“I don’t want to do any of it if you’re just going to kick my ass.”
She poked her bottom lip out, mocking him. “Sad that you don’t get a choice.”
His eyes narrowed. “This side of you is strangely enticing. All the leather. The domination.”
Her brain turned utterly stupid. “What—why—what?—”
David held out a staying hand. “No, no. Go back to the sass. I was into that. Tell me all about what you’ll do to me.” His crooked smile connected directly to her heartbeat, whizzing it along at hummingbird speeds.
This really was his new armor, wasn’t it? Flirtation. This was David Berkeley torturing her for running rampant with his secrets. He really didn’t like to lose the upper hand, did he?
With a sinking feeling in her gut, she braced herself. “Just shut up and fight me.”
“As you say.”
He fought as he usually did—without effort. He had a foot of height and at least seventy pounds on her, yet he let her lay him out like he’d never brawled in his life, even after weeks of training with a Blademaster. Following several bouts of him disadvantaged beneath her, Anna growled and kicked him in the stomach, putting more heat behind it than needed. She reveled in the vindication as he coughed and doubled over.
“Homicidal again, huh?” he asked after he recovered. “What’d I do to piss you off this time? It was just a kiss.”
Flames engulfed her face, and her gaze shot to Sean and Cathaire, thankfully too far to hear his words.
David followed her gaze, glee lighting his ice. “Oh, is someoneembarrassed?”
She hurled herself toward him once more. He feinted to the left, but she managed to trip his ankle and bring him to the ground. On top of him, she grabbed his hands, pulled him up, locked her ankles around his neck, and froze him into a triangle hold. She sighed as she released him. “I know you’re not this bad.”
He shot her that forsaken smile. “Maybe I just like your legs wrapped around my head.”
Another flare of bewildering heat burst through herveins, but she rolled her eyes and jumped to her feet, holding out a hand to help him up. “Stop flirting and be serious.”
“If you think I’m not serious about that, then I’m doing something very wrong.”
“David,” she hissed, trying to be stern. “You have to learn this.”
His head tilted. “I’ve told you before. I don’t.”
“Yes—”
“First of all,” he interrupted, “if I even look like I’m about to hurt someone, every one of them”—he nodded toward the spectating crowd—“will pounce on me. Second, just the thought of trying to hurtyouspecifically feels like ground glass in my eyes. Third, we both know I don’t need to fight.”
She ignored the first, set aside the second to think about later, and addressed the third: “Yes, you do. I can take you down in seconds.”
He considered her a moment and cracked his neck. “Alright. I’ll try harder. Let’s go again.”
Anna narrowed her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” He stretched his arms to either side. “Let’s go.”
With a slight hesitation, Anna attacked. She made it to striking distance before his magical voice whispered through her consciousness.
“Stop.”
Her feet ceased at once, falling totally under his control.
“Turn around.”
Anna obeyed, facing the edge of the training grounds where the forest spread out, untouched and empty of onlookers. She sensed David’s slow approach behind her. He stopped so close that the heat of his body penetrated the light cotton of her training tunic, sinking straight into her skin.
His hand slid over her shoulder, across her clavicle, and rested like Luster around her vulnerable throat. “Still think you can take me down?” he murmured against her ear.
