“Somehow, I doubt that,” he says, breathless as he hovers over me.
I plant my feet on the ground and thrust my hips up, sending his torso over my head. He lets go of my wrists to catch himself from falling forward, and I lock my arms around his back. When I’ve got him held tight, I shimmy up his chest, cross my arm over to grip behind his tricep, and thrust my hips again, rolling him over until he’s on his back.
“Still have to commend your efforts in courting me.” I pant as I lean over his chest.
His eyes dart over my face, and his lips hook up on one side. My mind goes back to that kiss from last week. We haven’t said anything about it. We agreed that kisses would be okay if the situation called for it, but I was in no way prepared. I’m pretty sure every night since, it’s been the last thing on my mind, and I can’t figure out if it’s because I’m wondering if he’s thinking about it, or if I’m counting down to a moment where I might get a repeat.
“I’m just practising being the best boyfriend I can be. Apparently, I need to look like a guy who worships you at your feet. That’s what you told my ex.”
“Then maybe you should get back on your knees.”
“Anytime.”
A voice clears from beside us. Looking up, Phil stands with his big arms crossed over his chest, both eyebrows in his nonexistent hairline.
“Since you two play so well together, why don’t you demonstrate the next move for the class?”
I push back onto my heels, letting Westley shuffle out from under me.
“You got it.” Westley jumps to his feet, holding out a hand to help me up, and slaps Phil on the shoulder as we make our way to the front of the room. I check on Aurora as I pass. She’s working on the mat beside ours with a girl a few years older than her.
“Okay, everyone, we’re moving on to our next technique. At the start, we showed you how to handle an attacker coming upfrom behind and locking you in around your arms. Now, Maevyn and I are going to demonstrate what to do if you’re locked only around the waist.”
Aurora throws me a thumbs-up as I shift in front of Westley and wait for him to start.
He rushes against me, solid chest against my back and his strong arms holding me tight around my middle.
“As you can see, Maevyn’s arms are still loose. You might be tempted to throw your arms back, fight against your attacker, but the main purpose of self-defence is to protect and escape, not fight.” Westley speaks to the whole class, but his voice feels as though it’s wrapping around me. Along with the heat of his body and the comforting scent of his cologne. I’m lying to myself when I think the deep breath I take is to maintain my calm to perform the move, when really, I’m only trying to inhale his scent deeper.
“What Maevyn’s going to do is place her hands over my wrists as she widens her stance, preferably to the outside of where my feet are, and drops all her weight into it,” he says, prompting me to do just that. “Then she’s going to reach down, through her legs, and grip one of my ankles, whichever is going to give her the strongest hold.”
I bend forward, reaching for Wesley’s ankle, and holy shit, my arse is rubbing against the man’s crotch. What do I do now? Oh my god, my mind is in a dark, filthy, delicious place right now. It’s been a long time since a man’s taken me from behind, and this is not the time or place for imagining such things.
“Now.” West’s voice cracks. “Ahem, now, Maevyn’s going to pull my ankle towards her chest with as much force as she can.”
I pull, not expecting him to give in quite so easily. With his arms still locked around my waist, we both go flying to the ground, but he doesn’t let go.
“If your attacker loses grip from the surprise, you roll away and run, making sure you’re out of reach of them grabbing you again. If they’ve still got a hold of you, bring their ankle up to yourhead, thread your bottom arm up through the middle to grip your opposite shoulder, shift your top hand over their foot, and thrust your head against the figure eight wrist lock you’ve created. This will cause damage to their knee, and hopefully mean they’re more focused on their pain, especially if they weren’t expecting you to be prepared to defend. Maevyn, why don’t you demonstrate the wrist lock?”
“You sure do like saying my name,” I mutter so only he can hear, then adjust my grip the way he described.
“Bet you love hearing it.” He releases his hold around me, demonstrating how the scenario might finish, and I roll away, flipping to my hands and knees until my head is above his, inches from his face and staring deep into his eyes.
“Good girl, Maevyn.”
“Thank you very much to my assistant and his girlfriend.” Phil snorts that last part as I rise from the floor, straightening my tank top as if that’s the only thing that’s been ruffled. “Practise in your pairs. I’ll come around to assess.”
Westley gets to his feet and starts to circle me. “Have you got plans this weekend?”
“Why, you want to shoot your shot already and ask me out?” My feet cross, stepping one in front of the other as I wait for him to strike.
“I’m not that confident,” he says. “Yet.”
I smile as we continue to circle each other. “Yeah, I’m working.”
Westley lunges forward, gripping my waist and spinning around my back.
I gasp as my hands lock around his wrists. “Told you, I dance on weekends. I’ve got a whole lot of men waiting to see me shake my arse on a pole.”
