The Walls Of Troy Part 15

"I know. We shouldn't." He swallowed. "You're off duty, right?"

"Doesn't matter. I'm your bodyguard." I pressed against the door, not to increase the s.p.a.ce between us, but to keep myself upright. "I'm supposed to be... G.o.d, we shouldn't do this."

"I know."

"Your dad..."

"He won't come in here. As far as he's concerned, I'm no different than if he rented out a room to someone else." Troy inched closer to me. "We have complete privacy."

My heart beat even faster.

Complete privacy. In a closed room. With him. And a bed.

This was so deliciously dangerous.

"I know all the reasons we shouldn't do this," he whispered, "but I'm finding it really, really hard to give a f.u.c.k."

I gulped. "We... d.a.m.n it, I can't resist." I curved my hand around the back of his neck, and I didn't even have to draw him in, because he came closer on his own.

"Maybe it's not so wrong, then."

"Oh, it is." I dragged my lip across his. "We shouldn't... This is so-"

He kissed me.

And to h.e.l.l with it. Right or wrong, we were doing this. As I let him nudge my lips apart, I couldn't find anything wrong with what we were doing except that it had taken us this long to get here. If I'd known how many goose b.u.mps I'd get from his tongue teasing mine, I'd have done this ages ago.

I slid a hand down his back to his waistband and pulled him closer to me. Troy didn't resist-he pressed against me, exhaling through his nose as his erection brushed mine. Clothes rustled against clothes, and breath rushed across skin, but I barely heard any of it over my own heartbeat.

I hadn't been kissed like this in way too d.a.m.n long. Even though we were both hard, both obviously into this, there was no hurry. Running my fingers through Troy's cool hair, lazily exploring his mouth like this was as far as either of us had any desire to go tonight-G.o.d, it was perfect.

And then Talos went psycho.

Troy flew back from me, and that giant barking dog came thundering toward me. I shot out of his way, nearly falling on my a.s.s, and fully expected him to knock me the rest of the way down.

But he went for the door instead.

"Talos!" Troy snapped. "Get down!"

The dog didn't listen. He barked and snarled, pawing furiously at the door. Troy opened it, and in a heartbeat, Talos was gone, barking all the way down the hall.

"That's not good," Troy murmured. We exchanged uneasy glances and both jogged after him.

The other three dogs were going crazy too, jumping on the front door and barking their heads off.

MA1 Johnson ordered the dogs down, but they didn't listen.

"Is this normal?" I asked.

Troy shook his head. "No. They're not like this at all unless there's something out in the yard."

I turned to Johnson. "We'd better go check it out."

Chapter Eleven.

Johnson and I drew our weapons and exited the rear door of the house while MA2 Paulson and MA2 Hicks went out the front. He went first, and I stayed close on his tail, eyes peeled and weapon at the ready. We circled the huge house, shining bright flashlights into every shadow and crevice.

All the while, my heart was going crazy. It always did in situations like this-G.o.d knew who or what was out here, and what might happen if my light revealed a person instead of an empty shadow-but I'd already been almost shaking with adrenaline and oh s.h.i.t and what the f.u.c.k is going on? before the dogs had even started barking.

At least the dogs were in the house with Troy. I didn't want them anywhere near me anyway, and he was much safer with them than alone. And he was probably safer with some s.p.a.ce between me and him. Maybe that'd be a chance for us to come to our senses and realize we were being f.u.c.king idiots.

After going all the way around the house and checking the fence line several times over, we met the other two MAs on the front porch.

"Anything?" Johnson asked.

They both shook their heads.

"Didn't see a d.a.m.ned thing." MA2 Paulson holstered his weapon. "If there was anybody out here, they're long gone."

"Or up a tree," MA2 Hicks muttered. "f.u.c.king cats."

"Better a false alarm than the real thing." Johnson nodded toward the door. "Back inside."

In the house, Dalton and Troy waited by the staircase. The dogs were still alert, but not so agitated now. Talos sat beside Troy at the bottom of the stairs, and one of the other three was playing with a bright orange ball.

As Johnson shut and dead-bolted the door, I holstered my own weapon. "There's nothing out there."

Troy laughed dryly, patting Talos's neck. "Guess one of them heard a cat or something."

"Are you absolutely sure?" Dalton folded his arms tightly across his chest. "They're not usually like this."

Johnson shook his head. "There's nothing. We scoured the entire property and went around the exterior of the house multiple times. If there was someone or something out there? It's long gone now."

Dalton fidgeted uncomfortably, but then released a breath. "All right. Well, thank you, gentlemen."

"Just doing our job, sir," Johnson said.

The other MAs returned to the security office with one of the dogs underfoot, and Admiral Dalton headed back upstairs with the second at his heels.

Talos stayed beside Troy, but Charlie whined and scratched at the door.

"Charlie." Troy snapped his fingers. "Knock it off."

She whined again.

Troy rolled his eyes. "Silly dog."

I glanced at her. "Are you sure she's not hearing something else?"

"Nah, she's just wound up." He tousled Talos's ears. "If it was a cat, she probably wants to get out there and chase it."

"Or eat it."

"Nah." He patted Talos. "One of the others, maybe, but this one would rather play with it than eat it."

"And cats like playing with mice, so..."

"That's not what I meant."

"Mmhmm. Well, either way, with them around"-I nodded toward Talos-"it's probably good you and your dad don't have a cat."

"True. There'd never be a minute of peace around here."

"Probably not."

Stilted silence fell, and Troy cleared his throat. "So, um, I guess we should call it a night. Somehow I doubt we're going to get much studying done."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Probably, my a.s.s. We both knew what would happen if we found ourselves alone again.

Our eyes locked for a moment, but I quickly looked away. No sense taking the chance of Johnson or the admiral wandering back in and catching on that things had gotten...inappropriate between us.

"I should go." I cleared my throat. "I'll see you Monday."

Troy smiled. "Yeah. See you then."

We shared a long look that was as close as we were going to get to a good-night kiss, especially since even one kiss would mean I wasn't leaving any time soon.

Then I turned to go before I gave in and indulged in that long kiss and whatever came after it. We exchanged one last glance, and then Troy closed the door behind me and turned the dead bolt.

No more of him until Monday?

I supposed that was a good thing. Maybe I could bring my brain back to earth and remind myself of all the reasons I had no business knowing what kind of kisser he was.

On the way down the steps, I slid my hands into my pockets. I was jittery all over, my stomach still fluttery and my heart still racing, and it was only partially from the jolt of adrenaline that came from scouring the property for a potential suspect. Troy's kiss was still lingering on my lips, and I alternated between kicking myself for doing it and kicking myself for ending it. It was highly inappropriate. But hot. So, so hot.

But such a bad idea. I was supposed to be guarding him, but G.o.dd.a.m.n, if we'd been left to our own devices and not interrupted by those d.a.m.ned dogs, I'd have been naked with him by now. Or well on my way-Troy had been so deliciously unhurried, he probably could've made everything last all night. A long kiss was something to be enjoyed, not an express ticket to an o.r.g.a.s.m.

As I stepped off the staircase and onto the walk leading toward my car, I shivered. Judging by the way Troy enjoyed kissing, I had a feeling he was the kind of guy who'd appreciate a long, enthusiastic b.l.o.w.j.o.b. I could just imagine- Light on broken gla.s.s stopped me in my tracks.

The shards were scattered by the front tire of Johnson's car, and they hadn't been there earlier, I was sure of it.

Moving only my eyes, I looked around, searching for movement and shadows that didn't belong.

I took a step back toward the house.

Before my foot landed, gravel crunched under someone else's shoe.

s.h.i.t!

Out of nowhere, in the s.p.a.ce of a heartbeat...

Something bit into my shoulder. Another, my hip.

And then I was facedown on the ground, every muscle excruciatingly tight as a million fists pummeled me from head to toe. I couldn't breathe. Couldn't move. Couldn't fight back.

Over my own cry of pain, I heard an all too familiar crackling noise. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew what it was and what was happening, and why I had no control over my own limbs.

The crackling ceased. The fists stopped.

I immediately tried to get up, and heard my nonlethal-weapons instructor's voice- "Someone Tases you, you need to stay down for at least ten seconds."

-a split second before the world went black.

My vision started to clear, and then a tremendous pressure materialized between my shoulder blades.

The dogs were going crazy in the house, barking their heads off and scratching at the front door, and for the first time in my life, I prayed for someone to turn the dogs loose.

My a.s.sailant leaned down, pressing harder on my back. "Don't make a-"

Yeah, f.u.c.k that.

I swung my elbow to the side, connecting with his gut, and was rewarded with a deep grunt. Another swing, and he toppled off me.

"Need some help out here!" I shouted toward the house as I scrambled up.

He lunged at me, smacking my face against the side of my car before he pinned me down again, but the damage was done.

The floodlights came on. Shouts. Activity.

A door flew open. The barking was even louder now. Claws on concrete.

My a.s.sailant swore under his breath, and then he was gone. Footsteps faded down the driveway.

Three of the dogs ran past me, barking into the night.

The fourth stopped beside me.

I looked up. Talos looked down at me. For the first time in my life, the sight of a gigantic dog brought my heart rate down. He lowered his huge head and sniffed me.

"Hey, buddy." I pushed myself up on shaking arms.