Nothing Left to Lose (Guarded Hearts 1)

The older man’s eyes snapped to Ashton. “Seriously? He let you bring her to LA on your own?” A proud smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. Ashton nodded and smiled down at me, squeezing my hand that he was still holding. “You must be making an impression there, Taylor.”

I laughed at that. “Oh he is,” I chimed in, smiling suggestively at my pretend boyfriend.

Ashton choked back a laugh and nodded. “Well, I’ll be showing Anna around then, sir,” he chirped happily. Officer Weston nodded and handed me a visitors’ badge as Ashton dragged me off up the hallway, grinning like a mad man.

His tour was pretty thorough. As we went into the swimming pool, combat rooms and gym, Ashton was telling me little stories about what him and Nate used to get up to in there and how many ways they got into trouble with their superiors. It sounded like they were a nightmare to control. It surprised me that Officer Weston seemed to like him; actually, it surprised me that they graduated at all, what with all the pranks and practical jokes they’d pulled.

After we’d seen practically everything, he smiled excitedly at me. “Wanna see the shooting range?”

“Sure.” I shrugged. I didn’t want to, but he looked so excited about it that I didn’t want to ruin his fun.

Instead of taking me to some dingy room like we’d been shooting in, we went outside. “Hey, Carl, let me borrow your gun, would ya?” he shouted over my shoulder. I turned to see a guy decked out in full SWAT uniform.

My breath caught in my throat because it was even hotter than I imagined it to be. If I saw that on Ashton, I was pretty sure I would just burst into flames, and all that would be left of me was a pile of dust on the floor. “Ashton, why the hell didn’t you put that on for me last night?” I whined, digging my fingers into his waist as a thousand fantasies of him calling me ma’am in the hot uniform flooded my brain. I squeezed my eyes shut and moaned, the thought alone made my legs feel weak.

He chuckled wickedly. “Whoa, chill, Baby Girl. I have mine at home if you want me to show you,” he whispered, his teeth nipping my earlobe as he wrapped his arms around my waist. My mouth started to water. That was definitely something I would be requesting before we left LA. He winked at me and turned back to the guy, who had now reached us.

“Hey, Taylor, what are you doing back here? I thought you were in Washington,” the guy called Carl said as they shook hands and did the one-armed man hug thing.

“Yeah I was. I’ve got the weekend off, but they just called me in at the last minute to sign for something. We were on our way out, so I had to bring my girlfriend in too,” Ashton lied, rolling his eyes, faking exasperation.

Carl looked me over and grinned wolfishly. “I didn’t know you did girlfriends.”

I smiled suggestively. “Oh, he does them alright,” I interjected, winking and holding out my hand to him, smiling. “Anna.”

He shook my hand. “Carl.”

“So, can I borrow your gun for a sec? I just want to show off for my girl,” Ashton repeated. Carl nodded, swinging what I assumed to be an assault rifle off his shoulder.

I jumped and jerked back away from it. My breath seemed to catch in my throat. Ashton took the offered gun and moved it away from me. “It’s alright, I promise,” he smiled reassuringly at me. Carl took off his ear defenders that were hanging loosely around his neck and held them out to me. I took them and nodded a thanks, though my eyes were still firmly fixed on the gun.

“Use Station Four, it’s just been set up,” Carl instructed, nodding off to the right.

Ashton grinned. “Cheers, man.” He pulled me over to the grass next to a number four sign, and laid himself down on his stomach, fiddling with the gun for a few seconds before patting the grass next to him. Taking the hint, I lay down at his side and looked out into the direction that he was looking in. I couldn’t see a thing, only grass and more grass. “You ready? Put those on,” he instructed, nodding at my ear defenders that were in my hand. I nodded and slipped them on, not knowing what to expect. He let off a series of shots in bursts of two, and then clicked the safety back on less than a minute later. “What do you think?” he asked, smirking at me.

I shrugged in response. “It’s a big gun?” I offered, not sure what else to say.

He laughed and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him. “Look through the eyepiece.”

Confused, I did as I was told. At first I had no idea what I was looking at, but then I spotted it. There was a target out there, one of the paper ones like we usually practiced with. Pulling my eye away from the eyepiece, I squinted off into the distance. I couldn’t see it at all. When I used the eyepiece again, I noticed that the black shape of the head had two eyes, a nose, and a mouth all made out of bullet holes.

I burst out laughing. “I can’t even see that! How far away is it?” I asked, searching the horizon for it again.

“Five hundred yards,” he answered, shrugging.

I gasped in awe of his talent. “You shot a smiley face from five hundred yards away?”

“Yeah, but you should see Nate shoot. He could literally shoot a fly if it landed on that target,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

“You’re incredible. Honestly, your talent just boggles my mind,” I breathed. How on earth can one man be so skilled at his job, yet look and act the way he does? I turned my head to see his face inches from mine; his beautiful green eyes sparkling. I moved my head closer and pressed my lips to his softly. Instead of it being a chaste kiss though, it turned into something else. His hand went to the back of my head as the kiss deepened and he moved so that I had to roll onto my back with his body half over mine. When I seemed to lose all control of myself, he took my hands off his butt and pinned them above my head, smiling against my lips.