After a pause for reflection, he said, “I’d rather a fair fight. No weapons, just you and me on the mat.”
“And I really thought I wouldn’t have to fight anyone for gym space at this time of day.”
He didn’t laugh.
There was no such thing as a fair fight. He was a lot bigger than her, but she had a few advantages. 1) Markus was always telling her she had better leverage. Use your body weight to take down your opponent. If nothing else, she could just hang on to this opponent’s leg toddler-style. From experience, she knew that was very annoying.
2) A lower center of gravity made her harder to knock down. Just like why skid steer loaders carry their buckets low to the ground. Gabby’s life had been nothing but diggers for a while: Luca’s picture books, YouTube videos of digging, and visiting a nearby construction project in her neighborhood until it got weird when one of the workmen thought she was there for him.
At any rate, she had some junk in the trunk, and for once, it was to her advantage. Well, that workman had seemed to like it too.
The masked man barreled toward her, head down. Instead of sidestepping, she braced herself and prepared a defense. He had so much momentum already. All she had to do was change his trajectory and throw him over her shoulder.
Surprise flashed in his eyes when he realized what she was going to attempt. “Nice try, Agent Greene,” he said, respect in his voice.
But that’s all it had been, a try. Before she could come up with her next move, he swept a leg out, taking her feet right out from under her and sending Gabby flying ass over teakettle.
She hit the ground with a thud, and the breath left her lungs in a rush. Before she could roll away, the man was on top of her, using his weight to pin her to the ground. She bucked her hips and tried to sit up to take a swing, but he didn’t budge.
“I thought you were going to make this harder?” he said.
How dare he? She was a force to be reckoned with. There had to be something she could do. She wasn’t strong enough to punch him from the angle she was at, but… if she stretched, she could almost reach her shoe.
It was just out of reach, and he knew it. He laughed. She never should have signed up for this job. People were counting on her. She couldn’t die on a Wednesday at the office.
A bead of sweat dripped down her face as she stretched as far as she could. If only she were an inch taller—or more serious about yoga.
When he laughed at her pathetic effort, he relaxed just enough to let her stretch out a little farther. She snatched her bike shoe with the metal clips and swung it toward him with all the force she could muster. He blocked the attack. Running out of options, she wrapped her thighs around his upper body and squeezed. If he would just hold still for a few seconds.
At this point, the masked man was smashed into her crotch. “Why do you look so surprised?” Gabby said through gritted teeth.
She squeezed harder, smashing his face even closer into her crotch. It was a good move, but the voices started getting louder in her head. Who did she think she was? Could she really kill a manwith her thighs? It was the end of the day, and she was already tired from a twenty-minute hill workout on a bike.
“What’s the holdup? Are you going to strangle me or what?”
She wanted to say something quippy before killing him, but all she could think was: She probably smelled like a barn.
Before she could answer, he said, “Squeeze! C’mon, kill me! Any man should be so lucky to die between a woman’s thighs.”
She was done playing along.
“Markus, I can’t. Get your face out of my crotch, please.”
“Gabby, come on.”
“Markus, I’m serious. This role-playing isn’t working. I have to get home.”
She couldn’t pretend it wasn’t Markus anymore.
“Gabby,” he said sharply, “for this to work, you need to participate. You need some real experience before you are out in the field. I want you prepared.”
“I’m trying, but… It’s just—” It was hard to have a serious conversation with a guy whose cheeks were smooshed between her legs.
“Get out of your head, Gabby. Strangle me with your thighs.”
She stared back. Had she just heard that come out of his mouth? Was this a training thing or a sexual tension thing? In the interest of being direct-ish, she said, “This isn’t the way I imagined things going, you know, you between my legs like that.”
“Hmmm.” He looked up at her in a way that made her think she might not smell like an old barn, or, if she did, maybe he was into it. Before he got more playful, she twisted the arm she was still holding in the wrong direction, forcing him to roll onto his back and bringing her with him. She scooted back, settled directly on his stomach.
