Page 46 of Edge of Desire

When I lifted my head, she had a heated look in her eyes. Her not blue/not green eyes had morphed into a deep passion blue as she slid the bottom right half of her lip between her teeth. After I could no longer hold myself back, I tugged her against me and kissed her. I meant for it to be a brief kiss, but it wasn’t. There would never again be any more brief kisses with Avery. She had consumed every last bit of me. And it was getting worse by the minute.

“Avery, Avery, Avery. What am I going to do with you?”

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“On you and what you’re willing to do.”

Just like that, she laid it out on the table. I looked at her for a minute and then spoke.

“I want it all with you. But I can’t, until it’s the absolute right thing to do. I won’t hurt you in any way. Not if I can help it.”

“Don’t I have a say in this?”

“Always. But where you and I and this are concerned, I already know what you want and that you’re willing already. And I think, or at least I hope you know I want you more than words can even say. But when we eventually go there, I want everything to be perfect.”

She smiled at me then. “It’s all good, Preston.”

“Everything about you is all good.” I kissed her hand. “You’re the first girl I’ve ever ...” I let my voice trail off because I had suddenly become a bit embarrassed over what I had been about to tell her.

She wasn’t about to let me drop it though. “I’m the first girl you’ve ever what?”

My eyes couldn’t connect with hers at first. They ricocheted all over the place until they finally settled home. Her not blue/not green eyes always seemed to comfort me. “You’re the first girl I’ve ever wanted it to be right with. I never cared about it much with any of the others. I wasn’t a jackass if that’s what you’re thinking. But with you, I’m more concerned about your heart and your feelings than I’ve ever thought possible. I don’t want it to be just about the sex. I’m probably sounding like an idiot by now.”

She threw her arms around me and hugged me close to her. “That’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. Thank you.”

To get a reaction like that from her every day would be my goal for the rest of my life.

Wait! What the hell was I talking about. The rest of my life? We’ve only known each other a couple of months.

I cupped her face with my hand and kissed her again. “How about we head back to the house. I would like to teach you how to fire a weapon this afternoon.”

“Okay.” She smiled at me.

I had an indoor range in the basement, for the winter months, but since it was summer, I set up targets outside. I had random stumps of various heights, tin cans, along with water-filled plastic jugs that I set on them. I also had sixteen-by-twelve-inch panels of tin used for roofing that I’d painted targets on that were attached to stakes. I hammered them into the ground. These are things I normally used, so I wanted her to try her hand at them. I’d let her stand closer so she could get the hang of it.

There was a whole arsenal here at the cabin for her to try, but I wanted her to use a large-caliber handgun, so I handed her a 45 Glock auto.

“This is a lot heavier than I thought it would be,” she remarked.

“Have you ever fired a gun?”

“Yeah, a twenty-two rifle when I was young.”

“This will handle a lot differently.” I demonstrated how to hold it with both hands and explained how the recoil would feel. I also taught her how to sight in the gun. After she fired off a few shots, I explained how to adjust her sights. She ended up having a good lesson. Her favorite was hitting the plastic jugs filled with water with the high-caliber rifle. Those suckers would literally explode, and she would get to laughing so hard, we’d both be cracking up.

“Oh my gosh. I didn’t realize how much fun target shooting would be.”

“While it’s fun, one thing to keep in mind. If you’re ever forced to use this weapon on another human being, you’d better be prepared for the consequences.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that if you end up having to kill someone, can you live with that?”

She didn’t even hesitate before responding. “If someone was trying to kill you or Justin or Caroline, I wouldn’t think twice about shooting them to protect my family. I may be shaken up afterwards, but I’d rather live with that than a dead family member.”

“I understand, but I had to ask you that. One other thing. If you pull this weapon on someone who is threatening you, shoot to kill. Don’t aim for the leg or something. Chances are they’d come back and shoot you instead. Do you understand?”

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