Page 57 of Starcrossed Colorado

What are you doing, O’Neal?I asked myself.

The answer: something I shouldn’t. But these days, ever since Emma had appeared in my life, what else was new?

Her gaze flew to mine. “What about Maisie?”

“Grace or Callum will watch her. That’s usually what I do when I teach on the weekends.”

“But isn’t that my job now?”

“Not when you have other plans. Like joining my class. Useful, too. This is stuff everyone should know.”

“I know basic self-defense. Dad and stepmom are cops, remember?”

“Then I’ll teach you some advanced moves.” I kept my gaze steady on her face instead of drifting down her body like I wanted to. “Come on. It’ll be fun.”

She chewed her lip, hesitating. “Okay. Sure.”

I smiled and looked out over the park. The sun was going down, yet as I watched my kid laughing and playing with Emma beside me, everything seemed brighter. Even if my latest bright idea wasn’t such a good one.

Maybe I didn’t care any more.

After introducing myself and my high school-aged assistant, Timothy, I started off the class with a few easy moves to warm everyone up.

“The first thing you always want to do is to listen to your instincts. If you feel uncomfortable, say something. Make noise. Don’t be afraid to be loud and obnoxious. It’s how I go through life every day, and I’m doing just fine.”

There was polite laughter, as usual when I made that joke, lame as it was. I always tried to keep things light in these classes.

Of course, this afternoon I had a very attractive distraction warring for my attention.

Emma’s hair was swept into a high ponytail, and she wore a tight pair of athletic leggings and a crop top.

She was mouthwatering.

Every time I looked in her direction, I forgot what I was doing. Not the kind of impression I wanted to make on any of my students, but her especially.

“Now, sometimes it’s impossible to avoid a physical confrontation. So we’re going to practice some moves to create distance between you and a potential attacker. It’s all about moving fast and being aggressive.” I demonstrated the first techniques on Timothy.

“Everyone pair off to practice. Groups of two or three. Be sure to stay on the mats.”

I made my rounds, giving instructions and suggestions, and correcting form. Yet I noticed from the corner of my eye that Timothy had drifted to Emma’s side of the room and stayed there.

He had just graduated from Silver Ridge High a couple of months ago. Thought he was hot stuff. There was also an odd number of ladies in the class, so he had appointed himself Emma’s partner.

Nice try, Tim. If anyone was going to be giving Emma extra attention, it would be me.

I chose not to think about the fact that he was nineteen, far closer to Emma in age than I was.

Slowly, I made my way over.

“Tim, I think Mrs. Stuckey over there needs some help. Go give her a hand?”

Mrs. Stuckey had taken my self-defense classes before. She did look like she needed supervising. She kept waving her arms like she planned to karate chop the young mom next to her.

Tim tried to hide his grimace, but he wasn’t quite fast enough. “Yes, sir.”

I watched him cross the room. Then I turned to Emma. “Show me what you’ve got so far.”

“Sure you can handle me?”

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