Page 39 of In Her Sights
“What?”
“Nothing.” His grin was back, but she thought it looked strained. No wonder, since he must be as exhausted as she was, and he was bruised and sore on top of that.
“Go to bed. I’m going to shower and then I’ll join you.” When John’s smile widened into something she could only describe as wolfish, she realized her mistake. “As in join you in sleep, not join you in bed.” Turning on her heel so he couldn’t see the way her face flushed bright red, judging by the heat in her cheeks, Molly headed for the bathroom. She needed to get clean and then go to sleep. If she was unconscious, she wouldn’t keep saying embarrassing things.
It was only after her shower, when she was damp and naked under her towel, dirty clothes tucked into the hamper, that she realized her mistake. She’d forgotten to bring pajamas into the bathroom with her. Now, she was going to have to waltz into her room, where John was, in just a towel, and dig through her dresser drawers…which of course were the bottom two. She could imagine the picture she was going to present, her towel-clad body bent over with her butt in the air as she dug for some clean underwear.
She sighed silently, jerking open the door with resigned resolve. Hopefully, John was fully asleep and would miss the show. With her luck, though, that was unlikely. Her only other option was to sleep naked, and that seemed even more ill-advised when sharing a bedroom with John Carmondy.
“How’d you end up in this situation?” she muttered to herself as she made her way down the hall toward her room. Tucking the towel around her torso a little more securely, she shoved open the door before she could annoy herself by hesitating.
The lights were on, making it easy to see that the room was empty. Molly paused, trying to figure out where John had disappeared to, but then reminded herself that she needed to take advantage of his absence to get less naked. She dressed in record time, yanking on the first pair of panties and sleep shorts she put her hands on. The first two tank tops were discarded because they were too tight, but the third was a loose winner.
Once she was no longer wearing only a towel and John still hadn’t reappeared, she realized she was breathing hard with exertion and felt a little ridiculous for the urgency she’d felt just moments earlier. Her second thought was curiosity about where he’d gone. Knowing that she wouldn’t be able to sleep with John roaming the house, possibly finding out personal and embarrassing things about her, she left her room to hunt him down.
He wasn’t anywhere on the second level. She’d even peeked into the twins’ room, finding only a heavily sleeping Cara. As she descended the stairs, she realized that she was tiptoeing and mentally scolded herself for being so tentative. She was a big, bad bounty hunter, for Pete’s sake. She should be stomping down the stairs in steel-toed boots and leather pants, not sneaking along on bare feet with rainbow-colored toenails.
Despite her mental lecture, she jumped a foot when a huge form separated from the shadows cloaking the kitchen entrance. “Sorry,” she said once she’d recovered her composure and realized that it was just John. “I should’ve asked if you were hungry when we got home. I hope you helped yourself to whatever you found in there.”
His teeth flashed white in the dim light. “Thanks, but I’m not hungry. I was just making sure everything was secured.” The humor left his voice as he added, “I’ll get my buddy over here to install a security system first thing tomorrow.”
Molly was about to protest that they didn’t need the help, but she swallowed the words. At this moment, they did need the help, and her prideful objections wouldn’t do anything to keep her family safe. Besides, John did owe her for the bounties she’d missed out on when he’d stolen skips out from under her nose. She ignored the voice in her head that reminded her that she’d pilfered more out from under his nose than he’d ever dreamed about taking from her. “Thanks,” she replied belatedly. Taking a deep breath, she said something that she knew—just knew—was going to come back and bite her hard in the ass. “I’ll owe you one.”
That Cheshire cat grin showed up again. “Oh? That’ll be fun.”
“No.” She huffed, turning toward the stairs to hide the way her mouth wanted to twitch up at the corners. Stupid John Carmondy and his stupid infectious smiles. “That won’t be fun. Not at all.”
Chapter 13
“Pax. Pax, wake up.”
She tried burrowing deeper into her pillow, tugging her covers up around her ears in a futile attempt to block the voice invading her dreams. Unfortunately, John didn’t stop. “Pax, get up!”
She groaned into her pillow. It was still dark, for Pete’s sake. Was this her punishment for being a bad person? Was karma going to send him to her every morning to rudely wake her at an ungodly hour until she’d made amends for whatever horrible thing she’d done? What could her sin have been to be bad enough to call for this miserable a penance?
“Someone’s trying to break in,” John whispered.
All traces of her lingering sleepy haze immediately evaporated. She was out of bed in an instant, moving so quickly that she almost crashed into John. Turning, she pulled a Taser out of the nightstand. As she bent to grab the weapon, she heard John make an indistinct sound, but his expression was bland by the time she’d straightened and turned to face him.
“Let’s go,” she said, ignoring his weirdness for now. There’d be time enough to try to solve the puzzle that was John Carmondy when they didn’t have a burglar at their door. Without waiting for a response, she charged for the hallway.
John followed her, but when they reached the top of the stairs, he moved in front of her. Making a barely audible sound of protest, she poked him in the back. He ignored it and moved silently down the stairs. Although she could see the readiness in his movements, his hands were by his sides, empty of any kind of weapon, and she frowned, wishing she’d grabbed the second Taser. Tapping his hand lightly, she offered him the one she did have. Giving it a surprised glance, he waved it off with a smile of thanks. She withdrew, determined to do her best to save the crazy, unprepared man from any danger.
When they reached the bottom of the stairs, he slipped through the living room, a silent shadow. She was amazed again how agile and coordinated he was for such a big man. Molly was pretty sure she was klutzier than he was, and she was half his size. As he made his way toward the front door, she realized that she was following behind him like a scared kid, rather than acting like the badass she was—a badass with a Taser, at that. Rolling her eyes at herself, she peeled off, heading for the kitchen.
Before she managed to get a few steps away from John, he caught her wrist, tugging her gently back into place behind him. Knowing that she couldn’t win a tug-of-war between them, she acquiesced…at least until he released her and refocused in front of him. As soon as her wrist was free, she slipped away, moving quickly, expecting and dodging his grab for her. Ignoring his low growl of annoyance, she headed for the kitchen, planning the lecture she was going to give him when they didn’t have to be quiet anymore.
In the kitchen, shadows draped over the familiar room, turning the innocent appliances and counters into menacing shapes. Attempting to ignore the unease creeping into her mind, she briskly moved past the threshold, telling herself she was being ridiculous. There was no reason to be scared of her own kitchen.
As she passed the pantry, the door flew open, hitting the wall with a bang that made her jump into the air like a startled cat. A shadow detached itself from the darkness of the small room and lunged for her. Her arm started to rise so that she could deploy the Taser, but it was too late. The attacker was already on her.
Strong arms wrapped around her as they both toppled to the floor. Molly hit first with a grunt, the Taser flying out of her grip. The weight of the burglar knocked the air out of her lungs, preventing her from calling out to John. She could only hope that he heard them struggling. After a split second of shock, she started to fight.
With the heavy form on her, her range of motion was limited, but she managed to get her right arm free. Craning her neck, she tried to make out who was on top of her, but all she could see was the bulky chest and jowly neck of the man who had her pinned. Making a fist, she punched him in the upper chest.
With her target so close, the hit was weak and off-center, but it did its job. The intruder reared back, lifting off enough for her to take aim at his throat. That punch was strong enough to make him choke. Grabbing his injured neck with both hands, he rolled to the side and wheezed for air.
