AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 33
Dani
Ilie down on my stomach and press the butt of the rifle into my shoulder.
“Look through the scope,” Fox says in my ear. I feel him shift down to the floor beside me on my right side. “You should be able to see the bottle pretty close.” He lays a hand on my back and warm goosebumps break out on my spine.
“I see it,” I say, squinting through the scope. The empty beer bottle sits in the middle of the gravel driveway across the field.
“Put your finger on the trigger.”
My knuckles twitch as I lay my right index finger against it.
“Line up your shot,” he continues, his voice smooth as butter. “Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Fire at the end of your breath.”
The bottle shakes back and forth in the scope. I remember his words and take a long inhale to calm my quaking nerves. I push it out—
“Slowly.”
I halt my exhale halfway and force it to back in to try again. His hand moves up my back an inch, shooting fresh warmth throughout my body. I breathe in and slowly exhale until it’s all the way out.
I pull the trigger. The bullet strikes the white gravel several feet away from the bottle.
I frown. “I missed.”
“Reload.”
I grab the bolt and pull back. The empty casing flies free and I push the bolt back in to load a second round. “I remember being better than this.”
“You’re nervous,” he says. “You don’t have to get it perfect.”
“I just have to hit a moving target from across a cornfield. Yeah, no problem…”
Fox grips my shoulder and rolls me onto my back to face him. “Dani…” he whispers, hovering over me. “There is no doubt in my mind that you can do this.”
A gust of cool wind strikes my pink face from the open window of the barn. “I feel sick…”
“I know, but you’re going to be okay.”
“I’m not worried about me.” He raises his brow. “Okay, I’m a little worried about me — but I’m more worried about you.”
Fox sighs and traces a finger along my right cheekbone. “I’ll be all right, Dani.” He leans closer to me.
“Fox—” He pauses above me, our lips barely touching. “Don’t kiss me if it’s the last time you ever will.”
He does it anyway. His lips press against mine, firm and passionate. Desire still lingers on his breath, the same kind I felt last night in his bed.
“Dani,” he whispers, “be brave. For me.”
I close my eyes, focusing all my energy on his voice. It’s easy to lose myself in it and it’s all I want to do right now. “I just have to slow him down.”
“That’s right,” he says. “We have the advantage. They won’t know you’re out here until it’s too late.”
I take another long, deep breath. “Okay.”
He glances across the field toward the farmhouse. “I should get over there. It’s almost noon.”
My breath knocks around my chest. I’m not ready to let him go yet. “Fox—”
