Way of the Warrior (Troubleshooters #17.5)(44)

A slow grin grew on Joe’s lips as if he were reading her thoughts, and his arm snaked around her, pulling her close. “Why aren’t you sleeping?” he murmured, rolling onto his side to face her.

“Couldn’t.” She grinned, shifting a little so that her breasts were pressed against his chest. Then she snaked an arm around his neck and pulled him to her for a long, sultry kiss. God, she’d never get enough of him. Every touch, every kiss ignited a fire in her.

Things were really starting to get interesting again when a loud crash brought Joe’s head up. Every muscle in his body went tense, on alert.

“It’s probably just Jasper,” Sadie assured him. “We didn’t exactly get around to cleaning up the kitchen. Besides, Jasper would bark if there was something to worry about.”

“Probably,” Joe said, slipping from the bed. “But I’m gonna take a look. Stay here.”

Sadie threw off the covers and grabbed a pair of black yoga pants and a bright pink Butler University T-shirt from her dresser drawer, listening intently as Joe crept through the house. She heard a soft rustle—probably him pulling on his discarded clothes.

She moved to the bedroom doorway, holding her breath as she waited. Joe’s cache of weapons was in a box under her bed, but, except for the box she’d gifted to Joe, she’d given all the bullets to his brother Tom for safekeeping. Aside from throwing one of the guns at an intruder, they weren’t going to do a whole lot of good.

She waited, heart pounding for who knows how long, every second that ticked by ratcheting her anxiety for Joe’s safety a notch higher. She heard Joe opening and closing her front door. And then the back door. And for a long moment she held her breath, listening intently.

Suddenly, a shuffle down the hall startled a gasp from her, but the shadowy figure’s loping gait made her heave a sigh of relief. “Jasper!” she scolded, shaking her head. “What have you been into this time?”

Then she brought her gaze back up to see another hulking shadow at the end of the hall. “Oh, God, Joe!” she laughed. “You scared the crap out of me!”

? ? ?

Joe stuck to the shadows as he crept along the perimeter of the house. He was just making his way to the side yard, when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye and turned just in time to catch a glimpse of a tall figure booking it toward the meadow.

Fury burned in Joe’s veins. He raced after the sick perv, glad he’d taken the last few months to work up his strength and endurance again after his recovery because the f*cker was fast, especially given his size.

“Stop!” Joe ordered, patting his pocket for his cell phone and finding it missing. Belatedly, he realized it must’ve fallen out on the floor of the hallway, either when he and Sadie had been ripping off each other’s clothes or in his mad scramble to pull them back on.

Shit.

The guy darted right, bolting toward the tree line. But Joe shifted direction just as quickly, his legs pumping, swiftly gaining ground in spite of the searing pain in his leg as the damned thing began to protest.

During his search of the house, he’d grabbed his gun from the dining room table where he’d left it earlier that night, but he couldn’t shoot at that *, no matter how tempted he was. Not unless his life or Sadie’s was in danger. “Stop!” he ordered again. “Police!”

The guy surged forward with a sudden burst of speed, but then he began to slow. Joe was panting as he slowed his own pace and brought his gun up, aiming it at the guy’s center of mass. “Turn around. Slowly.”

The guy held up his hands and did as he was told.

Joe frowned when he realized who it was. “You?” he blurted. “You’re the one stalking Sadie?”

“I can explain!” Sam said in a rush. “It’s not what you think!”

“Says you,” Joe shot back. “You’re under arrest, you little bastard.”

“Dude!” Sam pleaded, taking a step forward before halting again. “Okay, yeah, I was looking into Ms. Keaton’s windows.” He paused, his expression agonized in the moonlight as he glanced around as if expecting others to suddenly appear. He leaned forward a little and lowered his voice when he said, “I saw your car parked out front on my way home from my girlfriend’s house, okay? She lives about two miles down the road. And, you know—I was curious. I mean, Ms. Keaton is seriously hot, man. Why the hell do you think I keep forgetting my shit in her class? But I was just hoping to catch a glimpse of her tits or something. I’m not stalking her!”

“Yeah?” Joe eyed the kid for a moment longer before gesturing at him to head back to the house. “We’ll see about that. Let’s go.”

Sam started back toward Sadie’s house, his head hanging, his feet dragging with each step. “This is so messed up,” he muttered. “My dad’s going to have a total freak out if he finds out I was looking in somebody’s window. I swear to God I’ve never done that before…”

Joe grunted. “Sure you haven’t.”

“I’m telling the truth!” Sam insisted, speaking in such a rush Joe had to work to keep up with what he was saying. “I didn’t even see anything! It’s not like I climbed the tree to look in the upstairs windows or some shit. Hell, I was just getting ready to leave when I heard you knock over Ms. Keaton’s trash can and hid out in the bushes until the coast was clear. But you showed up again when I was coming out to head back to where I’d parked my car on the road, and—”