I finally saw the remaining members of the team again one Saturday morning at breakfast in the midst of an argument with Caleb over which one of us deserved the last pancake. River came in the front door with Austin not far behind. They both pulled up stools at the counter where the four of us were already sitting. Everyone’s body language sharpened just the tiniest bit, and I used the distraction to swipe the pancake in question and swiftly licked it all over while Caleb stared in shock.

“I licked it, so it’s mine,” I gloated and set it on my plate to be drowned in syrup.

Caleb’s outraged expression turned heated, and he smirked at me. “Well, by that logic...”

I choked on my mouthful of pancake at the opening I’d created with my innocent statement. Crap. Luckily, River saved me further embarrassment.

“That’s enough, you two,” he interrupted sternly. “First off, I need to get a couple of hours sleep, but then I’m heading back to the city to pick up some things. Kit, you and Austin will be coming with me to start your target practice at the shooting range. Despite the fact that we have been a bit under the gun with our current caseload, it is unacceptable for you not to know how to shoot if you’re to be included. Caleb and Cole, you will be picking up where we left off, Austin and I will take a few days to recuperate, and Wesley, you keep working on your current task. Everyone clear?”

There was a chorus of “yes, sir” around the kitchen island. When River looked at me with a raised brow, I fought back a smile as I bobbed my head submissively and murmured, “Yes, sir.” I didn’t imagine the flame in his gaze this time.

He made a pleased hum and pushed up from his stool. “Austin, get some rest. We leave in five hours.”

The shooting range was quiet when we arrived in the late afternoon. When River left me with my biggest fan, he ordered us to be civil to one another. I wasn’t sure civil was possible for either one of us, but perhaps we could get by with minimal interaction.

Austin signed us in and set us up at the far end of the booths before pulling two different sized handguns from the case he carried.

“I assume you’ve never handled a firearm before?” He sneered at me. Great, the training session would go well with his attitude.

“You assume correctly.” I gritted my teeth and added, “Asshole,” under my breath. After all, I really did need to learn how to shoot, regardless of the teacher.

He rolled his eyes. “This is going to be slow going. Okay, here’s what you need to know before we begin....” He proceeded to rattle off a crash course in gun safety without once stopping to check that I understood or followed what he was saying.

Finishing his lecture, he picked up one of the guns and pointed to each part, naming them. “Barrel, slide, safety, magazine, sight, trigger. Got it?”

I nodded, memorizing every piece.

“Here’s how you load it,” he said as he added a series of efficient hand movements and a full magazine clicked into place. “Flick the safety off, aim, shoot.” Demonstrating as he spoke, he fired the gun without any more warning, and I jerked. The sound echoed in my ears and left them ringing. Austin gave me a look as though I was a simpering idiot, and my face flamed in embarrassment.

“Your turn. Think you can handle this, Princess?” His condescending tone contradicted his concerned expression, although why he would be concerned was a mystery to me. I must be reading him wrong. Clenching my jaw, I kept my anger in check and my mouth shut as I took the gun. Replicating his movements, I checked the gun then aimed it at the paper target and squeezed the trigger lightly. Nothing happened. I frowned in confusion, glancing first at the obviously faulty weapon and then at my surly teacher standing behind me. Eyes narrowed and his lip curled in contempt, he reached over my shoulder and clicked off the safety.

Whoops.

I tried again, and the kickback on the gun sent the bullet wide. It didn’t even graze the edge of the paper target. As expected, Austin snickered behind me. Judgmental bastard. Boiling, I tried again. The shot went wide again.

“Great shot, Christina.” The smug comment was anything but a compliment. “I’m sure the people in the next lane would appreciate you not hitting their target though.”

“As amusing as I’m sure you find this, I might point out that River gave you a direct order to teach me how to shoot. Not stand there with your finger up your ass laughing at my inexperience,” I reminded him.

His glower gave me a small sense of satisfaction. At least I could hit that target.

Grudgingly, he began to show me the correct way to hold the firearm, how to stand, how to aim, and how to absorb the recoil so as not to jerk the gun when firing. His hands were confident and firm on my body as he adjusted my position, but he didn’t linger a second longer than what was strictly necessary. Once I was able to grasp these concepts, my aim improved remarkably. The closer I came to hitting the center of the target, the surlier Austin became.

After firing the gun several hundred times, or so it seemed, my cantankerous mentor declared it was time for a break. I gratefully pulled off my earmuffs and raced back out to the entry lobby where I’d seen a sign for toilets. My bladder had been on the verge of bursting for close to an hour, but I’d refused to ask him for a break.

Coming back out of the ladies feeling much fresher, I spotted River standing with his back to me, so I snuck up behind him.

“Back so soon, Sir?” I teased, hoping to get another one of those looks out of him, but instead as he spun to face me, a flash of panic tensed his expression for a millisecond before lust heated his eyes, reminding me of how he’d looked at me the night we first met.

“Sweetheart,” he purred in his sexy British accent, sliding his strong arm around my waist and pulling me in close to his body. “Didn’t I tell you only to call me that in the bedroom?” His husky laugh wrapped around me before he glanced over my shoulder. “Women, huh?”

“You didn’t mention you had a girlfriend.” A rough voice with a heavily Eastern European accent answered him. Curiosity rode me, and I casually turned in River’s embrace to see who was speaking. He was a heavyset man, shorter than River by almost a head, which explained why I hadn’t seen him when I approached. The other man’s face was engulfed in a dirty brown beard, and he had a thick scar running through one eyebrow.

I smiled sweetly, playing along. “It’s a new relationship.”

River hummed in agreement and introduced me as Emily. I offered the man my hand to shake, but he snatched it up and pressed a lingering, wet kiss to my knuckles. Fighting a shudder of revulsion, I leaned back into River’s chest, and he tightened his grip on my waist.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Emily. I am Sergei.” He ran his rat-like gaze all over me, and it made me feel dirty just standing there. Something told me Sergei was not a nice man. I smiled politely back at him but linked my fingers through River’s at my waist and clung tightly.

“Tell me, what is a pretty little thing like you doing in a gun store?” He asked the question mildly, but something told me he was smarter than he was letting on. Maybe River and I hadn’t sold the idea that we were together.

I took a gamble by playing the stereotype and giggled like an airhead, scooping my long hair over my shoulder then running my hand down the length, which drew Sergei’s attention to my chest. “Oh, we aren’t here for me, silly! I could never shoot a gun; they’re way too scary. I just love seeing my man here handling these big, dangerous weapons. It makes me so.... hot....” I bit my lip like a fucking twit and wiggled my backside against our stern-faced leader. River’s breath caught, and triumph surged through me. Huh, River wasn’t as unaffected by me as he seemed.

“Well, with that in mind, Sergei, I hope you’ll understand if we excuse ourselves?” River drawled, tugging me away without waiting for a response.

He didn’t let go of me until we were back on the shooting range and at the end booth where Austin was waiting. When we got to him, River released my hand and puffed out a breath. Rubbing his hand across his permanent three-day stubble, he surprised me with a laugh. Humor wasn’t the response I’d been expecting.

“Shit, love. You’re not a half-bad actress.”

I glowed at his praise, not mentioning that it didn’t really require a huge amount of acting skill to act turned on by the idea of him firing guns. He was in another sharp suit again today, and my imagination drooled a little at the rugged James Bond look he pulled off oh so well.

Austin looked confused, but River filled him in on the details of my meeting with Sergei. Though he appeared concerned, River said nothing more on the subject.