“Only the ones I like.”
She didn’t argue with him and laid her head on the pillow.
He removed his jacket, kicked off his boots, and lay down beside her. He didn’t give her a chance to argue with him. He took her in his arms and pulled her close.
Pressing his nose against her neck, he breathed her in. At first, she was tense, and he accepted that. There was no other way to expect her to react.
“I want you to teach me how to shoot.”
“So you can blow my balls off?”
“No. I don’t want to die.” She rolled over, and there wasn’t much light in the room, but he could see her. He knew he’d be able to see her anywhere.
“I can protect you.”
“Landon, I get it. You’ve been at this for some time, but even still, people need to accept they need help.”
“I won’t let anything happen to you. I can guarantee that with my life.”
“What about you?” she asked.
“What about me?”
She sighed. “Look, you said with this curse thing you’ve got, you feel this connection. The women don’t. You have to make us fall in love with you, right?”
“Exactly.”
“I need you to teach me how to shoot.”
“You’re safe, Tulip. You won’t ever have to worry about the pain of losing me. You don’t feel this like I do.”
“But that’s the point, right? I don’t feel it now but it doesn’t mean I won’t ever feel it. What if you succeed and I fall in love with you? I don’t think it will happen. I’m a hard person to love and I don’t love easily, but I know the way the world works. It’s cruel and evil. If there’s a chance I fall in love with you and you’re lost to me, I’ve got to be able to deal. If I lose you because I never learned to fight, how am I going to live with myself? You’ve gotten this second chance with me but you’re not a twin, Landon. I won’t get a second chance and you’ll leave me out in the cold, miserable and all alone, because you refused to train me. That’s not fair, not even a little bit.”
He sighed. “You make a good argument.”
“Landon, you’re not talking to a child here. I’m a full-grown woman. I won’t do anything stupid. Let me help.”
All he wanted to do was protect her, to prove he could, but she was right. He couldn’t allow his pride to get in the way or influence this decision. He had to take steps, drastic steps to keep her safe. Even as he wanted to deny her request, it was stupid of him to do so.
“I’ll train you but I want something out of the deal,” he said.
“I knew I shouldn’t be happy about this.” She shrugged. “Fine. What is it you want?”
“You.”
“You have me, Landon.”
“No, I
want all of you. When we move on, you’ll share my bed, and I don’t mean to sleep. You’ll belong to me in every single way that counts and matters.” He wanted to be inside her, to claim her, but he also wanted to work on her falling in love with him.
“You want to sleep with me.”
“I was going more for making love and fucking than anything else.”
She licked her lips, and he wanted them wrapped around his dick. He wanted to taste her as well. To hear his name falling from her lips.
“And if I say no?”