Page 88 of The Beast's Heart

“You mean like karate?”

“More like Jiu-Jitsu.” Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is known as the ‘gentle art’ and I take my promise to not hurt him seriously. “How do you feel about choking me?”

He flushes bright pink.

I kneel in front of him while he practices the ‘rear naked choke’ and absolutely do not imagine doing this naked.Why did they call it that anyway?

He wraps his arms around me, one over the shoulder and one under the opposite arm. “Like this?” My nostrils flood with vanilla. His top hand makes a fist, the bottom hand grabs it around the wrist.

“Yeah. Good.”

“Am I squeezing too tight?”

“No, Belle. I’ll tap out if I need to.”

“I’m just checking.” He tightens his grip again.

I reach up with my right hand, grab him, roll him and pin him.

He stares up at me, bewildered.

“You did well,” I say.

“I did?”

I pull back to kneel again. “You want to know how to escape being pinned?”

He nods and I show him the shrimping movement—a sideways thrust that I’ve never seen as sexual before now. But when Jonathan does it my blood flushes hot.

I clear my throat. “So, that’s the key to escaping when someone has you pinned, because their center of gravity is going to be directly over yours. And then you’re going to throw them off balance.”

I try to explain verbally, but it’s just no use. Blood rushes in my ears. I briefly consider calling off the lesson. But I draw in a steadying breath.I can do this.“Let me show you.”

I lie on my back with my knees up and encourage him to straddle me. He pays rapt attention as I explain about arm frames and he flushes a deep crimson when I demonstrate by locking my hands against his upper thigh. “Are you okay? We can stop?”

He shakes his head. “No, I’m fine. Just uh… just paying attention. So this is a ‘box frame’?”

“Yeah. And then you lock your feet tightly under my knees.”

“Right.”

“And your arm around my neck.”

He does so, coming in close enough for me to smell his aftershave.Focus.

“So how you escape is…” I put my elbow against the inside of his knee and thrust my hips up and to the side. His balance shifts and instinct takes over. He’s on his back looking up at me again.

“I… how did you…?” Jonathan asks.

Shit. I went too fast. “Sorry I’m not a great teacher. Uh… do you want to try again?”

He mounts me again. I repeat the first section and slow down for the second, explaining how to position the hand inside the knee, where the fingers should be pointing.

He’s staring down at me, face inches from my own, pupils blown wide. His breath puffs against my face. I’m grateful his hips are hovering above mine, because if they were flush with me he’d feel how hard I’m getting. I need to get a grip. I push his knee wide and slide my own leg up between his and escape. “Want to give it a try?”

He nods, though he seems uncertain. He lies down on his back.

“I’ll go slowly, promise.” I throw my legs over him, kneeling to either side of his hips, fully aware of our difference in size. He presses his hands to my upper thigh, just how I showed him.This is how I die.

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