“There are ways to earn the money from me… if that makes it better?”
Cole peered at his older brother over the fencing. His eyes went to Eva and darted back to West again. He shook his head. “Not really.”
“There’s nothing wrong with getting your hands a little dirty.”
Eva squirmed with discomfort. She had a feeling that West was offering something else, and her stomach knotted. It was bad enough that West was getting in over his head with whatever secretive and shady connections he held in Nashville, but he’d drag his younger brother down with him?
She couldn’t live with herself if she allowed anything to happen to Cole.
Her hands tightened on the shotgun. “How about we go and shoot some ghosts, huh?”
“I had something else in mind,” West said. He took the shotgun from Eva and fired on one of the rotting cattle crossing signs across the way. The weathered wood split into two.
“Really?” Cole complained over the noise. “You’re really shooting our signs?”
“How many of those signs do we need? Three is overkill.” He handed the shotgun to Eva. “You try it.”
“Why don’t you go for that burnt corpse of a tree over there,” Cole suggested.
It was twice as far. “You have a lot of faith in me,” Eva said with a wink. But she’d spare his signs. She aimed for the dead tree, and hesitated when she remembered that she wasn’t supposed to know what she was doing. She tossed her hair, looking back at West. “Aren’t you going to show me the basics, babe?”
“Of course.” West took the shotgun and aimed it at another cattle sign in the distance. It exploded just like the first one.
Cole groaned. There was only one of them left.
Eva took the shotgun back, surprised when West didn’t bother to show her anything more. Two could play this game. She aimed for the black and twisted tree and fired, missing on purpose. She made a sound of distress.
And just like she’d planned, West’s arms went around her. “Like this.” His breath was warm against her ear as he adjusted her aim on the target. “Now shoot.”
She shot and hit the tree’s rotted corpse in the side.
Not bad. Of course, she could’ve done better without West’s help.
West confiscated the gun and took aim himself. He got the branches to the side of the tree that had become their target. He turned to Cole. “See if you can’t take it out.”
“No.” Cole was a machine. He hadn’t stopped working on the fence since they’d gotten there. His jaw was tight with annoyance. He bent to gather more wire, and those funny bib overalls slid down slightly. He caught at them. The rope to keep them up wasn’t quite working.
“Maybe you should just buckle those bib overalls on, Mr. Oshkosh B’gosh?” West cruelly mocked him. “You don’t want to show off those chiseled abs to the world.”
Cole rolled his eyes. “Ormaybeif someone didn’t follow me around like a stalker, I’d have my own jeans.” This was said with an accusing glare at West.
Eva squirmed. He was misdirecting his anger. She vowed to fix this as soon as they got home.
West switched direction and got the last cattle crossing sign. It exploded.
Cole wasn’t impressed. He crossed his arms over the post to stare up at them. “What am I supposed to do to get rid of you, West?”
“You know exactly what.”
“You’re running out of targets,” Cole said. He tapped the post, turning from them. “I guess you’ll have to try someplace else.”
They had a whole bag of shiny shatterproof bottles to shoot. She wasn’t sure why West was going for the signs anyway, except to drive his rule-abiding brother crazy.
Eva aimed for the twisted and black tree again. She hadn’t tried to get her target, but still the bullet hurtled uncomfortably close to it. She’d almost blown her cover.
Cole let out a sound of disdain. “You’re holding it wrong, Eva. At least…” He came up behind her and guided her fingers over the firearm like his brother had failed to do. “Hold it like that.” A musky cedar and citrus scent hit her senses full force as he gave her a full dose of Cole. The smell of him was far too captivating. She fidgeted.
“Not that way, like that, and lift it… there…” He breathed out heavily while he tried to rearrange her body into the perfect form for shooting. Cole tried to keep his distance—she could tell—especially when his leg ran up against hers. He pulled quickly back like he’d been stung by the contact.