Kissing Fire (16 page)

She threw her arms around me and hugged me close to
her. “That’s really the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.
Thank you Preston.”

To get a reaction like that from her every day would
be my goal for the rest of my life.

Wait! What the hell was I talking about. The rest of
my life?

I cupped her face with my hand and kissed her again.
“How about we head back to the house. I would like to teach you how
to fire a weapon this afternoon.”

“Okay,” she smiled at me.

********

I had an indoor range in the basement, for the
winter months, but since it was summer, I’d set up a target on the
property outside. I had random stumps of various heights and I had
tin cans and water filled plastic jugs that I set on them. I also
had sixteen by twelve inch panels of tin used for roofing that I’d
painted targets on that were attached to stakes and I stuck them
into the ground. These are things I normally used so I wanted her
to try her hand at them. I’d let her stand closer so she could get
the hang of it.

There was a whole arsenal here at the cabin for her
to try, but I wanted her to use a large caliber hand gun, so I
handed her a 45 Glock auto.

“This is a lot heavier than I thought it would be,”
she remarked.

“Avery, have you ever fired a gun?”

“Yeah, a 22 rifle when I was young.”

“Good. This will handle a lot differently. I
explained to her how to hold it with both hands and how the recoil
would feel. I also taught her how to sight in the gun. After she
fired off a few shots, I explained how to adjust her sights. She
ended up having a fairly good lesson. Her favorite was hitting the
plastic jugs filled with water with the high caliber rifle I had.
Those suckers would literally explode and she would get to laughing
so hard, we would both be cracking up.

“Oh my gosh. I didn’t realize how much fun target
shooting would be.”

“I know, right? One thing though Avery. If you ever
have to use this weapon on another human being that is threatening
you, you had better be prepared for the consequences.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that if you end up having to kill someone,
can you live with that?”

She didn’t even hesitate before responding.
“Preston, if someone were trying to kill you or Justin or Caroline,
I wouldn’t think twice about killing them to protect my family. I
may be shaken up afterwards, but I would rather live with that,
than a dead family member.”

“I understand, but I had to ask you that. One other
thing. If you pull this weapon on someone who is threatening you,
shoot to kill. Don’t shoot that person in the leg or something.
They’ll come back and kill you for sure. Do you understand?”

“I do.”

“There’s something else you need to know since we’re
talking about safety. This house has a panic room. Do you know what
that is?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“I’m gonna show it to you now, but I wanna get all
this cleaned up so it looks like we were never out here. Can you
give me a hand?”

“Sure.”

“I need all the bullet casings picked up, okay? They
look like these.” I held one up for her to see.

“On it.”

After about thirty minutes, we had everything
cleaned up and put away. I took her to the lower level of the house
where there was another hidden trap door underneath the carpeting.
We went down a flight of steps where they ended at a steel door
that had a keypad entry. I entered the code and the door slid open.
Inside was a laptop, an encrypted cell phone, nonperishable food
items and a refrigerator filled with drinks. The room also
contained flashlights and some other nonessential items. There was
another door at the opposite end of the room that looked like the
one we had just come through.

“Where does that go?” she asked.

“It’s the tunnel that will get you out of here. The
computer links to a satellite that can connect you to Pete or
anyone else that’s safe and the phone is encrypted so it’s safe
too. The tunnel runs for about a mile and comes out away from the
property where there is a motorcycle waiting to carry us away. So
the drill is if anyone hits this place, get down here ASAP...with
or without me. Do you understand?”

“Yeah, but Preston, do you think that’s
possible?”

“I never rule anything
out.”

“What if they do hit us and I make it down here and
you don’t? I don’t know how to drive a motorcycle.”

“You call Pete and have him get someone out here
ASAP. Understand? They’ll have a very difficult time getting
through both of those doors and by the time they do, you’ll be long
gone. There are guns and supplies in here so if necessary, you can
hide and live off the land for a few days until Pete can locate
you. Just make sure you take that phone and call him.”

“Yeah, but I don’t have Pete’s number.”

“Avery, are you trying to be a smart ass?”

“No! I really don’t have his number.”

“Um, Avery.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s programmed in the phone.”

“Oh, right. Thanks Preston.”

“You’re welcome honey.”

“Um Preston?”

“Yes?”

“This really makes me nervous. Scared is more like
it.”

I pulled her into my arms and held her. “Don’t be.
I’m just taking extra measures to be careful.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” she said dryly.

Chapter 15

Avery

The hot shower was beating down on me as I poured
over the events of the day. A huge smile spread across my face.

Hmm, awesome hike with beautiful views of Preston’s
butt. I was a sick woman. Here I was, in the middle of the
wilderness (well, okay, it was seriously luxurious wilderness, but
still...) with some evil Mexican drug lords trying to kill us and
all I could think about was Preston’s ass! What the hell Avery!

Then, we shared an unbelievably hot kiss...I mean a
toe curling, tummy tightening kiss. Next, sweet honey Preston tells
me he won’t have sex with me (will someone pinch me?) until things
are right emotionally (pinch me again, please) and he’s never felt
that way about a girl before. Attention: did everyone out there
hear that? Okay, just in case you didn’t, Preston said he would not
have sex with Avery until things are right emotionally because he
doesn’t want it to be just about the sex! Helllloo Preston!

On to shooting the guns part...and don’t hold this
against me but...Oh My God, that was just about the funnest thing
ever. Who knew? I mean really. Who knew guns were that much fun? No
wonder everyone wanted one. Those exploding water jugs were a blast
to hit.

Okay, now we’re getting to the
“scare the crap outta Avery” part. PANIC ROOM! Wait. I need to
amend that. PANIC TUNNEL! What the hell? Wait. I have to make
another amendment. Who the hell has a panic tunnel? This is serious
shit. Okay, I really knew it was serious before, but Preston has
just elevated it to a whole other level. If I were wearing boots,
shaking in them I would certainly be. Scared shitless Avery is.
Wait, how come I’m suddenly speaking in Yoda talk?

C-R-A-P! I couldn’t breathe. That feeling hit me
again, like the one I had on the airplane. Only this time I was in
the shower and I had shampoo in my eyes.

Feeling around with my hands, I knew one thing for
certain. Soap or no soap, I had to get the hell out of there. The
door, I had to find the door. It finally gave way and I heard it
bang on the wall. Still trying to make myself breathe, I stumbled
out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. Now the shampoo was in my
eyes full force and burning like hell. Pushing the suds away with
the palms of my hands, I knew I was crying too, but I needed some
damn air. Where was all the air? I had fallen to my knees and I
really needed Preston, but I didn’t know where he was. And damn it,
I couldn’t see shit either.

I made it out of my room, across the hall and
feeling around the door, my hand landed on the handle. Thank God, I
thought as I turned it and pushed my way into the room. Everything
was turning to gray, but he was in there and must’ve heard me
because he was next to me, talking to me, asking me what was wrong.
Even though I couldn’t speak to tell him, I guess he figured it
out, because he left but was only gone for a few moments before he
returned and put something over my mouth and began talking me
through the breathing thing. My skin was tingling everywhere, like
pins and needles and my eyes were on fire from that stupid shampoo.
Finally, finally the air seemed to be getting into my silly lungs.
My arms reached out on their own volition and held onto his, my
hands gripping him quite hard.

“It’s okay Avery. You’re fine. You had an anxiety
attack honey. You’re all good now.”

He pulled the bag off my face when my breathing had
eased at last. The pins and needles were subsiding too, but that
damn soap in my eyes hurt like hell. “Preston, my eyes are on fire
from the shampoo.”

“Put your arms around my neck.”

When I did, he lifted me up. I marveled at his brute
strength for I was no light weight. He had picked me up off of the
floor too. This man was truly the strongest man in the universe.
How proud I was of him.

He walked me into his shower, which was running and
stood me under the flow of water, as he closed the door behind him.
The water rinsed the shampoo off of my head and face and I finally
got blessed relief from the burning in my eyes. When I turned
around, Preston stood there staring at me in all of his naked
beauty. It seemed as though we were both hypnotized by each other.
I hadn’t even noticed he’d been naked while I was in the agony of
my anxiety attack.

I couldn’t speak for that brief moment in time. I
simply wanted to look at him, he was that perfect.

I swallowed as I stared at him, simply drinking in
the view. “Preston, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone as...as
sexy as you are.” I moved closer to him for I wanted to--no, big
correction there--I needed to touch him.

I opened the palm of my hand and placed it over his
heart. I felt it collide with my hand, almost as if it knew my hand
was coming to meet it. I know that sounds corny but it was true. We
looked at each other and his mouth was on mine before any other
thought came to it. My back was crushed against the marble wall as
Preston bent his head into my neck and kissed all the places that
took my breath away. Not once, not twice, but over and over until I
was moaning and crying out for him.

His mouth did things to my breasts I had only
imagined before and he kissed me in places I never knew gave me
such pleasure.

Then he knelt in front of me and
lifted my leg, placing it over his shoulder.

“Avery, you’re so exquisite. May I touch you
here?”

“Yes,” I moaned. I could barely think, but when he
asked me if he could touch me, I was expecting his fingers and not
his tongue. When his mouth settled onto me, my breath was lost once
again, as it caught in my throat.

My fingers sank into the muscles of his shoulders as
his tongue swirled around and around on that tiny bundle of nerves,
sucking and licking. When he slid his fingers into me, it was all I
could do not to collapse on to the floor, as the sensations began
to build. Heat poured through my veins, intensifying as my body
burst into flames of pleasure. His tongue and fingers continued to
work in rhythm until I orgasmed around his hand and mouth, crying
out his name.

When my spasms finally ceased, he stood up sliding
his body along mine, and held me in his arms, kissing my neck, my
cheeks and then my mouth.

“I want to feel you inside of me Preston,” I said
against his lips.

“Not yet sweetheart. I shouldn’t
have done what I just did, but I couldn’t stop myself. Seeing you
all wet and naked with soap running down your body did something to
me that I can’t explain.” His hand was on the top of my head as his
thumb massaged a circle on my forehead while he spoke to me and his
eyes were all softened and sexy.

I knew he was conflicted over what happened and I
didn’t want him to be so I put my lips on his again and I said,
“Preston, I’ve never felt so wonderful in my whole life. You don’t
know what you did to me. You made me feel so good...it was amazing.
Please don’t feel like you’ve done something wrong because it
couldn’t have been any more right in my book.”

He pushed his body against me and I could feel every
contour of him. “Avery, I wish it were that easy. I want to make
you feel more than just good. I know orgasms are great. I mean have
you ever had a bad one? It’s more than that though. When I’m with
you, I want for it to be more than just an orgasm or two. I want to
give you something beyond that. I wanted us to wait until we were
at that point where it actually means something and not just great
sex. Am I even making sense here?”

“Yeah, you are.” I had to ask myself if he was for
real.

“Am I out of date a little?”

“No, I think you’re being kind and considerate. Can
I ask you something?”

“Yeah.”

All this time the water was running all over us. I
reached over and turned it off. He smiled and opened the door and
then handed me a towel.

“Does this mean you want to wait until we’re in
love?”

He stopped what he was doing and
turned and looked at me. His eyes were so awesome as their golden
depths latched onto mine. Was it possible for someone’s eyes to
reach into your heart and touch it, because I was pretty darn sure
his just had? Oh hell, everything about this man was awesome. He
could hop around like a silly rabbit on one foot and I’d say, “Oh,
look at Preston, isn’t he just the coolest?” I seemed to be in a
constant state of arousal around the man already.