Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“I’m not sure I can walk,” Charley told the magnificent male who had taken charge of her and spiraled her into the stars during the moonlight hours. His chuckle was husky with a hint of masculine pride. She hugged herself to him as they lingered in his bed. “I’m serious, Sully.”
“Want me to get you some ibuprofen?” Sully’s arm was around her as she lay with her head on his shoulder after they’d made love again that morning.
“Maybe.” She giggled playfully. “No.”
“Stay in bed and sleep. Pretend you’re on an extended vacation,” he suggested and stretched.
We don’t have any horseback riding or skeet shooting scheduled at the ranch today, so it will be quiet.
Randy will have fed the horses by now, and Roy will have opened the store.
I’m going to check on Rain and head to the gun club for a while.
But I’ll come back and take you to lunch. Sound good?”
That sounded way too good to pass up. “Then may I drive your Jeep to my cabin and take a closer look at it?”
“Yes, you can follow me in the Jeep, and I can show you the gun club on the way.”
“Great.” Charley lifted her head, and with a kiss to his cheek, she rolled out of his embrace and onto her stomach. “Maybe I’ll be able to walk by then.”
Sully sat up and gave her naked fanny a pat before getting out of bed. “There’s a spot of your blood on my sheet, city slicker.”
“I told you I was a virgin, country boy. Now go.”
He chuckled. “See you sooner than later.”
Charley heard him walk across the room and turn on the shower.
Sully’s bed was cozy, warm, and safe. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, a couple of hours had passed.
She rolled to her side and her first thought was that she was already missing Sully.
How could that be? She’d just met him. Whatever the case, it was true.
She missed him. She liked him. She’d made love to him.
Three times! What would it be like if she stayed here in the country close to him as he’d mentioned?
She had that cabin. She smiled and got out of bed.
She’d showered, dressed in a red sweater and blue jeans, and was in the kitchen with a cup of coffee by the time he returned from his stables and gun club.
Black hair, green eyes, a stubble of black beard, and a cocky grin filled her senses, making her weak at the knees.
Masculinity and muscles were wrapped up in a black suede jacket, snug blue jeans, and black cowboy boots.
She pictured grabbing this irresistible man and taking him back to bed.
“The sheets have been washed and are in the dryer,” she said as casually as possible. Taking off his jacket, he wore a white button-down shirt with a logo for his gun club over his heart. With the shirt, he wore his black cowboy hat. With a smile, she added, “Hi.”
“Hi,” he said with a grin, strode straight to her and wrapped his arms around her. “I see you were able to walk to the kitchen.”
“Barely.” She giggled and blushed. “I’ll remake your bed when the sheets are dry.”
“I’ll help.” His mouth came down on hers, and she stood on tiptoes as she kissed him. When he leaned back, he asked, “How about a tour of my gun club before we have lunch at Coopers’ Lodge?”
“Sounds wonderful. It will be my first visit to a gun club. I can’t wait to see it.”
“Good. I like a girl with an open mind.” Letting go of her, Sully sauntered across the kitchen and picked up a set of keys from a small wicker basket on the counter. “Keys to the Jeep,” he said and dropped them into her hand. “Yours as long as you like.”
“Thank you, Sully.” Charley gave him a hug. Then she fixed him a cup of coffee, and coming to stand beside him, she asked about Rain.
“She’s good. Randy thinks so too,” Sully replied, taking a seat on a barstool at the counter. He tugged Charley between his knees and kissed her. “I missed you.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and admitted, “I missed you too.”
“Good.” He grinned as she slid onto a barstool next to him.
They drank their coffee, and as they talked, he told her there was a nip in the October air.
So, when they’d finished their coffee, she donned a red leather jacket over her sweater.
Placing their coffee cups in the sink, she followed the handsome man out of his house to the garage.
With his own key to the Jeep, Sully unlocked the driver’s door, and opened it for her.
She climbed into the Jeep, moved the seat forward, and adjusted the mirror.
“I’m all set,” she said.
“Follow me.”
Sully shut her door and got into his truck.
Like his truck, the Jeep was a late model, automatic, and easy to drive.
Charley eagerly followed him away from the house and onto the highway.
A few miles down the road, Sully made a right turn and a sign reading Ranchers Gun Club and Shooting Range came into view.
A bit farther was the gun club building and the outdoor shooting range beyond it.
Charley knew from their Harley ride that this was all on Sully’s land.
He pulled into one of thirty parking spaces, and she stopped the Jeep beside him.
Hopping out of the Jeep as Sully walked to her, they entered his gun club.
It was a large, open area with several big windows and a two-story ceiling.
“How nice,” Charley said. “It’s welcoming.”
“Upstairs,” he nodded at the staircase straight ahead, “we present classes on gun safety, and we can sign off on concealed weapon training. My dad donates his one day a week here to teach a class or two. Over to the right is the soundproof indoor shooting range.” He indicated a heavy, closed door.
“Beyond the outdoor range, we also have skeet shooting.”
“Hey, boss man,” a man said in greeting to Sully as soon as they walked closer to several glass counters displaying a large variety of weapons to be sold.
“Roy Custis, this is Charley Cooper,” Sully said in introduction. “She’s a cousin to Chase, Chloe, and Cash Cooper.”
“Nice to meet you, Roy.”
“Same here, Charley. All the Coopers are members here, and so are Derek and Chloe Brevard,” Roy said politely and then looked back at Sully. “Some guy was just in here wanting to know where the owner was.”
“Who was it?”
“He didn’t give his name. He was medium-height and stocky.”
“What did he want?”
“He wanted to know if the gun he showed me was known for not always shooting. I said yes, and then he asked if I’d take his gun in on a trade.”
“Vaughn,” Sully said with a glance at Charley.
“Sounds like it,” she said, resenting Rod Vaughn more than ever. Intruding into her work world was bad enough. Intruding into Sully’s was unforgivable as far as she was concerned. “I’m so sorry he’s making such a pest of himself.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Sully replied. “What did you tell him about a trade, Roy?”
“Hell no,” Roy said with a shake of his head and then corrected himself. “Well, just no.”
“That’s exactly what I would have said.”
“When I also told him we only do trades with club members, he got an instant bad attitude,” Roy told them. “He said as a gun shop, we should take his gun in on trade no matter what. I told him to take it back to the place he bought it and ask them to trade or for a refund.”
“Good answer. What did he say?” Sully asked.
“Nothing I could understand,” Roy replied with a shrug. “Then he grabbed up his gun and cussed me all the way out of the shop.”
“Sounds like the run-ins Charley and I have had with him,” Sully said.
“His name is Rod Vaughn,” Charley added. “Rude is always Rod’s go-to behavior when he doesn’t get his way. Again, I’m sorry he’s causing trouble.”
“I handled it,” Roy assured them. “I just wanted you to know, Sully.”
“Thanks,” Sully said. “Don’t do any business with him if he comes back when I’m not here. In case he asks, tell him we aren’t accepting new club members right now. Tell him there’s a hold on sales and send him to Whispering Pines or one of the other gun clubs in the Springs.”
“Will do.”
“Come on, Charley, I’ll show you where we practice shooting,” Sully said.
Walking behind the counter, Sully grabbed two sets of ear protection.
He led the way to the heavy door, but before opening it, they put on their ear protection.
Inside the shooting gallery, she noted that she could hear voices but not the shooting.
Charley saw ten glass-sided booths. Sully waved to a couple of customers and chose a booth nearest the door.
At the far end of their booth was a target of a man shaped like a burglar, or a bad guy of some sort, on the run.
“Can you hit the bull’s eye? Whatever that might be on such a target?” Charley asked.
“Where would you like the bullet to hit him?”
“I don’t know.” Charley looked away from Sully and studied the target. Turning back to him, she asked, “The chest or the head?”
“Yeah.” Sully pulled his gun out of his holster, aimed, and fired four times in quick succession. He punched a button in the booth and, hooked to an overhead chain, the target flew toward them.
“Wow!” Charley stepped forward and stared, astonished. The bad guy’s heart, both eyes, and the middle of his forehead had bullet holes smack-dab in the middle of them. “Remind me never to make you mad.”
“My dad first brought me here on my sixteenth birthday. He had just been elected sheriff of El Paso County for the first time. At that point I had been shooting a shotgun and a revolver for about four years on our ranch. But since the owner was my mother’s brother, and with my dad signing a waiver and a consent form, my uncle let me start shooting here. ”
“So, you’ve been practicing for half your life.”
“Yes. I told my dad after we left that first day that I was going to buy this place when I grew up. As it turned out, when my uncle died, he had left it to me.” Sully sent the target sliding backward on the overhead chain.
“This is a Ruger Redhawk .44 Magnum,” he said in regard to his gun.
“There are two bullets left. Give it a try.” When Charley nodded, he said, “This is how you hold it.” He demonstrated using both hands to hold it while keeping the index finger along the barrel and off the trigger.
“Okay, I can do that,” Charley said. The second Sully gave her the gun, her hand dropped about four inches. “Wow! It’s heavy.”
“Yes.” He gave her instructions on how to stand, then moved behind her. “Aim for the middle of the target, put your finger on the trigger, and squeeze.”
Charley did so, squeezed hard, and nothing happened.
Not to be defeated, she squeezed harder.
BOOM! The powerful gun sent her stumbling backward, straight into a wall of muscle.
Sully caught her, kept her upright, and steadied her.
He helped her regain the proper stance and indicated she should shoot a second time.
“I don’t want to use up your last bullet,” she said over her shoulder.
“I might know where I can get some more ammunition.”
Charley repositioned her grip on the gun, like he’d taught her, and aimed dead center. She squeezed the trigger, and when it boomed the second time, she took only a single step back. She placed the gun on a small shelf, and Sully brought the target forward. There were no new holes in the paper.
She teased, “I must have shot the target through the holes you made.”
“Yeah, let’s go with that.” Sully chuckled and winked.
He was so good-looking, so strong, and so masculine that Charley felt the familiar swooning sensation.
Then he said, “You weren’t afraid to give it a try and that’s what matters.
We’ll practice and use a smaller, more manageable gun next time. For now, let’s head to the Lodge.”
“Yes, let’s. I’ve worked up an appetite,” Charley said.
“I worked one up last night and this morning,” Sully replied.
Her cheeks heated as he gave her a cocky grin.
When they were back out in the main part of the store, they removed their ear protection.
He grabbed her hand, and they walked across the room.
Letting go of her, he went behind a glass case and set their ear protection on a counter where he said it would be disinfected for the next user.
Then he unlocked one of the gun cases and removed a pistol.
Turning to Roy, who was waiting on two cowboys, Sully said, “Roy, I’m taking this new SIG Sauer P365 9mm. ”
“Okay, boss,” Roy said as Sully locked the case.
Sully also gathered up a couple of boxes of ammunition and loaded the new gun as well as his revolver. He demonstrated for Charley how to put the safety on and take it off before they returned outside to his truck and Jeep.
“I don’t want you to be without a gun, with a serial killer on the loose,” Sully said as they paused beside the Jeep door. “This SIG Sauer is an excellent concealed weapon for a woman because it can kill as easily as it will fit in your purse.”
“How much does it cost?” Charley said as he handed the gun to her. “I’ll pay you for it.”
“I don’t think so,” he replied with a shake of his head.
“I put my 20-gauge Remington youth model shotgun, which I used as a kid when I was about your height and weight, in the back seat of the truck. I’m going to hide it for you at your cabin.
All you have to do with a shotgun is aim it in the general direction of the target and at least some of the shot will hit them. ”
Charley tucked her fingers over his belt buckle and pulled herself closer to him. “Maybe you could just stay with me in my cabin until the killer is caught.”
“Maybe.” Sully cocked a brow. “You learn to shoot, and I’ll buy some plants from your shop for my gun club.”
“I was thinking your gun club could use a plant or two,” Charley said as a plan formed in her mind. “What kind of plants would you like?”
Before he could answer, the horn of a truck, similar to Sully’s, honked. Since they were headed to lunch, for now Charley placed her gun inside the console.
“There’s my dad,” Sully said with a smile. “You can meet him.”