in Hollywood and because she had no clue how long they might be trapped here, she let go her worries and tried to lighten up the only way she knew how. By acting.
* * *
Julie rolled her eyes and sighed as if forgiving him was one step farther than she wanted to go. “I was visiting the pediatric ward that morning. I had sent down a big bouquet of flowers and the nurses said the kids wanted to thank me.”
“Pediatrics.” Troy sighed. “I didn’t check there.” He should’ve waited to leave the hospital until he saw her again, but he’d been there too long as it was and ultimately, associating with her would have been—and continued to be—a very bad idea as long as he worked for Sophia.
“I forgive you,” Julie finally said. Sounding truly resigned, she looked a little put out. “I mean it’s hard to stay mad at you since you saved my life a minute ago.”
“For the second time,” he reminded her. Yeah, he should keep his distance, but he didn’t want her mad at him. He’d take any ground he could get.
She nodded and the perky shake of her head gave away the fact that not only was she busting him, she thoroughly enjoyed doing it. “True, the second time. I guess I can’t be mad at you after that.” Her lips quirked up in a half grin.
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