Page 52 of A Shot at Love
It took every ounce of willpower and thought he could muster to tamp his reaction down to prevent her from seeing what she did to him. He’d been able to suppress his raging desire until she’d unconsciously sent it roaring again when she licked her fingers where some jam had trailed. The sight of those perfect bow lips and that pink, wet tongue sucking at her fingers threw him into a tailspin of need. When she’d gotten up to take her dish to the sink, he’d started reciting the Pythagorean theorem in his mind in a feeble attempt to get his body under control before she realized what was happening and went screaming back to her bedroom.
It was a sincere testament to his sense of control that he was able to contain himself.
The woman pulled at him in a way no other ever had. He wanted to protect her, while at the same time knowing she was totally capable of defending herself if she had to. Her martial arts skills alone rivaled his, a fact his ego didn’t even mind. It was time to find out if she could use a gun. He hadn’t asked, never thinking she would need to with him around. But now that they had to rely on themselves for the foreseeable future, he wanted to ensure she had more in her weapons arsenal than just her bare hands.
Ky knew she was an independent, successful woman used to fending for, and taking care of, herself. But he found, much to his surprise, he wanted to be the one to take care of her, to satisfy her needs. All of them. He wanted her to lean on him, depend on him, turn to him when she wanted something.
It was simply ridiculous to feel this way for a woman who barely tolerated being in the same room with him.
When sleep finally came, he treasured the few hours of solid rest he got.
Used to rising early no matter how tired he was, Ky was up when the sun cracked its way into his room. He rose and quickly showered, forgoing his usual morning exercise routine. For a little cabin in the woods, the shower was refreshingly hot and soothing.
Dressed, he put on a pot of coffee and cocked an ear at the staircase listening for sounds of movement from above.
When he decided she’d opted to sleep in, he took the opportunity to, as he’d told her the night before, get the lay of the land.
In the bright, piercing light of day, their charming, tiny cabin in the woods proved to be more of a fortress built to survive Armageddon.
On his first walk through the night before, Ky found the sophisticated alarm system he’d mentioned to Gemma housed in the pantry off the kitchen. On further inspection he’d been able to discern that it not only alarmed the house, but did indeed, have a co-system meant to protect against an invasion from outside. Ky’s opinion of Bannerman went up several notches.
Before exiting the pantry, a little niggle of a thought wormed its way into his head and, after inspecting the dimensions of the room, solidified into certainty. The room was smaller than it should have been. That told him one thing: the pantry was more than a pantry. Cautiously, Ky tapped the walls surrounding the shelves and within a minute’s time, discovered where one part of the wall sounded hollow. He pulled back the shelving and a false partition was revealed. Thinking it might be spring activated to open, he pressed against it and was rewarded when the wall swung open into a closet.
Ky squeezed around the opening and found something that warmed his heart and spirit: a secret stash of weapons.
Dozens of handguns, automatic assault rifles, Berettas, and even a rocket launcher were affixed to the pegboard wall inside the room, with more ammunition than he’d seen at gun shows aligned in boxes on a metal-framed rack.
The perfect setup to teach Gemma about guns, assuming she wasn’t already proficient with a firearm.
Ky’s opinion of Bannerman climbed even higher when he found the garage behind the house. It hadn’t been visible when they’d arrived. But now, standing in the full light of day, Ky saw a structure almost as tall as the cabin, and just as wide, nestled into the berm on the back slope of the hill.
The entrance door was locked, a numbered keypad affixed to the door. Ky took a chance it was the same numerical code for the front door and his gamble paid off when he heard the mechanical clicks shifting after he hit enter.
The garage was big enough to house two full-sized vehicles and Ky considered parking their clunker in it to keep it out of sight. That would take half the storage space, the other already housed with a four-wheel ATV. The gas tank was full, the keys in the ignition.
