Page 173 of Bratva Jewels Box Set

“I think we should start with a Beretta handgun, then we can work our way up to these bad boys.” I grin, touching one of my sniper rifles.

“And you trust me enough to not shoot you?” she asks, but I can see the smile she’s trying to hide.

“Yes.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t.”

“Maybe I deserve it,” I say.

She gives me a look but quickly shakes it away. “Okay, show me

what you got, Mr. Assassin.”

I take the Beretta from its case and grab some ammunition. Then we swipe back through the locked doors into the range. Iset her up in the lane beside me. I explain to her about weapons safety. How she needs to load the gun. How she should keep the safety on unless she’s in danger because she won’t want to accidentally pull the trigger and hurt someone, and most importantly, hurt herself. She listens to every single word I say, nodding along until I’m finished with my briefing.

“Now, let’s get you started. Stand here,” I tell her as she moves in front of me. “I’m going to get your stance right, your hands in the correct position as you don’t want to hurt yourself with any potential recoil,” I explain as my hands move to her hips and my fingers dig into her soft curves. My front is to her back, we are barely touching, but I can feel the electricity sizzling between us. Nothing better than shooting guns with a beautiful woman by my side, fantasy date right there. “Relax, Grace. I can feel how tense you are.”

“It’s because you’re standing too close.”

Oh. I take a step back.

Grace swallows before turning around to face me. “I’m sorry that wasn’t fair. You’re only trying to help me.”

“I don’t have to touch you, Grace. I can give you verbal instructions from a distance if it makes you comfortable.”

Grace’s brows pull together, and she stares down at the floor, her fingers interlinking as she twists them nervously. “I want to hate you, Max. God, I want to hate you so much, but …” She looks up at me, those green eyes shimmering with emotion.

But what?

She shakes her head. “I think I’ve lost my mind because even after everything that’s happened, I still reach out for you in the middle of the night when those nightmares find me. And my bed doesn’t feel the same without you in it. You’re so far under my skin that I can’t breathe when you’re not near me. I don’t want to want you, Max, but I do. I’m fucked up,” she confesses.

“You don’t think I feel the same, Grace? I’m the one that is unhealthily obsessed with the woman I’ve stolen from her family, not once but twice now. The thought of ever letting you go feels like my soul is being ripped out. I’m not a good man, and yet I want to be one for you. My mission in life is to protect you even with my own no matter what because all that matters in this world is you, Grace Clark.”

Tears swirl against her green eyes as I confess my soul to her. “I don’t understand how this happened, Max. I shouldn’t have fallen for my kidnapper, but I did.”

Reaching out, I cup her face between my palms. “I know I keep fucking things up between us, but this is all new to me.”

“What is?”

“Falling for someone.”

Grace bites her bottom lip over my confession.

“This may not be a normal love story, Grace, but it’s ours. I can’t let you go no matter how much I try. You are the light to my darkness. The good to my bad. The filling to my emptiness.”

“Max,” she says my name breathlessly.

“I’m going to kiss you now, Grace. I know these words can’t change the shit I’ve done to you in the past, but I hope it will heal some of the mess I’ve created between us,” I tell her as I lean forward and bring her lips to mine.

Grace’s hands reach out and pull me to her as she opens her lips to mine, kissing me back. All our pent-up anger begins pouring out of us as the kiss heats up. Her kisses are searing my soul to hers as I feel her finally let me be hers again.

“I want nothing more than to pick you up and fuck you on that table over there,” I say, tilting my head in the direction of the table in the corner of the room. “But I want my woman to know how to shoot. To protect herself. I need her to know she is a strong, badass bitch.”

Grace chuckles as she looks up at me. “Okay then, Mr. Assassin, show me what you’ve got.”

I give her one last heated kiss before turning her around and smacking her ass which makes her gasp.

I place the Beretta in her hands before giving her a couple of final instructions and then stepping away from her. “Now pull the trigger slowly.”