Page 94 of Love on Tour
“Um, Christine . . .”
“Oh, God. I’m so sorry.” Her face turned pink and she tried to pull away from him, but he held her steady.
“If only there wasn’t a room full of people, huh?” he said. “Now make that fist again.”
She did, and he explained how to punch without hurting herself. She wanted to ask what he meant about the room full of people, but he moved on to showing her a kick.
“It’s called a front snap kick, and the power comes when you snap out from your knee. But you need to strike with the ball of the foot so you don’t break your toes.”
“So far, it sounds like the only person I may hurt is myself,” Christine said, giving a little huff.
“I never thought of it that way. But yeah, if you do it wrong, you can seriously hurt yourself.”
He put her hand on his shoulder while he held her leg up, gently grabbing her under her thigh so she could practice snapping her leg in a kick. She imagined his hand sliding up and over a few inches. The delicious thought caused her to stop kicking. Her mind wasn’t on self-defense.
“Is your leg tired? We can take a break,” Matt said.
“Huh? Oh, no. I, um, just wanted to make sure I was doing it right.”
“You’re doing great.”
She tried to concentrate on everything he was teaching her, but her focus was on how he touched her. At this rate, she’d remember so little it would take years to get past the white belt.
Christine didn’t ever want this lesson to stop. Who knew martial arts could be so intimate?
When the instructor called for the class to line up again, they did a short cooldown before bowing out. Christine felt breathless, and it wasn’t from the workout.
Matt was staying for the advanced class. Christine thought about watching but wasn’t sure she was supposed to, so she made her exit.
“Thank you so much. This will be helpful.”
“Think about joining the class for a three-month trial period. If you like it, you can keep going. If not, you haven’t committed for too long. And anytime you need extra help, let me know. I’ll be happy to do some instruction on the side.”
Christine’s body tingled.
“I will.” She gave him a quick hug goodbye, and when she pulled away, he pulled her back for a longer hug.
“Please be careful, Christine.” He kissed the side of her head and went to line up for his class.
Over a much-needed spaghetti dinner with Julianna, Christine filled her in. “When he wrapped his arms around me to tie my belt, I thought I’d faint. And when he showed me how to punch and kick, he touched me from my shoulder to my thigh. His hand was so close to being, you know, right there. And I wanted it to be. In the middle of a damn gym, I was practically having sex with him in my mind.”
“Austin makes out with you, and you can still say no. Matt touches you and you’re Jell-O.”
“The heart wants what the heart wants.”
“So true. Why don’t you just go for it? He’s clearly flirting.”
“Everyone in our industry flirts with everyone. We’re a business based on making people feel something. We live our lives on emotion. Music makes people feel good, or sad, which sometimes feels good. How many times have we heard someone say, ‘He flirts with me so I thought he was interested. How embarrassing when he put me in the friend zone after I tried for more’?”
“Good point. We’ve all been on one side of that or the other. I guess you just go for it and see.”
“Too risky until I get a better feel for it. But I can’t wait until my next class. I want to make him proud.” Christine took a bite of her garlic bread and gave Julianna a thumbs-up. It was that good.
“I’m sure you will. You seem to be feeling better in general,” Julianna said.
“I am. Social media has been quiet, and I’ve been staying away from Austin, so I’m not giving them ammo. But it leads me to believe the person who left the notes is probably behind most of the harassment. Who knows? Maybe she has a dozen screen names and makes it seem like everyone hates me when it’s just her. The cops have no clues to go on. I called again today, but they just said they’re working on it and to keep updating them.”
“People open multiple accounts all the time,” Julianna said. “You’re one strong woman for putting up with this. And now learning how to defend yourself in case it gets worse. Damn.”
