Page 21 of Holding Out

It was difficult to breathe.

“This is called the kisser button.For obvious reasons.You use it to get alignment with your mouth at full draw.You line up on the gold—that’s what we call the center of the target.You sight it over the top of the grip.Right where the arrow head is aimed, see?And then you let it fly.Release it.Okay.I’m going to let go.You keep the tension on.”

He unfurled his fingers from around hers and stepped back, taking his body heat with him and leaving the full strength of the bowstring in her fist.Her arm muscles trembled—maybe from the pull of the string, or maybe not.

“Let go,” he said.

She released it.The arrow flew and lodged itself with a hiss in the target.Not anywhere near the center, but still.

She stood there a moment.Her hands and arms still felt shaky.Hell, her whole body felt shaky.

“Nice,” Griff said.When she turned to look at him, his gaze was steady on her face.His eyes seemed to bore into hers.

“Now you just need practice.”

9

“What isupwith you, man?”Nate asked him.

He and Griff were replacing cracked boards in the jumping dock down at the lake.They’d cut them ahead of time, so all they had to do now was pry up the old ones and nail down the new, which was easier said than done.After two hours of work, Griff’s splinters had splinters.

He set a rotted board aside, grabbed a fresh one, and knelt to pound in the bright new nails from the tub Nate had set between them.“What do you mean, what’s up?”

Nate shrugged.“You’re a million miles away.”

“Nothing’s up.”

He bent a nail, swore, and tossed it into the discard pile.

“You can tell Uncle Nate.”

“Seriously, nothing’s up.”That was the biggest, most bald-faced lie Griff had probably ever told.Hewasa million miles away, or at least a couple hundred, his mind constantly jumping ahead to this weekend.He hadn’t looked forward to anything this much since ...

Since he’d been waiting for Marina’s parents to head out of town so the two of them could be alone in her childhood bedroom.

Ugh, he didn’t want to think about that.Not about Marina or her virginity or where all that happiness and anticipation had landed him in the end.

He apparently was bad at learning from his own mistakes.He should not have let Becca talk him into taking her virginity, rules or no rules.

And yet?The truth was, he was glad she had.Because bottom line?

He wanted to do it.

He wanted to doher.

He’d spent several very restless nights imaginingexactlywhat he’d do, from the moment he’d finally tease his tongue along the seam of her barely-there secret smile to the moment he’d—

In fact, he was so enthusiastic about his role that he was starting to wonder if he’d missed his calling as a sexy escort.Maybe he could do this for a living: hang out his shingle as a hired dick.

“Well, when you’re ready to fess up, I’m here,” Nate said.

“There’s nothing to confess.”

Nate rolled his eyes.“Suuuuure.”

But he dropped the subject.Griff was grateful for the reprieve, but he figured he’d have to do a better job of covering his distraction, or Nate—and all the guys—would be on him.

They worked on the dock until they put down all the new planks, then hauled the materials back to the main toolshed behind the central building.

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