BXBX NOVEL Chapter 290 - Private Island (3)
JoAnna realized that Jeff is in distress and hugged him tightly. "Bad dream?" She asked.
"Something like that." He admitted.
JoAnna snuggled next to him and thought how to cheer him up. It was just a dream. "Maybe we should eat. You will be less anxious with a full stomach." She grinned at him thinking how he said the same thing to her last night.
Jeff saw her being playful and smiled. "Yes. Let\'s eat."
JoAnna\'s bright, playful expression improved his mood. Her optimism was contagious, and he was happy that her dazzling smile is directed at him.
After breakfast they went to the rooftop lounge area, and JoAnna looked around. The villa was right on the white sand beach which extended left and right along the shore. JoAnna turned and saw that island is quite large, and in the back, she could see only land, and no water. "How big is this island?"
Jeff thought for a moment while laying down on a chaise. "About a thousand acres."
"Oh..." JoAnna thought how that is quite large, and tried to imagine the size, but she was unsuccessful. "Is anyone living here?"
"No."
JoAnna realized that this small question-answer session will take a while. She sat next to Jeff. "I\'m trying to figure out where we are... are you going to tell me, or make me pull the answers out of you one word at a time?"
"We are off the West coast of Mexico. It takes about two hours boat drive to reach mainland." Jeff played with a strand of her hair that was on her shoulder.
"When you said that it\'s just us..."
Jeff tried to guess what she wants to know. "This is the only building here. No one lives on the island. Maintenance comes when needed. They prepared everything for us, and on Monday they will come to clean up."
JoAnna was processing all this information. He sounded so confident, like he owns the place... \'Wait a minute. Does he own this place?\' JoAnna decided not to ask. It would be too much, she decided to believe that he rented the place, or maybe he knows the owner... but how would that explain the clothes? JoAnna didn\'t want to ask too much... thinking about the lunch she ruined when he booked the whole restaurant, she didn\'t want to ruin this.
"Impressive." That was the only comment she could think of that was appropriate.
Jeff smiled. "I\'m glad you approve... Whenever you wish, we can go swimming. The ocean is calm, because island is in the lagoon. We can also check out the coral reefs."
JoAnna\'s eyes lit up. "Snorkeling?"
"If you wish." He said dotingly.
JoAnna felt overwhelmed by everything that is happening. "You are spoiling me."
"I hope so."
She was surprised with his response.
Jeff looked JoAnna into her blue eyes. "I want to spoil you so much, so that you only think about me, and never think of any other man."
"Well, you are on the right track." JoAnna smiled. Inside her mind, she was suppressing to say at loud, \'What right track? I already can\'t imagine myself next to anyone other than you!\'
Jeff was pleased to hear that she approves of his arrangement so far. He was concerned that she will say it\'s too much, how she said during that lunch in Malibu. But JoAnna gave him a much better reaction than he anticipated. "There is one more thing I prepared, and I hope you will like it."
"What?" She asked apprehensively. JoAnna was afraid that if there is any more romancing, she will melt away into nothing.
He pointed at the corner of the lounge area. There was something covered with a large brown cloth.
JoAnna stood up and hesitated for few seconds before pulling the cloth away. She held her breath when she saw number of rifles arranged. "Are we going to war?"
He laughed and shook his head. "I remember when we went to the shooting range, you said that sniper rifles are your forte... but there was no chance for you to fire any." He stood up and handed her binoculars while pointing away. "Look at the gap between sixth and seventh tree from the left."
She used the binoculars to look and saw targets in the distance. "That is more than a mile away..."
"One and a half mile away. Sarah told me that is your favorite distance."
"Sarah again? She didn\'t tell me anything." Sarah told him about the clothes size and shooting preferences. \'She knew about this weekend, didn\'t she?\'
"If she told you, it would not be a surprise... You can shoot from the roof." He pointed at the roof on top of the wet bar.
"Now?"
"Anytime you want... until tomorrow evening, when we need to leave." Jeff was happy to see that she is excited about this as well. \'So far, I\'m scoring great points!\', he praised himself internally.
"Maybe..." JoAnna wanted to say, \'maybe later\', but then her sight fell on the rifles. "TAK-50?" Her eyes widened. "They are not allowed in California."
"We are not in California."
"Oh, right... To be honest, I thought of leaving this for later... but now I really want to try this baby out." JoAnna didn\'t remove her eyes from the rifle as her hand reached for the ammunition.
Seeing how hungrily she is looking at the rifle, Jeff suddenly regretted his decision to let her shoot. He was jealous of a firearm! But there was nothing he could do now... except... to secretly keep away other ammunition. When she runs out of bullets, the rifle will be useless, and her attention will be back on him!
As JoAnna climbed the roof using the stairs on the side, Jeff grabbed leftover ammunition of the same type she took and shoved it into a small storage under the wet bar. He placed spare towels on top of it, so that it\'s not visible and tucked them in. Then he headed to the roof after her with two pairs of earmuffs, seeing that she only got the rifle and a handful of ammunition.
She got few shots in, hitting the targets. Jeff watched through binoculars, counting the bullets she has left.
"Do you want to try?" JoAnna asked him.
He nodded thinking that he will just shoot randomly, and they can go back to cuddles.
JoAnna took her time and seriously explained. "You need to get into a stable position... Look at the alignment... use scope, black circle on the edge will help you with your aim..." He was on the ground, holding a rifle, and JoAnna was leaning on to him, peering through the scope, checking his aim. "And lastly, trigger control. Don\'t stop as soon as it goes off... you risk moving the rifle before bullet leaves it, which will make it go off the target..."
He pulled the trigger and it went off the mark.
JoAnna shook her head. "Trigger control. You moved the rifle as soon as it went off. Keep it steady."
"What control when you are lying on top of me?" Jeff complained.
"Oh... " JoAnna moved away. "Try again."
A bit later, JoAnna cheered. "You are getting closer... at this rate, few more and you will hit the target." She encouraged him and looked around. "Oh, no more bullets."
"Too bad... next time." Jeff smiled.
"There are more downstairs, let me get them." JoAnna rushed downstairs.
"Sure, go ahead." He rolled on his back, placed his hands behind his head and listened carefully.
After a minute, she returned. "Funny, I could swear that there were more .50 caliber rounds..."
Seeing her confused expression, he struggled not to laugh. "Must be the sun... let\'s go in and get a cold drink."
She looked at him suspiciously. "You are hiding something... what\'s with that smirk?"
He shrugged. "I\'m just in a good mood... come on. Let\'s get these down.." They picked up things they got on the roof and headed down.