Living Dangerously (11 page)

Cal yawned and Julie followed. She was dead tired. All it took was sitting down on a comfortable couch for a few minutes and her body said
naptime
. Cal’s lids drooped over her eyes and she sighed. “We are so lame. I think if someone screamed fire, we’d turn over and go to sleep.”

“Fire,” Drew said from the recliner adjacent to the sofa. He had his feet propped up and a grin on his face.

“Always the comedian,” Julie mumbled. Her lids felt like bricks and the sofa offered her a delicious respite.

“You two are boring,” Drew said. But he leaned back in the recliner, linked his fingers and rested his head in his hands. “Hey, Julie, do you think we can have our lunch next week? We can make it an early birthday celebration.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot your birthday is coming up,” Cal mumbled, her eyes closed.

“Some best friend you are,” Julie teased. “Lunch sounds good,” she murmured, happy to be off her feet and the three-inch heels she’d worn most of the day.

“Just think,” Drew said, “If you hadn’t spun away from that bullet, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.”

“Mmm.” Julie agreed. “True.” Her eyes drifted shut. Good thing Cal had passed out first. Drew’s smile was the last thing Julie saw before she conked out.

* * *

The guns were lined up in order of size on the table. Three rifles, three handguns. It was a nice collection. All had been well used over the years, mostly for target practice, but most recently not. Several lethal knives gleamed in the sunlight streaming through the window.

Shooting Julie Fraser on the red carpet provided an unbelievable feeling of satisfaction. But it hadn’t kept her down. Missing her at the party in the hills had been a real shame. If she hadn’t spun around at the last second, that bullet would’ve landed right in her cold-blooded heart. Watching the other bullets hit her on the red carpet had been massively exhilarating. Where the hell that stupid bodyguard came from was still a mystery. He wasn’t on the payroll, which meant they were getting it on.

Little Miss America’s Sweetheart was doing the nasty after prolonged abstinence. At least that’s what it looked like. Why else would this guy be hanging around all of sudden? It wasn’t for the homemade chocolate chip cookies.

Fingering the cold steel of the Colt felt good. It felt solid and strong, just like its owner.

It felt good to always have the guns and knives close, though chances were good they wouldn’t be necessary after tomorrow.

Research had shown that there were other, more fun ways for Julie to die. Bullets were nice, but sometimes overrated. Experimenting with explosives had been new, fun and challenging. Discovering poisons had been educational as well. Buying lethal drugs had also been much easier than anticipated. So many interesting ways to kill. It was amazing how much a person could learn from the Internet and from making connections in all the right places.

Julie could run, but she couldn’t hide.

* * *

Sitting in his car, in the dark, on Julie’s deserted street, Troy leaned his head against the headrest. Not one streetlight lit this small canyon road, which maximized the potential for security issues. He’d been here for almost an hour already, had the realtor’s phone number on the for-sale sign memorized. He should go home. Yeah, he’d been telling himself that for about forty minutes now. “Go home.” But he glanced at the house and didn’t budge.

What did he think was going to happen? Today’s freak accident had weirded him out something fierce. That Julie might have died in front of him a third time had his palms sweating. Wiping his hands on his jeans, he looked at the house again. The same lights lit the back of the house where she spent most of her time in the large comfortable den.

Troy shifted in the seat, his muscles sore from the fall earlier. He couldn’t get the vision of Julie out of his head, would remember until the day he died how her arms and legs flailed before he’d snagged her against him just before she’d hit the stairs.

He shook his head. Sitting here another minute wasn’t going to change anything. She was fine. Today had been an accident, not some stalker situation.

Shifting again, he’d put his hand on the keys to start the car when his phone rang. He checked the screen.

Julie Fraser.

Troy shot a glance to the house, expecting to see her staring at him through the side window of the front door, but all looked quiet. Not a curtain or blind out of place. He punched the screen on his phone.

“Mills here,” he said.

“Very businesslike of you.” The amusement in Julie’s voice came through clear as shiny crystal.

“I’m nothing if not a businessman,” he replied evenly. “Everything okay?” The last time she’d called him, it was because she wanted him to check out the security on her house. Well, he’d not only done that, but he’d persuaded her to move as well. That she took his advice so seriously made a huge crack in the wall he kept trying to build between them.

“Mostly.” She sighed. “At the tail end of a killer headache.” Troy imagined her stretched out on her thick comfortable sofa. “I was just thinking about today.” He waited, not wanting to bring up something that was bound to take them in the wrong direction. “Thinking about what might’ve happened if you hadn’t been there.”

Yeah. He’d been thinking about it too. Wasn’t that the reason he’d been sitting in front of her house for the past hour? What did it mean that he’d been in the right place at the right time the last three times she needed him most? This had to be some kind of fated cosmic joke.

“Don’t think about things that didn’t happen.”

She snorted. “Are you practicing to be a shrink?”

He grinned. “Naw. I just thought it sounded good.”

“Mmm,” she said. “I, uh, was hoping to talk to you a little more. We didn’t really get a chance today since I needed to help Cal get Drew home. I’m not sure I thanked you properly.”

Troy closed his eyes and remembered the tight hug, the clean fresh scent unique to Julie, and imagined all the ways she could properly thank him. Like letting him have unlimited access to every inch of her bare skin. A quick vision of her spread out on a bed with his face between her legs whizzed through his brain and sparked a hot blast to his dick.
Shit
. He needed to keep his mind on the conversation.

“You did,” he assured her. Yeah, he got that she was giving him every opportunity to take advantage, and every instinct he had told him things with Ari weren’t what they looked like, but he still couldn’t step into uncharted territory with her. “How is Carrie Ann, by the way? Her ankle going to be all right?”

“Yeah, she’s fine. She just tweaked it a little.”

“What’s the deal with the guy today? Was that Carrie Ann’s boyfriend?” Troy asked.

“No. That was her brother, Drew. He has a few issues. Most of the time he functions very well. But he tends to crack under pressure. We went back to Cal’s place and he calmed down. Then we took the longest nap in the history of mankind on her sofa this afternoon.”

That explained why she was wide-awake and calling him at eleven at night. She didn’t say anything for a long time and Troy waited, knowing she had something heavy on her mind.

“I must have really been tired because I woke up feeling like I had a hangover. Falling asleep usually cures my headaches, it doesn’t bring them on. Boring stuff. So...are you doing laundry tonight?” she asked.

He chuckled at her delivery. “Nope. No laundry.”

“Do you think maybe...would you like to...” She huffed a sigh. “I’d really like to see you. Face to face. Do you think we could meet somewhere or maybe you could drop by my place? I mean, unless you’re too tired. I know it’s late.”

Troy leaned his head back against the seat, more torn than he’d ever been in his life.

“Troy?” she said again. “I wouldn’t ask this except I can’t ask my mom because she’s taking a road trip tomorrow and I know she’s asleep already and Cal is hanging with her brother since he’s staying at her place for a few days.” She stopped. “I’m sorry. I sound pitiful and stupid and—”

“Stop right there.” Troy sat up straighter, couldn’t stand to hear her say those things about herself when they weren’t anywhere near the truth. “I’ll be right there.”

Fuck it. He didn’t care that she knew he’d been sitting across the street in his car. Didn’t care about anything except that she was lonely and probably scared, not only because a stranger kept sending her flowers, but also because she could’ve died today just by a fall and not some stalker’s bullet. What kind of life lesson was that?

Troy got out of the car and walked across the street. He debated all of two seconds before he said another mental
fuck
it
and rang the doorbell. He heard Julie on the other end. Knew she was checking him out through the peephole. Saw her wide-eyed fascination as she opened the door. Wearing skin-tight, faded jeans and a figure-molding green T-shirt, she looked good enough to eat.

Then she smiled. A sweet curl of her lips as she looked up at him and the words
fuck
it
ran through his head again. He stepped in close, wrapped his hand around her nape and pulled her against him. If she wanted him to stop, she had time to say something. But instead, she just stared at him with excitement in her eyes and a blush staining her cheeks. Damn, but she was so beautiful.

Without another second’s hesitation, Troy bent his head and kissed her. He didn’t just kiss her, kiss her. He fucking kissed the hell out of her. He sealed his mouth over hers and stepped in at the same time he pulled her flush against his chest.

She had no problem with the idea. No problem at all. She wrapped her arms around his neck, opened for his tongue and stood on tiptoe to get closer. Troy walked them in a few more feet and kicked the door closed behind him. He spun her around and backed her up against the front door as his mouth continued to own hers. He hadn’t started off slow or sweet. He’d started with a hunger that went deep into his bones. For the first time in his life, he threw away the rights and wrongs of what he was doing. He scrapped his ideals and simply took exactly what he wanted.

God, she tasted like chocolate, smelled like Julie, and his brain nearly short-circuited. His tongue dueled with hers in a slick, sinful dance of give and take, a war of supremacy where no one came out a loser.

In less than a minute they were both breathing hard. Her fingers dug into his scalp as she angled her mouth against his. He couldn’t kiss her deeply enough. Couldn’t touch enough of her. He didn’t even care about the clothes. The fact that he had her in his arms, that his tongue slid against hers in the most mind-bending kiss known to man was enough. She couldn’t seem to get close enough as she moaned and kissed him just as desperately as he kissed her. With every passing second, Troy’s control spiraled out of reach.

She gasped when he lifted the edge of her shirt and put his hands on her soft skin, caressing both sides, up and down. Though she didn’t stop or pull away, the surprise in the sound knocked some sense into his fried brain.

He pulled back before he did the stupidest thing in the world and fucked her at her front door.

She looked up at him, her face flushed, her eyes heavy lidded and loaded with desire. She licked her lips, and the temptation to go back for more nearly got the best of him.

“What?” she said, her voice husky and sexy as hell. “What’s wrong?”

“This,” Troy said, searching for sanity. “This is crazy. I can’t just walk in here and...” He glanced around the big entryway before meeting her gaze. “Strip you naked and fuck you.”

A smile curved her lips and she lifted one arched eyebrow. “Um...it’s possible that you can,” she hedged.

What
? Shit, this was more than he could handle. Troy took a step back, needed the cool air to clear the crazy thoughts running rampant in his brain.

Julie ran her hand through her mussed hair. Damn, she looked even more beautiful with her lips swollen from his kiss and her eyes bright with passion. Those eyes narrowed though and Troy knew—without a doubt—what was coming next.

“Where were you before you rang the doorbell?” she asked.

Yep. The million-dollar question. There was simply no way to lie about the answer either. “Sitting in my car on the other side of the street.”

His answer sobered her passion. A bucket of cold ice water couldn’t have done a better job. Her back stiffened and her head cocked to the side.

“Why?” Her tone sounded more leery than angry.

“Probably for the same reason you called me.”

She thought about his answer. Her shoulders relaxed.

Though Troy couldn’t be completely honest with her, he wanted to, so he shot for the truth of the moment. “Look, I’ve been thinking a lot about today too. What does it mean that I’ve been there for you the last few times when you needed somebody?” He shook his head. “I don’t know the answer to that. I only know...” He ran his hands through his hair and turned away, stepped farther into her house and created more distance between them. He knew only one thing. That he wanted Julie Fraser with every beat of his sorry heart. He wanted to feel her under him as he pushed deep inside her. Wanted to hear her call his name as he touched and tasted every last inch of her.

“You only know what?” Julie followed him into the house, both her tone and steps hesitant.

Shit. He shouldn’t have started this. He walked around her, kept a large distance before he lost all sense of reason and lunged for her. Again. “I know that I can’t get you out of my mind. Ever since the shooting at the house, I’ve been thinking that someone could take a shot at you anytime and it’d all be over.” He shook his head, pissed that he sounded like some overprotective gorilla. He took the last few steps for the door, needing the space before he did something he’d regret.

“Wait a minute.” Her voice rose with an edge of anger. “What are you doing? Where are you going? You’re leaving?”

Troy turned. The mix of anger and uncertainty in her eyes made him sick inside. He didn’t want to upset her or hurt her in any way, and getting involved with her on any level would mean more trouble than he could handle.