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Her face turned hot. She’d been pointing the gun directly at his chest. “I’m sorry.”
“No worries. It’s a lot to learn.”
Grasping the slide again, she found she was able to pull this one back all the way until it clicked, then slid back into place. She looked up at Blane, smiling.
“I did it! That was much easier than yours.”
He smiled back. “No sense having a gun you can’t load, is there? If you played piano, you might be able to rack it. Stronger fingers. And other women can, too, of course. I brought it just in case.” Taking her hand in his, he brought her fingers to his lips. “You have delicate hands. Very pretty, too.” He brushed a kiss across her knuckles, his eyes on hers.
No one had ever complimented her hands before and he shouldn’t have so easily been able to take her breath away with that gesture and look in his eyes. And yet…here we are.
“What a smooth operator you are,” she said, forcing herself to pull her hand away. “Does that move often work?”
“You tell me,” he said, his mesmerizing gaze still holding hers. “I haven’t tried it on anyone else.”
It was ridiculous to be this breathless, but his eyes held depths that drew her in and she couldn’t look away. All his attention and focus was on her and it felt as though she’d been caught in a spotlight. If she said something, she knew he’d absorb every word. The feeling was heady. A man like Blane Kirk didn’t give his attention lightly. He loomed over her, his presence wrapped around her, and she was loathe to break the spell.
“Everything okay in here? Did you all need anything?”
One of the workers had poked his head in, addressing them. He looked a bit nervous, which meant he must’ve figured out who Blane was, other than ex-military.
Anne stepped back, breaking eye contact with Blane, and fiddled with the gun, careful to point it down range.
“All good, thanks,” Blane said.
The worker nodded his head and withdrew.
The break had given Anne time to pull herself together. She wasnotgoing to fall for Blane Kirk, not even one little bit. Politicians were liars and cheats, and Blane was smoother than most. And dangerous. He knew things, had authorized things, even done some himself. And none of it appeared to keep him awake at night.
“Now what?” she asked. “Have gun. Will shoot.”
“Goggles and ear protection,” he said, handing them to her before donning his own.
“Let me show you how to hold it properly,” he said, taking her hands in his and settling the butt of the gun in her cupped palm and placing her finger on the trigger. “Flick off the safety, sight the target, and squeeze the trigger.”
Anne stared down the barrel to the little sight on the end, lining it up with the paper target with a person’s outline. She squeezed the trigger, involuntarily startling when the shot rang out.
“Nice,” he said at the hole she’d put in the center mass. “Not a kill shot, but you stopped him.”
Sighting again, Anne fired. Better this time.
“Look at that, you’re a natural.”
Anne felt absurdly pleased with herself. “Let’s see you go now,” she said.
Blane obliged, stepping into the lane adjacent to hers. Siting his target, he squeezed the trigger, firing several shots in rapid sequence. Anne looked at his target.
Woah.
All the holes were in the center of the head. And he hadn’t even paused between shots.
Okay, that was kinda hot. Kinda scary, but hot, too. She signed inwardly. She’d been hoping she’d been wrong about him, but evidence proved her wrong. After he’d stopped the burglars, she shouldn’t be surprised.
“You’ve done this a lot,” she said, stating the obvious.
He grinned, removing his ear protection. “A bit. I was in the Navy.”
Anne’s eyebrows rose. “I didn’t realize being in the Navy required you to be an expert marksman.”
