Crush

Chapter Nineteen

"Sure, I'll try it."

I smiled—glad she seemed willing to participate. It was a sneaky way to teach her a little self-defense too without her knowing. I went over to the trunk of my car, put the handgun inside, and pulled out the thirty-aught-six and a box of cartridges.

"Now these bullets are a little heavier, so there's going to be some recoil with this one," I warned as I prepared and loaded the gun.

"What does that mean?" she asked confused.

"It means it will kick back into your shoulder a bit when you fire. I'll demonstrate for you first, so you can see what I mean." As soon as the gun was ready, I pointed to the far cans we had set up on a fence railing some distance away when we'd arrived. "Okay, I'm going to shoot at those out there this time." I took a moment to sight the target, firing, watching as the can bounced up wildly.

"You hit it again! That's so awesome!" She squealed, clapping her hands together. "You make it look so easy."

I grinned. "Thanks. Now you try it." I handed her the gun and helped her get into a comfortable stance. "Okay, remember to keep looking at your target and gently squeeze the trigger whenever you're ready."

She blew out a soft breath and fired. The shot went wide again, hitting the next can over from the one she'd been aiming for. "Owww!" she howled, and I couldn't help my chuckle.

"Kicked you good, didn't it?" I rubbed where she'd had the gun nestled against her.

"You could've warned me better. That really hurt!" She looked slightly teary eyed. "I don't want to shoot this one anymore."

I bent to quickly place a kiss against her shoulder. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to get hurt, but I didn't want you to tense up and be scared either. Tell you what. I'll use the rifle and you can use the handgun, and we'll see how many of these cans we can hit together."

She nodded as she continued to massage herself. "Okay. Sorry. I'm not very good at this."

"You're doing amazing," I replied, meaning every word. "I'm happy you wanted to try it."

"I like finding out about the things you do." She smiled and slipped her arms around my waist, hugging me.

I shifted the gun and hugged her back, taking a moment to dip down and kiss her sweet lips. "I like it too."

"I'm glad you were able to get off work," I said as we drove back toward Copper City. "I've enjoyed sharing things with you today."

"Me too. I didn't know if my boss was going to let me since I'd taken Wednesday night off for my concert. I had to beg a little." She laughed.

"Well, I'm happy you did. I'm looking forward to spending the rest of the evening with you."

"We have another spot available at the theater, you know. If you want a job, you should come apply. We could work together."

"Really?" This did interest me, not because I needed a job, but because it would give me the opportunity to be close to her. I knew Clay worked there, even though she said they didn't get scheduled together much these days. It would give me an opportunity to check into him some more. I'd been forming a few suspicions about him lately and the possible source of his new income. I was beginning to wonder if he might be encroaching on the drug scene. I wouldn't put it past him. He definitely warranted watching. I didn't think he was stable, despite Cami's defense of him. "I'll check it out. Do you think they'd let us work the same nights though, seeing how we're dating?"

"As long as we do our jobs and aren't making out in the supply closets they're pretty good about letting couples have the same shifts together."

"Hmmm. I don't know. The supply closet thing might be a deal breaker. I like pushing you into dark corners and doing wicked things to you." I shook my head and she laughed.

"You're so bad."

I chuckled. "I've tried to warn you. You don't seem willing to listen."

"Maybe I like bad," she challenged.

I placed my hand on her thigh, gripping slightly. "Works for me." She was gonna be the death of me.

She intertwined her fingers with mine—giving me one of her dazzling smiles, and my heart skipped a beat.

"Watch the road, Hunter."

I sighed. "You distract me too much."

"I like distracting you, but I also want to survive." She laughed.

"Good point."

"So what do you want to do for our next date? Or am I monopolizing all your time these days? I know you used to like the party scene."

"I haven't much cared for the party scene lately. I'm finding myself presented with a new drug of choice."

She gave me a disparaging look. "So I'm a drug of choice now? How flattering."

"If you don't like it, I guess I could go back to my old lifestyle. I don't want you to feel like I'm a burden."

She squeezed my hand tighter. "Don't you dare. I like that you've been trying to stay clean. Plus, I'm sure Gabrielle would be there, waiting to sink her clutches into you. She wants you bad."

I groaned, feeling awful I hadn't been totally honest with her on the partying account. True, I hadn't been to many parties, but it didn't mean I wasn't using. Brushing aside my guilt, I focused on the subject of Gabrielle. "Don't remind me. I always feel like I'm part of a petting zoo exhibit when she's around. She's always touching me."

"It's funny, but I would've imagined she'd be exactly your type." She was frowning.

"And why would you think that?"

She lifted her shoulder slightly. "I don't know. I guess because she's been everyone's type before you."

"Which is exactly why she isn't mine." I didn't want Cami thinking Gabrielle was competition.

"You don't think she's gorgeous?"

"She's very good looking, and she knows it and uses it to get what she wants from guys. It's not attractive at all."

"You really don't care for her, do you?"

"Not in the slightest, especially when there are much prettier girls to be noticed." I winked and she blushed.

"How do you know I'm not using my looks to get what I want from you?" She grinned slightly as I turned into the parking lot of the grocery store.

I stopped the car and leaned over, pulling her face close to mine. "Cami, please use your looks to get whatever you want from me." I pressed my lips to hers. "I like it."

She grinned and kissed me back. "What do you want to make for our dinner?"

"Honestly, skipping dinner and doing this all night is sounding pretty good to me."

Her stomach chose this minute to growl, and we both laughed.

"Okay, message received—food first, kissing later."

"Sounds wonderful." She sighed against my lips, and I had to kiss her one more time. Her stomach growled again.

"Okay, okay. Let's go buy some food." I reluctantly moved away and got out of the car, going around to open her door.