Boone speaks loudly enough that I can hear him through my ear protection, and I nod.
For some strange reason, even though I wasn’t really keen on doing this, now I’m determined. I want to hit that damn target.
It has nothing to do with the orgasms he promised me.
Okay, that’s a lie.
I focus on the same target and take a deep breath after I line up the sight, letting it out before I squeeze the trigger. I don’t know where the bullet hits but the target spins, indicating I made contact. I raise my head.
“I did it!”
Boone takes the rifle from my hands and engages the safety before kissing the crap out of me.
“That’s my girl,” he says, quietly enough that I almost can’t hear him through the muffs.
Warmth slides through my chest, and it scares the ever-loving hell out of me.
I like him. A lot.
* * *
Boone keepsme at the target shooting until my stomach grumbles, but I still haven’t hit my three targets in a row. I can nail two, but then I choke up and freeze on the third. He taps me on the shoulder after the last time I pull the trigger and there’s only a click.
“Let’s pack it up and go eat some of those leftover wings. I can’t have you starving out here.”
I lift the earmuff off one ear. “Do you have more bullets? I’m going one more time.”
Boone’s dark eyebrow rises and he studies me. “Is that right?”
I nod.
“You know I’m gonna make you come hard regardless? Because, sugar, you’re the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life when you finally let down your guard.” That warm feeling burns hot again. “Especially when I’m looking at your face from between your legs.” Boone winks.
The warm feeling doesn’t fade when he turns into a smartass. It morphs into flames between my thighs.
Boone Thrasher is dangerous ... in the best way possible.
“Bullets,” I say, holding out a hand.
“Anyone ever told you that you’re more stubborn than a mule?” Instead of holding out his hand for me to give him the magazine like he had the rest of the afternoon, he drops ten rounds in my hand.
“I don’t think anyone I know has ever owned a mule.”
“My folks used to have one at their place. They adopted it from some farmer who was going to sell it to the glue factory or some shit like that, and my ma wouldn’t stand for it after she heard about it. Got my daddy up at dawn to go down and bargain with the old man. Ma sat in the truck with a shotgun in her lap, just in case he wouldn’t deal, at least according to my dad.”
“She sounds feisty.”
A smile stretches over Boone’s face. “She sure is. Best woman I’ve ever known. Call me a mama’s boy if you want, but I owe that woman everything.” He watches as I load the magazine with painstaking care. “You’ll have to take a ride down there with me and meet them. They’d like you. Ma would recognize a kindred spirit.”
My hand shakes when he talks about me meeting his folks. Like this is something more than me being the rebound after his relationship with his ex-girlfriend went balls up in the most spectacular fashion.
“They sound like great people.” I shove the magazine back into place, readjust my ear protection, and lift the rifle to my shoulder. “It’s game time,” I whisper to myself as I aim at the first target.
It’s shaped like a squirrel, and I’ve been getting lucky with it all day.
Sorry, Mr. Squirrel.You’re only plastic. I wouldn’t shoot you in real life.
I squeeze the trigger and pop off the first round.