“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I reply dryly.
Kynan heads to the master suite, and I go to my office. It takes only a second for me to pull my laptop out of sleep mode and open up Gmail.
Mom’s email is at the top, the subject line reading “Apple Hickory Pork Loin”.
“Perfect,” I murmur, moving the cursor to open it so I can print the recipe, but something catches my eye.
It’s the email right below.
The subject line says, “Naughty Girl”.
I focus on the sender. The email address is nondescript, and I don’t recognize it—[email protected]
It’s the “Naughty Girl” that has my blood turning cold. My hand shakes as I slide my finger over the track pad and double click to open the email.
I quickly scan over the words, and nausea rises within me.
You’ve been a very naughty girl, Joslyn. Actually hiring someone to try to thwart me. But don’t worry. I’m not mad about that—more like amused.
What pisses me off is you think you belong to anyone but me.
You are mine.
And when I finally have you, I’m going to make you pay for letting another man touch you.
Until we meet again…
He’s coming. This is proof positive he’d taken the bait. It had pissed him off just as Kynan said it would.
I should feel relieved. Instead, I’m terrified.
“Kynan,” I call, raising my voice loud enough he should be able to hear it above the sound of the shower. Then I up the volume just a little more. “Kynan.”CHAPTER 21Kynan“Tell me you can find the fucker,” I growl as I pace the interior of Joslyn’s office with my phone in hand. She’s sitting in her desk chair, eyes glued on me.
Bebe’s voice comes to me over the speaker on my phone. She’s remote accessed Joslyn’s computer to see the email from the Jameson offices in Vegas. “I’ll try, but I doubt I’ll have any luck. This guy has major skills. I’m sure he’s used a VPN or even the dark web to obscure his location.”
Not good enough. “Bloody hell, Bebe. I sprung you from prison. You’ve got to give me more than ‘I can try’.”
Joslyn’s eyes flare wide, because my tone is almost threatening in nature. Sighing, I prepare to apologize, but Bebe doesn’t seem fazed. Her voice is bland. “I can only do so much with the laptop you bought me, Kynan. You want me to locate this guy, then it’s going to take equipment you can’t buy on the open market.”
That gets my attention. “But there is a way if I got you the right stuff?”
“Yeah, sure,” she replies. “It’s all black-market stuff, which I’m sensing doesn’t matter to you. But it will take time, and I’m betting we don’t have that.”
“Fuck,” I mutter, scrubbing my hand through my hair in agitation. Joslyn stands from her chair. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to start dinner,” she replies softly. “You don’t need me involved in this.”
“Hold on, Bebe,” I say, then tap the “mute” button. Moving to Joslyn, I put my hand on her shoulder.
Dipping my head, I put my eyes level with hers. “You okay?”
Her smile is wan, but it doesn’t appear to be forced. “I’m fine. You’re doing your thing with Bebe, and you don’t need me in here for that. I’m better off staying busy, so I’ll go start dinner.”
It’s hard for me to understand how just five minutes ago, I was turning on the shower in Joslyn’s master bath with about a million dirty thoughts in my head. Then her scream almost had my heart exploding. When I read that fucker’s email, I almost stroked out.
It’s what I’d wanted to happen. I wanted to goad him into action, but now I have his undivided attention, I’m feeling a little unsure of just how prepared I am. Bebe not being able to wave a magic wand to find this guy by his email isn’t something I want to really hear right now.
What I want is this guy’s address so I can track him down, probably beat him with my bare hands until he’s a bloody mess, and then haul him off to the police station.
I pull Joslyn toward me, brush my mouth against hers, and murmur, “Don’t start dinner. We’re going out instead, so go ahead and hit the shower.”
“We are?”
“Yeah. If this guy is watching you closely as I suspect, I don’t want him to think this has you rattled in any way. I want him to see you strong, and he’s totally going to see us as a unit.”
Joslyn sighs. She’s a little tired of all the hobnobbing and socializing we’ve done the last few days as we’ve splashed ourselves around the celebrity circuit. We had both been looking forward to a quiet evening in.
But now her stalker is good and pissed, and I want to throw it in his face she’s not scared. We’re not intimidated.