3. Merritt
merritt
. . .
I was going to get arrested. Or fucking committed.
I wasn’t sure which one would be worse, but fuck if I could stop myself from what I was doing.
Not only had I left the brewery without approaching her, but I didn’t leave. No. I waited, sitting in my car, praying and hoping they didn’t leave through the back exit. The sigh of relief when I saw the four women walk out of the front was palpable. My eyes never wavered from the woman who had been haunting my every waking moment. For a week, I had been thinking about her, obsessing over her.
What was her name?
When would I find her again?
What would she taste like?
And I had found her.
Seven of the longest days of my life, and I finally knew who she was. I had her name and a way to find her. She had walked right into the bar! I won’t lie, I had tried to talk myself into believing it had been a fluke. That it was the drinks I had on New Year’s that fucked with my head and made her into something that she wasn’t.
I’d been wrong.
So very fucking wrong.
The moment our gazes connected, I’d felt that thing inside of me roar to life. It tried to claw its way out of me and towards her. She had looked right into my eyes, once again staring right through to my soul. My dick had been uncomfortably hard while I finished lunch and tried to focus on the conversation my brother and his friends were having.
My body had never been as in tune with another like it was with her.
I could feel her eyes move towards me over and over. When the temptation grew too big to not look, I did. I glanced over my shoulder, and when our eyes connected, I had to force myself to stay sitting on the barstool despite the overwhelming need to rush over to her, pick her up, and fireman carry her out and straight to my place, where she belonged.
Something that would have been considered kidnapping.
I waited in my car and watched them talk for a little. They laughed and hugged, but there was no missing a certain look on my cutie’s face. She’s not yours, a voice perked up, and I swallowed. She was mine. I knew it. I had a feeling she did, too. I had no idea how it was possible, but I would bet my entire financial portfolio on it.
The women said their last goodbyes before each one walked away and to their cars. My cutie walked over to the little light blue Honda that was parked a couple of spots over, and I was lucky my car had tinted windows. She got to her car and looked around with the cutest little look on her face.
Could she feel my eyes on her? Watching her? Taking in every single detail I possibly could?
“That’s right, baby, I’m watching you,” I muttered to myself. “Watching you and protecting you.” I justified just as she slipped into her car.
I knew what I was going to do before she started her car. There was not even an attempt to talk myself out of it. She reversed, and I started my car and followed her as she carefully drove to her place.
Like I said, I was either going to get arrested or committed.
I sat across the street from the small home she parked in front of and watched her. She got her things and walked straight to the front door before slipping in and disappearing from my view.
Not only did I know her name now, I knew where she lived.
It made my heart relax, but not my cock.
The poor fucker was aching, but I ignored it.
All week, I had been jerking off two, three times a day. Stroking myself to completion to the thought of my mystery girl until I chafed. Now that I knew her name, knew where she lived, I wasn’t going to touch my cock.
The next time I’d come would be in her sweet body.
I picked up my phone and called the one person I knew who could give me what I needed. “Hello,” Oleg’s deep voice answered, and I swallowed.
Oleg Sokolov ran a high security company among other things. If you needed to find out any kind of information or keep someone safe, he was the man for the job. We weren’t exactly friends or close, but we knew we could count on one another if needed.
It would cost me but would be worth it. Fuck yeah, it would be worth it. My eyes skated back to her door just in time to watch her walk across her window then sitting down on a recliner and turning on the TV.
Jesus, she was pretty.
Oh yeah, it would be worth it.
“I need something,” I clipped.
“Hello. How are you?” the jerk teased. “You could start a little something like that when you are calling someone for a favor.”
“Oleg,” I warned and heard him snicker.
“ You need something?” I could almost hear the asshole’s grin on his face. “Since when?”
“Since I met the one.” I sighed. Confessing it out loud felt fucking good. Cathartic. The line went silent, and I frowned. Pulling my phone from my ear, I glanced at the screen and rolled my eyes. “Oleg.”
“You met the one?” he repeated. I could have sworn I heard the bastard laugh.
“Oleg––“
“I thought you Harts didn’t believe in the one?” My hand clenched around the phone.
“Man––“
“You gotta give me a moment. Holy shit. How? When? Who?” he peppered, saying more words than we had exchanged since we’d met about a decade earlier.
“Jesus, I didn’t call to braid our hair and yap. I need a favor.” I was growing impatient.
“Man, you gotta give me something.” Despite all the gray shit Oleg dipped his toes in, he was still a good guy.
“I saw her at a New Year’s party,” I shared, hating having to share anything at all. Everything about Scarlett felt like I wanted to keep it a secret. Not because I was ashamed but because I wanted to protect her like a treasure.
“Saw her?” he repeated, and I groaned.
“I know how it sounds, but then today, I saw her again. That’s how I figured out her name.” I winced at myself as the words tumbled clumsily past my lips. I was making it sound so much worse than it was.
“Wait a moment, Merritt. Does she know you two met?” he asked not in a teasing way but with concern.
“It’s… complicated.” I knew this was going to come up anyhow. The line stayed silent for a moment before I heard him shift in his seat and sigh.
“Shit, Merri,” his deep voice rumbled, “Only you.”
“Ol––“
“I’m not sayin’ no.” My eyes shut. “But you know there are a shit ton of women who would fall at your feet to date you?”
“Oleg, she’s…” My eyes drifted to her window, but she was no longer there. Not that I didn’t know exactly what she looked like. I know. “She’s perfect.”
“Perfect? I don’t know if that exists, but sure, whatever you say. Pussy is pussy to me, but whatever.”
“Just wait until you meet the one,” I warned with a rough chuckle.
“Jesus! Don’t go tossing that kind of juju on me. Speaking of, don’t you and brothers believe you’re cursed when it comes to love anyhow?”
“Oleg.”
“She worth it if you get caught? Because you know any info or shit I do for you will not be traced back to me.”
“Yes,” I hissed, and my nose flared.
“You know my rate,” he added.
“I know.” And I did. Thankfully, I’d spent forty years of my life working to make more than enough money that it wasn’t a problem.
“Okay, lay it on me. What do you need?”
“Everything you can find on Scarlett Trejo.” There was no ignoring the quick taps of the keyboard he was more than likely sitting in front of.
“Easy. You will get an email in an hour. Anything else?” I licked my lips and cleared my throat. I’d already crossed lines by following her and asking for information on her, but I knew it wouldn’t be enough. Nowhere close.
“I need eyes on her.” He didn’t skip a beat.
“Eyes, how?”
“Oleg—“
“If she doesn’t know she’s yours, I’m guessing it’s not like she’s exactly going to let you walk into her place and let us set up security at her house. A house that… Jesus, Merri! Are you parked in front of her place? What the fuck?—“
“Technically, I’m across the street,” I interrupted. I had no idea how he knew I was where I was, but I didn’t care. I almost would have been disappointed if he hadn’t. He was the best at what he did.
“Merri—" he started to warn. I ran my fingers through my hair.
“I need eyes on her. Inside her place, following her wherever the hell she goes and giving me updates of what she’s up to throughout the day. Detailed updates.” His low whistle had my jaw clenching. I had a bad feeling I wasn’t going to like what he had to say.
“That’s illegal, Merri.”
“And? We both know this isn’t the first time…” I paused to cool down and be a little more delicate in how I phrased shit. “That you might have been hired to do something not completely on the up and up.”
“Completely on the up and up?” he repeated “There is nothing legal about this,” he hissed.
“So, how much?” I asked, and when he gave me the amount, I didn’t hesitate. I didn’t even blink. “Done,” I agreed.
Hell, I would have paid ten times the amount if it meant laying eyes on her at any time of the fucking day.
When we ended the call, I stayed parked across the street for another hour. Watching. Waiting. Hoping to catch a glimpse of her. But when she shut the curtains over the windows that faced the street, I gave up and headed home.
Soon.
Soon, my cutie will be all mine.