Page 7 of Hawk

He nodded. “We’re already booked out through June. I’m wondering if we should pause classes for July and August.”

“I think so. Working them hard enough to be effective could be a liability in the heat.”

“The camp would be officially open for six months at that point. By then, Crowe should have a good idea of what adjustments need to be made, and that would give us time to do them. I’ll email him and let him know.”

“Sounds like a plan. Have you heard from Knox?”

He chuckled. “Yeah. He’s hating life, but everything’s going okay.”

“I don’t envy him. When I saw the details of the job, I knew it was gonna be a rough one.”

“He said the girl is spoiled rotten and doesn’t listen to directions. She constantly threatens to tell her father Knox is unreasonable—even though Knox has run all the protocols by the father and he’s on board.”

“At least it’s a short-term assignment, so he won’t have to be there long.” I hadn’t been kidding when I said I didn’t envy him. When we first opened Three Bears, I worked a lot of close protection jobs, but my least favorite was always spoiled rich kids who couldn’t seem to grasp that I was there to keep them safe.

“True enough.” He stood up to go, but before he walked out, he turned back to me. “You had another self-defense class start a couple weeks ago, right?”

“I did. We have eight people in this one.”

“Good, good. Glad that’s working out well.”

Chapter three

Mika

I parked my car in the garage attached to Three Bears Tactical Services. I sat there and waited until someone else parked and got out of their car so we could walk in together. Telling myself I was being chivalrous so they wouldn’t have to walk in alone made me feel a little better, but the truth was parking garages creeped me out. I’d probably watched one too many movies where someone was attacked in one or something.

When Denise pulled in with her daughter, Chelsea, I got out of my car and joined them for the walk inside. Once we were in the building, I felt more secure. I waved at the guy sitting behind the desk in the lobby. He wore a uniform that made it clear he worked there. He nodded at us as we walked by and went right back to watching the bank of monitors on the desk in front of him.

“Stairs or elevator, ladies?” I asked.

“I hate elevators.” Chelsea glanced over at the silver doors that would take us up to the second floor where the gym was.

“Then stairs it is.”

We hurried up the stairs and through the door that opened into the training area. The only other people there right now were students, which was kind of a shame because I wouldn’t be mad about watching a few of the guys who worked here work out. I don’t know if being drop-dead sexy was a requirement to work here, but I swear every single one I’d seen fit the description.

Around me, a group of women—because of course I was the only guy here—chatted while we waited for the instructor to arrive. And then Hawk walked in, and all the chatting stopped. He just had that kind of presence that demanded your attention, and he had mine, no doubt about it. I might have sworn off big burly men who were strong enough to break me in half, but that didn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the view.

He wore a dark green t-shirt that stretched across his chest, highlighting a physique that didn’t need any help standing out. He had a military sharpness about him—focused, confident, and commanding—that, no matter what I’d said to Mars the other day, I found incredibly sexy. His normal partner was with him, and she stood off to the side while he started the class.

“All right, everyone,” he said, his deep voice reverberating through the almost-empty training room. “Just a reminder”—his gaze flicked to me briefly, making my stomach flip—“we’re here to work on practical self-defense. The goal isn’t to fight. It’s to control the situation so you can…” He paused and waited for us to finish the statement.

“Get away,” we all said in unison.

“Right. Now, last week, we worked on attacks from behind,” he continued. “This week, we’re shifting focus. What do you do if you find yourself face-to-face with your attacker? It’s totally different. So that’s what we’re gonna work on today.”

He walked to the center of the mat, his movements smooth and deliberate, and gestured for everyone to spread out.

“Here’s the thing. You don’t want to fight power with power. If your attacker’s stronger than you—and let’s be honest, that’s often going to be the case—you can’t win by brute force. Not even Tucker here can do that, and she’s highly trained.”

She stepped forward. “As you can tell, this giant is not only way taller than I am, but he’s probably twice my body weight. If I tried to use nothing but strength to take him down, I’d be in trouble. It’s about controlling the energy.”

“Exactly. Now, the first thing we want to go over is your stance. Let’s say you’re talking to some guy, and you’re getting that feeling that something’s off. You know that feeling, right?” he asked, and pretty much everyone in the room nodded.

“So Tuck and I are talking, and she’s getting a bad vibe from me.” She stood there with her hands in her pockets and one ankle crossed over the other. Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed her, and she pretty much fell forward when he gave her a tug. “That’s what you don’t want to do. Now, Tuck, show us how you should stand.”

Tucker stepped back and moved her feet a little apart, hands out of her pockets. She still looked casual, but she also looked alert. He reached for her again, and this time, she jumped back and moved away.

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