Chapter 18 MAEVYN
I swing my arm around, switching Westley’s grip on my wrist so I’m in control, hand locked around his warm forearm. I can feel the veins where they pop under my fingers, and I push down, sending him to his knees.
“Now that’s a view I can appreciate,” I pant out, the last thirty minutes of exercise catching up with me.
“Back at ya.” He winks at me over his shoulder.
Something’s changed between us in the few days since we’ve been back from camp. The way we move around each other… It’s curious. Daring. Tempting.
“You know, you’re pretty good at this,” Westley says, rolling onto his back as we get ready to do another self-defence move.
“Thanks.” I chuckle, crossing my arms over my chest, and leaning on one hip as my mind drifts to West’s startling ability to read me—and the way he’s getting under my skin. “I’ve been practising a long time. When I first started, I did private lessons a few times a week.”
“Good to know.” Westley hooks a leg around my knee and pulls me down, catching me by surprise.
He rolls until I’m under him and straddles me, pinning my arms beside my head.
“Ohh. I love a man who takes charge.”
“Somehow, I doubt that,” he says, breathless as he hovers over me.
I plant my feet on the ground and thrust my hips up, sending his torso over my head.
He lets go of my wrists to catch himself from falling forward, and I lock my arms around his back.
When I’ve got him held tight, I shimmy up his chest, cross my arm over to grip behind his tricep, and thrust my hips again, rolling him over until he’s on his back.
“Still have to commend your efforts in courting me.” I pant as I lean over his chest.
His eyes dart over my face, and his lips hook up on one side.
My mind goes back to that kiss from last week.
We haven’t said anything about it. We agreed that kisses would be okay if the situation called for it, but I was in no way prepared.
I’m pretty sure every night since, it’s been the last thing on my mind, and I can’t figure out if it’s because I’m wondering if he’s thinking about it, or if I’m counting down to a moment where I might get a repeat.
“I’m just practising being the best boyfriend I can be. Apparently, I need to look like a guy who worships you at your feet. That’s what you told my ex.”
“Then maybe you should get back on your knees.”
“Anytime.”
A voice clears from beside us. Looking up, Phil stands with his big arms crossed over his chest, both eyebrows in his nonexistent hairline.
“Since you two play so well together, why don’t you demonstrate the next move for the class?”
I push back onto my heels, letting Westley shuffle out from under me.
“You got it.” Westley jumps to his feet, holding out a hand to help me up, and slaps Phil on the shoulder as we make our way to the front of the room. I check on Aurora as I pass. She’s working on the mat beside ours with a girl a few years older than her.
“Okay, everyone, we’re moving on to our next technique. At the start, we showed you how to handle an attacker coming up from behind and locking you in around your arms. Now, Maevyn and I are going to demonstrate what to do if you’re locked only around the waist.”
Aurora throws me a thumbs-up as I shift in front of Westley and wait for him to start.
He rushes against me, solid chest against my back and his strong arms holding me tight around my middle.
“As you can see, Maevyn’s arms are still loose.
You might be tempted to throw your arms back, fight against your attacker, but the main purpose of self-defence is to protect and escape, not fight.
” Westley speaks to the whole class, but his voice feels as though it’s wrapping around me.
Along with the heat of his body and the comforting scent of his cologne.
I’m lying to myself when I think the deep breath I take is to maintain my calm to perform the move, when really, I’m only trying to inhale his scent deeper.
“What Maevyn’s going to do is place her hands over my wrists as she widens her stance, preferably to the outside of where my feet are, and drops all her weight into it,” he says, prompting me to do just that.
“Then she’s going to reach down, through her legs, and grip one of my ankles, whichever is going to give her the strongest hold. ”
I bend forward, reaching for Wesley’s ankle, and holy shit, my arse is rubbing against the man’s crotch.
What do I do now? Oh my god, my mind is in a dark, filthy, delicious place right now.
It’s been a long time since a man’s taken me from behind, and this is not the time or place for imagining such things.
“Now.” West’s voice cracks. “Ahem, now, Maevyn’s going to pull my ankle towards her chest with as much force as she can.”
I pull, not expecting him to give in quite so easily. With his arms still locked around my waist, we both go flying to the ground, but he doesn’t let go.
“If your attacker loses grip from the surprise, you roll away and run, making sure you’re out of reach of them grabbing you again.
If they’ve still got a hold of you, bring their ankle up to your head, thread your bottom arm up through the middle to grip your opposite shoulder, shift your top hand over their foot, and thrust your head against the figure eight wrist lock you’ve created.
This will cause damage to their knee, and hopefully mean they’re more focused on their pain, especially if they weren’t expecting you to be prepared to defend.
Maevyn, why don’t you demonstrate the wrist lock? ”
“You sure do like saying my name,” I mutter so only he can hear, then adjust my grip the way he described.
“Bet you love hearing it.” He releases his hold around me, demonstrating how the scenario might finish, and I roll away, flipping to my hands and knees until my head is above his, inches from his face and staring deep into his eyes.
“Good girl, Maevyn.”
“Thank you very much to my assistant and his girlfriend.” Phil snorts that last part as I rise from the floor, straightening my tank top as if that’s the only thing that’s been ruffled. “Practise in your pairs. I’ll come around to assess.”
Westley gets to his feet and starts to circle me. “Have you got plans this weekend?”
“Why, you want to shoot your shot already and ask me out?” My feet cross, stepping one in front of the other as I wait for him to strike.
“I’m not that confident,” he says. “Yet.”
I smile as we continue to circle each other. “Yeah, I’m working.”
Westley lunges forward, gripping my waist and spinning around my back.
I gasp as my hands lock around his wrists. “Told you, I dance on weekends. I’ve got a whole lot of men waiting to see me shake my arse on a pole.”
I bend forward, grab one of his ankles and pull, sending us flying to the ground. He lets go of my waist straight away this time, and I flip onto all fours, grinning down at him. He’s blinking at the ceiling, hands held in surrender.
“You’re picturing it, aren’t you?”
“Just wondering where this club is. Maybe I need to come down and make sure my girlfriend’s safe.”
“Aww. And the fact that I’ll be in nothing more than my underwear has nothing to do with it?” I offer him a hand, helping to pull him to his feet.
He clutches his chest in mock offence. “How dare you suggest my intentions are anything less than honourable?”
“I bet you fool all the girls with your good manners, don’t you, Thief?” We start to circle each other again. “But they don’t know about those romance books you like to read.”
He shrugs. “Maybe if you date me after all this, you’d be able to see how much they benefit you as much as me.”
When Westley springs towards me, my heart leaps with excitement, not fear. And when his arm hooks under my knees, the other one cradling my head as he sends us to the mat, I swear I can feel myself grinning.
His hips are cradled between my thighs as his palms land on the mat beside my head.
My right hand grips his left forearm, my left arm reaching up to grip his right shoulder.
My left foot goes to his hip, my other leg hooking around his back, then my first foot swings around in front of his face so I can lock my ankles together and push.
Westley falls to his back, his head locked under my calves as I clutch his arm to my chest.
“Good god, you’re a ninja,” he says, full of surprise, but the way he looks at me is something else.
It’s admiration and pride. It’s something I’ve never felt before.
I’ve never dated, never had a boyfriend, but if this is the way Westley fakes it, I wonder what real with him looks like.
I’ve survived a lot of things in life, but I’m not sure Westley will be one of them.
Maybe this time, it’s not about survival. Maybe I want to surrender.