by Marie Harte
She scowled. “You know, if you’re too busy pumping up in here—all alone, watching yourself in the mirror—I can always find someone else to show me the ropes. When will Landon be in?”
“Now, now, Yoga Pants. Don’t get in a snit. Let Professor Gavin show you how it’s done.”
She rolled her eyes, biting back a smile. Man, she’d missed his sense of humor. There was something really wrong with her. “I am more than my yoga pants, Professor.”
He sighed. “So much more.”
Not wanting to ask what that meant, she said nothing and simply followed his instructions.
They tugged each other back and forth, gripping shoulders, and Gavin showed her how to break free from his grasp. Their proximity caused the butterflies in her belly to spasm and dance, no matter how hard she tried to see him objectively. A self-defense instructor. Just her teacher. Her hot, sexy, totally built teacher.
They seemed to be touching a lot more than they normally did in class, but since he’d done nothing inappropriate and had agreed to help her, who was she to judge?
He said something else, but she couldn’t think beyond the feel of all that muscle under the thin T-shirt beneath her hands. He was so hot…literally. Like a furnace as he moved, all that power bunching under supple flesh. God, he even smelled good. Not funky, but clean. A healthy sweat that did nothing but rev her engines.
I have got to stop touching him. He’s frying my circuits.
“You got it?” he asked.
She nodded. Sure, sure. Maybe Piper had been right about her fixation—
He yanked her off her feet and flipped her onto her back, flat on the mat, though he’d moved with her, easing her landing.
Leaning over her while she sucked in a breath, wheezing, he stared down in concern. “Zoe? You okay?”
She glared between pants, trying to catch her breath, and rasped, “You…threw me…to the…ground.”
“You said you were ready.”
It took her a moment to realize that had been the meaning behind You got it?—which she totally had not. Served her right for ogling the man.
When she was finally able to stop gasping for air, she took hold of her embarrassment and let him help her to her feet. “Show me that again, but slower.”
Gavin nodded, unsuccessfully biting back a smirk, and took her through the steps of using his counterweight and her own body mechanics to basically trip her opponent over her, adding her opponent’s momentum to increase the pressure of his fall.
After a few dry runs, she motioned for him to grab her again. “For real this time.”
“Okay.”
“And don’t take it easy on me.”
He scoffed. “Sure. I’ll punch you in the face a few times and slug you in the belly, bend you into a pretzel, maybe pull your hair too. Then I’ll see if you can flip me over. You sure you’re ready for this, lightweight?”
“Smart-ass.” Though if he really wanted to, he could crush her. He clearly knew how to use deadly force. “Hey, you’re the one teaching us this high-level stuff. If you didn’t want us using it in real life, why bother?”
“You’d never use this if someone was attacking you, not unless you were really advanced in martial arts or self-defense.” He shrugged. “But it’s the last class. I want you to have a little fun. I mean, the class needed something punchy to liven it up.” He grinned. “Get it? Punchy?”
“Oh my God. Please stop. No more talk. More action. Now come at me.”
He rotated his head, cracking his neck. Then he stretched his arms over his head. Seeing her obvious impatience, he held up a finger. “Hold on. I’m preparing for the role of a lifetime.” After another annoying minute that felt like half an hour, he gave her an irritating leer and advanced. “Hey there, little lady. You sure are pretty.”
“You going for cowboy or southern thug?”
He blew out a breath and muttered, “Bitch and moan, bitch and moan.” After clearing his throat, he tried again. “I’m looking for a good time. How about you and me go into a dark, dangerous alley and have hot monkey sex?” He grabbed her shoulder. “And I mean now. I won’t take no for an answer. Not even if you pay me. Because I’m mean. I’m hungry, and I’m… What are you doing?”
Instead of trying to move away, Zoe slid closer and wrapped her arms around his neck.
He froze. “Uh, Zoe?”
Off-balance, just the way she wanted him. She tilted her face up for a kiss. When he leaned down to meet her, she slid back and, in the same motion, pulled him down, then used her legs to kick him up and over her. Not exactly what he’d shown her, but she’d tried this move before at her friend’s gym, and the modified leverage worked.
He landed flat on his back with a hard thump. She rolled to her hands and knees to face him, grinning with victory. But he lay with his eyes closed, unmoving.
“Gavin?”
Nothing, just the slightest rise and fall of his chest.
Oh hell. What if she’d hurt him? Waiting for him to catch his breath grew worrisome. “Hey, lightweight,” she teased, anxious, “wake up.”
When he still didn’t move, she hurried to his side and looked for possible injury. She put a tentative hand on his neck, and he pounced.
Gavin rolled her under him, pinning her to the floor with a triumphant smile on his stupid, handsome face. “Well, well. How the tables have turned.”
“You cheated,” she sputtered.
“Oh? Really? I was just taking a cue from my supposed victim.” He settled against her, and he felt heavy, solid.
She squirmed under him, as much to distance herself from the arousing heat building inside her as from his actual presence.
He snorted. “Really? This is how you escape from a jerk bent on harassing you?” To his credit, he didn’t lower his whole lower body to crush her, yet he held her too easily.
“We never got to floor work,” she muttered, unable to look away from his eyes. Lord, they really were smoky, mysterious, alluring… “So what do you suggest, Professor?”
He glanced from her eyes to her mouth, then leisurely back up to her gaze. “I suggest you try to distract me again. Then you should definitely knee me in the balls.” He grimaced. “So let’s say you did, and I’ll get off you now.”
She clutched his shoulders when he would have moved, and he tensed. “You mean, like this?”
He immediately dropped like a rock and shoved his thighs between hers, so that her knees splayed on either side of his muscular legs. A nice move. No way to knee him this way, she thought with a moment of humor. Then she met his gaze and stopped breathing.
The look he gave her… She was afraid of going up in flames.
“Like what, exactly?” he asked, his voice husky, his face so close she could count each individual eyelash. And man, he had a forest of them, shuttering the sudden brilliance of his stare.
“Huh?”
His lips curled. “You said, ‘You mean, like this?’ Like what, Zoe?”
The rumble of his voice vibrated through his chest to hers. Caught like a doe in the eyes of a hungry wolf, she dared not blink.
Then she amended her analogy. More like a hungry she-wolf staring up into the eyes of a rangy buck. You’re mine this time, Smoky. “This,” Zoe whispered, as caught in his spell as she’d ever been. She tugged him closer, until she felt the warmth of his mouth against hers.
Zoe didn’t do spontaneous. She didn’t kiss men she didn’t know that well. She didn’t instigate passion until she’d thought through every possible outcome of such a union. Aubrey lived for the moment. Her twin had grabbed life by the tail and pulled with all her might. Yet Zoe couldn’t stop herself…and she couldn’t find it in her to care that she was acting so contrary to her nature.
Like magic, she melted under Gavin, lost in his taste, his touch. To her delighted surprise,
he didn’t turn aggressor. Rather, he followed her lead. She deepened the kiss, then heard him groan and yanked his shoulders closer, pressing them together as tightly as two people could be, running one leg against a muscular thigh spreading her wide.
She teased with her tongue, sliding inside his mouth, stroking, licking, and clutching the steel-hard biceps that had gone so tense beneath her hands. To her astonishment, she felt light-headed. And not just from a lack of air.
Whoa. Hel-lo, chemistry. She ended the kiss and blinked her eyes open. He leaned his head back, his eyes closed, as if savoring the moment.
Her entire body tingled, with an express heat centered squarely between her legs, where he pressed most insistently. He had grown more than happy to see her, and that shocking fact sparked a return of the old Zoe.
Did he make out with all the girls on the floor of the gym? Was this par for the course when being “courted” by Smoky Donnigan? Did rolling on the mats lead to rolling in his sheets? Big assumption for Gavin to make, despite her instigating the kiss.
He’d played possum before going on the attack, but no playing pretend now, not with that lead pipe nudging her in just the right spot. She shivered when he did it again. Jesus. She wanted him to mount her right here, right now.
So not standard procedure for Zoe York, dateless extraordinaire.
He opened his eyes, and the pale brilliance snared her. Then he cleared his throat and said in a husky voice, “Great moves, Zoe.” He ran a finger over her cheek, and that unexpected tenderness threw her. “So what now?”
She could handle sexy, raunchy, carnal. But gentle? That unnerved her. So she smiled up at him, then surprised him for the second time that day. She ran her foot up and down his leg again. Unfortunately, that had the side effect of shoving him harder against her.
He sucked in a breath, and she pretended she wasn’t gearing up to orgasm.
Then she rolled him under her in the next second. She sat up, straddled him, and pinned his forearms to the mat.
Leaning over him and panting, she watched him grimace and catch his breath.
“You okay?”
“No.” He sounded hoarse. “Shit, don’t move.”
She realized his predicament at once. He remained huge and aroused, and her position wasn’t helping. She sat with her legs spread, her dampened crotch directly against his erection. Talk about arousing—embarrassing. Geez, woman. Quit thinking with your ovaries.
“Oh,” she said breathlessly.
“Yeah, oh.” He chuckled, then groaned again when that rumble vibrated, shifting him against her. “So what now, Mistress?” The wicked look he shot her breasts made it hard to breathe. Her nipples clearly stood out against her shirt, even through her stupid sports bra.
“Stop it, you lech.”
“Hey, I’m the innocent one here. I’m flat on my back, being taken advantage of by a stronger, fiercer competitor.”
“Please.”
“Please what? Whatever you want, it’s yours.”
She tried not to laugh, tried even harder not to realize how sexy she found his arousal. “Shut up. I’m in charge now, buddy.”
“Do you own a whip? Chains? Black leather? Because I am dying for a little more of your dominance, Mistress Z.”
She snorted. “I thought I was Pink Yoga Pants.”
“You have many names.” He sighed and stared at her chest. “None of which I can recall right now, because you’ve scrambled my brain. I’m so intimidated by your strength, your power, your amazingly beautiful breas—”
“What the hell is going on in here?” Landon barked from the doorway.
Zoe froze.
So did Gavin.
She started to rise when Gavin gripped her by the arms. “Don’t move. Please,” he added in a low voice.
Realizing that if she did, evidence of their play would be all too apparent, she remained where she was, totally out of sorts. Zoe didn’t do public displays of affection, and she sure as hell didn’t roll around on the floor with an aroused hottie who felt like he had a ten-foot pole in his pants. Where the hell had he been hiding that thing, anyway?
“Zoe?” Landon asked, now frowning.
“Ah, well, I missed the last self-defense class.” The hands holding her relaxed, letting her once more control him. But the heat of his palms caused a shiver deep inside her. “Gavin was showing me that throw move you guys did.”
“What throw move?” Landon seemed to be confused.
“You know, the one where you lever your opponent over…” Her voice trailed off. “So you never went over that?”
“Hell no. We did show the class a couple more advanced wristlocks and leg sweeps though. Some stomps, smashing your opponent’s face with your foot, heel, whatever’s handy.” He coughed. “Guess you’re working on more advanced techniques. Ah, well, I’ll leave you guys to it. Gym’s starting to get a little more crowded though.” He nodded to the glass walls on either side of the doorway, then closed the door. Yet that didn’t prevent him from watching them as he walked away.
Oh hell. How many people have walked by and seen us kissing?
Zoe glanced back down at Gavin, who watched her with an expression she couldn’t read. How would she get herself out of this predicament when she could feel her cheeks heating to a bazillion degrees? And good Lord, he was still hard beneath her.
“What?” she asked, not sure whether to belt him for conning her or applaud him for tricking her into…what, exactly? Kissing him? Rolling around with him? Feeling up a potential lover before dying when her cheeks spontaneously burst into flame and her head exploded?
“Would this be a bad time to ask you out again?” Gavin asked, sounding casual, as if he didn’t lie directly beneath her dampened crotch. “I’d planned on leaving you alone, because even I’m not so dense that I couldn’t see you just wanted me to quit bugging you. But now…” He swallowed when she shifted, and she stopped breathing. She still held his arms down, and her chest was all too close to his face.
“Well, you did scam me.” She tried her best not to look discomfited.
“Hey, I showed you a killer good move.”
“Which I ran with,” she agreed, grinding over him again, now a little annoyed he didn’t seem more embarrassed about their situation. Once again she wondered if he did this with all the gym girls.
“Stop it,” he rasped.
“Make me.”
“Shit. Come on, Cruella. I don’t have an extra pair of shorts with me.”
“Oh, I like that one. Is that one of my many names?”
“Seriously. I’m about to lose it,” he warned. Yet he made no move to throw her off.
She felt for the guy. At least if she had an orgasm, no one would know. But in his athletic shorts, the evidence would be tough to miss. “So you’re asking me out again? What? Is that, like, the twentieth time?” She slowly inched higher on her knees, no longer pressing against him.
He let out a relieved breath. “Nah. Eighteenth, tops.”
She couldn’t help smiling at him. “You really are persistent. A tick that keeps burrowing until he’s fat with blood.”
“Such an image. I’d prefer something a little more seductive. Like a gentleman feasting on his lady in all the right places.”
“Lovely.” She stood on her knees over him, with only their thighs still touching. She did her best to keep her eyes on his face.
“Hey, I’m the victim here. I was just trying to be a good teacher, showing my young pupil how to master the martial arts.”
“By getting your hands all over me?”
“Well, I’m also a guy.” He grinned. “Besides, you really did throw me.”
“True.” If only he’d be less charming… Yet she was glad he hadn’t given up on her. Well, hell. She couldn’t help it. She glanced down at his package and felt dizzy.<
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“I did do my best to be an obnoxious tough guy with plans to defile your body, like you told me to.”
“You did.” She had to work to pull her gaze from his shorts. Did he stuff socks in his jock? It couldn’t be that big, could it?
“See something you like?”
She shot her gaze back to his face, embarrassed all over again when he should have been the one wanting to hide his face.
His laughter sounded hoarse. “Look, I’m sorry. I can’t help it. Stand over there, and it might go down.”
She rose to her feet, not sure why he’d had to ask her to do that when a normal woman would have shot off him like a rocket. That made her think of going off like a rocket, as in orgasm. She blushed even harder.
He groaned. “I’m sorry I’m embarrassing you.” He said again, “Worst timing ever, I know. But that date? I swear I’ll be a perfect gentleman. I’ll wrap myself in a girdle. And I won’t use any moves on you.”
“I won’t let you use them,” she shot back, refusing to look weak.
“No surprise there.” He rolled over onto his belly and groaned into the mats.
She saw him trying to regain control and admitted she liked the fact she’d pushed his buttons. And okay, she’d really liked sitting like a queen on top of all that maleness. Her rules, her date, her sexy man to dispute the notions her aunt and twin had of her.
“Okay.” She nodded. “You got yourself a date.”
He looked up at her in surprise. “I do?”
“Yeah. But no more of this.” She waved her hands at him. “This is a gym, for God’s sake. Not a whorehouse.”
He bit his lip.
“What?”
“Whorehouse? Do they even use that term anymore?”
“How the hell would I know?” She could still feel him under her skin.
“Never mind. Not important.” He leaned up on his elbows, looking more in command of himself, as if he had nothing to hide, just hanging out on the floor. “How about Thursday night?”
