She nodded, her face the picture of concentration.
“Pul the trigger nice and slow. Squeeze it. The gun,” he said, more for his benefit than hers.
Sex and soap.
Daniel slept on in the corner. Or appeared to. His eyes were shut, shoulders rising and dropping with deep, even breaths.
Finn felt no guilt. Refused to.
“Go on, Al. Do it,” he urged and she nodded hesitantly.
Her finger tightened. So did her shoulders, her arms, her everything. By the time the gun clicked, her aim was, once more, shot to shit. She had held her breath throughout the entire process. “Okay?”
“No. You’re too tense. That’s why you jerk the gun up when you fire and your shot gets wasted.”
“I hit someone yesterday.”
“You got lucky. Not something we can depend on. Go again. Relax. Breathe this time.” He leant in close to the rim of her ear. She shivered, frowned, but whether over his proximity or the gun, he couldn’t tell. Didn’t want to know. It was nice to let his mind run wild.
“Let your breath out slowly as you squeeze the trigger, okay? Don’t get all wound up over it going off. You know it’s going to happen, so let it. Relax, Al. Let it surprise you.”
She nodded, lined herself up and dry fired. Little changed the second time round.
“Again.”
The third time she marginal y improved.
“A little better. Keep going,” Finn said.
“Maybe … if you weren’t hovering.”
“Al, this is the least stressful situation you’re going to find yourself in when it comes to firing a weapon. Concentrate on what you’re doing. I need to be behind you. Deal with it.” Finn placed his hands on her shoulders. She flinched. “Easy. They’re there to remind you not to tense up. Go again.”
She scowled and fired.
He didn’t move his hands an inch. “You rushed it. Again.”
One pained expression later, she did so. Being told what to do clearly wasn’t her forte. Maybe she just needed to learn about the benefits it could bring. He’d certainly love to teach her.
“Much better. You’re focusing now. Maybe you don’t mind me hovering after al ,” he said, and she snorted, lined her sights up on her imaginary target once more. “That’s it.”
She nodded and the side of her mouth lifted. Then she relaxed the hair’s breadth left between her ass and his dick, shoving against the front of his jeans. She stilled instantly. “Finn?”
“It’s a predictable reaction, Al. Ignore it.”
“But …”
“Go again.” He squeezed her shoulder, returning her focus to the task at hand. “Concentrate on what you’re doing.”
Her chin jerked, and she breathed nice and slow in a deliberate, steady motion. And fired.
He would have felt proud if he could feel anything beyond the light press of her ass against his crotch. Direct contact couldn’t have been better. “Good. You’re getting the hang of it. Keep going.”
“I held steady that time.” The edge of her mouth tensed, muscles moving, and she glanced back over her shoulder. “Are you sure we don’t need to talk about this?”
He turned her further with gentle pressure on her shoulders and waited. Watched her watch him until she had some iota, some notion as to his thoughts.
The way her face heated up satisfied him as nothing else could. “Are you offering to help me with this, Al?”
Her lashes fluttered – a nervous reaction. “You know I’m with him.”
“Then we’re not discussing it. We’re doing necessary target practice so you have the required skil s to help you stay alive.
Understood?” In the end, he was the one who moved away. It was simpler.
For now.
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to hurt you,” she said. Because she didn’t understand a single thing. She turned on her knees to face him, and her gaze shifted to where Daniel lay in the corner, apparently oblivious.
It took everything in him not to grab her, make her look at him. He shoved his hands in his pockets for safety’s sake.
“I’m not hurt. I’m horny,” he explained. Maybe the tone edged toward patronizing, but bad luck. “Two different things.”
“I’m aware of that.” She gave a frustrated growl. He did his best to ignore it. Him and his dick both. “Why are you trying to piss me off? Why can’t we just have this conversation and clear the air?”
“Because, Al. We. Are. Not. Fucking. Understand?” He resisted the urge to shove a hand through his hair. Or hers. “Nothing is going on between us. Therefore, we don’t need to have these kinds of discussions.”
She stared at him, her brow channeled and lips tight.
“Okay? Can we just let it go for now, please?” He waited.
“Alright.” Her gaze dropped to his groin, danced off him and plummeted to the ground. There it steadfastly remained. “Thanks for the practice.”
“It needs to be a regular thing.”
“Sure.” Al turned away, concentrated on a huntsman spider making steady progress up the wall. She shook her head like she was shaking off an errant thought. “There are going to be other females out there, Finn.”
“Al …”
Other females weren’t his problem. She was. He stared and her face blossomed into color. He almost felt bad for making her so uncomfortable. Then again, she did have a charming tendency to blush at next to nothing.
Ridiculously, he welcomed any reaction from the woman. He couldn’t take his eyes off her and those twin spots of red sitting high on her cheeks. They’d be warm to the touch. Fiery hot and flushed with blood. He knew the feeling.
Daniel cleared his throat and drew up his foot in the corner, watched them both through a slit of an eye. “Give him the ‘I’m not the only untainted vagina in the country’ speech. That’ll put him in his place.”
Al glared back. “If you’re finished napping, we need to move on.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Wait. I’ve been thinking,” Finn announced, amused to see Al’s head whip up at the declaration. Startled eyes searched his face, proving she was stil thinking about sex. Which made him curious, but they didn’t have the time. “We keep running and sooner or later we’re going to start making mistakes. We’re going to get cornered.”
Dan’s gaze had been light, sleepy, but now he snapped to attention, face serious. “How many of them do you think there are?”