“I know that,” she said through gritted teeth, elbowing me.
I tsked at her. “Easy, Kitty Cat. You might know how to use a gun, but your technique still sucks. Your old man obviously slacked off in your training.” I ran my hands down to her waist, something I’d been wanting to do for a long time. She went very still as my hands skimmed her body. Hell, she smelled fucking amazing, the acrid scent of gunfire mingling with something darkly floral.
My cock hardened in my pants all over again. It would be so easy to lay her flat on the table and take her right there. From the soft hitch of her breath, I wasn’t sure she’d even protest before her normally hostile words turned into sighs of pleasure.
Reining in that urge, I slid my finger over hers on the trigger. “There you go. And then you fire.”
We squeezed together. The first bullet hit the target at the edge of the chest bull’s eye. Mercy stared in shock for a second.
I forced myself to let go of her and stepped back, letting her take charge. She promptly finished the entire round, firing five more bullets in quick succession, each closer to the center than the last. It was unbelievably hot, and my jeans were feeling way too tight. This girl—thiswoman…
Mercy lowered the gun and popped out her earplugs. I took on a smooth, unaffected tone. “Very good.”
She shot a glare over her shoulder at me. “I don’t need your approval. I’m glad to improve my skills for my own sake.”
“And so you should be.” I gave her a sly smile. “And since I helped you get there, that’s why you should always remain grateful to me.”
“Thanks,” she said, giving me the middle finger at the same time. I held back a laugh. She placed the gun on the table and pointed to the paper drawing again.
“Are we still on that?” I asked, amused.
“This is important,” she said. “Tell Anthea if sheisthe one who left this, to—”
“I already told you. Anthea had nothing to do with it.”
“You can’t know that for sure. What would it hurt to bring it up?”
I shrugged. “It’s not my problem.”
Her jaw ticked. “You’re making this difficult on purpose.”
“No, you are.” I walked right up to her, grinning at the momentary widening of her eyes when I had her locked against the table by my body. “My patience is limited. If you really want my help, you’d better focus on the problem at hand instead of stupid pranks. Or is there something else you want from me, something that needed a silly excuse to seek me out?”
My eyes dropped to her pouty lips. I wondered how she would look with them closed around my cock, worshipping it.
She glanced up, her gaze zeroing on my mouth. Fuck, the heat in her eyes almost made me come undone. My hands itched to pull her up to the table and sink my tongue in her hot mouth. I wanted to know if she tasted like violets as much as she smelled like them.
Without realizing what I was doing, I reached for her face, grazing my fingers along her chin. For just an instant, she leaned into my touch, her eyelids fluttering.
The next second, she was yanking away from me, horror written over her face. Frustration shot through me, but I quickly replaced it with a sardonic smile. I didn’t want to let her see just how much this small rejection stung me.
“What happened?” I taunted. “Did the Big Bad Wolf scare you?”
Instead of answering me, she turned and stomped back toward the house. My cock throbbed in my pants, reminding me that even if she hadn’t won this round, I hadn’t exactly won either.
“Don’t worry, Kitten,” I murmured. I wasn’t one to force women or to chase after skirts. They came to me because they knew I’d deliver whattheywanted. It was never the other way around.
I could play the long game. There’d come a point when she’d no longer be able to resist what so much of her was already begging for.