Chapter 10
10
Charlie
C harlie wrung her hands as she paced outside the gym. Ash had told her to come to this one specifically because there was a boxing ring in it. She had never boxed a day in her life. When he’d told her he was going to teach her self-defense, she thought he was going to teach her how to get out of a chokehold. But boxing?
She shook her head, hating every second she’d spent waiting for him. There was no way she was going to head inside without him. That was the last place she wanted to be alone.
While she waited, she couldn’t help thinking back to two weeks ago when he’d said the one thing that had broken her heart.
It was the pain of having someone and losing them.
This pain was slightly different.
The ache in her chest came from knowing he was someone she would never have the chance to love.
She shut her eyes and leaned against the brick wall as people came and went. Some of them had given her strange looks. Others looked concerned. But she ignored them all.
Charlie hadn’t told her brothers where she was going. They would have told her to stay home while they had a word with Ash about overstepping. The ironic thing about all of this was that she wasn’t really interested in learning self-defense. She’d agreed because she wanted to spend more time with Ash. The quiet moments they’d shared lately had lingered, had given her a high that she couldn’t get anywhere else.
But he had a girlfriend and that’s not something she’d want to come between.
“Charlie?” Ash’s voice shattered her thoughts, and she opened her eyes to find him looking at her, concern in his eyes. He hadn’t mentioned that conversation from a couple of weeks ago. Not during their lessons. Not when he came to visit her brothers. She had no doubt that he had zero intention of discussing it at all.
She gave him a weak smile.
“Are you okay?” he asked, stepping closer.
Charlie nodded. “I’m good. Just nervous.”
He flashed her a grin. “Nothing to be nervous about.”
She gave him an incredulous look. “You said that you were going to teach me boxing. Do you really think that’s necessary?”
His boyish grin was all it took to unravel the tension in her chest. “I’m not going to teach you how to box. Not unless you want me to.”
“But you said?—”
He draped his arm around her shoulders and wheeled her toward the door. “I said that this place has a boxing ring. That means it’s got a practice area that’s fenced off. And it’s got a padded floor.”
The way he touched her was perfectly innocent. It was one that was so blatantly between friends she had no way of interpreting it otherwise.
Still, being so close to him, just a few inches from being pulled into an embrace, she couldn’t help but imagine it was something more.
Ash whisked her into the gym, waving at the guys behind the counter and guiding her farther toward the back. Once they were at one of the two boxing rings, he dropped the duffle bag he had in his right hand. Then he nodded toward the ring. “Go on.”
Charlie glanced to the ring like it was a prison cell. Had she been so sheltered that she couldn’t bring herself to do something so simple as climb between some flexible bars?
His chuckle did little to ease her discomfort. But then he placed his hand on the small of her back, and she moved easily to her place. Ash followed her, all business. He placed her in the middle of the mat, and it was like he turned into someone else. “When someone attacks, their plans aren’t to incapacitate you. They will likely just try to grab you and move you to somewhere else.” Ash walked behind her, but he didn’t touch her yet. Instead, he spoke quietly, his words slipping into her left ear when he lowered his mouth closer to it. “They’re going to catch you off guard. You will always need to be on your guard.”
She nodded, her throat dry as she waited for him to make the first move. She’d always been taught that she couldn’t let anyone take her to a new location. She needed to fight to stay where she was. That wasn’t news to her. But the act of actually fighting back would be.
“I’m going to put you in a hold, okay?” His breath was hot against her ear.
Charlie nodded again.
He wrapped his arms around her chest, holding her tight. “First, you need to make sure you don’t panic. I know it’s hard to keep that in mind when you’re being held like this.”
Ash had no idea. Charlie’s pulse had already accelerated. She didn’t dare move, her hands remaining at her sides.
“Now,” Ash murmured, “you need to make sure to keep your head turned away from the closest arm. This is to avoid letting them choke you. Bring your hands up to hold my arms. That will help prevent it, too.”
She did as she was told, her hands wrapping around his forearms. Still, she felt completely helpless. How was she supposed to get out of this hold?
“There are a couple things you can do next.” The low rumble of his voice made it incredibly hard to focus. “If they’re trying to pick you up, you can wrap your foot around their ankle. That makes it really hard to move you.” He demonstrated it when she did just that. “Yes, see? This is all about making it difficult for the assailant. It isn’t to overpower them.”
Charlie smiled.
“You’re going to want to get away, and the best way to do that is to hit them where they’re most vulnerable.”
She didn’t have to be told what to do next, but he said it anyway.
“While holding one hand on my arm, use your fist to strike back at me. You can also throw your head back and try to break my nose.” His voice, no longer husky, was full of authority. She could assume this was how he spoke to the men he worked with.
They went through the motions of several positions, from her arm to her hair being grabbed. A lot of it focused on making sure the assailant didn’t want to put any more effort into taking her.
Ash made sure to remind her that she wanted to face them, if possible, as well. “Always be aware,” he insisted. “None of this looking at your phone while you’re walking down the street.”
When they finished their lesson, they moved to a bench at the edge of the room. She could feel the sweat trickling down her back and down her temple, but Ash didn’t look like he’d done a workout at all.
He caught her staring more than once as they cooled down. Each time, he gave her a funny look, and she ended up looking away. “You did a really good job today. I think with a few more sessions, you’ll be as ready as you can be.” Then he wagged his brows. “Unless you want to learn some boxing.” That grin made it so easy to forget that he was off limits—especially when it was just the two of them.
“I’ll think about it,” was all she said. Her gaze shifted to the boxing ring where two women were sparring, and she watched with interest. Ash’s voice was the only thing to cut through her intrigue.
He took a drink of his water, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I always thought self-defense should be a class girls were required to take in school.” He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “Boxing would be nice, too. I’m surprised the concept hasn’t taken root yet. I’ll tell you this much. If I have daughters, I’m going to make sure they know how to defend themselves. There’s too much anger in the world. I want them to have their best shot.”
She stared at him with not only surprise but awe as well. Already he was thinking about his family and how he was going to take care of them—protect them. That day in the park had been her first experience when she’d been scared for her safety. Chances were slim that she’d have to deal with something like that again, but it was nice to know she had options. “You want kids?”
He nodded. “Oh, if I had the choice, I’d have a big family.”
She bit back a smile. “How big?”
“Well, maybe not as big as yours… but big.” He nodded more to himself than to her. “Eight? Yeah, I could see myself with eight little ones running around.”
Her eyes rounded. “Wow. You think you can handle that?”
This time his eyes locked with hers. “I just need to find the right partner.” He made it sound so simple. Find the right person and anything was possible. “What about you?”
She let out a long breath. “What about me?”
“What do you want? Big family? Small? Where do you see yourself?”
There wasn’t even a degree of hesitation when she responded. “Oh, I know exactly what I want.”
He waited, his gaze delving into hers with unyielding interest.
“I always thought I’d marry a cowboy who would buy me my own piece of land. We’d have a big house with a wrap-around porch and a family farm.” She closed her eyes and smiled as the vision came to her mind. “Enough land for a couple horses, some goats, chickens… every animal you could think of. And we’d have a garden and some fruit trees.”
Ash let out a low whistle, causing her to open her eyes and glance in his direction. “That sounds like quite the dream.”
Her smile faded slightly. “You think it’s crazy, don’t you?”
“On the contrary. I think it sounds perfect—a worthy dream to have.”
She gazed at him, studying him with new eyes. Her brothers would have put down her idea. They would have scoffed and told her that she was just fine to live at the family ranch for as long as she lived. She anticipated that her older sister, Annabel, would have done so if she’d wanted. But Charlie wanted freedom. It wasn’t that she felt trapped by her family. She’d always just been the baby sister. She was the kid who never had anything she could call her own—only hand-me-downs and whatever the others cast off. But it was what Ash said next that really gripped her heart.
“You know, I wouldn’t mind having the exact same thing.” His eyes locked with hers, and something sparked in them. What she wouldn’t give to be able to read his thoughts right at this moment.
She found herself leaning toward him, tempted to brush a strand of his hair from his brow. But then someone at the weights dropped a loaded bar to the floor and it clattered so loudly that she jumped back. Whew! She needed to remember to keep her hands to herself. They needed a distraction. “Really?” she smirked. “You want to marry a cowboy and settle down on a farm?”
He chuckled. “Smart aleck.” Ash nodded to the door. “Come on. I’ll walk you to your car.”
And that was that. They got to their feet and headed out of the gym. She still didn’t know what she’d tell her brothers or if she’d have to tell them anything. Maybe she’d just say she went to the gym and worked out. It wasn’t something she’d done before, but there was a first time for everything.
True to his word, Ash walked her to her car. He waited for her to dig her keys from her pocket and then again for her to start the car. He rested his forearm above her doorway and leaned his head down to smile at her. “See you for our next lesson?”
She nodded, the lump in her throat growing. Then she sucked in a breath and shook her head. “Actually, we’re going to have to postpone. Wade wants us to go on a big family picnic.” She rolled her eyes at how silly it sounded. “So, I won’t be available. But we’ll schedule one the week after.”
He nodded. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Charlie pulled her lower lip between her teeth, then watched as he backed away so he could shut her door. She gave him a little wave before she backed out of her parking spot and then pulled away from the gym.