Thank you so much for your patience between updates! I hope this one will make up for it!

PS—Listen to the song "Life is Beautiful" by Vega 4 when you read this (youtube!). It fits Emma and Steve quite perfectly I think!

Be ready in 20 min. Going to the range.

Emma stared at the text on her phone in confusion. Steve had spent the past four days completely avoiding her after their almost kiss. He was gone before she woke each morning and returned home after she had gone to bed.

"This is getting ridiculous," Emma said aloud to the empty kitchen before letting out a loud groan. She spent the next ten minutes putting on her shoes, brushing her hair, and gathering her purse and cell phone.

Just as she was coming down the stairs, the sound of a car horn reached her ears. Looking outside, she saw the silver Camaro Steve had been driving. Emma gritted her teeth as she set the alarm, locked the door, and walked to the car.

About fifteen minutes later, Emma followed Steve in the gun range. He still had not spoken a word to her. She was minutes away from exploding with frustration.

"Hi, sir. Just two?" the clerk behind the counter asked.

"Yes," Steve replied before handing him a card. Within a minute, they were being escorted into a room with several booths. Steve led Emma to one in the middle before pulling his weapon out of its holster.

"Have you ever shot one of these before?" Steve asked while they both put on ear muffs.

"Oh, learned how to speak, did you?" Emma quipped before taking the gun out of his hands. She checked the magazine, disengaged the safety, and took aim at the target.

"Em—" Steve began but was cut off as she quite expertly emptied the clip into the target. He stood there in amazement staring at this spitfire that set his blood on fire each day. She never ceased to amaze him.

"Yeah, I've shot a gun before, Commander. I was raised in the Navy, remember?" Emma spat at him before handing the gun back and throwing the ear muffs to the table. She turned on her heel and stalked from the room towards the entrance. It took Steve a minute to catch up with her and by the time he did, she was almost to the car. He grabbed hold of her arm and spun her around to face him.

"What is your problem?" he asked her roughly.

"You know damn well what my problem is, McGarrett," she replied angrily.

"Look, Emma, the other night was a mistake. I never should have done that," Steve said.

"You didn't do anything!" Emma shouted at him before attempting to pull away from his grasp. This caused him to tighten his hold and pull her closer to him.

"I put you in a situation that has now caused strain between us and I should not have done that," Steve said with his riveted to hers.

"It's a little late for apologies," Emma said as she struggled to pull away from him.

"Stop that!" Steve demanded before he pushed her up against the side of the Camaro. He pinned her small body with his larger one and clasped his hands around her wrists.

"Let me go," Emma whispered as she panted out breaths that were very unsteady. Every puff of breath hit Steve squarely on the neck and caused his skin to erupt in goosebumps.

"Emma, please listen to me," Steve pleaded as he locked gazes with her. "I never should have been that close to you, but so help me God it's all I can do to keep my distance. Do you honestly not see what you've done to me?"

All of the fight left Emma with his whispered confession. She took stock of his eyes and saw the raw, unadulterated passion lurking there. Deciding to finally put both of them out of their misery, she closed the short distance between their lips.

Steve stood utterly still as Emma's heavenly lips met his. For a second he let them rest there just content to her lips in contact with his. But after that second, Steve's libido took over and he slanted his mouth across hers.

Emma sucked in a breath as Steve took her simple kiss to the next level. He nibbled at her lips before sweeping his tongue across the seam. Emma eagerly opened for him and met his tongue with her own.

Steve thought he was going to literally explode when Emma's tongue caressed his own. He brought his hands up to cradle her face while Emma's much smaller hands clutched the t-shirt that rested against the broad expanse of his chest.

Minutes passed before the sound of Steve's phone interrupted them. They continued to kiss for another minute before the phone silenced and then started ringing again. Steve reluctantly pulled back from Emma before dropping his forehead to rest against hers.

"Is that Danny?" Emma asked quietly. Steve nodded his head against hers. "You'd better get that."

Steve groaned before placing one last kiss to her bruised lips. He grabbed the offensive device attached to his hip and answered it as it began to ring again.

"What?" he barked. He was silent for several moments. "Shit, I'll be there in about fifteen minutes."

"Everything okay?" Emma asked.

"No," Steve said before opening her door. After she got in, he ran around to the driver's side and quickly steered them towards home. It was funny to him that he now thought of his house as Emma's as well. "We had another body turn up on the beach about 30 minutes ago. I've got to go back to work."

"Oh no," Emma muttered. "Be careful."

"Always," Steve replied as he pulled into the driveway and pulled up near the front door. "I'll let you know if I'm going to be late."

"Okay," Emma whispered before opening the door and getting out.

"Hey, Emma," Steve called before she closed the door. Emma stuck her head back into the opening. "I'm not sorry for kissing you."

Emma smiled at him in reply before closing the door and watching him drive away. She felt like she floated towards the house. A huge grin was etched on her face as she unlocked the door and went to turn off the security alarm. As her finger hit the first key an odd thought struck Emma. Normally the alarm beeped continuously until the code was keyed in on the pad. But now, the alarm was making no noise. Emma frowned as she looked at the display panel.

Alarm disengaged.

Warning bells went off in her brain as she turned to survey the house. The sight that met her had her blood running cold.