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I smile cryptically. “You’ll see.”
* * *
My refusal to give her so much as a single hint does not deter Paige from spending the entire drive guessing what we might be doing tonight.
“Oh,Iknow,” she says for the fifth time. “You’ve set up an open-air movie for us to watch! Popcorn and everything.”
“Nope.”
“Dammit.” She frowns. “I’m officially running out of guesses.”
“You’re way off. It’s not nearly as romantic as you’re imagining.” I park just outside the warehouse, grab the duffel bag I stashed in the trunk, and walk around to the passenger side door to open it for Paige.
She slips out of the car, looking around in confusion. I take her hand and we walk into the warehouse together. It’s a cavernous space made even larger by the lack of anything at all inside.
Except for the targets set up at the far end of the room.
Paige hasn’t even noticed them yet. “You didn’t bring me here to kill me, did you? ‘Cause that would definitely not be romantic.”
I pull her to my side and kiss her temple. “Not today.” I point to the mannequins standing at the opposite end of the room, red and white bullseyes taped to their chests.
“Oh, God!” she gasps. “I thought they were real people for a second. Are those… targets?”
“That’s precisely what they are.” I open up the duffel bag and pull out two guns.
“Misha! What’s going on?” she yelps as I check the magazines and clear the chambers.
“The other day, you said something when we were talking. You said that I didn’t have to worry about you because there were so many people protecting you,” I remind her. “That struck a nerve—because people can fail. Systems fail. If they do…” I take her hand and press one of the guns into her palm. “I want you to learn how to protect yourself.”
Her eyes bug out with realization. “You’re going to teach me to shoot?” She looks down at the gun in her hand. “It’s heavy.”
“You just have to get used to the feel of it in your hand. Once you do, it’ll start to feel like an extension of yourself.”
She wrinkles her nose. “I’m not sure I want that.”
“Either way, you might be thankful for this knowledge one day in the future.”
Her warm, green eyes find mine. “Things with Petyr are heating up, aren’t they?” she asks in a quiet, somber voice. “That’s why you’ve been so worried lately.”
I want to protect Paige from the gruesome details. I don’t want to worry her.
But part of protecting her is making sure she’s prepared.
“Yes, they are. I will do whatever it takes to protect you, Paige. I’ll wade through hellfire to keep you safe. But if I can’t be there, I want you to be able to protect yourself.”
She stares at me for a long moment. I have no idea what the hell she’s thinking.
Then she reaches out and squeezes my hand. “You were wrong,” she says. “This might be the most romantic thing you’ve ever done.”
43
PAIGE
The date started out fun. Full-on rom-com style, with Misha wrapping his arms around me, swaddling me in his warmth and his smell while he whispered instructions in my ear. He was so tender, so attentive. When my ear protection slipped just barely out of place, he firmly put it back where it belonged and told me I was worth protecting, every part of me.
“Even your selective hearing,” he teased.
My first few shots went wildly off-target, of course, even with him there to steady my hands and show me the ropes. I offered up silent apologies to the warehouse rafters that’ll forever be scarred by my shit aim.
