in this room. It might be a formal living space, but she used it as much as her den in the back of the house. The tranquility of this room always calmed her after a hectic day.
“Where would you like to start?” she asked.
He hooked his sunglasses in his T-shirt collar and looked at her. Whoa, he had the sexiest eyes, so dark and intense. “Which way is the bedroom?”
She felt herself flush a million shades of red and swallowed hard. “Uh, down there.” She pointed down the long hallway.
Troy glanced in that direction and back at her. He gestured down the hall. “Lead the way.”
Julie nodded and started forward, her heart pounding frenetically. It was probably for the best that they start in her bedroom because ending in her bedroom might be a bad thing. Or a good thing.
She walked into her bedroom and stepped aside. Troy stopped at the door and took it in. She tried to see the room from his eyes. She had a California king-sized bed with a large cherry headboard. A brown-and-turquoise comforter decorated a bed loaded with lots of fluffy pillows. Thick beige carpeting cushioned their feet. A matching armoire and chest of drawers each took up space on their own walls, and a big overstuffed chair and ottoman filled the corner spot under the window.
Troy walked straight to the French doors that looked out to the narrow backyard. He checked the doorknob and the edges and grunted, then stalked to the other side of the room and turned the corner. The whole right end of the house compromised the master suite. Julie had taken the four-bedroom home and made it a three-bedroom when she’d knocked down a wall and made one large bedroom into a combination closet and bathroom. This was her favorite part of the whole place. Her heaven. After fourteen or sixteen hours on the set, she liked to come home and relax in her hot tub with dozens of candles throwing soft light around the tan walls, travertine tile and marble.
Seeing Troy in this space only made her jittery. He brought an element that had been missing for years. Lucas had spent a significant amount of time here, but he’d always kept his own place. He’d accused her house of being too girly, but had never suggested buying a place for them to share. That should’ve been a big clue.
Her gaze roamed to the tub and she had a vision of Troy surrounded by bubbles and waiting for her to join him. She’d get in the warm water and he’d pull her against him. He’d be hard, but he’d take his time with her. Tease her. He’d kiss her softly, whisper the things he’d want to do to her and she’d—
“Julie,” Troy said, waving a hand in front of her face. “You okay?”
Embarrassed, she snapped to attention. “Yes, I’m fine. Sorry. Just thinking about... things. Did you say something?” Did it suddenly get hot in here?
“I asked where the alarm pad is,” he said.
“It’s in the hallway. We passed it on the way here.”
Troy nodded as he watched her. His eyebrows quirked before he left the room and strode down the hallway. Julie followed, mortified beyond belief that he’d caught her daydreaming about having sex with him.
Chapter Eight
Troy had seen only one room, but he already hated the layout of the house. There were a lot of French doors and large picture windows. He knew next to nothing about alarm systems but didn’t plan on sharing that. Chalk up another lie. He felt the need to shower off the grime, but it was internal. No amount of soap and water could clean his guilty conscience. He folded down the cover of the alarm pad and stared at it.
“What’s the response time with the security company?” he asked.
“Uh...” Julie didn’t seem to have an answer. “A few minutes, I guess.”
He turned to her. “You mean you don’t know?”
“I’ve never needed them, except for a couple of maintenance calls. The alarm’s never gone off. They haven’t had to be here.” She tipped her head. “Actually, I need to call them again because the five is sticking.” She pushed the five and nothing happened. “The number should come up on the panel, but it won’t. It takes me some futzing to get it to work.”
Futzing. “You shouldn’t have to ‘futz’ with your keypad,” he said. He made a mental note to find out how many patrols the company had and what they