A few minutes later, Angela knew she was done, and stilled, closing her eyes so he wouldn't see how afraid she was that he wouldn't stop.
"Done now… Let... me up." To her great relief, his weight was gone an instant later.
There was no way she could have stopped him, and she knew he felt her shaking when she allowed him to pull her to her feet. She let go quickly and put some distance between them, stomach muscles now aching, pinching.
"You okay?"
Her words were breathy. "Good... exercise even... if I don't... learn anything."
"You will."
Their eyes met, sparked, and hers darted away, making him frown. He had provoked real fear in order to teach, but it had taken so little!
"I'll work on it, Brady. Again...tomorrow?"
He grinned at her, surprised she wanted to. "Absolutely. You did great. Next time, I'll teach you ways to keep anyone from getting close enough to grab you."
She nodded, sweating despite the chill in the lightly gusting wind. She didn't notice the wolf curling up on the porch, but Marc did, and was glad. He was never completely sure the animal would return.
"Cool... guns now?"
His eyes were unreadable as he considered. He had shown her proper cleaning and hand positions, and they'd done some dry fire exercises, but she needed to practice, and that made a lot of noise, would draw attention they weren't ready to handle. "Not until we leave here. For today, we'll use something quieter."
Pulse and respiration racing, she only nodded again as they headed in, unwilling to ask him for more. She needed to get used to caring for herself. Wasn't that why she'd called him, to teach her? "You mean that?"
Angela was surprised he was picking things up from her, the look on his face said he hadn't been expecting it either, and the moment hung between them like a flame in the darkness. Back in the old days, they had been open to each other in every way.
"Yes. Will you?"
He looked away from her, thinking her eyes were still the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Pretty cars and expensive jewels had nothing on Angie's baby-blues.
"Absolutely. In fact..." He dug in his kit. "I found this back in Mattoon." He handed her a small, purple gift bag from his pack. It held an orange dart gun with half a dozen darts and a paper target. She saw the benefits even as she laughed at the toy.