Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107115 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107115 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
The second Toddhole got bored with this game and stopped hovering, the sooner Matt would retrieve the ring, help himself onto the balcony, break into the bastard’s room, and start figuring out what shit Pershing was hiding and why.
But instead of letting up, Todd dug in. The next Thursday that should have been Matt and Madison’s alone? Todd insisted on taking her to her hair appointment. Then he paraded her into an upscale eatery for an early dinner, touching her in public, where she couldn’t escape—and making sure Matt saw, of course—before insisting they needed to head home and finish preparing for Saturday’s campaign event.
When they arrived, Agatha was waiting with Madison’s wardrobe for the next few weeks. Half of it was at least a size too small. The old bag frowned in disapproval and disgust. Todd joined in, berating Madison for her juicy ass—only good for fucking and bad for the campaign trail. He warned there would be repercussions if her pantsuit didn’t fit in the next eighteen hours.
Matt wanted to strangle them both.
Eventually, Agatha tossed up her hands and left. Todd decided that “preparing” should include more touching that rattled Madison as they practiced entering a room, sitting, then exiting together. Finally, Madison had enough of the little prick’s groping and went to bed.
Matt cursed. He hadn’t had the opportunity to touch her once in the last week. Worse, Todd wore a smarmy, gotcha smile like he had something up his sleeve. It made Matt uneasy.
Just after midnight, he unleashed it.
“Come to the living room. I need to show you something, Montgomery.”
“Not happening. I’m watching over Madison.”
Todd held up his hands. “I’ll be in the living room with you. I can’t touch her from that far away, and there’s no one else here. Give me five minutes.”
“No.”
“Say yes, and I’ll let you and Madison have Monday and Thursday together next week.”
Matt didn’t want to be swayed. Todd was only being generous for some cause that suited him. But the little prick really couldn’t hurt her from another room, and Matt craved the alone time with his girl.
Nailing Todd with a suspicious stare, Matt began sweeping the unit. “Open your bedroom door so I can ensure no one’s inside.”
“Sure.” Todd flashed his fob in front of the panel and shoved the door wide with a too-affable smile.
Matt didn’t trust that expression as he prowled into the bastard’s personal space, checking from top to bottom. Empty. He turned to Todd again. “Study?”
As if he didn’t have a care in the world, Pershing unlocked that room, too. Matt wished he had an opportunity to search the drawers and what he’d bet was a wall safe behind a painting. Hopefully, another time… At least he could be assured that no one else hid in the home office.
Then he tapped on Ethan’s door. To the kid’s credit, he was awake, half dressed, and eyeing him alertly in under thirty seconds. “What’s wrong?”
“Your room clear? Nothing and no one giving you shit?”
Ethan looked at him as if he questioned Matt’s sanity. “No. If someone was trying to get into my room, they’d be fucking dead. What’s going on?”
“Toddhole wants to play show-and-tell.”
“And you’d tell him to fuck off, but he’s going to give you something you want. More time with Madison?”
The kid was nothing if not perceptive. “Yeah.”
“Need me to watch her door?”
Matt hated trusting Ethan, but he’d proven solid on days and had been surprisingly less interested in seducing Madison lately. “Would you?”
“Sure. Let me grab my gear.”
“Jesus, you paranoid bastard,” Todd grumbled. “I didn’t ask you to leave the building or even the unit, just walk down the hall.”
Matt ignored him, sweeping his own bedroom before facing Todd. “Let me into Madison’s room.”
“No.”
“Then fuck you.”
Sighing, Todd shook his head like the interaction he’d started was a chore, and Matt was totally beneath him. “Fine.”
As the douche swiped his fob over the panel, Matt waited for the little click, then pushed into her bedroom.
She slept on her side, hair in a messy bun, with one hand under her cheek. Her bare shoulder, bisected by a pale spaghetti strap, peeked out from her covers. He stifled an overwhelming urge to touch her and slipped into her closet, her bathroom, and every dark corner in between until he was convinced only the four of them were inside the apartment.
Finally, Matt shut the door behind him and met Todd in the hall just as Ethan emerged from his room, now wearing a T-shirt and carrying his Glock. With a nod, the kid stood at Madison’s door.
“Thanks,” Matt said to his fellow operative.
“No sweat.”
Matt addressed Todd. “Okay. What’s in the living room that you need to show me right this fucking minute?”
“Since you’re the guy who needs to see what I can do for you before you believe me, I brought you a present. Check it out.”