Page 29 of Fighting Conviction
“Huh.” Ellie analyzed his red hair and beard, six-foot-four muscular physique, and harsh jaw line, trying her best not to get sidetracked. “Yeah, Devil suits you much better.”
“I think so too.” He laughed and faced the shooting range again. “Check to make sure there aren’t any bullets in the gun before we practice form.”
Ellie turned her attention to his instruction and pressed the button to pop out the magazine before laying the cartridge on the metal table in front of her. She slid back the rack and double-checked the chamber before holstering the empty pistol.
“Clear.”
“Good. We’ll do some stance work before our target practice so no earplugs yet. Even though we’ve only done hand-to-hand combat for thirty minutes so far today, I can tell by your posture you’re already tired, but you shouldn’t be after all the training we’ve been doing the past couple of weeks… Are you getting enough sleep?”
“Um, yeah—” Ellie turned around and eyed him. “I wouldn’t be this tired if I didn’t have to do the same move a thousand times in a row. If you’d told me ‘just one more’, one more time I would’ve stomped your big toe.”
Dev raised his eyebrows and crossed his corded forearms over his rock-hard chest as he smirked. “You should’ve done that. It’s a pretty effective move, especially if you’re wearing heels.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Ellie gave him a pointed look and brushed back an invisible piece of hair. It was second-nature still, even though her hair didn’t bother her anymore now that she wore bobby pins all the time.
“We’ll have to work on your stamina. But now’s the time we need to train you to push through that fatigue. Fights aren’t like the movies. They’re fu-reakingexhausting and muscle memory can save your life.”
She tilted her head at him. “Why do you do that?”
He paused to consider her question. “Do what?”
“You don’t curse in front of me. Unless something bad happens and it slips out…” She watched as his face grew a healthy shade of pink. “You know you can curse in front of me, right? I’m afu-reaking adult, in case you hadn’t noticed.” She winked at him, enjoying the way his light skin reddened more by each word.
“Oh, I’ve noticed,” he grumbled and Ellie felt a flush burn her own cheeks. “But, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
Unsure what to say to the first comment, Ellie lifted her shoulder and decided to breeze past it. “Well, Jason does it. Jules does it. Heck, literally everyone around me curses like a sailor. I don’t like to because Aunt Rachel would’ve tanned my hide growing up if she’d heard me swear. Even now, curse words taste soapy in my mouth.” She stuck her tongue out for emphasis. “But that doesn’t mean you should censor yourself around me. I can handle whatever you’ve got, Devil Vos.”
The impact of her words hit her as soon as they left her lips. Even though she knew she was blushing from her cheeks down, she held her head high, challenging him.
Dev’s eyes widened before a dark chuckle rumbled out of him and went straight to her pussy. “I guess, I’ll have to do my worst, then, angel.”
His gaze traveled down to her lips, lingering there, and she squeezed her legs together to keep from dampening her panties. The space between her and Dev was a magnetic field, and she gave in to the need to lean into him. His head lowered toward hers and she bit her lip, heart pounding in her chest at their closeness.
“Dev… I—”
Dev lurched back and faced forward like he’d snapped himself out of the moment. Ellie mimicked his movements and rubbed the ache in her chest, feeling like she’d suffered another bout of emotional whiplash. She opened her mouth and closed it, fighting with herself on whether she should say anything, but Dev cleared his throat and picked up the pistol.
“We’ll run through some speed exercises. It only takes a second for a pro to take his gun out of his holster. You need to be ready with your own draw should you have to. But remember—”
“I know, I know. Run or hide before I fight.”
He nodded once and squeezed her shoulder. “Yep, you got it. Now let’s go, I’ll stop you when I want you to pause and check out your own body posture. That way you can figure out where you need to fix your grip on the gun to make sure you can reach it quickly and hit the target accurately.”
He stood behind her with his hands on his hips. “Stance.”
She immediately pulled the 9mm from the holster and went into a shooting stance he’d drilled into her.
“Good. I like what I see. Oh, wait.” His hand came into her field of vision and she jerked her head back before his thumb pulled her bottom lip from between her teeth. “Can’t do that, baby, you’ll bite your pretty lip off.”
The gentle brush of his finger and the low murmur of his voice sent a shocking quiver straight to her sex and her panties dampened with need. It was the second time he’d touched her like that, but good God did it make her swoon each time.
Before training, her crush on Devil had been easy to manage. She rarely saw him outside of Sasha Saves. But now that they were around each other all the time, one-on-one, she didn’t know what to do with him.
Should she come clean and get all her feelings out on the table? How would he react? Could he feel the same way? She was still too nervous to find out. It was better to find comfort in the dream and keep her dignity than confess her feelings and lose both.
He stepped behind her, the heat from his hard chest seeped through his thin tank top and warmed her bare back. He manipulated her body into what she assumed was a more natural position, setting her nerves on fire and making her skin tingle. Despite her aching muscles, she tensed at his touch.
“Try to relax where you can.”
