Free Hot as Hades by Cynthia Rayne Page A

guns than any woman he’d ever seen, even Eddie. “Easy there, Annie Oakley. It’s just me.”
    Daisy didn’t take any crap, which he loved. She kicked actual, physical ass and it fascinated the hell out of him.
     Made his cock hard as hell, too.
    Normally, he wouldn’t be attracted to a tough girl. Melissa had been soft and pliable. Daisy’s badassery should have shriveled his dick. But oddly enough, her aggressiveness turned him on in a really twisted way. Call it a leftover from his schoolyard days, but he loved getting her all riled up, made him want to put gum in her hair or pick a fight, just to see what she would do next.
     “That reminds me,” she said. “Give me my other gun back.”
     “I’m keeping all your guns while you’re working for the club.” He scooted in the booth and held up two fingers, indicating two beers. Fetch, one of the prospects, ran to the industrial fridge to retrieve them.
    “What?!” she protested.
    “It’s a done deal, Wildcat. When I heard you leave the room, I had a prospect grab the weapons from your duffel.”
    “You bastard!” She glared at him, hands fisting at her sides, but she didn’t reach for her gun, so he’d call it a win.
     “Consider it safety precaution. If you aren’t careful, you’ll get us both killed.”
    She snorted. “Would you say that if I were a guy?”
    “This isn’t some sexist bullshit,” he protested. “I’m not worried you can’t handle yourself with a gun. I think you’d blow a hole in anything that came near you, but a bloodbath brings heat. Heat brings the FBI, and the feds fuckin’ love RICO.”
    Fetch set the beers on the table and left.
    “I can control my temper,” she said.
    “Yeah, you look real calm.”
     “Fuck off.” She took a swig of her beer.
    He tried another tactic. “You know, if the Raptors kidnapped someone close to me, someone I cared about? I’d be ready to pump a few rounds in their asses, consequences be damned.”
    She paused, seeming to consider his words. “Yeah, I don’t deny I’ve been thinkin’ about it.”
    Cowboy nodded sagely. “You wouldn’t intentionally go off on one of the bastards, but it’ll be harder to be level-headed, because you’re too invested in this operation. It hits you where you live. It’s the same kind of reasoning behind why surgeons don’t operate on their own family members. I don’t want your trigger finger making decisions, but I’ll bring a gun, so don’t sweat it.”
    She chuckled. “No offense, but you could be a suck shot for all I know.”
    “Wildcat, I could split a frog hair four ways if I took a notion.”
    Her chin lifted. “Oh yeah? Prove it.”
    “I will.”
    He gathered up their beer bottles and exited the rear door of the diner, with Daisy right behind him. They stopped when they were both facing the water. They downed the rest of the beer and then she set the bottles up on a fence post, about fifty yards away.
    Cowboy stared at the targets for a long moment, measuring the distance and then faced her, never even glancing back at the bottles. He paused to kiss the barrel of his trusty Colt, then shot each bottle, causing them to explode.
    Her eyes rounded as she stared at the shattered glass and then back at him.
     “How the hell did you do that?!” she asked, open-mouthed.
    He savored the awe in her voice. “I did some trick shootin’ in my rodeo days,” he explained and then he lowered his voice. “You can trust me, Daisy. I would never let anything happen to you.” He meant every word.
    She narrowed her eyes, pissed as all get out. “You’re a damn good gunman and I’m used to letting other people watch my back. I did it all the time in the military. But let’s get something straight, I take care of myself—always have, always will. I don’t need someone to watch over me.”
    He had a feeling pain lurked beneath all her bluster, a deep pain, which never quite healed. “Whether you need it or not, I’m going to