Sleeping at Patty’s house and not touching her beyond a kiss for the past two weeks had been killing me. For the past few nights, she had been walking around in pink boy shorts that left nothing to the imagination. The other night, she came into the living room to watch TV with Lemon and me. When I looked up, she had on a thin, tight white shirt, without a bra. She was as frustrated as I was, but I wanted to take the relationship slow and allow us time to get to know each other. Patty had wormed her way into my heart, and I wanted our relationship to go somewhere. She was more than another notch on my bedpost.

We had no activity on Patty’s stalker, but we received a report that he’d contacted a new victim. Thinking about the new evidence, I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings. I never heard Brock walk in.

“Hey, boss, want to have lunch today? We could discuss the stalker case,” Brock asked from the chair across from my desk. Brock’s large size engulfed the chair.

“That’s fine. Patty is bringing me lunch today. I will have her and John stop to grab us both something to eat. Then we can all sit down and talk about the case,” I told Brock.

He threw some updated case files on my desk and went back to his computer lab.

Over the past couple weeks, I’d learned Patty had a love for anything chocolate. When Mia did an office order for snacks, I had her order a few bags of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups to keep in my desk for when I did something wrong. I think one of my favorite dates was when we stayed in and watched marathons of The Big Bang Theory, just the two of us nestled on the couch. Well, the three of us, because her sixty-pound basset hound didn’t realize she was too big to lie on the sofa.

The previous night, we talked about her father and how he used the money from gem mining to support all the local people. The country was well off, and in the past, Patty and Jessica were the target of kidnappers demanding money. The thought of Patty being on the radar of many kidnappers didn’t sit well with me. If Patty’s identity got out, she would be the target for more than just the Waterville Stalker.

In the back of my mind, I was glad she had decided not to take over the crown. When I met her father, I wanted to ask how that worked when someone decided not to take the crown. I didn’t think she could simply say, “No thank you,” and he would pick the next person. I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that her father was merely letting her believe she was not taking it and that she really would be.

I knew it was early in our relationship, but I needed to think about these things before I fell more than I already had. I was contemplating if I would still be with her if she had to take the crown. But that wasn’t even a question: I would stay by her side.

The next few hours passed quickly. I was looking at the latest emails our victim in Austin had received when a knock brought my head up. Patty had changed her hair to a light blue. Her white sundress fit her curves and stopped right above her knees. The shoes had me shifting in my seat. Patty had on six-inch high heels that made her ass look plumper.

“Hey, pixie, is it already lunchtime?”

Patty walked over and sat on my lap. I didn’t even have to pull her over to me anymore; she automatically came and sat with me. It made my day to wrap my arms around her and smell her vanilla body wash—even though it was killing me not to bend her over the desk and take her hard and fast.

“What are you thinking about?” Patty asked while her cheeks turned red.

“I was thinking about the different wicked ways I could fuck you,” I whispered in her ear.

“Okay.”

I knew she was getting frustrated with me for holding off sex. I wanted it to be special and have her trust. I had a date in mind, and I was sticking to it, even if it killed her or me.

“No, my little pixie, not yet. The first time I have you, I want you spread out on my bed, so I can feast on you for hours.” All this talk and imagining her spread out was making my pants extremely tight.

“I feel like you will make me wait a year. At least I brought my second-favorite thing for dessert.”

“Did you bring extra Reese’s for Brock and me?”

“As if! I got you guys sandwiches. You should have learned by now, I don’t share Reese’s.”

While Patty and I were spreading the food out over the conference table, Brock walked in with his folder and sat down across the table from us so we could talk about the case.

“Hey, shortcakes, thanks for bringing food. How has John been working out the last few days?” Brock asked.

I’d needed Brock back at headquarters working on the case I had Mia looking into. So I’d put John on Patty during the day. She criticized how he didn’t know computer talk and grunted at everyone. She also grumbled that everyone was scared of him and no one would come talk to her. I laughed, and that made her madder.

“He scares everyone away,” Patty complained.

I saw Brock trying not to laugh. He’d told me Patty was a chatterbox at work. I assumed the bodyguards were putting a huge dent in her gossip at the office.

“Did you tell Patty about the changes?” Brock asked me.

“The stalker seems to have targeted another woman. This new person is out of state. I will have to go and investigate the case.” I could see the wheels turning in her head. I’d learned that when she played with her food, she wanted to ask something but wouldn’t.

I didn’t want to leave her, but if we found the guy, she would be safe. I was also worried the guy was sending me on a wild-goose chase and that he would target Patty while I was gone. The woman’s notes were exactly like everyone else’s. The media hadn’t received a copy yet, so we knew it wasn’t a copycat.

“Why do you have to go?” Patty asked, still playing with her food.

Seeing I needed some alone time with Patty to talk about the plan, Brock excused himself.

“Come sit with me. I like having you in my arms.”

Patty walked over, climbed into my lap, and rested her head on my shoulders.

“Tell me what is bothering you.”

It seemed like ten minutes before Patty said what was on her mind. “Are you taking this away case because you’re sick of me? I know I can be a little much.”

“No, it is killing me being around you every night in your cute PJs. I want to make sure the case is handled right so we can get this guy behind bars. I want to go out on a date without the thought of a stalker hanging over our heads. I want to stay at your house because we’re dating, not because some guy might kill you.”

“You mean chop my body up into unrecognizable parts.”

“Let’s not talk about the disgusting things the killer does. Once I get my hands on him, he might just disintegrate in a barrel of acid.” I wished I could get away with disposing of the body myself. The problem was the police were working the case with me, and making the body disappear might be a little hard.

“You have a barrel of acid here?” Leave it to Patty to get excited that we might be able to get rid of a body in this building.

“Here is what will happen. John will still go with you to work every day. At night, someone from my team will watch your building. Every night before you go to bed, we will FaceTime, and every morning when you get up, we will FaceTime.”

“You didn’t answer me about the acid. There are a few people I wouldn’t mind getting rid of, and if you have the means… Do you mind me using the acid while you’re gone? I will talk to Brock about reimbursement costs.”

I swear this woman will put me in an early grave. “No, we don’t have any acid here. No, you can’t kill anyone while I’m gone, especially your bodyguards.”

“Well, you took the fun out of my week. All I’ve heard is, ‘Patty, go to work. Patty, don’t kill anyone. Patty, make sure to let your bodyguards know when you go to the bathroom. Patty, stop messing with John’s phone.’”

I finally put my hand over her mouth so she would stop. I thought about grabbing the ball gag from my desk, but that would just make my dick hurt more. It would be a long week if I couldn’t see Patty.

“Are you done with your pity party?” I asked. She gave me the cutest death stare, which only made me chuckle and make her mad.

“When do you have to go? Are you going to come over tonight before you leave?”

I had to get to the crime scene as soon as possible, so once Patty left, I would jump on my plane and head to the crime scene. It was hard to leave her, especially since she still felt so good in my arms.

“No, I need to leave in the next half hour.”

“Does that mean you’re leaving your stuff at my house?”

I’d assumed it would be fine for me to leave my stuff there. But maybe she didn’t want to continue what we had.

“Yes, is that okay?”

She turned a lovely shade of pink.

“Why are you turning red? What are you planning to do with my stuff?”

“Lemon and I are each going to borrow one of your shirts to sleep in.”

That was hot as fuck, thinking of her sleeping in one of my shirts and nothing else. The train of thought was once again making my pants feel extremely unconformable.

“You can wear my clothes all you want, as long as you send me pictures. I don’t think Lemon needs to wear any of my clothing.”

“She will miss you. You’ve been around all the time for the last two weeks. She might think you left her.”

“Okay, give her one of my shirts.” There was nothing I wouldn’t give Patty.

I turned Patty in my arms so that her knees were on either side of my legs. The office lights made Patty’s blue hair glow. I grasped a handful of her delicate blue hair and tugged her down to my mouth. I embraced her like I wanted to own her.

By the time we separated, we were both panting and desiring more. Patty supported her temple against my chest.

“Are you sure we have to wait?” Patty panted.

“Yes, my pixie.”