Kate circled round at the ready. “How was that?”
“Better, but next time I want you to follow through with a knee to the balls. You need to temporarily disable your attacker long enough to grab Caroline and escape.” Ethan straightened to his full height, admiring the sight before him. Kate practically glowed at her small victory and seeing the pleasure light up her features made him want to give her more. Even if it meant a few bruised ribs.
“You’ve got skills, but they need some sharpening.” An attacker wouldn’t give her or Caroline a second chance
“You’re right. I could feel it when you came at me. My instincts have gotten lax.” Her easy agreement surprised him. He’d expected her sharp attitude to come back out front.
“Your instincts are good, and you did the right thing the second time, you just need some hands-on training.”With him.
“Well, let’s get to work then.” Kate gestured him closer.
He was going to enjoy this after all.
Chapter 10
Kate collapsedonto the bed with a loud groan, not bothering to try and keep the pain inside. "Oh my God, I haven't been this sore since basic training at the Farm."
Celine collapsed into the padded rocking chair near the foot of the bed and emitted her own groan when her butt made contact with the seat. "I've never been this sore in my entire life. Aaron Speirs better be worth all this trouble, if he turns out to be a bust I'm going to be so pissed."
Kate chuckled and rolled onto her side, eyeing Celine. "So did he ask you to help out? Or did someone else hire you?"
Celine closed her eyes and rested her head against the chair back. “Aaron asked me. At first I thought he was asking me to be his date for the wedding. It wasn't until later that I found out his intent was really torture."
Both of them had been working hard most hours of the day, constantly training, with Kate honing her skills and Celine learning completely new ones. "Well, no offense, but you have absolutely no experience in the protection or security. My money is on the fact that he wants you."
"That's what I thought too, but every time we get close, not training I mean, he backs off completely. I swear I've gotten more mixed signals from the man than I can keep track of. One minute he's hot, one minute he's cold, I just don't knowanymore."
"At least he asked you, Ethan thinks I’m a pushy female trying to be a man, he can’t stand to be near me.” The way Ethan growled and snapped at her every mistake was doing serious damage to her already sagging self-confidence. And to top it off, whenever she got close to him, she panted like a dog in heat.
Celine sat forward and pinned Kate to the bed with an amused stare. "Honey, the man can't keep his hands off of you."
"That's a no-brainer, he's training me."
"Yeah, he's training you alright, and every time he touches you sparks fly. I'm just waiting on the moment he throws you down on the mat and devours you."
"You're insane, if sparks fly it's because he's so pissed off at being forced to train me.”
Celine crossed to the bed and perched on the edge, tucking a loose strand of her short platinum hair behind her ear. “I thought you were supposed to be smart or something."
“Excuse me?”
Celine rolled her eyes, "A blind man can see he wants you. I guarantee you by the end of next week, you two will be hooking up."
The image of her and Ethan, stretched out together on the bed locked in a hungry kiss filled her mind and Kate’s body flooded with heat.
"And you want him too!" Celine exclaimed.
"Do not." Kate defended, suddenly feeling like a teenager with a crush. She could convince herself she didn’t want him in the least. He was too wild; she could see it in his eyes. He drove a motorcycle for crying out loud.
He didn’t have anything more than a leather saddle bag and his toiletries kit was in serious need of a new razor. He smelled too, like the earth, all raw and masculine. Not at allher type.
Ethan Slade was a loose cannon just waiting on the right match to set him off, and Kate didn’t want to be around when he exploded.
Celine grabbed her hand and pulled Kate off the bed. “Come on, let’s go to my room, I want to give you something.”
Kate allowed herself to be propelled out of her bedroom, across the hall. Celine let go to yank open her bedroom door and go inside, leaving Kate to stand, frozen, in the doorway. “What happened?”
Celine glanced around. “What do you mean?”
