Page 12 of Princess

“How would you do that?” I wait until it looks like he’s going to answer, and then I take a quick jab toward the left side of his jaw, hoping he’s distracted enough for me to get a blow in.

He’s not, of course. He never loses his focus. He blocks my punch and uses the momentum to grab me around the waist. I just barely manage to slip out of his grip before he gets me to the ground. In the scuffle, I do manage to trip him up with a quick kick toward his ankle. It won’t hurt him, but he has to back off to catch his balance.

“Nice one,” he murmurs, which is a high compliment from him. “We’d set up camp on the surface with easy access to the bunker. We’ve got the equipment to put up an electrified fence around the perimeter, and with guards stationed we’ll probably be safe enough. We need to send scouts to check out the region. We think a lot of the population has moved away from here, but we need to know who’s out there and how much of a threat they might be. Our supplies might be running low, but we still have a lot of resources that desperate people would happily kill us for.”

We’re circling the mat on the floor of the private training room we still use for practice, both of us scrutinizing the other, looking for an opportunity to advance. We do this almost every night, also practicing on the shooting range a couple of times a week. I’m proficient now with various kinds of guns, although I still don’t like them, and I’m much more capable of defending myself than I was eighteen months ago. Because of our daily training, I spend more time with Grant than anyone else in the bunker, but I’m still not sure if he considers me a friend. I know him better, but in a lot of ways he’s still completely unreadable. “Well, that sounds like a good plan. Surely we’d be safe behind that kind of perimeter.”

“We’ll be safe from people on foot. We won’t be safe from tanks or trucks.”

This startles me so much it distracts me, and as always Grant offers me no leeway. He kicks out at me, using one leg for leverage against the back of my knees. I fall backward, but roll away immediately, managing to elude his arms and jump to my feet before he can follow up on his advantage.

“Very nice,” he mutters, giving me a brief nod. “Your mistake was getting too involved in the conversation.”

“I know that,” I reply with a snarl. “But what did you mean about tanks or trucks? You think we’ll be attacked by an army or something?”

“It’s not likely. Fuel production had to have come to a standstill after the asteroid, and I doubt there’s still enough gas around to fuel tanks and trucks. But the thing is, we don’t know. We only have a few surface cameras still working, so we only see what they pick up. There used to be huge armies of dangerous people moving through the area. They’d be able to wipe us out in a matter of hours. We haven’t seen them lately, but we don’t know for sure whether they’re still around. If they are, I’m not sure what we can do to defend ourselves except get back into the bunker as fast as we can.”

“We should do emergency drills, just to practice our response if something like that happens.”

“That’s in the plans. We’ll do the best we can, although it’s going to be a huge gamble. But it’s one we’ll have to make eventually since our supplies aren’t going to last forever. And the last thing we need is a revolt down here.”

There’s been a lot of angry debate in the past year, but no one has tried to take physical action to get what they want. We’ve been lucky in that way. I can imagine all kinds of nightmare scenarios, prompted by desperation and discontent, that we haven’t had to deal with.

Grant and I are circling each other again. “So how soon do you think we’ll be opening up?”

“If I had to guess, I’d say within the next month.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know if I should be excited or terrified.”

“Both are probably legitimate.”

Before I can respond, muffled voices come from the hallway outside the room. Probably just a couple of people passing by, but Grant turns his head to look, evidently thinking they might be coming into the room.

He’s trained me well. I know how to take advantage of momentary distraction. I run toward him while his head is turned, convinced I can finally knock him off his feet.

I’m wrong. It’s always wrong to underestimate Grant. He reaches out with one arm before he even gets his head turned back in my direction, and he grabs me by the waist, using the momentum of my run to swing me onto my back on the floor.

He softens the landing intentionally so the impact on the mat doesn’t hurt, but I’m briefly winded and can’t roll away even though my brain is screaming that I should.

So Grant has the chance to pin me down with the weight of his body. I push against his shoulders as hard as I can, trying to free myself enough to get a blow or a kick in.

It doesn’t work. He’s too big. Too heavy. Too all over me. He manages to grab one of my wrists and then the other, and he forces my arms to the ground spread-eagle, leaving me completely helpless.

I’m angry and frustrated that he got the better of me—angry with myself and frustrated with him—but that’s not the only reason I’m suddenly hot all over.

His hard body is pressed against the length of mine. I can feel every inch of him. His firm thighs against mine. His chest pushing into my breasts. His breath against my damp skin. His strong fingers gripping my wrists.

And his cock against my belly. He’s hard. Fully erect. He’s wearing old sweats, so his pants provide no concealment.

It’s not the first time he’s been turned on around me. It happens regularly, and he always acts like it’s nothing, like he barely notices, so I’ve grown to assume it’s a meaningless physical response that doesn’t faze him. After all, if he wanted to fuck me, he’s had every opportunity to act on it, and he never has.

At first, noticing it made me self-conscious, but it doesn’t anymore. If it doesn’t bother him, then it shouldn’t bother me.

But this is different. His erection is pushing against my lower belly. I can feel the shape of him very close to my groin. And it makes me throb with heat. Aching arousal. Deep need.

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