After a little while, I forced myself to focus and washed my hair and body before getting out and wrapping myself in a towel. Once I was back in the bedroom, I looked through the outfit choices I’d brought with me. Settling on something casual, I dressed quickly in black leggings and a fitted white shirt. Not wanting to spend too much time on my hair, I pulled it over one shoulder and braided it. Happier than I had felt in years, I practically skipped to the lounge. My whole body was relaxed and contented. My need for Ashton’s body that I had been struggling with for the last two months was finally satiated.
Ashton paused his video game that he was playing as I walked in the room. “Wow, you look beautiful.”
Seeing him sitting there, smiling at me, and with the memories of last night still fresh in my mind, the need for his body came back with a vengeance. “Thanks.” I walked over and sat next to him on the sofa. “Can I play too?” I asked, nodding at the TV screen, needing a distraction before I dragged him back to his bedroom again.
He grinned. “Actually, I’d love that. That’s every guy’s fantasy, a girl that plays video games, did you know that?” he replied, winking at me playfully before standing up and getting another controller for me, adding me on to his game.
I smiled. “Oh really?”
He nodded in agreement, passing me the controller and restarting the game as he sat at my side.
As it turns out, I sucked royally at video games. We were playing some kind of war game, but all I was doing was running around aimlessly and getting killed. Ashton seemed highly amused by my lack of ability though.
After about half an hour, the timer on the stove beeped and he paused the game, setting his controller onto the sofa. “I’m gonna go get lunch, no cheating while I’m gone,” he teased, kissing me quickly on the lips but pulling away way too quickly for my liking. I watched him go into the kitchen, and a few minutes later he returned with the only thing he could cook without cremating it – tuna and cheese baked potatoes.
I smiled gratefully. “Thanks, Ashton.”
“So, what shall we do today?” he asked, digging into his food.
I shrugged. “I don’t know, what is there to do?” I smiled down at my full plate. I was actually ravenous after all of the exercise this morning.
“Do you want to see my training academy? I’m sure my captain would like to meet you.”
“Sure. Sounds great,” I agreed, grinning. I would love to see the academy he raved about so much.
“I’ll have to call my Captain to see if I’m allowed to take you in there,” he winced as he pulled out his cell phone, dialling quickly. After a couple of seconds the line obviously connected, so I listened to his side of the conversation. “Hi, sir, it’s Ashton Taylor. No, everything’s going great actually. I’m in LA with Miss Spencer and she’s requested to see my academy, do you think that would be possible? Yeah, she’s good. No, she’s not being difficult at all,” he smiled at me, so I blushed and looked away. “She’d really like to come, sir. No, but I can get the senator’s permission if it’s needed.” He looked at me with wide eyes before his face relaxed. “Yeah great, we’ll be there in about half an hour or so. Thanks, g’bye, sir.” He grinned happily and pushed the phone back into his pocket. “It’s all arranged, so whenever you’re ready.”
I smiled and tucked into my food. I had a feeling he would enjoy showing me around there. When he was done eating, he showered quickly and threw on his clothes while I did the dishes.
When we got there, Ashton was beaming his kilowatt smile. He grabbed my hand, dragging me in behind him. A balding older man wearing a black SWAT T-shirt and black pants came over. The warm smile and the way he shook Ashton’s hand told me that they liked each other.
“Officer Weston, this is Anna. Anna, my old captain,” Ashton introduced, waving a hand between us.
The man turned to me and smiled, somewhat nervously. He had obviously read my file too and was erring on the side of caution.
I held my hand out to him. “Nice to meet you, Officer Weston,” I greeted politely. His eyes widened in surprise as he glanced at Ashton, who nodded and smiled encouragingly.
Officer Weston tentatively shook my hand with his rough calloused one. “You too, Miss Spencer,” he replied, his face betraying his total and utter confusion.
I waved my hand dismissively. “Anna’s fine, not Miss Spencer.”
He nodded. “Well, I wasn’t expecting a visit from you. What are you two doing here in LA? And where’s your far guard?” he asked, glancing behind me.
“We’re on our own for the weekend, sir. It was cleared by Senator Spencer,” Ashton answered quickly.
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.