Page 99 of Nuclear Option (Owens Protective Services)

“Only if I lived in Texas. Californians aren’t exactly known for carrying guns.”

“Not true. Everyone I know carries a gun, and my company is based out of California.”

“You’re ex-military. If you carried switchblades, I’d be a little concerned.”

I turned and grinned at her. “That’s because you’ve never seen what I can do with a switchblade.”

“Do you ever turn off that part of you?” she laughed.

“And what part is that? The charming part?”

“No, the killer part.”

“First, I’m not a killer. I only…remove people that shouldn’t be on this earth. And second, there’s no turning this part of me off. I will always be looking for the threat. I will always put your safety above everything else. And most importantly, I will make sure that you are able to do the exact same thing.”

“What? Torture and kill people?”

“If you want,” I said thoughtfully. “I was really thinking more along the lines of teaching you to defend yourself. I want you to learn to shoot, and I’m sure Fox is dying to teach you how to throw knives. It’s sort of his obsession.”

“Like…steak knives?”

Laughter burst from my lips as her eyes twinkled in amusement at me. “No, not kitchen knives, smart ass. He uses throwing knives. If you pull up YouTube, you’ll find a bunch of people that use them in competitions.”

“But he carries them for killing purposes?”

“He’s very skilled,” I admitted.

“I’m not sure I want to learn to throw knives.”

“Then we’ll stick with guns, but you’re the one that gets to tell Fox. He’ll be very disappointed.”

She shifted in her seat to look at me. “Can I ask you something about him?”

“Shoot.”

“He seems to…really like me.”

I frowned, not understanding what she was saying. “You think he wants to date you?”

“No, but…”

I nodded, understanding what she was saying. “Fox doesn’t exactly have family. I think he sees something in you that…” I cut myself off, not wanting to say too much. Fox was an enigma. Even I didn’t know everything about him, but it wasn’t really my place to say either way. “If you have Fox on your side, you’re set for life.”

“Unless I tell him I don’t want to learn to throw knives,” she teased.

“Well, there’s one more thing. Now that you two have become so close, I’m sorry to tell you that he’s going to drag you to the theater.”

“For movies?” I shook my head. “Oh, God. You don’t mean…”

“Yeah. I have to say, I’m not too upset about that. I used to have to go with him.”

“That’s if I decide to stay in the area. Who knows, when this is over, I might decide to move halfway across the country,” she replied lightly.

“You wouldn’t really do that, would you?” I laughed.

“Why not? I’ve been on the run, living my life just to stay alive for so long. It would be nice to decide to move to…Nebraska or something. Just live a dull life where no one shoots at me and I’m not always looking over my shoulder.”

“What about me?” I asked before I could really digest what she was saying.

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