Page 46 of Loyalties & Longings

“Blaze, it’s closed.” My pace slows.

He turns to face me with a devilish smirk that sends my insides into a flutter and makes my panties wet.

“For everyoneelse,it is.” He takes a few steps back, grabbing my hand and leading me back toward the store. “Enzo called to make sure we had the place to ourselves for the morning.”

“Of course he did,” I mutter, more to myself than to Blaze.

Once we’re inside, the cold air hits me, and I kind of wish I’d worn pants and a jacket, or at least a bra, instead of the cut-off denim shorts and singlet I’d opted for this morning. In my defense, I’d thought ahead to the outfit changes I was going to be doing this afternoon—my outfit was easy to slip in and out of.

Someone clears their throat a few feet away.

“Good morning, Miss Morelli,” Julius says with cheery eagerness. “I haven’t seen you since you were so high.” He motions with his hand to roughly the height I was in his memory.

Quite little.

“When your mother brought...” He cuts himself short, seemingly unsure if bringing up my mother would hit a sore point. Julius turns to the extremely sexy man at my left and extends his hand in offering. “Blaze.” Blaze takes Julius’s proffered hand in a warm-looking handshake, not a powerful one you see some men do, trying to assert their dominance.

“I understand you will be teaching Lake this morning.” Julius doesn’t seem to be looking in my direction at all anymore. Maybe he feels he stuck his foot in his mouth by mentioning my mother, that maybe I’ll run back and complain to Dad. That’s not how I roll, though. I’m a big girl.

“That’s correct,” Blaze confirms.

“Right, if you’ll both follow me.” He gives me one quick,cursory glance before focusing back on Blaze.

Rude, although maybe Julius likes men, I can’t remember if he has a wife or not. I mean, I know Blaze is a very handsome man who exudes sexual prowess, but I thought we were here for me.

“I just have a few things for you both to go over and sign about safety and such,” Julius says, turning on his heel and retreating to the glass counter.

Blaze looks down at my chest before rolling his lips between his teeth and trying not to laugh. I look down and see that my hardened nipples are literally trying to push through my top.

Well, now I know why Julius wouldn’t so much as look at me.

My cheeks flush red hot. I can only imagine the bright color I’ve turned.

Rolling my eyes, I shove him and stifle a giggle before crossing my arms over my chest.

I’ll make him pay for that later, maybe twice, I think to myself with a sly smile.

After going over safety, liability, and all the other jargon with Julius and signing what was needed, I look around the store a little. There are some really cool guns in all colors, ranging from cute little blue handguns to long pink camouflage print ones that I guess are hunting rifles.

We set up out back in the indoor shooting range with a handgun each. I have mixed emotions flying around my insides about guns. It’s a potent cocktail of mostly excitement, a little reluctance, and, for some reason, absolute fear. It’s the fear that scares me the most. I have no idea where this feeling is coming from or why I’m having it.

Blaze picks up one of the guns and holds it in front of him, flat across his palms like an offering.

“Do you know what kind of gun this is?” he asks.

“A handgun?” I answer, almost confused.

Was it a trick question?

“It is a handgun.” He smiles. “But it’s also a Glock. A Glock 19, to be precise. It’s one of the easier guns to begin with. Essentially, just point and shoot.” Hot damn, he looks so sexy holding a gun. Talk about masculine energy.

He continues, “I know you know the basics of a gun, like the barrel, magazine, and trigger, right?” He looks up at me. I nod, not wanting to divulge that I may or may not have spent quite a few hours on the internet researching the basics of a gun this past week in the lead-up to today’s lesson.

“Okay, good.” He does a few quick pushes, pulls, and clicks of the gun before ejecting the magazine and laying it on the counter in front of us.

“First and foremost, safety. The number one rule in holding a weapon is to keep your finger outside of the trigger guard until you are ready to fire. You have no idea how many times I’ve seen or heard of shooting accidents, some fatal, because the person had their fingerinsidethe trigger guard, on the trigger.” He turns the gun over in his hands to show me the trigger and points to a small part on the trigger itself.

“That’s the trigger safety, and you have to press down on it for the safety to release before you can squeeze the trigger fully.” He shows me, and the gun clicks.

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