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"Even? How are we even? I was minding my own business in my own home, and you broke in, shouting like a wild man, scaring the piccalilli out of me!"
"Piccalilli?"
"Yes!" She pointed the spoon at him. "Go away. You are not wanted."
He didn't move. "I was protecting you."
"I don't need protection." She held up the can opener. "Obviously."
He cocked an eyebrow. "What were you going to do with that?"
"Throw it."
A smile quirked the corner of his mouth. "Really?"
She narrowed her eyes. "The level to which I abhor your skepticism is immeasurable. Follow me." She headed for the back patio, not even waiting to see if he was coming.
He did. Because he was a man, and men couldn’t deal with being wrong.
She got to the patio. "Pick a target."
He raised his brows. "All right, I recant my skepticism with the can opener. You don't need to?—"
"Pick one."
He sighed and pointed to the lamppost about ten feet away, about four inches wide. "That."
"You'll buy me a new can opener and fix the lamppost when I hit it?" She knew she could be overreacting, but stress did that to her. He'd terrified her, and then had made her want to feel all warm and snuggly when he'd said he was protecting her.
She loved that he was protecting her. Absolutely freaking loved it. Which is why she had to end that nonsense now. Because she was also pissed that he'd run into her home, uninvited, and scared the daylights out of her.
Declan grinned. "Sure. I'll take care of it all."
Oh…that arrogant, attractive man. He didn't believe she could do it. "Okay." She turned toward the lamppost, hefted the can opener, took aim, and then hurled it.
It smashed into the lamppost and exploded into itty bitty can opener parts all over the patio with an extremely satisfying crash. Wow. What a brilliant throw. She was so impressed with herself. That could easily have ended in a complete miss, but she'd nailed it.
Yay for Piper.
Declan stared at the carnage. "Damn."
Exactly. "Yes. If an intruder ever shows up, he'll be the one who needs protecting." She glared at him. "Now go away." She turned and headed back inside.
"Where did you learn to do that?"
"Softball. And brothers." She walked inside and shut the door.
He opened it and followed her in. "You threw can openers at your brothers? Are they all dead now?"
She tossed him a grin over her shoulder. "It was impressive, wasn't it?" Honestly, it had been a bit of a crap shoot about whether she would actually hit the lamppost. It had been a while since she'd used that particular skill. Plus, can openers were tricky little things, and the lamppost had been pretty narrow. If she'd missed, Declan would have gotten to run home feeling all smug in his manly superiority.
But she'd been mad, the can opener had been handy, and she'd aced it.
"How'd you get shot? Your brothers?"
She laid back down on the floor and closed her eyes. "I'm meditating."
He crouched next to her. "I need to know why you got shot."
