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Luke couldn’t decide if the lull was due to the harasser deciding Jane was too difficult a target now or because that’s what he wanted them to believe—probably the latter, which was why he insisted on the self-defense lessons.
“Tell me what you do if your attacker has a gun.”
“I duck behind the nearest armored vehicle?”
“You run! So long as he doesn’t have you under his control, you run, because the chances are slim that he can hit a running target. Even if he does hit you, it probably won’t be in a vital spot.”
“Probably?”
“If you get to choose between being raped and murdered and being shot in the shoulder, I’m betting you’ll take the shoulder wound.”
Jane paled noticeably. “If those are my only two choices…”
Luke continued to quiz her on lessons they’d gone over during their first session. “Where are the most vulnerable spots on your attacker?”
“His groin, of course.”
“And?”
She shrugged, clearly still not into the lesson. “His stock portfolio?”
“His eyes and throat. You go for them with whatever you have available—fingers, keys, a pen, a stick from the ground, whatever.”
“Okay, I remember all this from the first lesson. Are you happy?”
“Why are you acting like you’d rather have teeth removed than review this stuff with me?”
But he knew the answer as soon as he posed the question. She was afraid of getting physically close to him, afraid of the inevitable sparks. He resisted a smile. This, he knew, meant his strategy had been successful. She might have thought giving him that crock of a line about their needing to focus on her safety without being distracted by their sexual attraction had worked on him, but he’d seen right through it.
He’d simply had a strategy of his own to counter with. He figured, what would it hurt to let her believe he wasn’t going to try seducing her anymore? It would only give him more time to make her see that what they had was different, that it was far deeper than just sexual.
Jane was afraid of something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Something about having him in her house, sharing her closet, brushing his teeth in her guest bathroom—he knew it scared her. If he had to guess, he’d say she was afraid of the intimacy those issues symbolized. And he was determined to break down that wall. A little self-defense training could get things rolling, and it was something she desperately needed anyway.
“Okay, I’ll try to be an eager student, I promise.”
Luke had hauled a large blue vinyl-coated training mat out of the back of his SUV, and it was spread on the floor beneath them, with the coffee table pushed out of the way to make room for it.
“Let’s get started with a few standard self-defense moves. I want you to pretend you’re an attacker coming at me.”
She balked. “Me? Attack you? I’m all out of breath-freshener spray.”
He shot her a look. “Just lunge at me. Go for a vulnerable spot.”
She stood there, motionless.
Okay, so he needed to provide her with a little motivation for attacking him. “I should have known you wouldn’t have the spine to take this seriously.”
Anger flashed in her eyes, and she made a lunge for him, her knee coming up to make contact with his groin. He grabbed her leg and flipped her onto her back, and a second later he was on top of her.
“Now, care to take this a little more seriously?”
“Yeah, but could we just get to the point here?”
He peeled himself off of her, careful to keep his mind focused on the task at hand and not on how badly he wanted her body pressed against his. There would be time for that soon enough. He helped Jane to her feet, and she eyed him warily.
“Don’t worry. I won’t topple you again—at least not for a few more minutes. Right now I want to go over two self-defense moves you can do without being armed. I’m going to pretend to attack you from behind, and then I’ll talk you through the moves.”
Jane nodded, and Luke approached her quickly and locked one arm around her neck while securing her arms against her body with his other arm.
“Now, what’s your first instinct?” he asked.
“Scream for help?”
“Good idea, but I can easily cut off your air supply. Then what?”
“I elbow you in the ribs, kick you, stomp your toes?”
“Yes, try all of those things. First though, if an attacker grabs you like this, try to stay calm. If you can, move your head so that your chin is pointing toward the crook of his arm. That will give you a little more air supply.”
Jane did as he’d instructed. “Okay.”
