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Jude hummed, nuzzling Snow’s shoulder so that the day’s growth on his cheeks scraped along his bare skin. “You’re not old. Forty isn’t old. I thought forty was the new thirty.”
“You know that’s all bullshit, right?”
He could feel more than hear Jude chuckle against him. “You’re my sexy silver fox.”
“You’re lucky I’m too exhausted to kick your ass.” Turning enough in the bed to reach Jude’s lips, he brushed a soft kiss across his mouth. “Get some sleep.”
“Mmmm…yes. Sleep. Then I’ll make you moan for me in the morning.”
Snow’s dick stirred slightly at the promise, but the rest of his body just laughed. He might live for sex with Jude, but he was content to catch up on some sleep for one night. They had plenty of time to worship each other’s bodies.
Jude had barely finished speaking before his breathing evened out. A few seconds later a soft snore slipped from him. He was already out. Snow nearly sighed with relief. Jude had gone far too many nights recently without getting some decent sleep. He was willing to bet that Jude’s body was just finally giving out and overpowering the worry that plagued him on a constant basis. Snow wished his lover would get a full night’s sleep this time so he could get on the road to healing himself.
Closing his eyes, Snow focused on the sound of Jude’s breathing and the feel of his warm body against his. Images of Anthony’s body flashed across his brain, blood soaking into his clothes and sliding across the dark pavement. There was nothing he could have done to save the young man even if he’d been there the second he’d been shot.
The muffled sound of breaking glass had Snow bolting upright in the bed. Jude gasped and jerked upright as well, flailing a bit on the covers.
“What? What was that?” he mumbled.
Snow was already on his feet, grabbing a pair of sweat pants off the nearby dresser. “One of the windows was broken downstairs. Sounded like toward the back in the kitchen.”
The darkness of the room was lit up by the screen of both their phones. Without looking, he knew that it was one of the protection agents at Ward Security calling. Before they even moved into the house, Rowe had his people crawling all over it, installing a state-of-the-art home security system free of charge. The only thing they paid for was a highly discounted monthly monitoring fee. Rowe called it a housewarming present, but Snow knew that Rowe did it so that he could be sure his family was safe at all times.
“Where are you going?” Jude threw back the covers and grabbed for his own pants on a chair close to his side of the bed.
“I need you to answer the phone and tell them that someone has broken into the house. Then take the baseball bat from under the bed and go to the guest room. Stay there until I come for you.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? You are not going downstairs alone and unarmed, General,” Jude snarled. The words came out sounding as if he was clenching his teeth.
“I can take care of myself.”
“Ashton!” Jude said in an angry whisper. Jude hardly ever used his real name, so this was not a good sign. Some sneaky part of his brain knew that Jude was right. He was being overprotective, but after seeing Anthony shot and Jordan hanging on by a threat, Snow needed Jude to stay safe.
“We can’t go down together. The staircase is too narrow. Wait up here with the bat. Go to the spare bathroom or the guest room. If someone gets past me to attack you up here, he will come to the master bedroom first. You can strike from behind.”
He could have sworn he heard Jude growl at him before he finally nodded. “I’m giving you two minutes, and then I’m coming down behind you.”
A part of him wanted to cross the room and kiss him one last time before descending the stairs, but they’d already wasted too much time arguing about their options. Besides, there wasn’t a last time. He was going to survive this. Jude was going to survive this. They had so many more kisses in their future.
Opening the bedroom door a crack, Snow peered out through the slender opening. A night-light was burning in the hallway, casting a pale, yellow glow. They’d added it over a year ago for a member of Jude’s family who’d stayed the night so he could find his way to the bathroom in the darkness. They’d just never bothered to take it down again. The hallway was empty, and he heard no additional noises from the first floor.
He imagined that the intruders had broken the glass in the back door in the kitchen that led to the patio. By now, they should have managed to unlock the door and were likely in the kitchen. He had to keep them from reaching the stairs and the second floor.
