“Do you know how to make a fist?”
He did so and held it up. At least the thumb was on the outside, which was good.
“Good. Now what you want to do is have your arms up and ready. Most attacks will probably be aimed for your face or torso, so you need to keep your hands up to be able to block them.”
I demonstrated.
He mimicked well, even adjusting his feet to match mine… almost.
“You’re a little flat-footed, keep yourself up on the balls of your feet, knees bent, so you can move around on the spot a bit easier.” I swayed a little. He watched, then did as I’d done.
“Good!” He was a quick learner.
He smiled.
I moved over to him and took one of his hands. “When you hit, you want to hit here.” I put my hand to his fist indicating the flat part of the first two knuckles. “Otherwise, you might break some fingers.” I put my hand up. “Try it, lightly.”
He shifted, pushing his fist into my hand. I nodded. “That’s it. Now, we’ll try some basic punches and evasions.” I spent the rest of the afternoon running him through his paces. He was quite adept and mastered the few things I showed him.
“No one has ever made things this easy to understand,” he said as he ran through a series of moves, able to do it faster and faster every time he tried.
I smiled at his compliment.
“I bet there are women in the city who would love to know how to protect themselves. You could start a school, teaching women to fight.”
I didn’t think that likely.
Women wanted to be womanly… didn’t they? They didn’t want to be difficult and violent, like I was. Once they were able to fight, wouldn’t that mean men in general would be intimidated by them… like me?
“I don’t know,” I said shaking my head. “I don’t think many women want to be so… aggressive.”
“You’d be surprised,” Leo continued, confident.
I shrugged. “If you can find some women, I’ll give it a try.”
“I might take you up on that.”
I grinned. I wouldn’t mind the extra business, even if it didn’t seem likely Leo would find anyone willing to participate.
“Well, how am I doing?” he asked.
Quite well, even if he was a bedraggled and sweaty mess. And something about this beautiful man shadowboxing was turning me on something fierce. But that wasn’t what he meant.
“You’ve mastered those moves. Next time I’ll teach you some more. It’s going to take a while, but we’ll move you through more and more advanced unarmed combat, up to swordplay.” That should work well. “As it is, you’re going to be sore tomorrow, working muscles you haven’t really worked before.”
“I’m already feeling a little sore,” he said with a grin. “I don’t mind it. It means I’ve done something.” He stopped his practice and faced me. “I don’t suppose you’d want to show me an advanced move? I’m just curious.”
I grinned. “You sure?”
He nodded.
I shrugged. “As you wish. Throw one of those punches at me, full speed,” I said. When he raised a brow, I smiled even wider.“You remember how fast I am from last time, right? Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Go ahead.”
He shrugged, set himself, then jabbed with his right arm. He was fast, but not fast enough.
I easily grabbed his wrist with my left hand, then stepped in, turning and ducking under his arm, twisting it, while remaining in front of him. Then, with a bit of pressure to that locked arm, he fell back. I followed him. I didn’thaveto end up on top of him, straddling him, but I did, holding his arm up as we both huffed out a breath.
“Whoa!” he said, blinking.
