Page 28 of Unraveled Love

I could rise to this challenge.

After all, my life might literally depend on it.

“You’re on.” I glared at him, earning me another laugh.

With Shawn’s muffled laugh ringing in my ear, I faced the target and picked up the gun.

* * *

“That was amazing.”I took a huge bite of my half-pound bacon cheeseburger and groaned at the taste of it and the memory of the shooting range.

We were at his kitchen table, having grabbed food on the way home. I’d wanted to stop in, but Shawn said it wasn’t safe, so I settled on a takeout order from a local whiskey tavern restaurant with a gorgeous outdoor patio I was desperate to eat at some day.

For now, I was content to sit across from Shawn as he shook his head, amused by my excitement. We’d left the range an hour earlier, and the first thing I’d asked was when we could go back.

He’d been right. Shooting a gun was a blast, and now I felt silly for all the years I spent so nervous around them. Sure, they were deadly weapons, but once I got used to the feel of it and the rush of hitting a target, my nerves turned to something else.

I felt powerful. And it was a heady sensation.

If Shawn thought I was sexy before, I was pretty certain he thought I was a hundred times more sexy now. He couldn’t wipe away the heated look in his eyes, especially once I finally hit the bull’s-eye three shots in a row.

My aim got worse when we switched to higher caliber guns, but I had the target from the twenty-two tucked away in the back seat of his truck.

I was framing that baby. Taping it to the wall next to my bed.

Because hot damn—I never would have thought learning how to shoot a gun would make me feel like a badass warrior.

Shawn mixed a fry in some gross dip, a mixture of mayonnaise and mustard he swore was delicious, and popped it into his mouth. “I told you you’d love it.”

“It was pretty…” I searched for the right word. It didn’t take long. “Empowering.”

His thick brows rose in surprise, and he chewed another fry.

The food was incredible, even if being reminded ofwhyI’d gone to the shooting range in the first place almost made me lose my appetite.

I blotted the corners of my mouth with a napkin. This burger was one of the best I’d ever had, but I’d barely been able to finish it, hadn’t touched a single fry.

“So, what do we do now?”

Without work, without much of a social life, the outing had left me more restless. I’d had a small taste of freedom again, and now it was dashed. We’d done nothing except work out, which for me mostly included walking on his treadmill and watching Netflix because I’d never lifted a weight in my life. I’d binge-watched so many high school vampire shows in the last few days I was starting to think they truly existed.

Shawn pushed his plate out of the way and leaned forward, running a hand through his hair before he settled his forearms on the table.

“I have an idea of something we could do.”

The look in his eyes created a spooling heat low in my stomach. “Yeah?” I asked, and my voice had turned breathy. Husky. “What’s that?”

“How about—the first person to make it to the shower and get naked gets to choose what we do after?”

“After?” I cleared my throat.

“After.”

The scrape of his wooden chair on the floor echoed through his townhome a half-second after mine.

10

Shawn

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