Chapter Four
Trigger
The curtains are drawn, but I can still see her silhouette as she moves around her apartment. I’ve been here for nearly two hours, seated on my bike in a dark corner across the street from her place, content to just watch her.
The way one would watch a target.
Except she’s not a mark. At least, not one I need to take out anyway.
From this spot, I have an unobstructed view of her apartment.
The apartment of the woman I’ve allowed myself to grow obsessed with.
I scoff at the thought as it slips in. I didn’t allow myself shit.
Maeve simply plummeted into my life with the grace of a bulldozer.
Tore through all the walls I had erected around myself.
I can’t figure out why it was so easy for her to do what so many failed to achieve.
There has to be a more normal way to find answers than simply watching the woman’s apartment like a creep. It’s sick and it’s twisted to watch her the way I do. She would probably drop my case and report me if she found out what I’m doing, except she’ll never find out.
I’ve never once been caught by a target. People see me when I want them to. Spending half of your adult years in the Marines and the other half in prison will do that to a man.
I wonder if my pretty little touch-starved kitten would be so fierce about protecting me if she knew the way I’ve been stalking her.
She promised to do her best.
And she said it with such arrogant certainty that I couldn’t help but be charmed. Fucking hell, but I want her. Desperately. Fiercely.
Something catches my attention, pulling me from my thoughts, and I look up to spot the woman of my dreams stepping out onto the balcony wearing sleeping pants and a thin top that reveals the shape of her tits and the tiny beads of her nipples.
At the sight, all of my blood rushes south.
But as I continue to watch her, hair spilling down her shoulders in a golden tumble and the moonlight dancing on her skin, I realize that it isn’t all sexual.
Her eyes are closed and lips parted slightly as she breathes in the night, oblivious to the beast watching her from the shadows. Good God, she’s beautiful. Every curve, every line steals my breath away.
No, it’s not all sexual. I don’t fall for women just because they have a nice pair of tits. In fact, I haven’t been with a woman in years. After what happened last time, it’s been hard for me to trust a woman enough. Until now.
Now, I want her. All of her.
My eyes stay locked on her form as I palm my cock in a need to alleviate the pressure, but it’s useless, so I unzip my jeans and take myself out, groaning at the feeling of the chilly night air against my skin.
I can’t take my eyes off her. Not even to look around to make sure that no one’s watching me.
My breath comes in a ragged hiss as I start to stroke my cock, using my precum to slick the movement.
It’s wrong, dirty, and especially careless for me to jerk off in the open where I could be arrested and sent back to prison, but as I watch her, I find that I don’t care.
I see nothing but her.
“Maeve,” I choke out, nothing more than a gasped whisper that disappears in the wind, but her head whips up, almost as if she’s heard me. There’s no way she can see me in the shadows. I run my palm up and down my cock as I watch her peer into the darkness before turning her gaze back up to the sky.
Maeve Halloway has awoken something inside of me.
A beast desperate to mate. A need to possess and claim her like I’ve never wanted to do with another woman before.
I snarl into the night as I fuck my fist, faster, envisioning her sweet pussy taking me into her warmth.
My hips jerk violently with every stroke until my vision is blacking out along the edges, until the voice in my head is chanting for me to cross the street.
To walk into that building and seek out my woman.
To touch her and sate this deep hunger in me.
I bite down a growl as the muscles of my stomach clench painfully before releasing in a rough shudder.
The orgasm robs me of my breath and senses.
It roars out of me, spilling endlessly into my palms and all over my bike’s seat.
I watch her through it all, fisting my cock until I’m drained and my muscles turn to mush.
I grab the wipes I carry with me and clean up before tucking my cock back into my jeans.
Maeve looks up and down the street before rubbing her hands along her arms to fight off the evening chill. With a last look at the sky, she slowly walks back into her apartment and closes the balcony doors behind her, all the while oblivious to the obsessed beast watching her from the shadows.
***
Three days. That’s how long it’s been since I last spoke to my attorney, and yet I know so much about her already.
She likes to run in the morning at six, around the park, and she stops at a juice bar to get one of those green smoothies before walking back to her apartment.
She’s out of her apartment by seven thirty and makes a stop at a café to grab a coffee and a pastry.
Her office is a thirty-minute drive from her apartment and she spends the rest of the day in there.
Way too much time. Occasionally, she leaves when she has court, but then she goes right back to that office.
Is she thinking of me?
I’ve found myself wondering if she’s obsessing over me as much as I am over her. I haven’t been able to do much but focus on her, and I’m helpless to do anything about it.
“Trigger?”
I briefly glance at my wristwatch before turning around to face the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen as she steps out of her apartment building. And she’s right on schedule. A creature of habit who is always out her door by seven thirty.
“Good morning, Miss Halloway,” I say, slowly running my gaze over her body and taking in her outfit for the day.
Christ, she looks so damn sexy in her navy-blue pencil skirt, a silk blouse in a soft blush pink, and nude heels.
It’s not too different from what she wears to the office, but I notice she put in a little more effort today and I can’t help but wonder if she did it for me.
“Uh, what are you doing here?”
I lift my gaze back to hers and notice with pleasure the pink spots on her cheeks. “We have an appointment today,” I say, sliding my hands into my pockets so I don’t reach out and touch her. “Don’t tell me you forgot about that.”
“I didn’t. I couldn’t… I mean, no, of course not.” The blush pink in her cheeks turns a shade deeper. “The office. We were supposed to meet up at the office.”
“Right, but you forgot to give me the address, so I wasn’t sure how to get there.”
“Saint has the address.”
“He’s a busy man,” I challenge. “Hard to catch the man when he’s always running around cleaning up the messes we leave behind. You don’t mind if I follow you to the office, do you?”
“No, I…” Her voice trails off as she looks past me to the bike I left parked at the curb.
“Wait, you rode from the clubhouse, right? My office is on the opposite side of the city. Since my apartment is perfectly in the middle, let’s just have the meeting here instead of making you ride to all the way to my office and back. ”
It wouldn’t be much of a ride, but I don’t correct her. “Sure, if you’re okay with that.”
She nods and starts heading back into her building, leaving me no choice but to follow.
I allow myself the pleasure of openly watching her, shamelessly observing the way her ass moves in that skirt.
I resist the urge to touch her, swat her perfect butt just to see it jiggle.
I’m saved when someone calls out to her as we approach the elevator.
“Maeve!”
I tear my eyes from my lawyer’s ass and look up to find some guy with badly cut hair and a goatee waving at Maeve. He has a small dog on a leash, a chihuahua that yelps loudly as we approach. The man ignores the noise as he turns to beam at my woman.
Maeve smiles politely. “Hi there, Dennis. How’s it going?”
“Good, I’ve been meaning to thank you for helping me figure out the parking ticket thing,” he says with a grin and eyes that sparkle with his attraction for her. “I don’t know what I would have done without you. So, how about I take out for a meal and—”
He stops when he spots me, and I make no effort to hide the scowl on my face or the threat written in my eyes.
Silently, I make clear the hell he’ll face if he takes another step closer to her.
He pales instantly and his eyes shift to Maeve and then back to me.
He must connect the dots and realize that he’s no match for me, and he takes a step back.
“Dennis?” Maeve asks.
“Right, I mean, uh, just wanted to thank you for the legal advice. If you need anything…” His eyes shift back to mine for a brief second before he quickly looks away. “Just let me know.”
“Sure, what are neighbors for?”
When the elevator doors open, I follow Maeve in, stepping right in front of her and shielding her from the view of goatee man.
He visibly swallows and tugs at the leash to stop his dog from following us in.
My eyes stay on his until the door closes and locks him out.
Only then do I turn around to look at Maeve.
“Your neighbors seem nice,” I say as we glide up. “They must love having a lawyer live so close.”
“Not as much as they love the chef a floor up. What’s legal advice compared to the dinner party Mrs. Leonard hosts every couple of weeks? Nothing beats her homemade lasagna. I don’t know how she does it.”
“And your neighbor Dennis, what does he do?”
“Oh him?” she says in a dismissive tone that lets me know the man hasn’t left much of an impression on her, not like she has on him. “He works in finance or insurance, I don’t remember which. He’s a nice guy but his dog scares me a little.”
“How come?”
“She’s possessive of him.” She chuckles. “Barks and shows teeth at anyone who comes close.”
It seems I understand the little beast all too well. Except I’ll do more than just bark at anyone who comes close to the woman I’ve decided belongs to me. I’ll bite. Viciously.
When the elevator doors open, Maeve leads me down the same hallway she did three days ago. She stops at her door and digs through her bag for her keys, and unlike the first day, her hands seem steady as she opens the door and lets us in.
The air smells like a mix of her perfume and something subtly sweet, maybe vanilla.
The entryway is simple, a small console table with a few framed photos and a sleek lampshade.
She slides off her bag and slings it onto the coatrack to the left so I follow suit.
Maeve smiles and gestures for me to follow as she leads me past a small, open kitchen, a colorful fruit bowl seated on the gleaming granite counter.
The living room is cozy and inviting; a plush oversized sofa is covered in soft, textured throw pillows and a chunky knit blanket.
I spot the large windows of the balcony doors that I’ve been watching her through for the last few days. On the balcony is a collection of plants arranged in neat rows, bathing in the soft sunlight.
“Can I offer you something to drink?”
“I’m good, thank you,” I say as I settle down on the couch.
She nods and then pulls her phone out of her bag.
“I’ll order us some lunch to be delivered.
” After a few quick taps, she sets the phone aside and lowers herself next to me, and I have to resist the urge to reach out and touch her.
I don’t know much about the law, but there must be one against getting involved with your lawyer…
or at least against stalking her like some creep.
But Maeve just makes it so darn hard to be a law-abiding citizen.
In fact, she makes a lot of things hard.
“Look,” she starts as she grabs a notepad and pen from the coffee table before turning toward me. “I know this is going to be hard for you to do, but I need us to go back to the first case. If you believe they’re connected, then I need to know everything.”
“You’re not what I thought you would be,” I muse. I can tell I’ve surprised her with my words.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve spent six years of my life cursing cops and lawyers.
Hating them for taking so much from me,” I say, watching the beautiful glint in her green eyes when they catch the light.
The way her mouth moves in a slight pout.
Christ, I could just kiss her. “When I was arrested this time around, I thought, hell, I’m about to deal with another pompous, careless lawyer with an inflated ego. But then I met you.”
She flushes, the flutter of her lashes telling me she loves hearing compliments about her work. She really cares about being a good lawyer. “Every lawyer needs a bit of ego and self-righteousness to survive in the courtroom.”
“And yet, I’d pick you any day.” I settle back before I can do something stupid like pull her onto my lap and kiss her breathless. Even I know that there’s a time for everything, and right now, I need to allow her to work. “What do you need to know? I’ll tell you anything.”
She nods and sits back, creating a bit of distance between us. “Start from the beginning.”