Page 135 of Dirty Eoin

“You like guns, if I recall.”

“I do.”

Business is business. I speak then because I have little choice. I’m not remotely interested in his goddamn small talk, and he knows it.

“Have you fired a Glock before now, Jaine?”

I smile inwardly. If only he knew what I did in my spare time. “I can shoot short range or long range. Sight, scope, or neither. Pistols or rifles.”

“We have an electronic target at five hundred meters, but for that…”

“We’ll need the rifle,” I interject. “Let’s wait for Dylan, then, shall we?”

“Will you shoot against me, Jaine?”

My heart immediately starts pounding in my chest. It’s been a month since I’ve heard his voice. I forgot how fucking perfect it is.

I side-glance at Eoin as he stands with Ava by his side. She’s dressed in a flowing cream-colored dress with matching kitten heels, both of which contrast her olive skin and dark hair perfectly. Meanwhile, I’m standing here in my black tank top, black leathers, and my monstrousdon’t mess with me, or I’ll kick your fucking head inbiker boots. I don’t make eye contact with him. I do with her. She smiles warmly, but she’s not her usual engaging self.

Maybe she knows who I am now. ThatI’mEoin’s estranged wife. She’ll also think we share a son.

She never did call me after she promised she would. I was disappointed by that out-of-character behavior from her.

Does she love him?

I know from personal experience that love can make you do crazy things. It can make you run for a decade before tossing you into a sea of eternal regret where you then struggle to keep your head above the surface every day.

Love can also make you so sick that you see things that aren’t even there. Until you find yourself seeking retribution from someone who wasn’t guilty just because you needed anyone to pin your blame on.

He deserves her love if she does. I want that for him. I want him to experience the heady highs that being on the receiving end of love can bring. I want only good for him.

“I’ll take you on, Jaine.” Aidan disturbs my brief moment of reflection with a smile, a wink, and what I suspect is a double-entendre.

“I think us ladies should show the men how it’s done, don’t you, Jaine?”

I turn my attention back to Ava.

Being Leo’s sister, she’ll have used countless enemy heads for target practice over the years, so she’ll be a very competent shot, I’m sure. She’s confident enough in her abilities to challenge me in front of the O’Connell family.

I smile. She smiles. Hers feels just a little forced.

Movement at her side causes me to switch my gaze, and I finally make eye contact withhim.

Big mistake.

Aquamarine meets green. I struggle to look away. Is it the same for him? Is this physical attraction we share obvious to everyone else around us? It’s like a ravenous beast that wants to feed at every turn and a million times a day. That if we don’t succumb to its hungry demands, it will devour us both whole.

It’s a two-way street with us. Our bodies are so in tune they’re silently screaming, each craving fulfillment from the other.

My gaze trails slowly over him as he walks towards me. Dark. Dangerous. Panther-like. He’ll feel its heat, I’m sure. My traitorous brain immediately visualizes him naked. A sight I’ve imprinted to memory more times than I can count.

Taut, toned, hard flesh. Perfectly inked. Imperfectly scarred.

By the time he’s reached me, his eyes are already green, no doubt as a result of my blatant ogling.

I smirk at him as I pick up a pistol.

“Ava.” I say her name without breaking eye contact with him.

---