Chapter 9: The Floor

He took me down to the tile before I knew I was falling.

His whole body came over mine, one arm behind my head and the other flat on the floor beside my shoulder.

A second round tore through the window frame.

Glass rained across his back.

"Don't move," he said into my hair.

"I'm not moving."

"Stay low."

"I'm as low as I can get, Judd."

I felt his chest rise against mine in a laugh that wasn't quite a laugh.

Outside, boots hit the pavement and men shouted. An engine roared away down the street.

Then someone pounded on the front door.

"Colonel! Sir! Are you hit?"

"No," he called. "My wife?"

"Don't know, sir."

"I'm fine," I said, and my voice cracked in the middle.

"Clear the perimeter," the colonel shouted. "Nobody comes in until I say."

"Yes, sir."

The boots moved away.

Then it was quiet.

I could hear his breathing, and mine, and the drip of the faucet that the bullet had split.

He lifted himself onto his forearms and looked down at me.

"Where does it hurt?"

"Nowhere."

"You're bleeding."

He touched my cheekbone, and his fingers came away red.

"It's a splinter," I said. "From the cabinet. It's nothing."

"You were two inches from it."

"I know."

"Two inches."

His voice was strange.

I looked up at him.

His gray eyes were wide open, and I could see the pulse beating hard in his throat.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Shielded by the Ruthless Military Boss from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.