Page 12 of Vampires Don't Give Hickeys
I’d rather not. He was too hot to punch. But I positioned my legs in a fighting stance and lifted my fists, anyway. He dodged every attempt, raising his elbows around his head so my knuckles cracked against them, or by bobbing and weaving his head. Frankly, it was embarrassing how much I sucked at this.
“Now you try it.” He smashed his fists together and scowled, but his grin messed it up and only made me laugh. “Ready?”
I blew out a breath and nodded. He threw punches, but I couldn’t tell if he was reining himself in like I was some delicate flower or not. I danced around him and mimicked his earlier movements, never once feeling the dig of his knuckles in my face.
“Good. Now see if you can take me down,” he said, the dare lighting up his orange-yellow eyes.
“Why?” I said between pants. “I can just throw a stake at you and be done with it.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Unless I bob and weave out of the way. Just see if you can take me.”
Well, when he put it like that. I shook out my arms and stretched my neck, stalling because I knew I’d have to touch him with my whole body if I tried to take him down. As if sensing the direction of my thoughts, he smiled and stood there like a glistening-chested god. After blowing out a steadying breath, I lunged, faked right, then whipped to the left and around to the back of him to kick his feet out from underneath him. That was the plan anyway.
Somehow, it wasmyfeet that suddenly weren’t underneath me anymore, and then I went down. My back slapped the mat, funneling the air from my lungs, before another weight landed on top. Jacek’s body covered mine, his big, sexy grin just inches from my mouth. My chest shoved against his as my breaths grew faster, more ragged the longer his muscled form molded to mine. My blood seemed to gather at every place we touched, but especially at the apex of my thighs where his hips had nestled him close. I stared into his eyes, snared by the continuous twinkling there, still not quite sure how I’d wound up on the floor instead of him.
“Well, hello there,” I said.
“You’re broadcasting your moves about ten minutes before you actually do them.”
He didn’t say it with judgement, but the hard truth behind his words crashed my back teeth together. I already knew I sucked. Now he did, too.
I took his shoulders, flipped him off of me, and stood, averting my gaze to hide my shame. “I’ll try harder.”
He took slow steps forward until he stood in front of me. Warmth, the kind that blooms from kindness, radiated out of his cool skin. He thumbed my chin and lifted my gaze to his. “I can help.”
“Shouldn’t you be afraid that I’ll kill you if I get too good at this?”
He threw back his head and laughed. “The night’s not over yet, Slayer.”
“This is just...” I broke away from him and searched the living room for answers to all my questions. “So weird. You should be afraid of me. I shouldn’t have trouble killing vampires or demons or turning down the devil’s marriage proposal. I’m the slayer. I was chosen to be a badass, and I’m inside a vampire nest with vampires who...” Light me on fire, I wanted to say. In a good, let’s-all-strut-around-naked kind of way.
“Belle?”
“What?”
“All things considered, you’re doing very well with no one helping you after all this time. Plus...” He took the bottom hem of my Spongebob T-shirt and rubbed the fabric between his thumb and forefinger. “Bob Sponge has been Employee of the Month a ton of times, so as far as role models go, you could do a lot worse.”
I gave him a skeptical frown that was tinged with a smile. “It’s Spongebob, and how do you know he was Employee of the Month?”
“I know things by accident sometimes, but I will never look at yellow sponges the same again.” His fingers at my shirt grazed the skin underneath, thrilling the blood through my veins faster. “Want me to show you how I took you down?”
“Yes,” I said, amazed that the word didn’t shiver from my lips like the rest of me was.
With his hands guiding my body, he showed me where to put my feet, how to position myself, how to move. Under his touch, I imagined myself having the same liquid grace he did as it ebbed and flowed between us.
“Now, try it,” he ordered.
“Shouldn’t I do a sneak attack? You’ll see it coming.”
“Sneak attacks won’t work when you smell like you do.”
“Like sunshine and...”Desire. Was I that obvious? All signs pointed to yes. I cleared my throat. “Okay. Well, pretend you can’t smell me.”
He nodded as I stepped in close. Without overthinking it, I flew into action, mimicking his movements and grace. He smacked the mat hard.
Boom, sucker. I’d done it. I fist-pumped the air, but then for the second time that night, he whipped my feet out from underneath me. My legs no longer supported me, and I went down on all fours, crouched over Jacek like a wild animal, my pelvis tucked into his.
“Damn it,” I said, but it was surrounded with my laugh.
