“You don’t know how to shoot? What if—okay, tomorrow, I’m teaching you.”
She starts laughing again. “What if I get really good and try to kill you?”
I clear my throat, shaking my head at her. “You need to be able to defend yourself.”
She nods her head, still smiling. Her eyes are lit up, and the thought crosses my mind that she’s never looked so beautiful.
If only she wasn’t injured . . .
“You should get some rest. I’ll take you out to the back fields tomorrow.”
CHAPTER 27
KATE
“Are you paying attention?”
I am paying attention but not to the hard steel in his hand. The veins in his forearms are what my eyes keep trailing over.
“Oh, yes, got it. Let me try now.”
Luke is wearing an old green T-shirt that is struggling to conceal his muscular shoulders. The color of his eyes has never been so vibrant as they narrow in on me. The morning light is pouring over his skin, creating an unfairly attractive tan color.
“You need to keep your finger off of the trigger until you’re ready to shoot.”
I nod, forcing my eyes to the metal. I raise it up, and he reaches over to wrap his hand around mine. I pray he can’t hear my heart racing at the contact.
“Your grip is too low. You won’t be able to keep it steady from the kickback.”
His deep voice is right above my ear, sending ripples down through my nervous system. He keeps his hand over mine while the other trails up to grip my other wrist.
“Normally, this hand needs to support the other.”
The fingers of his left hand curl around my trigger hand since I can’t raise my left arm yet. He’s standing behind me, but our bodies aren’t touching.
“You ready?”
I slowly nod, inhaling a deep breath. He adjusts the earmuffs on my head and his before returning to the stance around me.
My fingers squeeze the trigger, but nothing happens. I squeeze again, as hard as I can. The pistol fires and kicks back, my hand steady with his stronger one supporting me.
“That’s good, Kate,” he shouts through the earmuffs. “Go again.”
I repeat the motions, feeling a bit more confident with each bullet. The target still only shows his beginning shots that went dead in the center.
“I can’t hit it.”
“You will. Keep your eyes focused. Hold it steady.”
I square my shoulders, trying to keep my grip tight. I close my right eye, peering down the sight at the bull’s-eye.
The next bullet tears into the top right of the target, marking it with a small circle.
“Ah! Did you see that?”
I whirl around, grinning widely. He reaches out to push the gun in my hand down toward the ground as I wave it in the air.
“Oh shit, sorry.” I keep it trained on the ground as we pull off our earmuffs. “I wasn’t going to shoot you, I swear.”
