Page 9 of Silver Fox Grump

It’s the one that started this whole thing by reminding me of Mr Blackwood and not being entertaining enough.

Clambering to my feet, I look down at myself and shake my head. I even have wine on my white cotton underwear.

Being an adult. Nailed it.

4

SEV

My heart jumps into my throat and I’m on my feet in an instant, as though I’ll run over to Maisie’s apartment to pick her up, tend her wounds, and comfort her dented pride.

“Maisie. Sweetheart.”

I watch as she lies on the floor.

She doesn’t move, and that’s it. I’m calling an ambulance. I can’t stand by if she’s really hurt.

Fuck.

One minute you’re innocently enjoying watching—alright stalking—the forbidden girl you love more than anything in the world, the next you’re in police custody for reporting a domestic incident you should never have known about.

Okay, that would be bad. Adrenaline pumps through my limbs as I grab up my phone and run across my penthouse apartment the size of an aircraft hanger and similarly furnished, flicking on the app for Maisie’s cameras. The smaller screen is indistinct for as I reach for the door handle, my car keys in hand.

I’m shaking. Fuck. What am I, a weird aunt?

It’s just... She cannot be hurt. Not Maisie.

For my girl to knock herself out and bleed out on her white carpet would be the ultimate irony. Dying because the stalker mafia boss didn’t intervene.

So the relief when she moves is beyond anything I’ve felt. It’s life. More intense than my first breath after Camden waterboarded me all those years ago.

I pause, staring at the grainy image. Maisie stands, then flops onto the sofa.

She laughs, and although I can’t hear it, I do. Her laughter echoes through me.

I watch her checking every part of her body.

And mine responds with the inevitability of a man starved. I would say that I drool, but it’s not usually called that if it’s from your cock.

“Fuck.” I scrape my hand through my greying hair. I nearly gave myself away.

My girl doesn’t have a clue that I love her. She is totally oblivious that my world centres around her.

And as I sink onto the nearest sofa, I close my eyes and remind myself why that is so important. Because Maisie is as off-limits as pizza takeaway for a polar bear. She’s half my age, yes. And my employee. Bad. Very bad. And she’s thedaughter of my best friend.

I open my eyes again and watch Maisie find a graze on her leg and wince when she touches her hip.

Quickly, I rewind the tape and pause it at the moment she falls.

All the grace of a cardboard box, my girl, and I adore that about her. I check several times, regarding one frame at a time, and she doesn’t hit her head. She’ll have a black eye, but no concussion.

Phew. Okay.

Wes would kill me if he knew I watched his daughter with cameras in her own home. But I can’t turn away. Maisie is a temptation I can’t resist.

She thinks I’m her arsehole boss who snaps at her, but I’m more than that. Worse. I’m her stalker. And every day I watch her, I fall for her more.

For two years.