Ranger - K.M. Neuhold Page 0,43

a miss.

“You need to gently squeeze the trigger rather than pull it. Pulling it will cause your gun to go upward slightly, and you’ll miss your target.”

He nods and takes a stand again, more relaxed this time. His fourth shot hits. It’s far off from the center, but Julian is all but jumping up and down. “That was good, right?”

“Yup, you hit something. Try again.”

After twenty bullets, he’s getting tired. His hands are shaking, and I gently take the gun from him. “That was fun.” Julian smiles from ear to ear. “Show me what you can do.”

“It’s not a competition. That wouldn’t be fair to you. I did this for a living.”

He rolls his eyes at me. “Duh, silly. I know that. I just want to see how good you are…if you want to.”

Do I want to? When he asks it like that, his expression eager and honest, hell yes, I do. I reload the gun, then take a stand and fire in rapid succession. I don’t need to check the target to know I’ve hit dead center on all of them, but Julian’s open mouth and bulging eyes are balm to my wounded soul. I take off my ear protectors.

“That’s amazing,” he says. “That’s… You didn’t even look, it seemed.”

“It’s muscle memory by now. I’ve done this so many times, with so many different guns, ranging from rifles to semi-automatic guns to old-fashioned revolvers. There’s not a gun in the world I can’t shoot.”

Pride rings in my voice, but Julian doesn’t take offense at it. Instead, he sends me a blinding smile filled with something else I can’t quite put my finger on, but it looks like admiration. “I’m genuinely impressed.”

My chest feels like butterflies have taken up residence there, and while it’s a completely unfamiliar sensation, I like it. “Do you still want to try the Magnum?” I ask.

“At least once. I’m curious about that kickback.”

I run him through the correct posture, warning him not to lock his arm as he fires. He takes a long time, then pulls the trigger, and I can all but see him gather the courage. The effect is what I expected: as soon as he’s fired, his hands fly upward, and despite him holding the gun with two hands, he almost drops it. “Holy gumballs! You warned me, and I still wasn’t ready…”

“Don’t blame yourself. Like I said, this is not a gun for beginners…”

He’s peppering me with questions as we get back to my locker, where I check all the guns, do a quick clean, then store them. He’s so curious, unafraid to ask what others might consider stupid questions. I don’t think they are, don’t get me wrong. Of course they’re beginner questions, but that’s fine. We all have to start somewhere, and showing him just a little of what I’m highly skilled at makes me feel good inside. Really, really good.

As we walk back into the parking lot, Julian puts a hand on my arm. “If there’s a smooth segue to go from shooting a gun to inviting you over for entirely different activities, I couldn’t think of it, and I’m telling you I tried hard. So we’ll go with the old-fashioned direct approach. Wanna come home with me? Watching you shoot has made me want to climb you…”

22

Julian

I’ve always considered myself to be a pacifist. I didn’t want to burst Ranger’s bubble when he suggested that he wanted to teach me to defend myself, but I’d sooner let a bear maul me than shoot at it. I have to admit, though, that target practice was fun. And more than that, it was unbelievably sexy to see Ranger in his element, his face full of pride, his muscles flexing… Whew, it’s making my dick hard just thinking about it.

Since we arrived at the range separately, he follows me in his truck back to my place and parks next to me. For just a second as I make my way from my truck to the house, I notice the red hue of the sky from the wildfires. I make a mental note to check how far off they are now. The smell of burning wood seems heavier.

“Do you want something to drink?” I ask as we both kick off our shoes. Princess Pinecone greets us with a tail wag, nudging my hand with her snout until I give her a scratch behind her ears.

“Water’s fine.”

“Coming right up. Make yourself comfortable.” I head into the kitchen to get a couple of