Page 64 of Desire Me
Saint checked his GLOCK and added ammunition to his pockets. “Looks like you’re doing pretty well over there already.”
A hard shake went down Rae’s body. “I really don’t want to fight off members of a criminal network with a fucking hairbrush.”
As he pulled a pair of night-vision goggles over his head to settle around his neck, a chuckle surprised him. He strode across the room, a small .22 in hand. “Here.”
She took the gun.
“Safety is off. Point and shoot.” He gave her a hard, quick kiss. “I’m locking the doors. Go in the bathroom; I’ll be there in a sec.”
She went without question, and pride filled his chest until he thought his ribs would crack. Yesterday she wouldn’t have trusted him like that, but tonight, after the hours they’d spent together in bed, hours filled not just with sex but with conversation, she didn’t even hesitate. Thank Christ.
There were a lot of ways someone could get into a house if they really wanted to, the easiest being to shatter windows. Saint had put bulletproof glass in the sliders at the back of the house, but not the other rooms. He closed the bedroom door and fastened both the door lock and the special bolt he’d installed, then retreated to the bathroom and did the same there. In addition to the single closet in the bedroom, there was another here, and he guided Rae inside it. “Wait here for me.”
“Where are you going, Saint?”
The concern that glimmered in her eyes punched him in the gut. “I’ll be back, cariño, I promise. But I can’t focus or react on instinct if I don’t know a hundred percent that any of my targets are not you, okay? Stay here, lock the bolt, and don’t open it unless you hear my voice or one of my team. Got your phone?”
She patted her pocket. “I do.”
“Good girl. Don’t call Leah right now. Remi knows what’s up, and he’s on his way already. But if you wait an hour and none of us come to the door, call her. Got me?”
She moved into his arms to give him another kiss, this one softer, full of emotion. “I got you. Now come back to me safe, you got that?”
He stood a moment, waiting for her to lock the bolt inside the closet, and when he heard it ram home, he hurried across to the bathroom window. Seemed to be his day for bathroom windows, didn’t it?
The goggles allowed him to survey the backyard almost as well as if it had been day. He waited, not only for signs of the enemy but for his usual battle-ready calm to settle over him—only the calm never came. These men were after Rae, had come tohis hometo take her away from him, and now that she was secure, he discovered that a boiling rage was beginning to churn deep inside him. His team had left Lonergan and his partner essentially unharmed, definitely intact, had taken nothing but Rae’s things, and they’d come here? To threaten his woman?
He didn’t fucking think so.
The sound of breaking glass reached him from what was probably the dining room, but at the same time, a shadow rounded the end of the house and began moving along the back toward him. Saint would guess he was facing two to four men (if Lonergan’s entire team had come along). He knew where two were, but the rest?
Didn’t matter. Rae needed to be safe, and there was only one way to ensure that.
The shadow stopped at the sliding glass doors leading to the living area, raised what looked like a crowbar, and swung for the fence—only to snap back when his weapon rebounded off the glass. A grim smile touched Saint’s mouth. That shock would reverberate up the man’s arms, numbing them. And he’d hesitate the next time. Saint knew where the next time would be.
As the shadow crept closer, it firmed into the lines of a man. Thick chest—probably Kevlar. An odd shape to the head meant goggles just like Saint’s, so the man could see as well as he could. Long arms grasping the crowbar, but Saint detected at least one holster, at the man’s thigh.
Ready for a fight.
So was Saint.
Knowing it would be mere moments before the man turned his attention to the bathroom window, Saint tucked directly beneath, waiting. Like their entrance this afternoon, the window was just big enough for the bastard to climb through. Unlike this afternoon, there was a surprise waiting inside.
The shattering came moments later. Shards scattered across Saint’s body, nicking his skin, but he avoided the worst of it since the force of the blow had pushed the majority of the glass farther inside. The rage in Saint’s belly coalesced, becoming a tight ball of determination, and as the man raised his crowbar to knock the remaining shards out of the frame to clear his way inside, Saint popped up, took aim before the man could react, and fired a shot.
One down.
The body hadn’t hit the ground before Saint was out the window. Instead of moving toward the sliders, he hurried in the opposite direction, around the corner, and along the north side of the house, eyes constantly moving, searching, alert to the slightest movement. At least one man was inside already, looking for Rae, but he had the entire house to get through first. And the locked doors. Not only were the locks virtually unbreakable, but the doors were steel, not wood. That would take him time.
If he had help…
The front side of the house was likewise empty, but the same nondescript SUV from this afternoon was parked just before the driveway rounded toward the front steps. Saint moved carefully, easing through shrubbery toward the porch, bending over to stay beneath any windows until he made it to the alcove for the front door. A quick code typed into the keypad released the lock.
A nudge to the door allowed him a glimpse of the foyer, which was empty. A single man stood across the living space at the back sliders, his gaze outside. Stupid mistake. Saint took his time aiming, knowing this man wore the same bulletproof vest as the first one. He had two policies for intruders. The first was, keep them out. If they managed to come in, the second was, shoot to kill.
A single shot sent blood spurting from the man’s neck. He dropped where he stood, never even turning around.
Two down.
