Motherfucker.
“Love, there is very little in this world I can refuse you, but when it comes to your safety… I’m an unmovable boulder.”
A huff escaped me, along with all of my arguments. I decided that it wasn’t worth fighting him just yet. I’d take the training and keep secretly planning to be there that night.
Grayson let out another laugh, before leaning over and kissing me right on my pouting lips. “Little Hedgehog. You know I love it when you’re prickly.”
Deciding it wasn’t worth the angst of being mad at him any longer, I relaxed under his kiss, returning it with enough force that I think I finally shocked him.
The next two weeks until Angelo returned were going to be interesting, that was for sure, and I planned on using every second of my time very wisely.
nine
GRAYSON
Teaching Billie how to handle a gun was one of my favorite core memories—not only because it was wrapped up with the memory of her handlingmyweapon in the car afterwards, but because the act of teaching her filled me with an inexplicable kind of calm, like every new survival skill she gained settled another of my frayed, anxious nerves.
When we landed in Naples, it took us ages to get back to my house due to dodging reporters wanting thescoopon our canceled tour. Again.
The next day we stayed trapped indoors for most of the daylight hours, thanks to the persistent paparazzi camped out on the street outside my gates. So it wasn’t until the following day that I finally got Billie out to my secluded property in the woods for shooting practice. Paid security tailed us, but they would wait in their car further up the road, as we’d already discussed.
“Uh, are you taking us out to the forest to kill us and dump the bodies?” Rhett joked from the backseat as I parked my truck near the trail. I exchanged a small grin with Billie at the echo of her question when I’d first brought her here.
Replying to Rhett, I dropped the smile. “I’m not an amateur, Silver. I’d obviously freeze your body, toss it through a woodchipper, then sprinkle the chunks into a shark tank as breakfast for the big fishes.”
Rhett was used to my shit and just wrinkled his nose. “Why freeze it first?”
“So the blood doesn’t clog up the chipper as quick.” I popped my door open and climbed out. This time I’d brought enough guns, ammo, and replacement targets to last us a while.
Jace gave me a sidelong look as he stretched his arms over his head. “You’ve got a special way of looking at the world, Taylor.”
I grunted, then shrugged. “You love it.”
I’d reluctantly made a last-minute decision to drag both Jace and Rhett along for this instructional session. They both sucked with guns, Jace much more so than Rhett, so it could only benefit them to brush up.
Once I had my bag of supplies sorted, I checked that Billie was warm enough in her woolen coat and adorable knitted cap, then kissed her cold nose and led the way into the trees. We’d left in a bit of a hurry last time, so all the targets needed to be reset with the bright paint powder that gave such a satisfying puff of color when hit accurately.
Jace and Rhett messed around with Billie while I took care of that, playing like kids in the frosty grass, but I quickly pulled them into line when I was ready to start.
The satisfaction I felt when Billie showed she remembered everything I’d taught her was all-consuming—especially when I realized she was already displaying better form and superior concentration than both Jace and Rhett. Though Rhett’s accuracy was hard to beat. He’d told me years ago that hunting had been a big part of the community he’d been raised in, so he wasn’t a beginner. Just sloppy, with bad habits.
I put in some work on both guys, leaving Billie to reacquaint herself with the feeling of shooting. I couldn’t stop watching her from the corner of my eye, though, fixating on the way her hands cradled the butt of my Glock, or the way her tongue poked out of her lips with concentration.
“Dude, either tuck that away or go rub one out in the bushes,” Rhett muttered, snapping my focus back to him. Startled, I glanced down and realized my hard dick was prodding him in the leg.
“Sorry,” I replied with a smirk, reaching down to rearrange. “You know how it is.”
Rhett rolled his eyes, then looked in Billie’s direction. “Damn right, I do,” he murmured, then sighed. “Alright, I’ve got this. Go rub your dick on her instead; she’ll appreciate it more than me.”
True. He didn’t need to tell me twice; I left him to practice and went tocorrect Billie’s stancewith my hands firmly on her hips. She groaned, releasing one hand from her gun to tug her earmuffs off.
“Gray, that’s very distracting,” she scolded. “Now all I can think about is getting you back to the car and… um… stargazing.”
I chuckled, holding her tighter against me as I kissed her neck. “Stargazing, huh? Yeah, that’s what I was thinking about just now too.” My thick erection grinding her ass was evidence of that. “But you need to learn how to shoot with distractions, baby girl. If you end up in a situation where you have to fire on someone, you won’t get anything even close to quiet focus. You’ll have to—”
She fired, cutting me off as her bullet sent up a puff of pretty, pink dust.
“Like that?” she asked, smug as all hell.
