Page 103 of Their Princess

When she focused again and fired, a smile spread on her lips. I gave her another thumbs up to have her continue.

As the magazine emptied, my mind swam. Muffled gunshots. The desert and the bombs exploding nearby, the sounds dampened because so many explosions had deadened my senseof hearing. I gasped for breath, opened my eyes, and shook the demons away.

I would never be in the Marines again. Not in the Middle East with my gear packed onto my back as we raided buildings looking for terrorists. My throat closed as remembered flashes flickered behind my closed eyes—car bombs, guns firing in tight spaces, kids throwing homemade explosives and toddling off on their skinny legs.

My breathing ragged, I peeled my eyes open and tried to focus on Adelina. I couldn’t let those memories consume me.

Adelina ripped her earmuffs off. “Okay, where’s the safety?” she asked, swinging the gun at me.

I danced out of the way of the barrel, grabbed her hands, and placed her thumb on the knob above the grip.

She brushed her thumb over it and set it back into place.

Adelina let out a shaky breath, a smile curling on her lips. “I hit the target.”

I hadn’t even noticed. I squinted down the lane and then nodded. She had just barely nicked the corner of the outline of a man. Twice. On opposite sides. It would just be a few scratches, but I guessed she needed to get used to the thought of firing a gun.

“Good job,” I said.

Adelina beamed, and my heart skipped a beat.

“Let’s do it again,” she said in a giddy tone, raising the gun without hesitation. I began to slip away from her, but she said, “Don’t go. I need you.”

I stilled, not wanting to be in this tight space with her and my failing willpower. “Adelina, you’ll?—”

“You helped me out with the shooting,” she added. “I can’t do this without you, Rafe.”

She could. She was stronger than she knew.

Still, I couldn’t deny her. I had never been able to, so I stepped behind her again, and she leaned back into me. Her dark hair spilled down her back, and I pressed my nose into her hair and took a deep strawberry-scented whiff. I looped my arms around her body and gave her a squeeze, then let go.

She ground her ass against my crotch and fired again.

I pulledmy motorcycle up to the front of the clubhouse and turned off the motor, but Adelina didn’t move. Her head fit perfectly into the crook of my neck. Her hair danced out and tickled my nose. I caught a few strands between my teeth, holding them. When she pulled back, I released.

She slowly climbed off my bike, rubbing her thighs and arms.

The motion must’ve just been a fidget, but I asked anyway, “Are you sore?”

“I was more tense than I thought,” she admitted. “While shooting, and... in general, I guess.”

With our fucked-up situation, that made sense. “We all have been.”

“Even you?”

I nodded. “Even me.”

She was watching me under her dark eyelashes, like she couldn’t tell if I was being real or patronizing her. “Thanks for taking me today.”

“Of course,” I said, but my next words cut off as Adelina planted a lingering kiss on my cheek.

Fire burned deep inside of me, and I twisted my head before she pulled away, meeting her lips with mine. A sharp inhale through her nose echoed in my ears, but hesitantly, she returned the kiss. Our lips danced. Then our tongues.

When had I parted my lips to deepen the kiss? I didn’t know. Couldn’t find it in me to care as I grazed my teeth over her bottom lip, wanting to taste more of her. Her hands lifted ever-so-slowly, and her touch was light and trembling on my jawline, then around the back of my neck.

Breaking the kiss, I swore, “Shit!”

I jumped off my bike, steadying my motorcycle. My movement had been so abrupt she stumbled back a step, and I caught her before she fell. A bolt of electricity zapped my system, and the energy charged every cell in my body. I should’ve let her go, but I couldn’t convince my hands to release her.

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