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“Smart choice.”
“Move, Sunshine,” Gray said, stalking closer.
“Gotcha.” Jason immediately moved a healthy distance away from her and waited for Gray to reach them. His massive grin, though, said he knew exactly what Gray’s issue was and he loved it.
Gray’s face was thunderous as he marched toward them, and Mercy’s stomach flipped. Was he…jealous?
He certainly had no reason to be. Jason had been nothing but polite. He’d kept a respectable distance between them, even when he’d been showing her how to hold the gun. He’d been a total gentleman.
Despite that, apparently Gray hadn’t liked it. And Mercy hated to admit it, but…well, she’d never had a man jealous over her before. It wasn’t something she would have ever thought she’d like. Jealousy was a silly, pointless emotion. Still, she couldn’t help that spark of satisfaction that shot through her at the thought that Gray wanted her all to himself.
He didn’t stop until he was standing in the place Jason had vacated, and he wrapped his arms around her, moving them back up to where Jason had had them.
“If you wanted to learn to shoot, you just had to ask,” he said, his voice that gruff, gravely tone she loved so much.
She raised her brows and glanced back at him. “You’re joking, right? I’ve asked you to teach me so many times you started burying your guns.”
Gray frowned and pointed at the apples. “Concentrate,” he said, ignoring her comment.
She rolled her eyes and did what he said. When her arms wavered, he stepped closer, plastering his body to hers and enveloping her in his arms. He wrapped his hands around hers and helped her hold the gun steady.
“Look straight down the barrel,” he said, his lips brushing her ear.
She shivered but did as directed.
“Aim a little above where you want to hit. Take a deep breath. Now pull the trigger.”
She pulled and the apple on the fence exploded.
“I did it!” She turned, letting him pluck the gun from her hand so she could throw her arms around his neck.
He wrapped one arm around her waist and held out the gun to Jason with the other. She planted an exuberant kiss on him. And then another, more lingering kiss. His hand squeezed her waist as he went in for a third, this time kissing her so thoroughly she wasn’t sure if the birdsong she heard was from actual birds or a sudden side effect of his lips.
He broke away long enough to haul in a ragged breath, and she let her lips trail across his jawline to his ear. He groaned and leaned into her.
“Sunshine?” he said, addressing Jason, though he didn’t turn his attention from her.
“Yeah, Sheriff?” he asked as he took the gun from Gray.
“Go home.”
“You got it, Sheriff,” Jason said with an ear-to-ear grin.
He tipped his hat to Mercy, and she didn’t care at all that Jason knew exactly why he was being dismissed, because Gray’s lips had already found her neck and he had hauled her fully against his hard and very aroused body.
“Is he gone?” Gray asked, his fingers already working at the buttons of her blouse.
She tugged at his shirt and glanced over his shoulder, smiling at the cloud of dust rising behind Jason’s horse.
“He’s gone.”
“Good.”
Gray walked her backward until she was flush against a tree. And then he began kissing her in earnest, his mouth hot and slick against hers. He didn’t wait until her blouse was fully unbuttoned but reached inside the moment there was space enough for his hand.
“Gray.” She sucked in a shaky breath and glanced around. “We’re outside.”
His other hand started hiking up her skirts. “We are. I don’t think Lucille and Birdie will tell anyone.”
