Page 33 of Burdens
My heartbeat drummed in my ears as I wrapped my hands over both of hers, her back now flush against my front, strands of her hair tickling the tip of my nose. She sucked in a sharp breath, which only brought her closer.
I couldn’t have fucking put myself in a worse position if I tried. Not only that, but my brain insisted on focusing on how her skin felt against mine again, how she fitted perfectly against me.
I breathed in to calm my overspeeding heart, but this up close, I caught an overwhelming whiff of her musky vanilla scent mixed with her sweat, sending my senses into overdrive.
God, I’m a fucking mess.
Swallowing hard, I smothered the effect she had on me just enough to actually help her like I’d intended to. I proceeded to talk her through each part of the combination, teaching her tricks to make it easier to land every punch with precision.
Once I was done, I reluctantly let go of her and stepped back a few steps. I jutted my chin forward, indicating for her to do it on her own this time. She nodded, got into position, and started the sequence.
When she got to the part where she usually made a mistake, she landed the first hit successfully and completed it almost to perfection.
“Better. Now do it again,” I ordered.
She peered at me over her shoulder and opened her mouth to say something, but I repeated myself before she could. “Again, Amalia.”
She groaned and turned around, following my command. She puffed out heavy breaths as she went through the motions again, improving each time.
We’d been at this for the last hour and it was almost midnight when she finally landed every hit exactly how I’d just taught her. I smiled to myself, a hint of pride filling my chest. “That’s it, Amalia. Just like that.”
Suddenly, she finished the set in a hurry and turned around. “All right, I’m done for the night,” she panted, her chest heaving. She started undoing the wrappings around her hands and moved past me, but I didn’t let her get far.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked, grabbing her wrist and pulling her in.
She kept her head down and avoided my gaze.Something she never does.
I grabbed her chin between my thumb and forefinger, lifting her eyes to meet mine. There was a flash of something in her eyes, but she averted her gaze before I could decipher it.
“N-nothing, I’m just tired. Like you said, it’s past curfew, so I should go,” she stammered out, yanking her wrist out of my hold and hurrying away from me again.
Shit, did I say something wrong?
“Amalia, wait,” I said, reaching for her once again, but my foot must have caught on something and I tumbled to the ground, inadvertently bringing her down with me.
I wrapped my arms around her body, cradling her into me to shield her from the fall as I landed on my back. The sudden impact drove the air from my lungs and I closed my eyes, groaning internally.
Of course shit like this happens to me.
When air finally filled my lungs again, I immediately asked, “Fuck, are you okay?”
She hummed and slightly nodded against my chest, soothing my worries that I hadn’t caused her to be hurt. For a mere second, her head rested against my chest as we lay there to catchour breaths. But when I finally loosened my grip around her, she pulled back, her hands pushing against my chest to help her up.
Her ponytail had slightly come undone over the last hour and loose strands fell over her face as she looked down at me. Her face was only inches away from mine, the tips of her hair brushed against my skin. My right hand came up, pushing a few stray locks behind her ear while I rested my other one on her thigh.
More of her face was revealed to me, which was when I noticed howflushedshe was. I would have brushed it off to the intense workout she’d just had if I hadn’t known what she looked like when she was turned on.
Is that why she wanted to leave?
She raised her gaze to meet mine and in an instant, everything around us faded, my awareness honing in on the glint in her eyes. I could make out every speck of gold in her green irises and my breath caught in my throat at how fucking pretty she was.
My heart increasingly slammed faster against my ribcage, to the point of reaching unhealthy levels. As if my body was operating of its own accord, I slowly,gently, trailed my fingertips from the side of her face down her neck while maintaining her gaze.
When she didn’t stop me, I followed the curvature of her exposed collarbone and kept going down, tracing the outside of her right breast. My thumb featherly brushed over her nipple that was straining against the fabric, like it demanded my full attention.
She shivered under my touch and I continued my path down until my hand landed on her other thigh. My eyes darted to her lips and she must have leaned down further because they were now only a breath away.
It vaguely registered in the back of my mind that this was the second time since I learned she was a student of mine that we’d found ourselves in this position. But this time, I didn’t want to pull away.
