Page 38 of Cuckoo (Kindred)

“No,” Brodie said. Opening the bag, he pulled aside the edges to reveal a case—Maverick. “Back then he was trying to impress me, wanted in on the inside. He stalked who we stalked and would set up to try and take the kill shot before I did.”

“Did he?”

“I said he shot them, not killed them,” he muttered over his shoulder and opened the case to take the pieces out and put his closest ally together. “He shot shoulders, took off one guy’s ear, he shot another guy in the hip, no idea where he was aiming at on that one. A couple of times he missed completely, making the target and others scatter. Pissed me off ‘cause it meant I had to work faster, and if it was in public, people panicked, it caused mayhem.”

“You ever miss?” He stopped what he was doing to turn his glare on her, and it was enough to make her grin. He didn’t appreciate his skills being questioned. “Did you tell him that he was being a pain in the ass?”

Brodie continued building Maverick. “Confronted him more than once, but he just liked the attention, he was an eager puppy trying to please his master.”

“But Cuckoo changed that?” she asked, watching how efficient he was at putting the weapon together.

“He knew her before I did. Fucked her before I did too. She heard about me from him. I think he was trying to impress her with his knowledge and didn’t think the game through to the end, always was his problem,” he said. Holding the weapon upright, he gave it a once over, then flipped it around in a quick motion and laid it down on top of her. “She’s not loaded, but don’t touch her.”

Raising her arms above her head, Zara flopped them over the arm of the couch she was resting on. He was more protective of Maverick than he was of her. Zara wiggled her toes against him, it was the only available avenue to tease and show him affection with a rifle on top of her.

Trying to peer down the barrel that was pointed at her, she arched to lift it and give her a better view. This weapon had seen her up close many times when Brodie was aiming to keep an eye on her. It had taken lives and protected her.

Brodie was busy with something else and she moved up and down, testing the hardware. The weight of the weapon surprised her, and the metal quickly heated with the warmth of her body. It was a formidable piece and would be terrifying if turned against a person. But all she could think about were the times it had saved the lives of people she cared about, including Brodie’s.

“Fuck.”

She expected Brodie’s exhaled exclamation to be directed at something out the window, but the scope had been moved away from the window and there was another tripod in its place. “What?” she asked, unsure why he was scowling at her with such a keen appreciation.

Taking her foot, he pulled it over his thigh and pressed her toes into the erection in his jeans. “I told you not to fuck with me.”

She massaged him with her toes. “I’m not fucking with you. I’m just admiring your hardware,” she said, tracing a fingertip down the long barrel of the rifle. “You’re the one that put her on top of me. Two females laid out and ready for your choosing, beau.”

“Don’t make me choose,” he said, and she was disappointed when he took the rifle from her to attach it to the tripod.

Something settled over his expression when he looked through the telescopic sight and began to adjust various knobs and dials. She didn’t think there would be a better view from the weapon than there had been from the prop that was there before, but when he was done fiddling he seemed more at ease with his trusted companion set up.

Zara sat up, crossing her legs under her and stroking her hands over his thigh to get his attention. “Can I look?”

As far as she’d seen, he hadn’t put any ammunition in the rifle yet, so there wouldn’t be a better time. Picking her up, Brodie pulled her onto his lap. He settled one hand on her hip and the other on his gun at the same time she leaned forward to look through the sight. The image was so much clearer.

“Put your cheek here,” he said, pressuring her cheekbone to position her. “It’s a little high for you.”

The lines and markings were different and the green of the nightlight was sharper. Kahlil was there in his bed, unaware that he had such a powerful firearm pointed at him.

Brodie had been doing this for years, these kind of experiences were mundane to him, but she had never been party to such a thing. Lifting a hand, she didn’t get the chance to touch the weapon because Brodie caught her wrists and pulled her hands around to the small of her back, which forced her ass to slide against the lump in his jeans.

“I just cleaned her,” he said, but he’d had no problems with using her body as a weapon rest.

Zara smiled and focused on the gun sight again. “In all these months we’ve been together, I never realized.”

“Never realized what?”

When she lay back on him, he released her hands. Her form relaxed on his torso until her head was on his shoulder and she was gazing up at him. “All this time I’ve been the other woman.”

“You’re way sexier.”

She squinted. “Hmm, not sure I believe that,” she said, and it was his turn to kiss her even if it was against all the rules.

His mouth opened and when his tongue brushed hers, she didn’t shut him down. Twisting her body one way while he went the other, he got her on her back on the couch again and insinuated himself between her thighs.

“It’s wrong that you’re so turned on by this, baby,” he mumbled into her mouth, though he was the one grinding his solid dick against the dampness that lingered from their last union, proving that she wasn’t the only one who was aroused.

He pushed her arms over her head again and kissed the pulsing column of her throat all the way down to her cleavage. Her top hung loose, and the stubble on his chin rasped on her sensitive breast when he pushed aside the material to breathe in her nipple.

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