Page 27 of Unraveled Love

I took the small handgun and placed it in my palm like he’d done, but the gun wasn’t nearly as steady as it’d been in his.

“Now slam the magazine in, hitting it with your palm to make sure it’s in correctly.”

I fought the shiver rolling down my spine at the timbre in his voice, smooth and deep. It did nothing to mitigate my nerves, only heightened my awareness of him and made my trembling worse until his hands settled on my shoulders and rubbed firmly. “Relax, Addi. You’ll get over this part. We’re not even to the fun part yet.”

The fun part was his hands on mine when we were somewhere more comfortable with a lot fewer clothes on.

This was nerve-racking.

A flash of the red welts still healing on my wrist became visible beneath my long sleeves, and I gritted my teeth.Never again will I be that helpless victim.

I rolled my shoulders and blew out a breath. Then, like Shawn had shown me, I slid the magazine in and slammed it with the heel of my palm.

“Good girl.” A thrill of satisfaction mixed with arousal flashed deep inside of me, and I licked my lips. “Now, we’ll hold it like this.” He took my hands, guided me on how to hold the weapon correctly, and stood behind me. His body caged me in, his chest a hard wall at my back, forcing me to stand straight.

Once he had my hands curled, my left one cupping the bottom of the grip and curling around my right hand, he explained, “See those two white dots at the end and the one up top? Line those up so all three white dots are in a straight line, focus on the middle dot, and then all you have to do when you’re ready is flick off the safety on the left side with your thumb and pull the trigger with the index finger of your right hand.”

He tapped his fingers on each side as he spoke. I flicked off the safety and curled my right finger on the trigger.

The dots turned blurry and then cleared as I blinked.

“Take a deep breath,” he whispered, placing my ear protection back on. “On your exhale, pull the trigger.” His voice was muffled, but I heard him clearly. “Remember, this is a small gun, small gauge of bullets, but the gun will still have a small kickback, flicking the barrel up slightly. Aim the white dot wherever you want to shoot on the target, breathe in, pull on the exhale. Got it?”

“No.” I shook my head, grinning. How did people ever become so used to this they used a gun as an extension of their body? The way Luca had aimed and shot like he’d been born with a weapon, the men who had fired back—hell, even the casual way Shawn handled his at the end of the night.

I held a weapon in my hand that could potentially kill someone. Becoming so used to using it I could become so casual with it baffled me.

“You can do it. When you’re ready, okay?”

I nodded, thought through all the instructions he’d given me. Aim, dots, breathe, shoot. Simple.

After a few moments, Shawn moved back, and I missed the heat and weight of him behind me, but his hands settled at my hips, holding me steady.

He let me take my time, growing comfortable with the weight of my gun in my hand.

Like everything else we’d been through, Shawn was taking this at my pace, my comfort level.

It was that realization that settled me. I lifted the gun, blinked through blurry white dots until one settled bright and clear. I pointed it directly at the red and black circular ringed target twenty-five feet away from us, exhaled, pulled.

The muffled but still loud bang rattled me along with the small jerk of my wrists.

And then it was done.

I all but dropped the gun on the table before me, shocked.

I just shot a gun.

“Nice hit.” Shawn’s approval rang in my ear, and I bit my lip.

I squinted, eyed the target in front of me, and found the tiny hole, two inches to the right of the red bull’s-eye.

“Wow.” I grinned back at him over my shoulder. “I amgoodat this.”

Shawn threw his head back and laughed, distracting me with his delicious, corded throat.

“Let’s go then, sniper,” he teased, tightening his hold on my hip. “Show me what you’ve got.”

My nerves vanished, quickly replaced with anticipation and making me tremble.

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