Page 289 of The Devil's Fire

Giovanni gave a taunting smirk, and I just knew he was waiting for me to do badly.

“If he does, you can shoot him.”

Giovanni’s smirk fell and shot a blank look at Damiano.

“Deal!” I grinned.

Damiano stood close by as I held the gun firmly with both hands, aimed at my target, and then fired. I took a slight step back from the recoil before lowering the gun. I made a face when I saw a small hole in the bottom corner.

“At least I hit the paper!” I scowled at Giovanni, who laughed but disguised it as a cough.

“Keep going.” Damiano instructed.

I shot a few more times, and the results were more or less the same. I sucked, big time, and I could feel how badly Giovanni wanted to laugh at me.

“Not too bad.” Damiano commented as he looked at the paper.

“You don’t have to be nice about it.” I sighed, my confidence plummeting.

“It’s not that bad for a beginner. Let me show you.” He moved behind me, adjusting my stance. “You’re too tense. You need to relax your body, especially your shoulders.” As soon as he mentioned it, my shoulders sagged.

“Oh, I see.” I rolled my shoulders to ease the tension.

“Both eyes open and take a deep breath.” He instructed me, adjusting the gun in my hand and making me aim a little higher. Just as I was about to shoot, he placed his hands on my waist and trailed his nose alongside my neck.

I squinted my eyes, trying to focus, but his actions were making my entire body tingle, and my heartbeat spiked.

“You’re not really helping right now.” I said and lowered the gun.

“Good call. Never shoot if you’re distracted.”

“I’m really being tested today…” I muttered, rolling my shoulders before focusing again.

I made sure to relax my body, kept both eyes open, and took a steady, deep breath before pulling the trigger again. After a few more shots, I lowered the gun, and my eyes widened when I saw I was only two lines away from hitting the red dot in the middle.

“Did you see that?!” I turned to look at Damiano for him to confirm that my eyes weren’t deceiving me.

“Good girl.” He smiled. I bit down on my lip as it sent tingles right to my core. I wanted to jump on him just for calling me that.

“… Althaia.”

“Hmm?”

Damiano looked at me, amused.

“I said, let’s keep practicing.”

“Oh, right. Okay.” I turned around fast to hide my blushing face. Damiano quietly chuckled as he stood behind me to help with my stance once again.

“Don’t worry, I’ll give you what you want later.” He said lowly. I guess it really was that obvious that I wanted him.

I kept practicing while Damiano observed my every move. I still had a long way to go, but I could quickly see a clear improvement with his expert help.

“You’re a fast learner. That’s good.” He praised me while he studied my target papers.

“I have a good teacher.” I shot him a cheeky wink, making him smirk.

“I know I am. Soon, you will have decent aim.”

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