Page 27 of New Girl in the City
She pouted. “Goddammit. I was really hoping for a special lady friend.”
“She is special,” Liam said, still ushering me in front of him. Suddenly the hand at my back felt warmer, heavier, a lot more intimate. God, I wanted him to touch me without the gym clothes between his palm and my skin.
“Awesome,” Sophie beamed at us and handed me a clipboard while I tried to make sense of what it was that Liam meant. “Sign in here, hon. And then I’ll have you sign the paper underneath, it’s a waiver in case anything happens. But if you’re with Liam you’re in good hands, you know?”
I gave her a slow blink and she winked at me making me wonder what she knew about Liam’s hands.
“Ah, thanks,” I said, taking the clipboard from her while Liam made small talk with Sophie. They talked about family and friends and some event coming up the next week, one that she swore Liam was going to kick ass at. I had to force my attention away from them and back to the clipboard. Once I was done and handed the clipboard back to Sophie she gave me a thumbs up and waved us through.
“Have fun, you two.” Her voice took on a sing-song tone and I paused, about to ask Liam what that was about, but he sighed and hustled me on.
“Grew up with her older brothers. She’s like an annoying kid sister,” he explained. I nodded at his words while a wash of relief hit me. An annoying kid sister was a far cry from what I had thought, and I was super okay with that development.
Okay, I wasn’t just okay with it I was pretty damn happy about it.
“All right, Princess, first things first. We need to go over a fighting stance.”
“A what?”
“Your fight stance,” he said, coming to stand in front of me. “What are you? A righty?” I nodded and he took both my hands in his, raising them so that they were in front of my face, before moving them so that my left was at the side of my face while my right was slightly in front, about eye level. He nodded in approval.
“That’s good. Now we need the feet right,” he said, dropping his gaze to my feet. Suddenly his big hands were on my hips and I jumped again, my right hand shooting out when I did, smacking him in the face.
“Oh my god, I’m sorry!”
He shook his head and laughed. “That’s good, that’s good. We can work with those reflexes. Next time make a fist when you whack me.”
“But I don’t want to whack you!” I insisted, horrified at the thought of hitting him in the face. “I’m so sorry,” I said again, which only made him laugh harder. “Why are you laughing?”
He caught my wrists in his hands and brought them in front of him, tugging gently until I was forced to take a quick step forward that sent me bumping right into him.
“Why are you laughing?” I asked again, a note of panic making my voice shrill. I was confused and overwhelmed with sensation at being pressed right up against him, his hands warm and firm on my skin.
“I take it back. Forget the stance, we need to focus on you breaking a hold.”
“A hold?” I asked. His fingers tightened on my wrists and I gasped in surprise at the pressure.
“Yeah, a hold like this,” he said. He dropped one of my wrists, holding the other against his chest. It was an improvement, because I wasn’t pressed to his front, but now one of my hands was against his chest. I was effectively getting a handful of his well-muscled pec and my mind went blank.
“Now what?” I croaked.
“Now we break the hold.”
“Okay,” I dropped my eyes to where he held me and licked my lips, before asking, “now what?”
“Now, you want to relax your wrist. It’s going to be easier to break my hold if it’s relaxed, so open your hand. No fists here, Mel.” Liam’s fingers tensed when he answered me, his voice lower than it had been a second before.
I did what he said because I had no clue what else to do and he hummed in approval while I internally screamed. I no longer had a hand against the man. I literally had my hand splayed against his right pec, cupping him. Fuckity fuck.
“Now apply pressure to where my fingers meet. See here where my thumb is against my middle finger?” he inclined his head down at his hand and I nodded.
“Yeah, I see it.”
“Good. Think about this like a door. That’s where the pressure is weakest. You’re going to turn your hand into my thumb, pull and turn away.”
“That’s it?” I asked, genuinely surprised it would take that little to break away from him.
He nodded. “That’s it. Do it.”
