Page 28 of My Best Friend's Sister

F I F T E E N

- Madeline -

We had the whole place to ourselves, and it was a relief to be in such a wide-open space after marinating in anxiety all the way there. Not that I should’ve felt tense. Quinn had done everything he could to make me feel comfortable. Still, I’d never been in such an enclosed space with him, and his quiet intensity made me unusually conscious of my breathing and my heart rate and the temperature of my palms—all the things I only seemed to notice when he was around.

We got started as soon as we had ammo, and the high spotlights buzzing along the perimeter of the wide arena made the place feel like a deserted baseball stadium might in the middle of the night…apart from the gunfire, of course. That said, I was surprised how much I enjoyed it, from the weight of the gun in my hands to the whisking sound the pigeons made when they were fired into the air. But that satisfaction was nothing compared to the elation that filled my chest when I shot one and it shattered in the air like a crumbly firework. Not that I hit any before Quinn showed me how.

After my first six or seven misfires, he stepped up behind me, his warm body dwarfing mine as he tapped the inside of my shoe with his foot so I’d widen my stance. Then he showed me how to use the eye piece, his arms cradling mine while he ran through a few imaginary shots with me, his upper body twisting my torso as he showed me how to track the target through the air and…bam.

He was so patient while he was instructing me, never touching me inappropriately or being anything less than gentle. It made me wish he’d be a little rougher and stand a little closer, so I could get a bigger whiff of the zesty soap scent coming off him and feel the distracting bulge of his jeans against my ass. What I wouldn’t give for another excuse to let him hold my wrists like that, his strong, thick fingers sending my thoughts barreling into the gutter.

“There you go!” he cheered, delighted when I hit a few in a row. “I knew you’d be a natural.”

A natural at trying to impress you, I thought, determined to get the next one and the next. “You want to have a turn?” I asked, when the gun started to feel heavy in my arms.

“Sure,” he said, taking my place.

I stepped back and let my eyes drink in his tall frame, starting with his broad shoulders, which pulled his soft T-shirt across his back muscles. Then I dropped my gaze past his narrow waist to his perfect, denim-clad butt. I wasn’t normally a butt girl, but the toned shape of Quinn’s was hard to ignore. When the next pigeon sliced through the air, I watched it shatter before he hit the next two in rapid succession. “Not your first rodeo, I take it?”

“No,” he said, his eyes trained on the field ahead. “My dad’s been bringing me here since I was a kid.”

That explains it. “You know, I’m starting to think you brought me here less to help me blow off steam and more to show off your mad skills.”

He laughed and shot two pigeons at once when they crossed paths in the sky.

“I think you’ve made my point.”

“I’m not that great with guns,” he said. “If I wanted to impress you, I would’ve asked them to keep the archery course open.”

“Archery?” What the—? “As in shooting arrows?”

“Was that a real question?”

“That’s what you’re best at?”

He lined up his next shot, his upper body flexing against the jolt of the trigger. “I wouldn’t say it’s what I’m best at,” he said, glancing over his shoulder at me, his eyes climbing my body until they found my face. Then he turned back to the arena and shot two more pigeons before I even found them in the sky. “Archery’s tougher to get the hang of, though.” He hit the button in front of him to pause the launcher and slid the gun in its large holster before turning around. “I figured you’d have more fun if you actually hit the target.”

“You don’t think I could hit the target?” How presumptuous! For all he knew, I was Katniss fucking Everdeen.

“I think you could do anything you put your mind to,” he said, his blue eyes striking me so hard I felt his sincerity down to my toes. “See if you can get two at once.” He gestured for me to step up to the plate.

“That would be pretty sweet,” I said, accepting his challenge. “Is that something most beginners can do?” I picked up the gun and angled my feet the way he showed me before relaxing my shoulders and lifting my arms into position.

“I don’t know. I’ve never brought anyone here before.”

I pressed my lips together and swallowed my smile, flattered that he would share such a personal place with me. Even if it was a pretty random date idea. “Why’s that?” I asked, keeping my back to him so he wouldn’t see how much I wanted him to answer the question.

“I guess I’m worried people will like it, and then I’ll run into them when I’m out here trying to chill.”

“So why let me in on your secret spot? You don’t think I’ll enjoy it enough to come back?”

“I made an exception in your case.”

“Because?” I shattered a pigeon in the air, but I was a beat too late to catch the second one before it arced sharply from the sky.

“Because I’m always happy to run into you.”

The gun sagged in my arms as the weight of his words sank in, as the horror of my past misjudgments caught up with me. All this time, I thought he was an asshole. All this time, I thought he found me annoying. But I was wrong. He liked me, and he wasn’t a shallow prick at all. On the contrary, he was thoughtful and charming and…always happy to run into me? Shit. I wasn’t even sure my own mother felt that way.

“You okay?” he asked, when I failed to shoot at the next two discs that fired from the launcher.

“Yeah,” I lied, lifting my arms again. “Just thought I had something in my eye that I couldn’t ignore anymore.”

“I know the feeling,” he said, his voice husky and low behind me.

Warmth rose through me like a billow of steam, and I lowered my face to peer through the eyesight. On the next launch, I hit two at once, making them shatter in the sky like plates at a Greek wedding.

“I knew you had it in you,” he said, the joy in his voice palpable. “Watch. It’ll be even easier next time now that believe you can do it.”

I looked down at the goosebumps suddenly covering my arms and realized I had a new target in mind. So I wiggled my toes in my shoes, took a deep breath, and lined up my next shot, determined to prove him right.

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