Page 23 of Altered By Fire (Undercover Sinners 1)
The first one hits dead-center and the second two … go right through the same hole.
I smirk, flick my eyes over to Mace's stunned face, and then finish off the clip before I drop the magazine into my palm and slam in a new one.
"Beginner's luck?" I ask with a raised brow, but Mace has already seen right through me, crossing his arms and watching as I shoot a circle around the target, outlining the big red ring with ten shots before I have to reload again.
"What else do you know how to do, Talia?" Mace asks, giving me a nickname in the moment. I consider it for a second and decide I'd rather not have any of these other guys hear my real name, just in case.
I activate the safety and set the gun aside, offering up a sly smile.
"You'd be surprised to learn what I can do, Mace-y," I purr, putting one hand on the thick, hard muscles in his arm and giving him a ridiculous nickname that in no way fits his looks or his personality. But it's funny and cute and he lets me say it without bitching or complaining. In fact, the look in his eyes very much says he's enjoying this moment with me.
"Are we talking about combat experience?" he growls as I step closer and look up, up, up into his face. "Or something else?"
"Why don't we head back to your Hummer, and I can show you what we're talking about?" I purr, batting my lashes in a coquette move I perfected years ago. I take another step closer and feel the hard evidence of his interest press against my torso.
Mace looks down at me for a long moment, his lids heavy with blatant lust.
"Are you often like this?" he asks me in a rumbling, quiet voice like a faint earthquake.
"Confident?" I reply, arching a brow at him in challenge.
"Sexual," he corrected, taking a very deliberate step back from me and causing my jaw to drop. Have I just totally misread those signals? How?
I frown. "Wait, you're into me. I can tell." I nod pointedly to his thick erection pressing against the fabric of his pants, and he makes no move to try and disguise it.
"I am. You're a gorgeous girl, Talia, and your marksmanship is …" he trails off with a sexual sounding groan, "but you've been through some bad shit. A blind man could see that you use sex and substances to hide from your reality. Only a real asshole would take advantage of you when you're vulnerable like this, and regardless of my profession, I'm no asshole."
This makes me pause. Stunned. Speechless.
What is he saying about his leader? Surely, he heard Hawke fucking me earlier; we weren’t exactly quiet about it. More to the point, what does this say about me that I'm even more attracted to Hawke because he's an asshole?
Then again, Mace's refusal of me just makes him a challenge, and I love a good challenge. Especially when they come in the form of a six-foot four mountain of hard muscle and sizeable cock. At least, from what I can see through his pants.
"Come on," he smiles, “clearly you don't need any shooting lessons from me today. Do you want to just fire off some AK-47 rounds for the fun of it? Or we can head outside and hit some long-range targets with a Fieldcraft?"
Chewing my lip thoughtfully, I eye him up again to check if he’s really sure about turning down my offer. His steady gaze doesn't waver though, so I shrug.
"Sure, long-range sounds good. My sniper skills could use some work anyway seeing as Daddy only really taught me handguns." I hand the weapon back to Mace to put back in his case and stretch out my back. One thing’s for sure, the mattresses in the church’s sleeping quarters could seriously do with an upgrade. Maybe I could order them some online …
Ugh, except my father will be watching my credit cards. Yeah, that’s a no go.
Great, I'm homeless and broke. How the mighty have fallen, eh Natty?
Mace leads me back out to the hummer, where he lifts a panel in the back to switch his weaponry for something a little larger. He slings the case over his broad shoulder and tosses an easy grin at me.
"I can easily say this is the best date I've ever taken a chick on before," he comments oh so casually as we head through to the outdoor range where several guys are on their bellies as they fire.
"Date?" I squeak in shock.
He sets the rifle case down at an empty spot at the far end and turns to me with a clear challenge in his face. "Yeah. A meal and an activity with a partner you find sexually attractive. That's a date, isn't it?"
