I cease the sex-mannequin act and follow him to the keypad at my front door. The number 8 is lit with a red light. It’s ominous, as crazy as that sounds. I think my impression is aided by the fact that Ozzie has gone from being my sexy maybe-going-to-be lover to being an army commando ready to strike. It’s both scary and hot as hell to see in action.
“Stay right here,” Ozzie says, pulling me by the wrist over to the bathroom by the front door. “Get in, lock the door, don’t come out until I tell you to.”
“But . . .?” Okay, this isn’t sexy. This is scary. I don’t want to play anymore.
“Do it. Tell me you understand.” He takes me by the chin and holds my face still. He’s staring at me so intensely, I have no choice but to nod.
“I hear you and I understand you,” I say as best I can with him still controlling my jaw. “What did that light on the keypad mean?”
“It’s a possible intruder alert.”
My heart spasms in my chest. Am I going to get shot? I’d better not. Ozzie and I were just getting started. “Why didn’t the siren go off?” I whisper-squeal.
“Because they haven’t breached any entrances to the home yet. It’s marking someone crossing the border onto your property.”
I notice for the first time that an exterior light has come on in the front yard. When did that thing get installed? I don’t remember having one of those before.
“When did . . .? Since when do I have . . .?”
“It was installed this afternoon. I asked Thibault to come over here and put the system in.” He leans down and kisses me on the mouth before letting my chin go and leaving me alone in the bathroom.
I lean outside the door after he’s gone.
“Felix!” I whisper. “Get in here!”
Felix comes over dutifully and enters the bathroom, his tiny toenails clicking on the tile like itsy-bitsy tap shoes. Once I’ve shut the door, locking us both inside, I sink down to the rug and commence panicking at level ten.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
It seems like forever that we hear nothing. Then the alarm siren goes off, and I nearly squeeze Felix to death in surprised fright. He yips in pain and bites me on the arm.
“Ouch, you little punk!” I pick him up and climb into the bathtub, closing the shower curtain behind us. Felix feels bad about biting me, so now he’s trying to make it up to me by giving my arm a tongue bath. Great. Curling up into the smallest human I can, over by the faucets, I pray that Ozzie doesn’t get hurt trying to keep me and my little furbaby safe. I can hear every one of my heartbeats. Felix’s too.
Sahara’s deep, threatening barks come through the door next. Felix perks up and starts barking too. I hold his mouth closed, and his anger comes out muffled.
“Berf! Erf! Eerf, berf, berf!”
Little man’s pissed, but no way in hell am I going to let him out there to get kicked into the wall. Jenny was right; Felix would go for the ankles and pay dearly for it.
After what seems like a really long time, long enough for me to sweat through my shirt, Ozzie’s voice can now be heard over the din of Sahara’s discontent. He’s telling someone at the alarm company that everything is fine. Then he’s at the bathroom door.
“What’s your password?” he asks.
“Who’s there?!” I want Ozzie to know I would at least check before trusting just a voice. I’m practically a security specialist already.
“It’s me, Ozzie. I need the code, or they’re going to send the cops.”
“Are you alone or are you being held at gunpoint?”
“Open the door and see for yourself.”
Ozzie would never tell me to do that if there was a real bad guy out there. I don’t know him very well, but I know this. I honestly could picture him taking a bullet for anyone on his team, me included. I get out of the tub and crack open the door. “It’s Sahara,” I say as quietly as I can and still be heard over the sirens.
Ozzie is talking into my cell. “Sahara.” He glances down at me, his eyes full of meaning, but one I cannot discern. It could be stress at dealing with whatever happened or something else. I don’t know him well enough to read him, and now I’m not sure that I could ever know him that well.
He’s like no man I’ve ever met before. Just now, when he thought an intruder was here, he didn’t hesitate; he threw me in the bathroom and headed out to take care of it. I’ve never felt so safe in my entire life, so cared for. I thought I had the maximum-level hots for him before, but I was wrong. I’d have sex with him on the bathroom floor right this second if he asked.
“Okay, thanks,” he says to the person on the phone. “I’m resetting now. Don’t assume it’s not a real call if you get another one tonight.” He nods a few times. “Thanks. Later.”
He shuts the call down and hands me my phone.
“What the hell was that?” I emerge from my hideout on shaky legs. Felix wants to get down, but I’m not letting him do that yet. Sahara is there at my feet, sniffing his legs from below.
“Someone came onto your property, but the alarm that I tripped scared them off.”
“Did you see anyone?”
“No, but I’m going to assume it was the man who saw you in the bar.”
“Why would you do that? It could have been a cat or dog or a raccoon.” I don’t want it to be a bad guy; I want it to be a false alarm. I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation for that stupid alert to go off.
“You have raccoons that stand four feet tall in this neighborhood? Because that’s the minimum height that’ll set off the device.”
We’re standing in the middle of the living room now. My outrage has turned to fear. “No.”
“The alarm only triggers when a person-sized object crosses over the edge of your property. Unfortunately, whoever it was—assuming they know anything about security systems—now knows that you have a perimeter warning system up.”
“And that’s bad because . . .?”
“Because now they can disable it, and it won’t help you anymore.”
“But I thought this system is state of the art.” I’m whining. I can’t help it.
“Nothing is state of the art for someone knowledgeable and determined enough.”
My face falls. “Oh. That sucks.”
“I’d really like it if you would come stay at my place.”
I chew my lip, considering my options.
Plan A: Stay here and fear for my life and possibly put Ozzie’s life in danger too . . . or
Plan B: Go to his place and have that giant warehouse around us for protection. And the guns. And the swords. And the singlesticks. And that bed with the black satin sheets . . .
“Fine. I’ll stay at your place.” Yeah, that was an easy one.
“Thank you.” He steps closer and puts his arms around my waist.
“On one condition,” I say, putting my finger on his chest to stop him from getting any closer.
“What’s that?”
I can’t even think of a condition. I want to say that he can’t trick me into sleeping with him, but then I’d be putting myself in sexual purgatory. Seeing Ozzie every day, but not being able to touch him? No thanks. Besides, it’s not like he needs to trick me to sleep with him. I already propositioned him, as he so indelicately pointed out earlier.
“You have to cook,” I say, quickly rescuing myself from being a total fool. “I can’t cook worth anything, and you’re great at it.”
“Done.”
“And . . . !” I hold up my finger near his chin.
His eyes are sparkling. “And?”
“And . . . you have to teach me how to use that singlestick.”
“Dev could show you.”
“But I want you to do it.”
“Okay, fine. I’ll show you how to use the singlestick.”
“And . . . !” I place my hand gently on his cheek.