was made with a card.”
“You thinking he bought the van with the cash?”
“Yeah.”
