Living Dangerously (7 page)

Son of a bitch. She’d been pulling his chain with the suffering tone and put-upon face. No wonder she’d been nominated for an Oscar. She might have been joking now, but she’d been truly hurt a few minutes ago. He narrowed his eyes as something occurred to him. “Of course, if you hadn’t spun around the way you did, that first bullet would have nailed you right in the chest, so actually, being mad at me is what saved your life this time.”

She blanched. Her smile disappeared faster than a cat on the run from a pit bull. Apparently he’d brought something to her attention that she hadn’t realized. A slight tremor shook her body.

Nice
going
,
Mills
.
Scare
the
crap
out
of
her
while
you’re
at
it
.

“Hey. You’re okay,” he told her softly. “We’re not moving from this spot until a SWAT team has cleared the area.”

“How the hell are they going to do that? There are a million places the shooter could be, at any one of those houses across the canyon or just at a spot in the mountain. It’s impossible to tell.”

She had a point, but SWAT could pinpoint the location easier than she thought. Already, Troy heard the familiar whap, whap, whap of a helicopter. The shooter would have to move on eventually. A police chopper would have a spotlight scanning the area, looking for the suspect. If he fired again, the cops could close in in seconds. In the meantime, Troy had no problem with his current position.

“It’s not impossible. It may take some time, but I’ll bet as soon as they show up, the shooter will leave.” Wailing sirens got progressively louder.

“Why do you think that? Maybe he’s waiting for the second I walk inside.”

The conversation cracked him up. Here he was lying on top of the most famous actress in Hollywood and they were talking about snipers. He could think of a dozen other things he’d like to be doing. None of them required words. At least no words other than
yes
,
more
, and
harder
.

Speaking of harder, the longer he stayed on top of her, the more his body recognized exactly
who
he covered and the fact that it had been way too long since he’d been with a woman.

Her pretty blue eyes scanned his for an answer.

“I think the shooter will realize the game is over for the night and pack it in. We haven’t raised our heads, so he can’t be sure if he got you or not. Either way, he’ll find out on the news tomorrow and he’ll go from there.”

“Yeah. Okay. Thanks.” Her brows pulled together. “Didn’t need to hear that last part.”

He didn’t want to worry her, but this incident made it crystal clear that the shooting at the Sporties was no random event. Lying about her safety wouldn’t do her any good when someone wanted her dead. “Sorry, but I think you need to take this threat seriously.”

“Yeah. I think I figured that part out.” Her delivery had just the right amount of sarcasm. Troy didn’t blame her. “Besides, like we said before about
truth
. I’m a firm believer in truth.”

But did she believe in fidelity? In vows? In the sanctity of marriage, be it hers or someone else’s? That little tidbit was still to be determined. “Oh yeah?” he asked.

“Definitely. I’m probably honest to a fault.” Sirens blared from directly in front of the house, then shut off.

“I’ll bet you are,” he said. She seemed as wholesome as the press had made her out to be. But was it real?

“If we’re being honest, can I tell you I really hate that America’s Sweetheart label? I could strangle the reporter who gave me that. Of all the things they’ve called me over the years, why did that one have to stick?”

Interesting. Was that a little confession to let him know she wasn’t as sweet as she came off? “It’s not so bad.” His lips curled into a half smile. “You could’ve been stuck with ‘America’s Princess.’”

“Ugh.” She rolled her eyes. “That
is
worse.” She locked her gaze onto his, brought her hand to his face and stroked her thumb along his cheek and jaw. “Thank you. Again,” she whispered. Her hand felt so damn good as she caressed him. He lost the grin as the blood rushed south. She had to feel how much he wanted her. Every touch got his dick harder and harder against her thigh. He could kiss her now, do what he’d wanted to do since talking with her in the hospital. A scant three inches separated their lips. He might have been on top of her for her safety, but her response as she subtly shifted her legs to accommodate his weight between them and the soft touch of her fingers on his face all led to
all
systems
go
. He leaned his head down a fraction.

“Police!” a man yelled from inside the house.

Troy froze an inch from her lips and felt her heart thump hard beneath his. “Looks like the cavalry is here.”

She shook her head. “The cavalry’s been here all along.”

A primal shot of lust and heat zinged straight to his dick. He wanted her. Bad. Right now. Right here. And that just couldn’t happen. Mainly because she was under his surveillance. How the hell could he fall for the woman he was supposed to be watching? What the fuck had he been thinking a few minutes ago? Talk about divine intervention.

Only now he had a definite itch that needed scratching. He was long past the time he should’ve let off some sexual steam with one of the several—very willing—ladies from the gym, but at this point he couldn’t imagine fucking one of them without thinking of Julie, and the sleaze factor in that scenario made him shudder.

Troy heard people slowly clearing out one by one, crawling safely out the front behind police barricades. He gazed into her pretty blue eyes and he didn’t give a shit about divine intervention. The way she looked up, the very clear sign she gave him as she licked her luscious lips had every cell in his body screaming
go
for
it
. There was simply no way he could. He had a very clear line when it came to his work. No getting involved with the clients or suspected cheaters or home wreckers. Not that he’d ever been in the position before, but this couldn’t happen no matter how much he wanted it.

Why did it have to be Julie Fraser sleeping with Ari? Why couldn’t it have been a different Hollywood starlet? Some diva with an attitude who Troy didn’t admire. Someone who hadn’t faced death with a joke and an introduction.

Still, she looked up at him with a combination of humor and certainty in her expressive blue eyes. A grin curved her lips. “You like me,” she said.

The evidence was as clear as the erection in his pants. He couldn’t do much other than nod his agreement.

“I like you too,” she whispered.

Maybe if he stood up, the shooter would put him out of his misery. He didn’t see any way around it. Yeah, okay, Hollywood must have rubbed off on him in the months he’d been here, because that seemed a little overboard, but he’d never been so tempted in his life to toss his rules.

“I guess now I can get your number,” he said. He’d call too, if she turned out to be innocent in this whole mess. At the moment, there was nothing he wanted more. Just the idea of one date with her took his happy meter off the charts.

She smiled and nodded. She wanted him to kiss her. Didn’t matter that glass or cops surrounded them, or that a serious threat still lingered. The police were in no rush to get people out of the house. Their mission was to do it safely no matter how much time it took. He was stuck here with her looking up at him like he owned the world.

“Do you think the shooter left yet?” she asked.

He shrugged and shouldn’t have, because even that small movement rubbed him against her thigh and sent a missile of lust crashing in his gut. A little gasp sounded in her throat as her wide eyes looked up at him. Yeah, she knew exactly what she did to him.

“Good thing this balcony is made of adobe and not glass,” she said softly, working hard to keep the conversation going. She laughed. “Unless he has a grenade launcher. That would be bad.”

Troy nodded his agreement. “Very bad. But I think we can rule that out.”

“God, I was kidding. You make it sound like—”

“Hey, folks. You two okay?” an officer asked from inside. Dressed in all black and covered in body armor, he looked like he’d entered a war zone. Maybe he had.

Julie barely glanced at him. “Just dandy.”

Troy couldn’t help but smile at the deadpan delivery.

“Good deal. Then it’s time to get you outta there.” He tossed protective gear and a large bulletproof shield that landed next to them.

“Use that to cover yourself and move backward into the house. We’ll get you out safely from there.” He tossed out a blanket to cover the glass that littered the whole balcony. “Let her go first.”

Troy lifted an insulted eyebrow and looked down at Julie. “Did he think I’d go first?”

She let loose a long-suffering sigh. “He clearly doesn’t know you the way I do.” Her smile lit him up.
Damn
.

* * *

Two days later, the shooting was still the major talk of the nation because nothing newsworthy had happened since. Julie flipped off the television, tired of watching the footage. She inspected the scabs on her hands and knees from crawling though broken glass. The paramedics on the scene had fixed her up, and she’d thankfully avoided another hospital visit. Her cuts and scrapes would heal and be long forgotten before she’d get Troy Mills out of her mind. The man was gorgeous and funny and he’d saved her life twice. If he hadn’t tackled her onto the balcony floor, she’d probably be buried by now. A big believer in signs, she took his presence as a door the universe wanted her to knock on.

This
time
they’d exchanged numbers. So why hadn’t he called? Because of her personality, her looks or her life? All of the above or none of the above?

She paced the house nervously and kept an eye on the clock. The sun had sunk over the mountaintop a while ago. Ari had asked to come over again because he’d wanted to avoid the prying eyes of people at a restaurant. The night she’d been discharged from the hospital, he’d canceled at the last minute, leaving Cal feeling dejected after losing her chance to talk to him about the movie. Julie had sent him an email about Cal auditioning for the role, and Ari had actually met with her. Had he made a decision? Was that why he wanted to see her in person?

Until this morning, her place had been ground zero for news vans and paparazzi. Maybe it was time to find a more secure home. She had no gate, no walls or fence to keep people out. She was in the same home she’d bought after the second season of
The
Only
Way
. She’d fallen in love with her ranch house in Fryman Canyon. The downside came with the house’s location. She had practically no front yard, and anyone could walk up and ring her bell.

Her show had been doing well enough, but it hadn’t become a major television hit until its third season. By then, she’d had the house and had made it her dream home. She couldn’t imagine building a wall or a fence and no one had seemed to care that she lived here. But she’d be an idiot not to consider more security or protection after the recent events.

It was one thing to be shot by a sniper when other people had been hit too, but it was another to be the victim of
two
shootings. Someone was out to kill her.

But why?

No matter how hard she wracked her brain, she couldn’t come up with someone she knew who’d want her dead. It was probably someone she didn’t know, a psycho fan maybe, but so far the police didn’t have a lot to go on. No fingerprints, no shell casings, and a person dressed in black.
Just
fucking
dandy
.

She paced the living room and glanced at the clock. She wished she’d put her foot down with Ari. She didn’t want him to think that because they’d decided to meet at her house, it gave him permission to make a move.

Why had she even agreed to meet with him? She ran her hands through her hair and took a few calming breaths. Because Ari’s script was one of the best she’d ever read. After the shooting had forced her to back out of the running weeks ago, and after her email to Ari, Cal had actually been on the short list for the job. But the director of photography had pulled out completely, causing Ari to postpone the filming. The new DP’s schedule had fit right in with Julie’s availability to start back to work.

Yes, this town constantly surprised her. She hadn’t thought she’d be in the running again so now she was up against Cal and hated it. Shades of
Nowhere
to
Hide
. Except Julie had no problems with this script. She just had problems if Ari thought she was going to sleep with him to get the part. Allowing him to come to her place would only encourage him to believe she was that kind of girl, and she categorically was
not
. The last thing she wanted to see was a story in a rag magazine that said she was seeing a married man. If getting this role meant putting up with Ari sitting on her sofa for a few minutes, then she’d deal with it. And if she had to toss him out because he wanted more—and lost the role because of it—then so be it.

Someone rapped at the door. Julie checked the peephole. Ari stood bathed in the white light of her front porch.

“
Querida
,” Ari said in his faint Spanish accent as she opened the door. “How are you?” He stepped in and kissed each cheek. The distinct scent of patchouli had her breathing through her mouth. It seemed a little stronger than usual. Did Ari think it would draw her to him? The man’s cluelessness astounded her.

“Fine. I’m fine.” She pulled away but not before she glanced outside. Ari’s limo sat right across the street, but she saw no sign of Troy. She closed the door and led Ari to her large living room. He sat on the sofa and she kept her distance by sitting in the overstuffed chair across from him.

“Julie,” he crooned. “Why so far away?” He patted the space next to him.