That made me snort in an unattractive way, but the sound got a little smile out of Foster, which made my heart race. Just a little. “The dead bird isn’t a threat?”
He gave me an apologetic look. “Unfortunately, no,” he said. “I’ve seen fans send some crazy things to clients before, and they always seem to think that the person would like them.”
That was a nauseating thought. “What about me says I wouldlikesomething like this?” I gestured at the desk.
“It’s usually not about you, specifically,” Ethan said gently. “This person is conflating you with the character you’re going to play, and if I remember my comic book lore, Dr. Falconi was doing tests on avian DNA when she had her accident that gave her superpowers.”
I tried to think back about all of the research I’d done on the Falconi comics, and it did ring a bell. “Ugh,” I groaned and sank into the seat in front of Ethan’s desk. “This is a mess.”
Callan sank down onto his knee beside me. “I know this is scary.”
I shook my head. “It’s not scary,” I said. “I mean, it is, but I’m so used to taking care of myself that I thought I could handle having astalker.”
A self-deprecating laugh bubbled from my throat. “I’m an idiot.”
All three men reacted immediately to the word. They all started talking at once—you’re not an idiotanddon’t talk about yourself that way—and they all shifted toward me physically.
They didn’t touch me, but I felt more physically surrounded than I had before. It should have been intimidating, that many guys on all sides, but all I could feel was an intense excitement.
Confusion and arousal rushed through me. An ache was forming in my core, and I squeezed my legs together to try and ease it.
Beside me, Callan gasped.Did he see me?
“I think the question to answer now is whether you want Mercado Security watching out for you,” Ethan said, easing back so that he wasn’t looming over me. “We’re a hands-on firm, and there are some non-negotiables in the contract.”
“Such as?”
“No ditching us,” he said. “We had a wealthy couple hire Mercado to watch out for their teenage daughter, and she kept trying to give us the slip because she thought it was funny. When we brought it up to the parents, the mother laughed it off as ‘kids being kids’. I don’t like my time being wasted.”
I wasn’t sure whether to be offended or not. Was I supposed to be the teenager in this scenario? “Do you expect me to pay you, and then run away from you?” I asked and tried not to sound petulant.
Ethan smirked at my tone but shook his head. “I just want to make the non-negotiables clear, Adrianne.”
My name in his mouth should not be as hot as it is. I nodded. “Anything else?”
“We’d work as a team,” Ethan explained, indicating Callan and Foster. “We’d switch off as we need to, but it would mean at least one of us is with you at all times. Especially since whoever has been sending you these gifts knows your home address and has already gotten around your own security system.”
“Okay, that makes sense,” I said, and I hoped I sounded normal. One ofthesemen with me at all times? The throb between my legs was quickly becoming more of an ache, and all I was doing was sitting here, talking to them.
He spread out his arms. “So, which one of us do you want?”
The question short-circuited my brain for a moment. “What?”
“Merc wants us to start tonight,” Callan explained, voice tinged with laughter and eyes filled with mirth. “So, which of us do you want going home with you?”
I heard the words, but it was like my head wouldn’t wrap around the question. My body seemed to have no trouble at all comprehending.When was the last time I was this wet from just being around someone? Never?
“Uhm...” My throat tightened, and I did my best to swallow around it.
Sweat popped up on my lower back. It shouldn’t be a hard decision... but it felt oddly important at the same time. As if whoever I picked was my favorite. “You all decide who has the freer night. I don’t want to put anybody out. I’m just going to pop into the restroom.”
I rushed for the door and did not stop, even when Ethan called my name.
2
CALLAN
“If either of you touches her, I’ll break your fingers,” Ethan said the moment the door closed behind Adrianne.