“Shit,” Axel muttered, realizing she had finally lost her patience with him keeping such a close eye on her.
“Consider this your hearing aid, gentlemen.I want you two to back off watching my every move,” she declared and wiggled the rifle back and forth.
Her words hit harder than the rifle ever could.Yup, he’d pushed her too far.
“Is the safety catch on?”Axel called out.He kept his voice steady, but every nerve in his body was on alert.One wrong move and this could go sideways fast.He sure didn’t want that rifle shooting off parts that he valued.His muscles tensed with the urge to take control, but he forced himself still.She wasn’t his to protect like that anymore.
She was a grown woman who’d taken care of herself over the years while he’d been behind bars.He couldn’t just come around and be protective of her the way he’d been in the past.They were older now.Both of them had changed.He could see that now.
Nick, hands still raised, added, “I hope you know how to use it.”
“Yes, the gun is loaded.The safety catch is on, and I have had training on how to use my weapons.I am not afraid to use this if I need to.I have all the required licences to carry this rifle.I just wanted to let you guys know that I don’t need a babysitter.I will be taking my horses on trail rides.I will be out of your sight.I am very capable of protecting myself with a gun if need be.If someone dares to cross me, I will shoot first and I will ask questions later.I refuse to be held prisoner on my own property by that intruder or by you two.Is that understood?”
Her fierce gaze was fixed on Axel, making him feel as though he was the one being scolded.The words sliced through him.He’d meant to keep her safe, not cage her.
“Understood,” Nick replied quickly.
“Axel?”she prompted.
Her eyes locked onto his, fierce and unyielding, and something hot and dangerous curled low in his chest.He felt the old pull.The instinct to argue with her, to push back and tell her it wasn’t safe, but he swallowed it down.She needed autonomy, not a man telling her what to do.
Her independence was on full display for him, and he remembered this side of her well.
Damn, but she turned him on so bad when she got mad at him.
“Just be careful,” Axel warned.The words tasted like a compromise, but it was all he could offer without crossing her boundaries.He returned to ripping open the box.
He knew she had expected him to argue, but he felt reassured knowing she was armed and capable.
Obviously, he’d pissed her off and that’s the last thing he wanted.She was the boss.She’d pretty much said it last evening when she told him they had to be professional.
“Okay, then.Here’s the walkie talkie.Catch!”
Jenna tossed it the instant Axel straightened.
He caught it easily, the gesture oddly intimate.A truce wrapped in plastic and static.
“If you need to get ahold of me, or vice versa.Just push that black button.The walkie talkie is small enough to put into your back pocket.In case of emergency I’ll be on the green trail today.Just follow the green colored signs.”
“Can I put my arms down?You won’t shoot a poor, defenseless man?”Nick asked, the laughter evident in his voice.
“Yes, you may.Just don’t follow me.I will be fine.Thanks for caring.See you two later,” she replied in her no nonsense voice.
Then, the leather creaked as she slipped the muzzle of the rifle into the scabbard by her saddle, the butt of the rifle close to her thigh and within easy reach.And as she turned her horse around, he spied her walkie talkie peeking out from her back pocket.
She rode off like the wind, her red hair flying out from beneath her cowboy hat, leaving the two of them behind.Watching her disappear moments later into the trees sent a mix of pride and dread twisting through him.She was unstoppable, and that terrified him.
“Man, she is one serious woman.”Nick chuckled beside Axel.
He couldn’t help the slow smile.She was serious, stubborn, impossible and she was still the only woman who could unravel him with a single glare.
He placed the walkie talkie in the shade at the side of the house for now.He knew how to work one of these.His brothers and sisters and him had had sets similar to this one.Probably not as sophisticated.
For a second he felt the tug of emotion at thinking about his four younger siblings, but he clamped down on it.He’d told them, just like he’d told Jenna, to just go on with life without him.He’d meant it and he had never accepted any phone calls, letters, or visits from them.It was just too painful and embarrassing for him to have them see their oldest brother behind bars.Family was a wound he’d learned not to touch.
“Well, I did warn you.You can only push Jenna so far and then she’ll snap like a snapping turtle,” Axel stated.
Nick nodded.
