Chapter 17
TARA
Little criminal,
You are my business. And I think I’m doing a great job, don’t you?
PS: Since you know my name, it’s only fair you tell me yours.
Your doom,
Knox
My panties were soaked as I scanned through my house, destroying all the fucking recording devices. The impression on the couch, the groceries in the fridge, the washed utensils, the made-up bed, all of it was clear evidence that the fucker wasn’t hiding his snooping. It was a blatant challenge.
He wanted to unravel me. Wanted to scare me into hiding. Or worse, stopping.
But he didn’t know that his stalking was scaring me for a whole different reason.
That it left me breathless for reasons that had led me to my own downfall.
That he was a glaring reminder of my wants and kinks and everything that I’d promised myself to stay away from.
He wanted me to crumble, to give up this chase and run away from him.
But to my own surprise, he was sorely mistaken.
With Shadow tagging behind me, we went to the HQ and checked through every nook and cranny. He hadn’t installed anything there. So it was just me he was after. To my own relief, that made things slightly easier.
I dropped into the chair at my bedroom desk and turned on my home computer.
I chose Kali Linux on the Welcome screen, which I specifically used for my more lucrative interests. Usually, I reserved invading privacy for only criminals. My moral code refused to let me do something like this to an innocent person.
But Knox Steele was far from innocent. Just thinking about him sent heat rushing to the tops of my cheeks.
The fucker was the most handsome man I’d ever seen in my life.
The fact that he was chasing me, stalking me, leaving a fucking sandwich in the fridge for me, only made me crave his fixation more.
My fingers flew over the keyboard as I worked on infiltrating the NYPD database. Once that was breached, I extracted every important piece of information about Knox Steele, including his phone number, home address, and all his open cases.
From there, it was easy. With a few commands—the idiot had not kept his apps updated on his phone, which just became my doorway into his device—my screen displayed “Connection established,” and I was inside Knox Steele’s phone.
The all-too-familiar adrenaline thrummed through my veins as I scrolled through and cloned all his photos, contacts, messages, emails, and all his apps.
I installed my own little mirror app that let me use his phone whenever and however I wanted.
Take that, fucker.
And look, the idiot had his home devices synchronized with his app.
I rubbed my hand along Shadow’s head and gave him some ear scratches. “The boogeyman keeps coming and troubling you, doesn't he? He bothers us in our own home, doesn’t he?”
I had changed the automated lock of my apartment, updated the passcode, and added a manual lock to the door. Despite all of it, Knox Steele had managed to break into my place. He must have a genius hacker in his employ as well as a superior locksmith.
When Shadow gave me his little licks and kisses, I took that as his approval and checked the time.
It was three in the morning. Knox Steele didn’t deserve to sleep comfortably after ruining mine. With that thought, I opened his little home devices app and set the thermostat to a toasty ninety degrees.
Once done, I surfed through other devices connected to his app and hit the motherfucking jackpot.
Cameras. The fucker had two cameras installed inside his house.
Both were installed in the living room. One pointed at the entrance of his house while the other pointed at a door, most likely his bedroom.
I pulled up the live feed from both on my screen and ran to the kitchen to grab a bowl of popcorn while his house got all toasty.
Because I was a good friend, I couldn’t let myself have all the fun. I opened the group chat. I knew some of the girls would still be up since we’d returned from the mission barely an hour ago.
Me: Who wants to watch me ruin Knox Steele’s sleep?
A few minutes later…
Sloane: Girlllllll, what did you do?
Sami: Be there in ten.
Sloane: Lena and Naomi must be sleeping. But be there in two. I’ll bring wine.
Me: Cool. I have popcorn.
Two minutes and thirty seconds later, Sloane and I sat on my bed, watching the live camera feeds as I brought her up to speed on my stalker. Her eyes widened with every little thing I told her.
“He made your bed?” She pointed at the very bed we sat on.
I kept my eyes on the screen, but the small smile that I’d tried so hard to hide slipped out. “Yep.”
She shrieked. “This is the best. He’s so gonna marry you.”
I scoffed. “Arrest me, you mean.”
She jabbed my side with her elbow. “Arrest you in his arms, I mean.”
Warmth flooded my stomach as I tried to ignore my core tightening at the thought of Knox Steele and his thick-ass arms. Right then, the door to his bedroom opened, and he walked out in only his briefs.
My jaw dropped at the sheer magnificence of the man.
His tight briefs covered a very generous package, and those thick thighs had me downright drooling.
His broad chest and those thick pecs covered in some light dusting of hair made me want to rub my face against all that masculine beauty.
Moving lower, his rock-hard abs narrowed down to the very happy trail in between that mouthwatering V past his hips.
My face flushed, and my heart hammered against my rib cage like a buffoon on crack.
“Should I close my eyes? I feel like I should close my eyes.” Sloane’s whispered words broke the spell I was lost in. Maybe it was a bad idea to invite the girls. I really didn’t need anyone to stare at that.
Right then, the sharp rap on the door alerted us to Samaira. Before I could even ask, Sloane jumped off the bed. “I’ll get it. You take a lot of screenshots for later.”
Before I could deny her, she ran out to the living room. I may or may not have clicked a few pictures of him on my phone.
He walked to his thermostat, and I could see him fiddling around with it. Why walk to the thermostat when he had the app on the phone? Such a fucking weirdo.
The moment he lowered the temperature in his house, I turned it back the fuck up.
Once again, he turned it lower.
Once again, I turned it up. Now to ninety-four.
A manic sort of laughter escaped me as he banged his hand on the thermostat. Samaira and Sloane ran into the room at that and dropped onto the bed.
Sami looked flushed and in her pajamas.
“Good night?”
She smirked and winked at me. “A very, very good night. But maybe not as good as yours.”
I chuckled. “Let’s make it better, shall we?”
With that, I opened the music app on his phone, which was already connected to the speakers in his house, and searched for the song I knew he would loathe. The song about sharks that every child loved. I hit play, and Knox Steele, the lieutenant of the NYPD, jumped in fright.
The three of us cackled like deranged hyenas. Shadow immediately barked and jumped around at the laughter.
He ran to his speaker and turned off the music. I immediately turned it back on. We cackled when we saw him mutter a few curses under his breath.
“I wonder how long it will take him to figure out that you’re in charge of his house right now,” Sloane mused.
“Not long if he’s smart,” Sami added.
I stared at the screen as he pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath.
The muscles in his arms bunched, and every glorious inch of his skin rippled as his chest heaved.
The light hair on his chest, those hard slabs of abs that I’d fucking die to lick. Fuck me. He needed to put on a T-shirt.
“Close your eyes, ladies,” I grumbled.
“Fuck no,” Sami snapped. “You invited us. I’m watching this show thoroughly.”
“Sami,” I growled.
“You know I don’t care about your man, Tara,” she cooed.
“He’s not my man.”
“Of course,” Sloane said and winked at Sami. “You’re just protecting his virtue.”
I rolled my eyes and focused on the man on the screen. He tried to reduce the speaker volume again, but I turned it up even more.
He raised his arms in frustration and went back to the thermostat, wiping his forehead.
“What’s that in his hand?” Sami asked, moving closer to the screen.
Sloane and I followed suit. My eyes widened, and I choked on air.
The two of them turned their gazes on mine as Shadow licked my face. My face turned redder as they stared at me and the object in Knox Steele’s fist.
The little scrap of lace that was my lost underwear.
Two absolutely deranged smiles were glued to my face.
“Get out, the two of you. Sorry for inviting you both,” I said, covering my face with both of my hands.
Sloane shrieked. “This is the best day ever.”
Sami chuckled and waggled her eyebrows. “Someone’s got a crush on someone.”
I scowled. “I do not.”
Her lips twitched in a smirk, and she shrugged. “I meant he’s got one on you. But if it’s also the other way around…”
“It’s not.”
I turned on all the lights in his house and made him go on a chase as he went to turn them off.
The more frustrated he got, the more I relaxed.
But suddenly, he stopped. He grabbed his phone and turned his eyes to the camera. Walking closer, he stood right in front of the lens so it felt like he was staring directly into my eyes.
“Fuck, his eyes are cold,” Sami grumbled.
“Gives me the shivers,” Sloane added.
They definitely gave me the shivers, but the kind that lit my blood on fire.
I stared at his face as he mouthed, “Stop this.”
I smiled, raised the volume of the shark song to its max, switched on all the lights, and turned the thermostat to ninety-eight.
His eyes turned volatile, and his body heaved as he shouted profanities at the camera. He went out of the camera’s view, returned with a large piece of paper, and held it up to the camera.
TURN IT ALL OFF, OR YOU’LL REGRET IT!
The audacity. “He did not just blackmail me.”
Sami whistled. “He sure did.”
I shrugged. “I would’ve considered sparing him if he had said please, you know.”
My girls nodded, their gaze pinging between me and the screen, as they sipped their wine and ate popcorn. Never again was I inviting those two for entertainment.
I searched for the song that I needed and hit play.
“Enemy” by Imagine Dragons started to play loudly on his speakers.
His body froze as a proud-as-fuck smile came over his face.
That damn smile turned him undeniably and infinitely hotter.
Without taking his eyes off the cameras, he raised his middle finger to his lips, pressed a kiss on it, and waved it at me.
“Holy fucking shit.”
“Oh my fucking god.”
I stayed frozen on his face as he walked back to his bedroom. I stayed frozen until he came out fully dressed in jeans and a leather jacket. I stayed frozen till he rushed out of the house, flipping me off with both of his hands.
Fuck my life.