Man of the House: A Dark Bad Boy Romance(15)

“Quadcopter,” he said. “What color?”

“Silver. With some blue trim.”

“Not one of ours,” he grunted. “Where are you?”

“Out by the pool.”

“Be there in a second.”

He hung up the phone and I frowned, looking up at the quadcopter. It hadn’t moved, despite the fact that I noticed it and made a phone call. Clearly it had been spotted, but whoever was flying it didn’t seem to care.

A few minutes later, a large man came out of the house. He was older but in very good shape with a close cropped haircut and intense eyes. He was holding a rifle in his hands and looked up at the drone like he wanted to strangle it.

“Miss, are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” I said. “This thing just keeps hovering over me.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Sometimes the paparazzi get too aggressive.”

“They’re spying on me?”

“Probably. Mr. Green’s marriage is a big tabloid sensation, as they say.”

Just then, there was a noise over by the house. “Cox!”

We both looked over and saw Carter striding out toward us. He was dressed in his workout clothes again, though he wasn’t sweating and fortunately he wore a shirt this time.

“Sir,” Cox said. “You don’t need to worry yourself about this.”

“Are you sure? I was running on the roof track when I spotted this piece of shit. Why is it still here?” Carter demanded.

“I don’t know who it belongs to, sir.”

“Give me that.” Carter took the rifle from Cox and put it against his shoulder, aiming it up at the drone.

“You shouldn’t do that.”

“Cover your ears,” he said to me and looked back at the drone. It suddenly began to fly away.

I covered my ears and watched Carter take aim, licking his lips. He took a deep breath then pulled the trigger.

The gun was loud as hell, even with my hands over my ears. I looked up and saw the drone dip, rise, and then plummet down to the ground.

“Good shot, sir,” Cox said.

Carter grinned at him, handing back the rifle. “Don’t worry about the legal fallout, Cox. They were trespassing anyway.”

He nodded, face impassive.

Carter looked at me. “Well. Shall we go see our kill?”

I laughed. “Sure. Lead the way.”

Carter waved to Cox who nodded and headed back toward the house. He took me by the hand and led me across the lawn toward the drone.

“Where did you learn to shoot like that?” I asked him.

“Everybody should know how to shoot a gun. Just in case.”

“I don’t know how.”

“I’ll teach you one day.”

“I’m afraid of them.”

He grinned at me. “They’re just machines. Nothing to be afraid of if you know what you’re doing.”

We reached the drone and he kicked it over. There was a bullet hole right through the center of it, and the rotors were still trying to gyrate.

“Piece of shit,” he said. “It’s still broadcasting.” He slammed his foot down, breaking the camera into bits.

“Who sent it?” I asked him.

“Hard to say. We get them every once in a while. Cox tries to catch them, but I prefer just shooting them down.”

“What happens when you catch them?”

“Makes it easier to sell them back. Or sometimes I’ll hijack their programming and turn it into my own little anti-drone.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“It’s a pain in the ass.” He kicked it, shaking his head. “Fucking scum. The paparazzi have been up my ass for years.”

“Must be hard, living like this.”

“Yeah.” He looked at me. “Sorry to drag you into it.”

I nodded but didn’t say anything. I was suddenly intensely aware that I was mostly naked underneath my towel, just a small bikini covering my body, the same body that I had shown off to him the day before. He looked good in his running shorts and tight blue shirt, his eyes staring at mine.

“About yesterday,” I said.

“Don’t worry about it.” He grinned. “Getting handcuffed to the bed was more than worth that picture.”

I blushed a little bit. “That can’t be true.”

“I mean it. You’re f*cking gorgeous, you know that?” He stepped toward me.

“You shoot down one drone for me and suddenly I’m supposed to throw myself at you?”

He grinned, seeing right through my lame attempt at deflecting the situation.

“Don’t act like you’re not dripping wet. There’s nothing sexier than a man with a gun.”

“I didn’t realize you were a caveman.”

“Cavemen didn’t have rifles.”

“Good point. But you know what I’m saying.”

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting a man to take care of you,” he said. He was inches away from me. “You can pretend all you want, but we both know you want me to press you up against a wall and f*ck your brains out.”

“No,” I said softly.

“Yes,” he said, and took my cheek in his hand. “That’s exactly what you want. You want to be respected while at the same time f*cked and dominated, treated like the dirty sexy f*cking girl you really are.”