no way for me to know. I believe the best approach is to make him jealous. To make him feel out of control, as if he’s going to lose you. To me. We need to make him reckless. Our only hope is to get him so riled that he’ll have to make an overt move. His goal so far has been intimidation and fear. We want him to get so furious he’d come into the house, into our territory.”
“For the record, this scares the crap out of me.”
“Just remember that once he steps into the house, we’re in control. He doesn’t stand a chance, okay? That’s why we’re getting you into fighting shape. We can’t predict where or when he’ll enter, but we can be one hundred percent ready for him. Both of us.”
“So you’re not going anywhere, right? You don’t have a doctor’s appointment you can’t miss or a date or anything?”
“No. Until we catch this guy, I’m with you. That’s all.”
She nodded, then leaned back, resting on the headrest. He wanted to touch her, give her some reassurance, but he didn’t. Touching her had a funny way of distracting him. Even looking at her had its dangers.
As they turned the last corner, Boone slowed the truck down, searching for anything out of the ordinary. The street, typically suburban, mostly one- and two-story houses, with one apartment building on the corner, looked quiet. A lawn was being watered, and he could see the flicker of televisions through drawn blinds. The cars lining the street were ones he’d catalogued before, except for three on this side of Christie’s house. He drove past it and saw two other newcomers.
One of them could belong to the geek. With a parabolic mike, he could be waiting to hear them as they walked to the front door. Boone decided to act as if that were the case. He sighed, then turned to drive around the block. “Christie.”
“Yeah?”
“Just a reminder,” he said, his gaze moving rapidly from the road to the assorted vehicles on either side of the street, “he might be listening.”
She stiffened in her seat, and looked at him with wide eyes. “Now?” she whispered.
“No. But when we walk into the house. So we have to…”
“Act like we’re lovers.”
“That’s right. And I want you to say something about us making it legal.”
“As in getting married?”
He nodded.
After a deep breath, she asked, “What else?”
“That’s it. Only, don’t stop pouring it on when we get inside. I want to make sure.”
“Of?”
“I want to sweep the house. For all we know, he’s been there.”
He could see her start to tremble. Even after she clasped her hands together. There were too many shadows to say whether she’d lost her color, but he’d bet on it. “Get your gun out of the glove compartment,” he said, keeping his tone even and soft.
She did, and held it in her shaking grip.
“Load her up. Triple-check the safety, then put it in your waistband, with your T-shirt over it. Make sure you can get to it quickly.”
She bent to the task as he slowed the car even further. He didn’t want to turn onto her block before she was ready, physically and mentally.
He hoped, for both their sakes, that the geek would take the bait tonight. That he’d be so crazy with the turn of events that he’d let his emotions get the better of him. The angrier he was, the quicker things would end.
“Okay,” she said.
He glanced over and caught her T-shirt slipping down over her jeans. He averted his gaze even though he hadn’t even caught a glimpse of skin.
“There,” she said, pointing to a parking spot three houses from hers. Milo recognized home, and he got up in the back, whining to get out.
Boone parked and walked around to her side of the car to hold the door open. When she stepped out, he took her hand, and they walked together to the back to open the hatch for the dog.
Milo was quite excited and made a beeline for the front yard. Boone slipped his arm around Christie’s shoulder. Her trembling was even more pronounced, although she acted the lover with conviction.
As they got closer, she put her head on his shoulder. “I can’t wait to tell my mother we’re engaged,” she said, her voice giving nothing away. “She’ll flip out.”
“I look forward to meeting her. I’ll call the airline tonight and make our reservations. And then you won’t ever have to think of that creep again. Jesus, what a pervert. Clearly he can’t get it up. If he could, he’d go after someone who wanted him.”
“He’s probably got one of those pencil dicks,” she said. “Has to jack off with tweezers and a magnifying glass.”
Boone laughed, and bent his head to kiss her. It was meant to be light, a show for the camera, if not for the microphone. But Christie…
She kissed him back. Again. Her hand went to his neck, pressing him tight, holding him as she thrust her tongue past his lips with a desperation that made him forget the microphone, the job.
She moved, pushing her body into his so that he felt the gun between them. Which meant that she would feel his erection. He couldn’t stop it, couldn’t will it down. The way she kissed him after all that touching had him as hard as the barrel.
Finally, she pulled back, but not away. She looked at him in the dark for a long while, their breaths mingling, her lips still moist. “I don’t give a shit about that pervert,” she whispered. “I just want you. Only you.”
It wasn’t until she stepped back, until she called for Milo, that he remembered the words meant nothing.
THEY WALKED INTO THE HOUSE and Christie immediately went to the kitchen. Boone was still shaken from the scene on the walkway, and as he watched her feed Milo, all he could think was, what the hell?
From her career, her looks, the way her house was so put together, he’d expected her to be…different. In fact, Nate had told him that she was high-maintenance, and that she had such high standards he wondered if she’d ever meet a man who would qualify. And yet he was absolutely sure she was coming on to him.
She put away the dog food, filled Milo’s water bowl, then turned to Boone. “I’m going to take a bath,” she said. “Care to join me?” Her voice was calm and collected, but she avoided his gaze.
Was she serious? Nah, couldn’t be. Was she just reacting to the fact that the geek might be listening?
Giving him a wide berth, she left the kitchen for the bath. All he could do was shake his head as he got his duffel. He had a few changes of clothes in there, along with his kit. A shower sounded like one hell of a great idea, but first he wanted to sweep the house, make sure no one had been inside.
He’d think about the kiss later,
