“What?” Remy asked softly.
She shook her head. “Nothing. Just something Mom told me today about her and Dad. It was a special memory she has of him and this place and is yet another reason she’d never sell the shop. Not voluntarily, anyway.”
“And she’s not going to have to,” Remy said firmly. “If Gemma has any more problems with these people, my guys and I will go pay Murphy a visit. We may look like poster children for Officer Friendly, but trust me, we can be very persuasive when we want to be.”
She laughed. She was sure that if Remy or any of those other big cops from Dallas showed up at Murphy’s office, the guy would probably flee the city within the hour. She hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but she felt better knowing Remy would do something personally if those jerks threatened her mother again.
“I can see you being very persuasive, considering how quickly you handled those guys downstairs earlier,” she said. “Speaking of which, how were you were able to push them around so easily? I know you have training on your side, but those men were nearly as big as you.”
He chuckled. “It’s my experience that size rarely matters as much as people thinks it does. Most of the time, it usually comes down to locating that one sensitive spot on the other person, then knowing what to do with it when you find it.”
Triana lifted a brow. “Are we still talking about how you handled those goons downstairs?”
He gave her a sexy half smile, and she realized he’d been playing with her, trying to get her to stop stressing over the stuff she’d seen downstairs. It was amazing how he could be so in tune with her emotions and what she needed at any particular moment.
She was still thinking about that and all the stuff her mom had said about falling fast simply being a way of knowing you’d found the right person you were meant to be with, when Remy suddenly pushed back his chair and stood, tugging her to her feet.
“Come on,” he said. “I’ll show you what I mean.”
Curious about what he meant by that, Triana let him guide her across the kitchen and through the living room, into the short hallway that led to her old bedroom. Her heart began to beat faster all over again, but now it was for a different reason.
Remy stopped and turned so suddenly she almost ran right into his chest. Before she could move, he put a hand on her shoulder and gently nudged her up against the wall in the hallway. Her pulse skipped a beat. It was kind of crazy how fast he could get her going.
Triana thought he was going to kiss her, but instead of capturing her mouth with his, he stayed where he was, one big hand on her shoulder pinning her to the wall.
“Now imagine that I’m one of those thugs from downstairs,” he said. “What do you do?”
She stared up at him, sure he was kidding. That was definitely not the image she wanted in her head right then. “Is now really the best time for a lesson in self-defense?”
“Something else you’d rather be doing?” he asked, a knowing smile teasing the corner of his mouth.
“Yeah, there is.”
“Great,” he said. “Then show me what you’d do and we can move on to that something else you’d rather be doing.”
She considered trying to distract him with a kiss, but the firm set of his jaw dissuaded her. He was serious about this. Sighing, she gazed up at him, trying to imagine what she could do if a man as tall and muscular as Remy were pinning her to a wall like this. After a moment, she shrugged.
“I guess I would punch the guy.”
“Where?”
She looked at Remy like he was speaking a foreign language. “Where?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Where would you punch me?”
She lifted her hand and balled it into a fist, then gently rested it on the side of his strong, sexy, scruff-covered jaw. That’s where everyone got punched in movies. “Here?” she asked.
He frowned. “Not unless you want to break your hand. Remember what I said earlier about finding that one sensitive spot on the other person?”
She couldn’t resist a teasing little smile. “And your sensitive spot would be…?”
His mouth quirked. “There’s the obvious one, and if you can kick or knee a guy there, it will definitely work. But if all you can do is punch, there are other places just as sensitive.”
“Like?” she prompted, hating the idea that she might need to know this kind of stuff.
He pointed at a spot just below his sternum, right in the center. “There’s the solar plexus. A hard strike to this area will definitely knock the wind out of someone and give you time to run.” He tapped his index finger to the side of his head. “A punch to the temple is going to hurt your hand, but it will temporarily stun most people. If you don’t think you can hit a person there hard enough, grab the top of the ear and yank. That will definitely take the fight out of the toughest bad guy. However, if you only have one chance to hit a person and it’s life or death, aim for the throat, and punch as hard as you can. At the very least, it will give you time to get away.”
Triana leaned against the wall, praying she was never in a position to have to do any of the things Remy had showed her. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to.
