17. Pivot
Coop
I don’t release Madison from my arms. It’s not like I can step away at this point and make Hope not have seen us.
Hope is practical and logical. And she’s staring at me holding Madison like she just discovered the biggest secret in the world. Her cheeks are bright red.
“Sorry.” She points to the food on the island. “I just wanted to grab my lunch.”
No one else moves as she walks to the counter and grabs her food. Her wide eyes meet Madison’s for a brief second before she scurries into the other room. As soon as the door shuts, Madison buries her face in my chest and groans.
My gaze flits from Noah’s disappointment to Blake’s contemplation to Seth’s resignation.
“It was bound to get out.” Seth shrugs. “But we can control how it spreads.”
Madison lifts her face to meet my eyes. I brush the hair from her cheek and give her a small smile. I’m not sure what Seth means by that, but I’m sure he’ll tell us.
Blake sighs. “Hope doesn’t spread things around. This won’t get out if we don’t want it to.”
Madison’s gaze goes to Noah. He gives her a soft smile and shrugs. Wonder what that’s about.
“It might be easier to just say that Coop and Madison are dating.” Seth’s words drive into my skull.
“Wait, what?” I grip her tighter.
Madison strokes her hand over my cheek before pulling away from me. I resist for a second before letting her go.
“Is that smart?” Madison takes a deep breath. “What if whoever is stalking me finds out? What if it makes them angry or escalates things?”
“It’s possible they already know about me, sweetheart.” I look up before meeting the others’ gazes. “I fucked Madison in the file room. It’s possible whoever was in there later could have been there then.”
I’m not one for dating. Not since college and the girlfriend who tried to destroy my relationship with the guys. I’m usually happy to fuck whoever the others want to bring on board, or find my own women to fuck, but there’s something about Madison that draws me.
Not having to hide my affection for her would certainly be something I wouldn’t mind, and being able to fuck her in public without reprimands from the others would be a huge bonus. My heart thumps a little harder.
I’d get to call her mine.
Noah shifts and looks uncomfortable, but he hasn’t said anything. He’s never been close to any woman before, but he’s smitten with Madison. It would make sense for him to date her. He rarely goes with a date to functions because he’s shy about it.
The few times I set him up were disastrous. The type of women I date like a more gregarious guy, and Noah just isn’t. But Madison likes him.
She goes to him and takes his hand. He brings her hand to his mouth and kisses it while looking into her eyes.
Even I can feel the sparks between them. The longing in Madison’s eyes to step into his arms, but she can’t risk it with Hope still here.
“We can talk about proper office behavior later.” Seth shakes his head. “Blake, erase that part of the security tape after we review it.”
“After?” I smirk at Seth.
The corners of his lips curl up as he turns to Madison. “It would be best for appearances if you and Coop date. Even if Hope wouldn’t spread it around, the stalker might know the two of you had sex.”
“Courtney mentioned it wasn’t the first time she’d heard someone screaming in the office.” Madison’s cheeks burn bright red. “I didn’t know what she meant, but maybe she heard us having sex too.”
“Guess I have a girlfriend.” I arch an eyebrow at Madison. Her blue eyes are wide as she looks back at me. It wasn’t part of the deal, but I’m okay going with the flow. I just hope it doesn’t upset Noah too much.
“Is this okay with you, princess?” Seth quirks an eyebrow at her. “Even if it makes sense, it isn’t part of our arrangement.”
Her cheeks flush. “It’s fine. I’m adaptable.”
Her gaze meets mine, and I give her a warm grin. I’ve always openly flirted with whoever I wanted, but now I get to openly flirt with Madison. Fuck, this will be fun.
“I’ll review the security footage to see if I can tell who else was in the building.” Blake nods to Madison. “And go over the logs.”
“Coop and I can help you comb through the video,” Seth says. “Noah, I need you to review Courtney’s financials and check to see what exactly she was working on yesterday.”
“What about me?” Madison asks.
Seth’s smile is soft. “Go hang out with your friend. We’ll discuss what we find over dinner and how we’ll work this whole ‘dating’ thing into this.”
She nods and squeezes Noah’s hand before releasing it. Picking up her food, she heads to her bedroom. I step in front of her. Leaning down, I cup her cheek and press a kiss to her lips, knowing I’m now the only one who will be able to get away with this.
“We’ll figure this out.” I slide my thumb across her cheekbone. Her eyes are like a sunny sky. I want to take her and fuck her on the island. Mark her shoulders with my lips and teeth. Make her come so hard she sees stars.
She nods. “I know. I trust you.”
When I step out of her way, I watch her disappear behind the door. Her words make my heart feel funny. Before I can open my mouth to say anything, Seth jerks his head toward the door. We all follow him out of the apartment, making sure the door is secure before heading up to our office level.
Blake does a quick bug check before we all sit in the conference room. Seth sets up his phone to send the video the stalker sent to the large screen. When we watched it downstairs, I could only focus on Madison and her fear.
I still want to try that scenario. To hunt her in the dark and fuck her when she can’t be sure it’s me, but not like that. I want that edge of fear tinged with excitement. Her terror was palpable in the video, and even just watching it, she shook with fear. Even knowing she was safe with us.
When Blake joins, Seth replays the video. This time I note the angle of the camera and the background noises and other sounds. There’s a breath that isn’t Madison’s. We might isolate it with some of our software.
“Her fear excites the stalker,” I say.
Her scream is even louder on the speakers. My heart clenches. We weren’t there for her. While she was terrorized, we were working, not even aware of what was happening in our own office.
Seth stops the video. “Anything?”
“I want to go down and check out the file room to see if there’s any trace of him.” Blake stands. “I’ll try to figure out the angle of the phone.”
“I’ll get started on the Courtney file.” Noah rises.
“Are we sure having her ‘date’ me is the best course?” It’s not the best idea we’ve come up with. I’m not like the others. I don’t do long-term anything. My reputation around the office is as a player.
Blake makes a decisive noise. “It doesn’t matter what’s best. It matters how we cover our asses. If we have to date other women, it makes sense for someone to date Madison to keep an eye on her while the others are busy. We obviously can’t leave her in the building alone. This fucker slipped in when we had everything locked tight.”
“Not tight enough to keep out other employees,” Seth points out.
“Fuck.” We didn’t have this problem when the company was smaller. Employees have access to the building to work on projects, but when we were smaller, we knew everyone who worked for us. Now we have an HR department that takes care of most of that for us.
“I would have taken Madison to the charity dinner.” Noah leans back against the wall with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders drawn forward. “I planned to ask her later today. I figured I could date her.”
Shit. And once again, I fuck things up for Noah. “Why can’t Noah be her date?”
“Because if word gets out that you fucked her and then Noah is dating her, the rumors will start all over.” Seth reclines in his chair and focuses on Noah. “We can’t go through that again. Coop has to be the one, especially if whoever took this video or Courtney comes forward saying he fucked Madison.”
Noah nods. “I get it. I’m not going with someone else. It’s not unusual for me not to have a date.”
Seth blows out a breath and turns to Blake. “That means you and I have to find dates for Saturday.”
Blake doesn’t look happy about it, but the guy rarely looks happy about anything.
“If you need some numbers, I’d be happy to give you a few.” I try to lighten the mood with a grin. Nothing will make this okay. Someone’s fucking with our girl.
“All right.” Seth claps his hands. “Let’s get busy.”
The other two leave, and Seth pulls up the security camera footage. He pauses the footage when Madison enters the room. He then kicks it up a little faster while Madison is working alone.
The door opens and I walk in. Seth, the voyeur, puts the video on normal speed. Unfortunately, there’s no sound. In the video, I close in on Madison.
“What did you tell her?” Seth asks, his gaze is locked on the video as I turn Madison around against the filing cabinet and hike up her dress.
“I wanted to shut off the lights and hunt her in the dark. Then if we caught her, we would fuck her wherever she was, whether she wanted it or not.” Even though I want to play out that scenario, consensual nonconsent is a soft limit for her. And after this, she might not be as willing to play that particular game. I wouldn’t blame her.
In the video, my hips rock against hers as I slide my cock against her clit. She was so fucking wet, I could have just fucked her ass.
“We should definitely play that sometime.” Seth’s voice is deeper as he watches me slam my cock into Madison’s pussy. Of course, the security camera doesn’t do it justice. It can’t pick up her scream as she comes or the hot wetness of her cunt surrounding my dick. The sound of her pussy gripping my cock as I draw it out.
I pull back and thrust into her ass. It’s obvious that I’m fucking her, but it’s not graphic. Nothing is shown. My body blocks hers, but if anyone heard those noises, they’d draw the correct conclusion.
“I know how much she loves being a good girl for you and Blake, so I asked if she wanted to be my dirty girl.” Stroking my finger over my lip, I watch the video of me coming deep in her ass. I’m already hard thinking about it.
I’d love to watch a video of me fucking Madison. My dick glistening with her wetness as I slide in and out. The little noises she makes as she gets closer to coming.
“What did she say to that?” Seth pauses the video on the image of us straightening our clothes.
I grin. “Let’s just say I can’t wait for my night this week.”
* * *
Madison
Hope has been quiet since I joined her in the living room an episode ago. But now she releases a sigh.
“So, you have a stalker?” Hope turns to me on the couch. “Are you safe here?”
I nod. “Yeah, safer here than anywhere else.”
My heartbeat is erratic, waiting for her to say the words. Ask why I was in Coop’s arms. Why Seth got our food. Why they were all here.
Hope smiles wickedly. “Is something going on with you and Cooper? I mean, it’s none of my business if there is, but I can’t help but speculate.”
“Maybe,” I hedge with a small smile, trying to act shy about it. I really didn’t have a friend to talk to about the guys I saw during college. I had a few friends in high school, but no one I was close to. “But we aren’t spreading it around.”
“Oh, my god! I knew you couldn’t stand to be around all this man candy without indulging.” Hope’s cheeks flush and she leans forward. “Personally, I wouldn’t know how to even decide among them. They are all hot, and so different.”
I press my lips together to keep from blurting out that I know, and I’m glad I don’t really have to decide.
“But Cooper. Holy shit, he’s like the holy grail of men.” Hope rocks back. “I mean, I’ve accidentally passed him after he’s been out for a run in his shorts and a tank top. He’s ripped. I bet he has that V thing that men get when they work out a lot.”
I grin. “He’s also really sweet.”
Except when he wants to be dirty. My thighs clench thinking of what he wanted to do to me yesterday.
“I’m so happy for you. At least about Coop.” Her smile falls. “You really don’t have any idea who your stalker might be?”
My smile fades as I shake my head. “I’ve always kept to myself, mostly. I have a weird neighbor, but he also texted on my old phone to check up on me.”
“Sometimes it’s the person you least suspect.” Hope sighs. “We should really watch some of those series on stalkers. Maybe it will give us some ideas.”
“Or nightmares.” I shudder. I don’t need to know what other stalkers do. It’s bad enough I have one who can apparently get to me wherever I am.
Hope reaches over and squeezes my hand briefly. “I’m sorry. Yeah, probably not very entertaining for someone who has a stalker.”
“It’s okay. Let’s just finish watching TheWitcher. I could use a nap this afternoon.”
Hope grins. “We definitely need to go out for a drink sometime, so I can loosen those lips and get all the details.”
There’s so much I could tell her, but not about my sex life. I have an NDA and a relationship with four guys. It’s not something I can go talking about with anyone but those four. “We’ll get that drink soon.”
I don’t know if Hope is the jealous kind of girl, but she doesn’t seem to be. I wish I knew how to read people better. Maybe I’ll learn as I go.