“Victoria, what’s wrong?” he asks immediately, no doubt confused by the emotions written all over my face.
“I want you to train me,” I blurt out, which earns me a cocked brow from Damon.
“Train you,” he says slowly as if tasting the words.
I’ve seen him training with his men on an almost daily basis. When push comes to shove, I know each and every one of them would protect me with their life, but I want to be able to depend on myself if things would ever go south, like in the past. I want to feel empowered by my own self-worth. “I want to be able to fight back, you know, if anything…ever happens again,” I confess.
I watch as his fist clenches on top of the desk. “Nothing will ever happen to you again,” he states firmly.
“You can’t protect me twenty-four-seven, Damon.”
“I can damn well try,” he mutters angrily.
“Are you going to train me or not? I mean, I can always ask someone else. Baz or one of your men I’m sure would be willing to –.”
“No,” he says suddenly, and I have to bite back a smile. I knew I could manipulate his jealousy into something to benefit me. “I’ll meet you in the gym in fifteen,” he tells me.
I’m already dressed in a white sports bra with a thin, blue tank top over it and black yoga pants from my run earlier, so I go back to the gym and wait. Damon arrives several minutes later wearing a pair of black shorts and a white tee. The t-shirt is deliciously stretched over his broad chest and showcases his bulging biceps.
A blush creeps up my chest as I feel a rush of heat like someone just kicked up the thermostat a few hundred degrees.
Shit, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.
“Get on the mats,” he tells me, and I obey, walking over to the blue mats in the corner of the large gym.
He follows me slowly, circling around me like a predator getting ready to tackle its prey. “If someone is reaching for you, go for the most vulnerable places first.” He points to his eyes and his groin, and I can’t help but let my gaze linger on the second one.
In slow motion, he acts like he’s reaching for me. Gripping my arm, he brings it up towards his face. “Fingers out, right in the eye.”
“Okay,” I say, breathlessly.
“And if you can get even closer, knee to the groin.” He waits for me to practice the movement of my knee rising towards him before he gives me a satisfied nod. “Good girl,” he says in praise. “Now let’s practice some moves if I’m holding a weapon.”
He goes through some steps, and then goes back through them until I’m comfortable. “First point of contact?” he asks.
“Blow to the wrist to get the gun pointed away from my body,” I tell him before swinging my forearm up and knocking away his hand with the imaginary weapon.
“And then?” he prompts.
“Contact to anywhere vulnerable on the body,” I respond, going through the motions of kneeing him in the crotch and gouging his eyes, but never making contact, of course.
“Very good,” he says with a nod. “Let’s move on to something more…intimate.”
A shiver dances down my spine at the sound of that word coming out of his mouth, and I have to shake off the desire coursing through my veins. Even though I’m furious at Damon for everything he did, it still doesn’t change the fact that my body reacts to his in the most primal way.
I still want him.
He reaches out and puts his hands around my neck. “If someone is choking you, what do you do?”
I reach up and try to break his hold, but it doesn’t work.
He shakes his head. “You’re trying to match my strength, and it won’t work, Victoria. It doesn’t matter if the guy is my size or much bigger and stronger than me. You just have to be smarter than the person who is attacking you.”
He drops his hands and places my hands around his neck. Then, he shows me how he dips and turns out of my grip easily. “I’m using my entire body weight against your thumbs gripping my lower neck. Anyone’s hold should break.” He replaces his hands on my neck. “Now you try.”
I do the same move he just did, and it actually works. I’m so surprised that I let out a little triumphant squeal with a fist pump.
Damon laughs, and its deep timbre runs straight through me. A few seconds later, his expression is all business once again as he says, “Now, lie down on the mat. We’ve got some more moves to practice.”
