Page 32 of Russian Rescue

“That I throw it by the blade.”

“Good. And if it was blade-heavy?”

“Then I’d throw it by the handle.”

Piper spun in front of me and smiled. “Well done, Pretty Boy! You’re getting the hang of this!”

“Incredibly Handsome Man is going to be an awesome knife thrower.”

She chuckled. “Okay, Pretty Boy. Let’s see what you got.”

We’d already spent the past four hours going over basic weaponry skills. I now knew how to load an assault rifle, an SMG, and a pistol. We had access to plenty of ammo, so Piper had me fire off enough shots with all three weapon types until I felt confident I could make a reasonably good shot if shit went south. She’d also taught me how to throw a grenade, although she didn’t want to draw attention to our location, so we didn’t actually let it explode, but I understood the basics of it. Now we’d moved onto knives.

I aimed the knife at the bucket she’d set up a dozen yards away as a target.

“Now remember, the distance to your target determines how you throw your knife. The closer you are, the more bend in your elbow and wrist so you get a lot of turns in the air. The farther you are, the less bend so the knife flies the distance straight without a lot of turns.”

“And this distance is?”

“Mid-range.”

“Okay. So, like this?” I bent my elbow and wrist and drew the knife back like she’d shown me. Piper leaned up on her toes and maneuvered my arm to the angle she wanted it. The soft touch of her skin on my bare arm caused me to lose my focus.

“Don’t let anything distract you so you drop the knife,” she whispered in my ear, completely aware of what she was doing to me.

It was one thing to have Piper flirt with me and torment me from a video screen or a sexy voice in my ear all these years, but it was another thing entirely to have her body pressed against mine while she did it.

“I won’t drop it,” I managed to get out. “But if you keep that up, I’m going to miss the shot.”

“You’re going to miss it anyway.”

I glanced down over my shoulder. “Whoa. Is that so? Want to wager on it?”

She stepped back and crossed her arms. “You think you’re going to hit the target the first time you throw a knife? Uh, yeah. I’ll take that bet.”

A smirk tugged up one corner of my lips. “I didn’t tell you what the bet was.”

“Doesn’t matter. You’re not gonna hit it, so whatever the wager, I’m in.”

My eyebrows rose as I turned to face her. “Well, aren’t you feeling confident today.”

“Took me three tries to hit the target the first time I threw one, and I’m better than you are at this shit.”

“You only think you’re better at it, but until I throw this knife, we won’t know, now will we?”

She eyed me with authority. “You’ll miss.”

“You sure? Whatever bet I want?”

She flipped her long dark hair over her shoulder with a flourish. “Whatever you want.”

I thought about what I wanted, stopping myself before I blurted it out. But then I remembered how short life was. This past week had been one death-defying moment after another, and there wasn’t any guarantee I was going to make it until morning. I’d been kidnapped, taken to Russia, tortured, slid twelve stories down a rope, been shot at, almost stabbed, and in a high-speed car chase. Although none of those things were as scary as the thing I wanted to say to Piper.

Kiss me.

The one thing I really wanted, but the thing I couldn’t ever imagine would really happen. Not to me. For a moment at Oleg’s, I’d been almost certain she wanted to kiss me, but then I’d convinced myself it was all in my head... a fantasy I just wanted desperately to come true but never would.

Or could it? I wasn’t the same skinny, shy kid I’d been when I’d joined Elite Stealth Force. Now I was the guy that girls slipped their numbers to when I waited in line for coffee. But those were girls... this was Piper. I didn’t dare imagine what I’d thought I’d seen these past few days was real.