by Maree Green
“Uh…do you want me to put these on now?”
“No. I’ll go over the features of the gun first. Come here.”
I stepped closer to him, my gaze drawn to the gun in his hand.
“We’re just going to use my Glock today. It’s a good gun to start with, easy for beginners, but I think I’d like to get you something with a manual safety.”
I frowned at the gun, suddenly hesitant to touch it. “It doesn’t have a safety thingy?”
His lips twitched but he managed to keep a straight face. “Not like you’re thinking. It has three safety mechanisms, but I’m not going to go into them right now. All you need to know, is the trigger safety.” Holding the gun so it was pointing down, away from us, he pointed to the trigger. “See that bit in the middle of the trigger? That’s the safety mechanism. If that’s not pulled properly, the gun won’t fire.”
I stared at it carefully. “Okay.”
“Alright, stand here,” he said, maneuvering me so I was facing down the range. Standing behind me, he held the gun out for me to take. I hesitated.
“It’s okay. The chamber’s empty. Just take it and feel it in your hand first. I’m just going to show you how to hold it and how to stand while you’re firing.”
Sliding the glasses on top of my head, I took it from him with a careful hand. It was lighter than I expected.
“Okay, stand with your feet about shoulder width apart, that’s it, and hold the gun out in front of you, using your other hand to keep it steady.”
I did as he said, kind of copy-catting what I’d seen in every action movie. Except for those ones where the bad guys held their guns on the side. I didn’t understand that at all.
“So like I said, to fire the gun, you have to pull the safety trigger all the way in. You’ll find a little bit of slack before it fires but it’s pretty light on a Glock. You can pull it now to feel it if you like.”
I did. I felt like I was playing with a toy gun, but I wasn’t going to mention that to Noah.
“Good. Now, this gun is a semi-automatic, so it reloads the bullets for you. Pull the trigger again, but this time listen when you release it. When it gets to a certain position, you’ll hear a click. That’s the reset position. When it gets to that point, the gun’s ready to shoot again.”
I was fascinated by the way he explained it all. I could tell it was his passion. No wonder he was so good at it. I pulled the trigger and listened as I released it, hearing the little click he was talking about.
“Alright. Do you think you’re ready to give it a go?”
I went for enthusiasm, because he was kind of rubbing off on me. “Yes!”
I felt his breath blow over the back of my neck from his chuckle, sending shivers down my spine. I tried to stop my head from clouding over so I could concentrate on what I was doing, but damn, he was making it hard.
Placing his hand over mine on the gun, he directed me to hold it down and away and picked up what I assumed was the bullet cartridge.
“This is the magazine,” he said. “You take it.”
I took it off him and, placing his hand over mine, he showed me how to fit it into the gun.
“Okay, show me your stance.”
I held the gun up with both hands and positioned my feet how he’d told me, looking down the range through the little guide thingies on top of the gun.
“Good. Now when you fire, you’re going to feel a little bit of recoil. It’s not too bad with this gun, but I want you to be ready for it.”
“Okay,” I breathed. I could feel the adrenalin starting to pump through me.
He slid the glasses down over my eyes, then placed some earmuffs over my head. Holding one earpiece away from my ear, he shifted to my side a little.
“I’m just going to stand back a little. Just relax. Focus on your target, and breathe. I find the best way to get a good shot, is to breath out, long and slow, then squeeze the trigger.”
I nodded. I was nervous and excited, but I just really wanted to do him proud.
Feeling him back away, I focused on the target down the range. I went through a mental checklist of everything he’d said, and tried to slow my breathing, taking long, slow breaths like he’d said. When I felt ready, I exhaled slowly, and squeezed.
The force of the shot did push me back a little, but I’d been prepared for it. I wasn’t sure if the bullet hit anything. It was too far away to see.
I stood still for a moment, unsure whether he wanted me to shoot again. Making sure to keep the gun pointing down the range, I turned to look at him. He nodded his head and motioned for me to keep shooting.
So I did.
I couldn’t hear the click he’d spoken about before to know when the trigger had reset, but I thought I remembered roughly where it’d been, so I kept shooting. I tried to imagine it was Aaron standing down the range instead of the paper. It seemed to help.
When the bullets ran out, I lowered the gun to the ground in front of me like I’d seen Noah do earlier. It kind of made me feel bad ass. I liked it.
Noah came to my side and took the gun off me, taking out the magazine and checking that the chamber was empty before putting it down and hitting the button to send the paper man flying forward.
Sliding the glasses and earmuffs onto the table, I turned to see Noah watching me.
“How did that feel?” he asked.
“Amazing!” I said, grinning like an idiot. “I feel kind of bad ass now.
He laughed and shook his head. “Well, let’s see how you did.”
Glancing over his shoulder, I saw the paper man almost before us, and when I saw where all the holes were, I thought I’d done pretty well. There were a few holes around the edges, but most of them were over the chest area. Two holes, which I assumed were from when I’d pictured Aaron, were in paper man’s head - one right in the eye. Yes!
“Fuck me,” Noah breathed. He glanced from paper man to me then back again.
I noticed he was breathing a little heavier than he was before.
He turned to face me full on, his eyes dark and dangerous. “I didn’t think you could possibly get any hotter than you already were, but I seriously want to fuck you right now.”
Oh, shit.
Heat pooled between my legs. I tried to keep my head because I was likely to let him take me right there if I didn’t, so exhaled and glanced over to paper man.
“So I did okay then?”
His eyes narrowed and he growled. “I need to get you home.”
Grabbing up his Glock and other gun paraphernalia, he took my hand and led me towards the door at a brisk pace.
We’d just gotten into the parking lot when we came face to face with a girl.
“Patch,” she said, her eyes wide with surprise.
I frowned at her, not because she called Noah, Patch, although that did confuse me. It was the fact that I recognized her. It was that girl who’d come to my school for those couple of weeks. What was her name again…? Ah yes.
“Sarah?”
She glanced at me, but her gaze immediately went back to Noah, more or less ignoring me. What the hell?
Noah tensed beside me. “Kaeli, this is Leah. She was undercover at your school. She was supposed to be watching out for you.”
He said the last bit like he wasn’t happy. I didn’t understand. His whole body language had changed dramatically. Sarah…Leah, or whoever the hell she was, narrowed her eyes. She was still blatantly ignoring me.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” she said quietly. “Alone?”
I tried not to stiffen, but she was putting me on edge. I didn’t understand why she was being so cold towards me. What had I ever done to her?
“I don’t really have the time right now, Leah,” Noah said coldly.
“Come on, Patch. Please? You know I’ve been trying to see you since the bust.”
Noah shifted on his feet. I could tell he didn’t want to, but he obviously felt he owed her or something.
Squeezing his hand, I t
ried to be the good girlfriend. The good, not jealous girlfriend. It was tougher than I thought.
“Uh…I can just go wait in the car…?”
Noah looked like he wanted to say no, but I gave him a smile I hoped told him I was fine. A little confused by the sudden tension, but fine just the same.
Sighing, he handed me the keys and squeezed my hand. “Thanks. I won’t be long.”
Nodding, I said a quick goodbye to Leah and let myself into Noah’s car.
I watched them as I waited. I tried to make it look like I was checking my cell, but of course I wasn’t. Noah looked pissed, and Leah went from looking like she was pleading, to pissed as well.
Then she touched him.
I didn’t know what it was about that touch. It was just a simple hand on his arm, but it instantly made it all click into place. There was something more than work between them. Her behavior made so much more sense now.
I instantly felt sick. Since the day he’d turned up at school I hadn’t thought once about him with another girl, but watching him just then, with a girl who obviously liked him, I was suddenly panicking. The thought of him leaving me for her was the scariest thing I’d ever faced.
When I saw him shake her off and start towards the car, I forced myself to get my shit together. I was not going to be the jealous girlfriend. But I was silently shitting myself.
Chapter 68
Noah
I fumed like the fucking devil the whole way back to the apartment. Running into Leah had soured my whole fucking day. I’d been so proud of Kaeli at the range. She’d shot better than even some of the guys the first time they’d been there. It’d been such a fucking turn on, all I wanted to do was take her home and show her how fucking sexy I thought she was. But then Leah had to show up.
I’d come so close to telling her to go to hell. I still hadn’t forgiven her for convincing Walt to pull detail from Kaeli. As far as I was concerned, that was unforgivable. She’d let jealousy get in the way of doing her job. A job that was to serve and protect. She’d failed.
I still couldn’t believe she had the audacity to ask me if we could catch up. Of course, she’d tried to cover it up by saying it was just to talk about everything. Clear the air. But I knew Leah, and I knew when she was making a play.
She hadn’t been happy when I’d straight up said no, and she’d been even more so when I told her I was with Kaeli. I left her with a warning to stay the hell away from me. I knew that was probably overkill, but I was too mad with her to mince words.
Throwing my keys on the kitchen counter, I frowned. I’d been so far in my own head, I didn’t even know if Kaeli had followed me inside.
Turning, I saw her standing near the closed door, her face a mask of confusion and uncertainty. Fuck.
“Shit. Kaeli, I’m sorry,” I said, striding over to pull her against me. “I didn’t mean to ignore you. Leah just really pissed me off.”
Her silence panicked me. Fuck. Had I messed this up more than I’d thought?
Pulling back so I could try to get a read on her, I took her hips in my hands. “Baby? Are you okay?”
She bit her lip, worry flashing through her pretty eyes. “I’m trying really hard not to be the insecure girlfriend, Noah, but that didn’t look good. Is there something you need to tell me about Leah? Did you used to date her or something?”
I blinked at her stupidly. Shit. She thought Leah and I had a thing? “Fuck, no. We’ve never been anything but co-workers. I promise.”
She looked at me skeptically.
“You want every little detail?”
Giving me a pitiful look, she exhaled and dropped her head. “I’m sorry. I just need to understand.”
“Don’t be sorry, baby. Fuck, I get jealous any time one of those guy friends of yours is anywhere near you.” I sighed. “I met Leah just before I went undercover at the final briefing. I knew then that she was attracted to me, but of course neither of us could do anything about it.”
“But you wanted to?”
I frowned. “I thought about it, but I think that was just because of where I was. I needed to have something normal to look forward to, if you can understand that? I saw her every now and again when I checked in, and we always flirted I guess, and I did think about maybe seeing where it went when it was all over. But then I met you.”
She gave me a withering look.
“Baby, Leah’s got nothing on you. Seeing now what I have with you, I know that whatever it was with Leah was nothing more than a bit of fun flirting. It pales so fucking much in comparison, it’s not even visible.”
I watched her features change with her emotions. I knew she was taking it all in, and thankfully she looked like she got it. But then she frowned, making the panic flare up again.
“Why did you look so pissed at her?”
Sighing, I looked up to the ceiling for a heartbeat before meeting her gaze again. “She was supposed to be undercover at your school to keep an eye on you.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I remember seeing her there.”
“But not when it mattered.”
Her eyebrows scrunched up. “What do you mean?”
I seriously didn’t want to have to explain it, but I knew there was no way to get out of it now. “Around the time your mom was in hospital, I managed to check in with Leah. I was trying to make sure someone was watching out for you when I couldn’t.” I huffed out a breath, remembering Leah’s reaction. It still pissed me off even now. “Leah kind of flipped out on me. I didn’t get it at the time. I didn’t understand why she thought so badly of you, but I just continued on with the job. I didn’t find out until after Aaron took you that she’d convinced the captain you didn’t need detail.”
Kaeli’s mouth popped open with understanding. “Oh. Wow.”
I gave her a dry look. “Yeah, wow. So that’s why I’m pissed at her. She let her jealousy of you interfere with her job, and your safety was compromised because of it.”
“But…Aaron took me from home, not school, so she’s not really to blame…”
I shook my head at her. “Doesn’t matter. Yes, chances are you still probably would’ve been taken, but she still put her own feelings before the job which, might I remind you, is to serve and protect.”
Kaeli shook her head like she couldn’t believe it. I almost couldn’t either. “She really doesn’t like me,” she said.
“No. She doesn’t like that I like you. There’s a big difference.” I watched her process it all before taking her face in my hands. “So, do you believe me now when I say there’s nothing between me and Leah? Because baby, I’m pretty sure you’re it for me.”
Her beautiful green eyes grew big with wonder and I was suddenly done with talking. Lowering my head to hers, I kissed her deep and lifted her up against me. Then, with more certainty than I’d ever had, I carried her off to the bedroom.
***
Kaeli was still sleeping soundly when I woke the next morning. I wasn’t surprised when I found myself wrapped around her like a blanket. I’d found myself like that every time I’d woken with her in my bed. It was like I was frightened she might get away while I was sleeping or something.
As I lay there, breathing her in, I knew I’d be happy to do this every day of my life if she’d let me. I just had to show her I could be good for her.
Softly stroking my lips over her bare neck, I let my hand smooth over the silky skin on her hip. Kaeli hummed a sound of contentment and shifted, arching back into me. Pressing my lips to her neck again, I slowly moved my hand over her toned stomach, pulling her in, needing her closer.
“Good morning,” I murmured in her ear.
“Mmm…good morning. I could get used to this…”
Sucking her earlobe between my lips, I inhaled deeply. “Me too…”
She wriggled in my arms so she was laying on her back and tilted her head to kiss me, then she stretched her arms up over her head and smiled.
Damn, I loved her in that position. She look
ed so fucking sexy. Groaning a sound of appreciation, I slipped a leg between hers, moving one hand up to grip her wrists while I stroked the other one down her side.
“I forgot to tell you,” I murmured while I tasted her collarbone. “Adam and Kara are having their engagement party tonight.”
“Oh, okay,” she said, sounding a little unsure.
“You’re coming with me,” I said, not leaving it open for negotiation.
She smiled dreamily, making me feel like I’d just won the national lottery.
Trailing my free hand down between her legs, I let my fingers explore her entrance, sighing when I found her already wet. Sliding a finger inside her, I skimmed my lips up the column of her neck. “You’re always so ready for me.”
She sucked in a shaky breath. “That’s because I always want you…”
I groaned. Even her damned voice was sexy. But this wasn’t about me. It was about her. About me showing her just how much she meant to me.
Sliding my fingers out of her wet heat, I shifted over her and settled between her legs. I felt a shiver go through her body and she wriggled, tilting her pelvis so my cock was at her opening. I knew she was eager. I could feel her body trembling with the need to get to her climax, but I needed her to see she was more than just a means to an end.
Slowly, I eased inside of her. I still had one hand gripped around her wrists, because I wanted to show her that being restrained didn’t have to be about fast and furious. I wanted her to see that it could be sensual. And loving.
With our gazes locked, I continued to move, making sure each slide in and out was a long, pleasure building tease.
Her breaths became heavy and labored, and she pushed her hips against mine, matching my rhythm with long, slow strokes. I could feel the pressure building inside her, feel her climbing to those crazy heights we seemed to always take each other, and I watched it all with rapt amazement.
She affected me in so many ways. Made me feel so many things. My breath grew heavy with it, but I was still in control. Still focused on being what she needed me to be.
“I love you, Kaeli,” I whispered, making sure that if she wanted to see it, the truth was right there. In my eyes.